News

Middlebrook is Back with a New Structured Analog Design Course

November 01, 2006 by Jeff Shepard

Ardem Associates has made Dr. R. David Middlebrook's career-enhancing course, Structured Analog Design, available once again. The course has been updated to include the General Feedback Theorem (GFT), which is the culmination of the Design-Oriented Analysis techniques previously developed. With more and more analog design moving offshore, there is an increasing need for system integration and test engineers. These engineers need to be just as cognizant of Dr. Middlebrook's Design-Oriented Analysis techniques as if they were doing the design themselves.

"Because I feel strongly that a much broader range of engineers need to know how powerful and useful these techniques are, I have resumed teaching this course under the title 'Middlebrook's New Structured Analog Design Course'," stated Dr. Middlebrook. "The new course differs from the original in two significant ways: First, the motivation for the development of the techniques is as much from the perspective of an engineer who is going to evaluate or review someone else's design, as it is from the perspective of an engineer who is going to create the design himself. Second, the GFT is fully integrated into the development and many examples of the ICAP/4 Circuit Simulator results are shown."

This course is aimed primarily toward analog, mixed-signal, and power supply design engineers, although they are not the only ones to benefit from Dr. Middlebrook's course. A strong point has always been made that those who review and verify designs of others also need to know how design-oriented results of analysis should be presented. Only with this knowledge can they contribute meaningfully to design review discussions, instead of just saying to the presenting designer, "Well, it looks as though it's coming along all right; carry on!"

System integration engineers, reliability and test engineers, and their managers who evaluate vendors' products, a function similar to that of design review committee members, also can significantly increase their effectiveness by taking Dr. Middlebrook's course. In fact, they can improve the effectiveness of the whole project by requiring that design engineers present their results according to Dr. Middlebrook's Principles of Design-Oriented Analysis.

"We are aware of the amount of discussion that is going on in higher education about the threats to our technological competitiveness and the need to do a better job at the university level of teaching engineering and retaining engineering students. I believe that Middlebrook's methods of his Design-Oriented Analysis paradigm can make a strong positive impact on engineering education, which will have industrial impact," stated Don Peter, Associate Professor, Seattle Pacific University. "I highly recommend attending this course."