IITM BS Electronic Product Design (EE4102): Syllabus and Tips

Electronic Product Design (EE4102) is a 4 credit degree level core course in the IITM BS Electronic Systems programme. It teaches you to design the parts that make a real embedded product work: power supplies, switch drivers, magnetics, analog signal chains and motor control. The course uses SPICE for simulation and KiCad for board design. The handbook lists no prerequisite.

The Sep 2025 syllabus and the ES handbook agree on the code, credits and level. The syllabus does not name an instructor for this course.

What you learn in Electronic Product Design

The syllabus has 5 modules and no week plan. Its goals also mention design approach, testing, and EMI and EMC (keeping a product from causing or picking up electrical interference). The modules group like this.

1. Module 1: power. Rectifiers, protection circuits, and choosing a heat sink. Then designing linear regulators and DC-DC converters of three types: buck, boost and flyback.
2. Modules 2 and 3: switching parts and magnetics. Drive circuits for BJTs and MOSFETs, snubber circuits that tame switching spikes, and the basics of PWM. Then designing your own inductors and transformers.
3. Module 4: analog signal chain. Op-amp circuit design with an error budget, anti-aliasing filters before an ADC, and 4 to 20 mA current loops, a common way to send sensor readings over long wires in industry.
4. Module 5: digital control. Discrete-time basics, PID control, microcontroller coding, and controlling a DC motor with a design made using root locus.

The main textbook is "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill (3rd edition, 2015). The syllabus also lists four references, including David L. Jones's PCB Design Tutorial and "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Scherz and Monk.

How the course is assessed

The syllabus does not describe grading. The handbook's general pattern for ES courses is weekly online assignments, two in-person quizzes and an in-person end term exam, with details in each course's grading document. No lab is paired with this course in the handbook, even though the work is practical in nature.

Where it counts

It is one of the degree level core courses, so every ES student needs it for the BS degree. It is not part of any minor. The handbook's course table places it in the semester 6 block, next to Embedded Linux and FPGAs and Electromagnetic Fields and Transmission Lines. See all core courses in ES degree level courses.

Who finds it hard and how to prepare

The challenge is breadth. In one course you move from power electronics to magnetics to analog design to control. Students who are weak in one of these areas feel it in that module. Root locus in Module 5 is hard if you have not done Control Engineering.

• Revise op-amps, filters and regulators from Analog Electronic Systems. Its later weeks cover linear and switching regulators.
• Take Control Engineering first if you can, so PID and root locus are not new.
• Install a free SPICE simulator and KiCad before the term. Draw one small board, even a simple regulator circuit.
• Simulate a buck converter and change the inductor and capacitor values. Watch how the output ripple changes.
• Keep a design log for each circuit: the spec, your calculations, the simulation result and what you changed.

What to take before and after

Before: Analog Electronic Systems, Embedded C Programming and Control Engineering. After: Power Management for Electronic Systems (EE5103) goes deeper into regulators, buck converter design and batteries, and is a department elective. Electronic Testing and Measurement covers how finished boards are tested and debugged.

Common questions

Do I need to build hardware in this course?

The syllabus lists design, simulation and CAD work but no lab, and the handbook pairs no lab with it. Ask the course team whether any assignment needs your lab kit.

Is KiCad free?

Yes, KiCad is free and open source. The syllabus names it as the CAD tool for the course, along with SPICE for simulation.

How is this different from Analog Electronic Systems?

Analog Electronic Systems is a diploma course built around op-amps, feedback, filters and regulators. This degree course uses those ideas to design complete product blocks, and adds power switching, magnetics, board design and motor control.