Electronics Details, Meaning Electronics Article and Explanation Guide

Electronics Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Electronics is the study and use of electrical devices that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. The pure study of such devices is considered as a branch of physics, while the design and construction of electronic circuits to solve practical problems is part of the fields of electrical, electronics and computer engineering.

The main uses of electronic circuits are the controlling, processing and distribution of information, and the conversion and distribution of electric power. Both of these uses involve the creation or detection of electromagnetic fields and electric currents. More broadly, most electronics systems fall into the category of either control systems or communication systems.

While electricity had been used for some time to transmit data over telegraphs and telephones, the development of electronics truly began in earnest with the advent of radio. Today, electronic devices perform a much wider variety of tasks.

One way of looking at an electronic system is to divide it into the following parts:

Inputs - Electrical or mechanical sensors (or transducers), which take signals (in the form of temperature, pressure, etc.) from the physical world and convert them into current/voltage signals.
Signal processing circuits - These consist of electronic components connected together to manipulate, interpret and transform the signals.
Outputs - Actuators or other devices (also transducers) that transform current/voltage signals back into useful physical form.

Take as an example a television. Its input is a broadcast signal received by an antenna or fed in through a cable. Signal processing circuits inside the television extract the brightness, colour and sound information from this signal. The output devices are a cathode ray tube that converts electronic signals into a visible image on a screen and magnet driven audio speakers.

Electronic test equipment

Ammeter, e.g. Galvanometer (Measure current)
Ohmmeter, e.g. Wheatstone bridge (Measure resistance)
Voltmeter (Measures voltage)
Multimeter (Measures all of the above)
Oscilloscope (Measures all of the above as they change over time)
Logic analyzer (Tests digital circuits)
Spectrum analyzer (SA) (Measures spectral energy of signals)
Vector signal analyzer (VSA) (Like the SA but it can also perform many more useful digital demodulation functions)
Electrometer (Measures charge)
Frequency counter (Measures frequency)

Interconnecting electronic components

electrical connectors, plugs and sockets etc.

printed circuit boards

integrated circuit
point-to-point construction
wire-wrap
breadboard

Passive components

Active components (solid-state)

diode
transistor
integrated circuit
- digital
- analogue
other active components
- triac
- thyristor
- unijunction transistor
- varistor
- Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
- Field-emitter microtube

Active components (thermionic)

Display devices

Electromechanical sensors and actuators

Thermoelectric devices

Photoelectric devices

Antennae, etc.

radio antenna

Analog circuits

Most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from arrays of a few types of circuits.

Analog computer
Analog multipliers
electronic amplifiers
electronic filters
electronic oscillators
Phase-locked loops
electronic mixers
electronic power supply
impedance matchers
operational amplifiers
comparators

Digital circuits

Computers, electronic clockss, and programmable logic controllers (used to control industrial processes) are constructed of digital circuits. Digital Signal Processors are another example.

Building-blocks: