Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton

Knowledge and understanding
Familiarity with the basic principles of operation of loudspeakers.
Familiarity with the use of testing equipment.
Knowledge of the MATLAB programming language and awareness of the differences between other languages.
Consolidated understanding of some key mathematical operations in engineering.

Cognitive (thinking) skills
Ability to define and solve design problems.
Ability to solve engineering problems by converting algorithms into computer code, or by model specification.
Recognise and select appropriate program control structures for efficient programming.

Practical, subject specific skills
Awareness of some construction issues. Ability to solder. Interpret and write code in MATLAB.

Key transferable skills
Ability to define a problem and identify constraints.
Ability to work effectively in a team.
Ability to meet a given specification in a limited timeframe.
Acquire a working knowledge of other programming languages.
Express engineering problems as mathematical matrix problems.
Express engineering problems as partial differential equations and boundary conditions.

To provide a group design learning experience.
To introduce the basic principles of loudspeaker design and construction
To provide a general introduction to programming using MATLAB and to introduce algorithms for the solution of engineering problems in vibrations, acoustics and signal processing in an interactive PC environment.
To provide an introduction to numerical modeling of continuous systems in an engineering context using COMSOL Multiphysics

To facilitate active learning through a team based exercise to design and test a loudspeaker.
To introduce the student to the MATLAB programming language.
To apply simple algorithms coded in a computer language for the solution of problems in vibrations, acoustics and signal processing.
To give the student direct experience of MATLAB in an interactive PC environment.
To give the student experience of numerically solving engineering problems and interpreting the results.

Cabinet construction.
Electronic crossover design and construction, including soldering tuition and practice.
Acoustics of loudspeaker cabinets.
Tuition in the use of MLSSA for loudspeaker testing.

The MATLAB language, programming methods, program documentation, debugging and efficiency
Flow control using IF, IF ELSE, FOR and WHILE
Logical operators
Data input and output
Characters and strings
Additional MATLAB concepts
- vector and matrix manipulation
- data visualisation
- function and script .m files

Specification of PDE based problems for finite-element analysis

Aspects of mesh generation

Convergence analysis

Post-processing of results

Series of introductory lectures by specialists in topics related to loudspeaker design.
Tuition on loudspeaker testing.
Guidance from Team Managers (academic staff) and consultants.
Computing laboratories using MATLAB (Semester 1) and COMSOL Multiphysics (Semester 2). The typical lab class size is 20. The first session commences with a didactic introduction to the language and some simple syntax. Subsequent sessions begin with a review of previous work followed by the introduction of a new topic. Students are presented with an A5 booklet of course notes at the start of each semester. These notes are a comprehensive introduction to MATLAB and comprise instructions, demonstrations and graded simple exercises which test material as it is introduced and develop applications. The lecturer assists the students as they work through the exercises provided. Feedback is given by advice and assistance in the laboratory session. Video tutorials are also provided.
Students join the course with widely varying experience of MATLAB and related programming languages and this is dealt with by proportionate assistance during the computing laboratory sessions. Students need to work in their own time to complete the laboratory work and are able to go to the lecturers for assistance both during the laboratory sessions at other times by appointment

Working as part of a self-motivated design team to design and test a practical, working prototype loudspeaker.
Interactive computer sessions on a PC during timetabled sessions. Many students also continue this work outside the timetabled sessions working in small groups and sometimes consulting with other students. There are three formal assignments which are more demanding than the simple exercises presented in the laboratory sessions. The lecturer provides as much help as is necessary to complete the full set of simple exercises (which are not assessed) but students are required to work on the formal assignments on their own. Students are encouraged to share experiences with each other and with the whole class at intervals throughout each session.

Core text

The primary texts for the programming part of the course are fully indexed A5 booklets of course notes that are provided to all students at the start of each semester. Students also have access to several on-line help resources including a native help programme, full copies of the MATLAB help desk, on-line internet connection to the MATHWORKS web site and on-line help with the COMSOL multiphysics package., ,

Secondary text

Matlab Reference Guide, 1993, The Mathworks Inc, The Mathworks Inc

Matlab Reference Guide, 1993, The Mathworks Inc, The Mathworks Inc

Matlab User Guide, 1993, The Mathworks Inc, The Mathworks Inc

The Student Edition of Matlab, 1997, The Mathworks Inc, Prentice-Hall