COURSE LANGUAGE: English

YEAR OF THE DEGREE PROGRAMME (I, II, III): III

SEMESTER (I, II, ANNUAL): I

CFU: 9

REQUIRED PRELIMINARY COURSES (IF MENTIONED IN THE COURSE STRUCTURE “REGOLAMENTO”) 
Physics II - Electromagnetism, Foundations of electrical engineering.

PREREQUISITES (IF APPLICABLE) 
None.

LEARNING GOALS 
Providing the theoretical foundations of metrology. Informing and training the student on the founding concepts of measurement theory, on the main measurement methodologies and procedures and on basic instruments for analyzing signals in the time domain and in the amplitude domain. 

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES (DUBLIN DESCRIPTORS) 

Knowledge and understanding 
The course provides students with the basic methodological knowledge and tools necessary to analyze the main problems of measurement theory. Such tools can allow the student to grasp the causal connections between physical phenomena in the empirical world and the properties of physical quantities in the symbolic world, together with the main characteristics that an adequate method of measurement addressed to these properties must have, and to understand the implications of the measurement choices on the final measurement result. 

Applying knowledge and understanding 
The course provides the skills and tools necessary to apply the knowledge in practice, fostering the ability to use basic methodological tools to define, design and implement a metrological approach suitable for addressing ordinary measurement problems in engineering applications typical of the information sector.  

COURSE CONTENT/SYLLABUS 
Theoretical foundations of measurements: concept of measurement and measure; measurand, standard and their comparison; measurement units; metrological traceability; calibration and calibration assessment; measurement error; measurement uncertainty; law of propagation of uncertainty; expression and representation of a measurement result; main metrological characteristics of measuring instruments; main measurement methodologies and procedures for the analysis of signals in the time domain (direct measurement of frequency, direct measurement of period, measurement of time interval, measurement of phase displacement) and of amplitudes (measurement of DC voltages, measurement of AC voltages); architecture and methods of use of basic instrumentation for measuring signals in the amplitude domain (digital voltmeters and multimeters) and in the time domain (digital counters, digital oscilloscopes); problems of insertion of measuring instruments in measurement circuits and of connection between different equipment. 

READINGS/BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Course handout, slides projected during the course, international standards. 

TEACHING METHODS 
The teacher will use: a) frontal lessons for about 65% of the total hours; b) laboratories for the application and deepening of the knowledge acquired during lectures for about 30% of the total hours; d) seminars on specific topics for about 5% of the total hours. 

EXAMINATION/EVALUATION CRITERIA 

Exam type:

• Oral
• Project discussion