ECE 495Y - Sound Reinforcement System Design

Note:

The following instruments will be used to assess the extent to which the outcomes are demonstrated (the forms used to "score" each item are available on the course website):

(i) Contractor Specifications for Sound Reinforcement System Design
(ii) Individual Lab Notebook
(iii) Satisfaction of Project Success Criteria
(iv) Engineering Design Considerations Report
(v) Internal Design Review and Client Presentation

Nature of Design Experience: Through the completion of a service learning based design project, students will learn how to analyze acoustic spaces, make acoustic measurements, and design a sound reinforcement system that is appropriate for that venue. The final deliverable will be a set of contractor specifications and bid form for professional installation of the proposed system.

Course Details

Lecture Hours: 3 Credits: 3

Counts as:

Experimental Course Offered:

Fall 2006

Requisites:

Prerequisites: ECE 255 Concurrent Prerequisites: ECE 301

Requisites by Topic:

Prerequisites: Basic electronic components and circuit design principles. Concurrent Prerequisites: Basic understanding of signals and systems.

Catalog Description:

An introduction to computational tools used in the measurement and analysis of electro-acoustic systems, and their application to sound reinforcement system engineering. Service learning based projects, serving the needs of community clients, provide the context for application of sound reinforcement system design principles and practices.

Required Text(s):

None.

Recommended Text(s):

None.

Learning Outcomes:

A student who successfully fulfills the course requirements will have demonstrated:
  1. an ability to apply knowledge obtained in earlier coursework and to obtain new knowledge necessary to design a sound reinforcement system. [a,b,c,e,i,j,k]
  2. an understanding of the engineering design process. [b,c,e,f,h]
  3. an ability to function on a multidisciplinary team. [d,h,j]
  4. an awareness of professional and ethical responsibility. [f,h,j]
  5. an ability to communicate effectively, in both oral and written form. [g]

Lecture Outline:

Week(s) Lecture Topics
1 Introduction to electro-acoustics and description of design project; team building
2 Propagation of sound
3 Room characteristics: reverberant field, direct field, intelligibility, critical distance
4 Instrumentation for measuring loudspeaker and room characteristics
5 Initial client meetings and needs determination; acoustic measurement of client venue/existing sound reinforcement system (where applicable)
6 Loudspeaker directivity and coverage patterns
7 Mapping of loudspeaker radiation patterns onto seating space
8 Software tools for design and simulation of loudspeaker arrays and clusters
9 Principles of sound reinforcement system design
10-11 Sound reinforcement system component selection and evaluation guidelines: loudspeakers, amplifiers, signal processors, mixing consoles, microphones
12 Identification of system design constraints; economic, safety, reliability, social, and ethical design considerations
13 Internal review of sound reinforcement designs proposed for each client
14 Presentations of proposed designs to clients
15 Follow-up meetings with clients; client satisfaction surveys
16 Engineering Design Considerations Report, Contractor Specifications for Sound Reinforcement System Design, Individual Lab Notebooks, and Peer Evaluations due

Engineering Design Content:

  • Synthesis
  • Analysis
  • Testing

Engineering Design Consideration(s):

  • Economic
  • Ethical
  • Health/Safety
  • Social
  • Reliability

Assessment Method:

Students must demonstrate basic competency in the course outcomes, listed above, in order to receive a passing grade. Demonstration of Outcome (i) will be based on successful completion and delivery of contractor specifications for the sound reinforcement system design for the client, for which a minimum score of 60% will be required to establish basic competency. Demonstration of Outcome (ii) will be based on the individual lab notebook, for which a minimum score (on the final evaluation) of 60% will be required to establish basic competency. Demonstration of Outcome (iii) will be based on satisfaction of the project success criteria (defined jointly by client and design team), for which a minimum score of 80% will be required to establish basic competency. Demonstration of Outcome (iv) will be based on the Engineering Design Considerations report prepared by the project team, for which a minimum score of 60% will be required to establish basic competency. Demonstration of Outcome (v) will be based on the Internal Design Review and the Client Presentation. A minimum score of 60% on the Internal Design Review and a minimum score of 60% on the Client Presentation will be required to establish basic competency.