The hands-on physical-electronics course. Students build real circuits with real parts, then teach an Arduino R4 to read sensors and drive actuators. By the capstone you have a working physical project plus the intuition you need for FPGA work in CSA-101 and embedded gaming in CON-101.
Course mission and audience
HW-101 sits in the academy's middle. The audience is students who have finished FND-101 (digital foundations + number-base fluency + light Python) and want to understand physical electronics before they tackle FPGA design (CSA-101) or embedded-systems work (CON-101). The course is intentionally tactile: every concept arrives with a part you can hold and a circuit you can probe.
The course is not a deep electrical-engineering survey. It is the working-physical-electronics layer of the academy pipeline. By the end you can read a schematic, build a breadboard prototype, write Arduino code that reads sensors and drives outputs, and explain why each part of your circuit exists.
Position in the pipeline. Belt 3/5 intermediate. Gates CSA-101 (FPGA + RV32I-Lite hardware) and CON-101 (Virtus Console embedded gaming). The physical-world intuition you build here is what makes later FPGA bring-up legible: when CSA-101 asks you to flash a bitstream and probe a pin, you already know what the probe is for.
What you will know at the end
In Bloom's-taxonomy order:
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Remember. State Ohm's law (V = I × R) and the power formula (P = V × I). Recite the breadboard's internal rail layout. Name the three pin modes on the Arduino R4 (INPUT, OUTPUT, INPUT_PULLUP). Name the four most-used Arduino functions (pinMode, digitalRead, digitalWrite, analogRead, analogWrite).
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Understand. Explain why a series resistor protects an LED; explain the difference between digital and analog signals; explain what a microcontroller is and how it differs from a desktop CPU; explain why pull-up resistors exist.
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Apply (electronics). Build a voltage divider that drops 5V to a chosen target; build an LED circuit with the correct current-limiting resistor; build an RC timing circuit; build a transistor switch that drives a higher-current load than a microcontroller pin can.
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Apply (microcontrollers). Write Arduino sketches that blink LEDs, debounce buttons in software, read potentiometers and photoresistors, fade LEDs with PWM, print sensor readings to the Serial Monitor, and trigger outputs based on sensor thresholds.
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Create (capstone). Build a working applied project of your choice (alarm system, mood lamp, sensor logger, motion-triggered device, or similar). Deliver schematic, code, and a demo video.
Course shape (14 weeks)
| Week | Theme | Lab focus | Arduino R4 modules used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voltage, current, resistance | Multimeter basics; battery + LED + resistor | None (pre-MCU) |
| 2 | Series and parallel | Voltage divider; Kirchhoff intuition | None (pre-MCU) |
| 3 | Breadboard fundamentals | First physical circuit (LED + 9V battery + resistor) | None (pre-MCU) |
| 4 | Capacitors and RC circuits | Time-constant measurement; the slow-charging LED | None (pre-MCU) |
| 5 | Diodes and LEDs (deep) | Pick the right current-limiting resistor; forward voltage drop | None (pre-MCU) |
| 6 | Transistors as switches | NPN switches a buzzer or small motor | None (pre-MCU) |
| 7 | Intro to microcontrollers + Arduino R4 | First Arduino blink (built-in LED); board tour | Arduino R4 board; USB cable |
| 8 | Digital I/O | Pushbutton input with debouncing | R4 + pushbutton + LED + resistors |
| 9 | Analog input | Read a photoresistor; map values | R4 + photoresistor + LED + resistors |
| 10 | Analog output (PWM) | Smooth-fade an LED with analogWrite | R4 + LED + resistors |
| 11 | Serial communication | Print sensor readings to Serial Monitor; debug via Serial | R4 + any sensor from earlier weeks |
| 12 | Sensors deep | Ultrasonic distance sensor; map distance to action | R4 + HC-SR04 + LED or buzzer |
| 13 | Capstone scoping | Pick project; design schematic; component list | Project-dependent |
| 14 | Capstone build + bridge | Deliver working project + write-up + demo video | Project-dependent |
The first six weeks are intentionally pre-microcontroller. You learn the physical-electronics layer before you learn to program against it. Once Arduino arrives in week 7, the earlier circuits get a brain.
Anchor readings
Primary. Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, 3rd edition. Selected chapters as free preview reads. Read Ch 1 §1.1 through §1.4 carefully (foundational); skim Ch 2 (transistors) when you reach week 6. The book is dense; use it as a reference, not as your daily reading. ~30 pages of careful reading suffices for the course.
Secondary. Arduino Cookbook by Margolis (O'Reilly). Recipe-by-recipe; useful when you hit a specific Arduino problem and want a working example. Free preview of selected recipes online.
Tertiary. Manufacturer datasheets when applicable. Read the HC-SR04 datasheet in week 12; read the Arduino R4 datasheet (or the Renesas RA4M1 chip datasheet for advanced students) at your own pace. Datasheet reading is a learnable skill; this course is your first formal exposure.
Per-week time budget
| Activity | Hours per week | Hours over 14 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture | ~1.5-2 hr | ~24 hr |
| Lab (hands-on with the kit) | ~2-2.5 hr | ~32 hr |
| Independent practice | ~3-4 hr | ~50 hr |
| Reading | ~0.5-1 hr | ~9 hr |
| Total | ~8 hr/week | ~115 hr |
The course is designed for one evening of lecture plus one weekend block of lab and reading per week. Many students do their best work in concentrated blocks rather than daily small sessions; the kit is portable enough to carry between home and a study space.
Equipment
Canonical kit. Arduino R4 Starter Kit Classroom Pack (Arduino store SKU; per OPEN-QUESTIONS §17 ratification; ~$165-185 per student per the Adopt-with-supplements path). The pack includes the Arduino UNO R4 board, breadboard, jumpers, LEDs, resistors, a starter sensor set (photoresistor, temperature sensor, buttons), small actuators (piezo, servo), and an included Arduino certification exam attempt.
Required supplements (low-cost, ordered separately). Multimeter (~$20 for a starter model); a 9V battery and clip; an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor (~$5 if not in pack); extra resistors as needed. Total supplement budget: ~$30-40 per student.
Not required. Oscilloscope; function generator; soldering iron; surface-mount-rework station. The course is intentionally solder-free; advanced-track students who want to solder do so in a follow-on context, not in HW-101.
Full kit + supplement details: SETUP.md.
What feeds into HW-101
Direct prerequisite: FND-101 (digital foundations). Light Python comfort is recommended for week 7 onward when Arduino code starts to look like C.
What HW-101 feeds
- CSA-101 (Computer Systems Architecture I). The flagship FPGA course. HW-101 builds the physical-instrument intuition (multimeter, breadboard, probing pins) that CSA-101 silicon bring-up depends on
- CON-101 (Virtus Console). The console-development course. HW-101 builds the input/output intuition (button debouncing, sensor reading) that CON-101's controller and peripheral work depends on
- Advanced tracks (CSA-201, ARM-201, RE-201, ADV-101). All assume HW-101 graduates can read a schematic and probe a circuit safely
Capstone (week 14)
One applied project of your choice. Working circuit plus Arduino sketch plus schematic plus 60-90 second demo video plus a 2-3 page write-up. Full specification: CAPSTONE.md.
Outline v0.1 prepared 2026-05-11. Updates after the first pilot cohort.