ELEC 320, Fall 2007
Profs. Nepal & Kozick

Laboratory 3
Impulse Response: Analysis, Measurement, and Matlab Simulation


The main objective in lab this week is to learn about the impulse response of continuous-time, linear, time-invariant systems. You will determine the impulse response of an RC circuit two ways, analytically and experimentally. Then you will use the analytical unit impulse response expression in Matlab (or another computer programming environment) to simulate the unit step response of the RC circuit, using the properties of linearity and time invariance. Please work in pairs on these lab exercises.

  1. Consider a series RC circuit driven by a voltage source, with the output voltage measured across the capacitor. We will use R = 10 kohms and C = 0.1 microfarads.

  2. Next we consider the unit step response of the RC circuit.
Lab Reports: Each pair of students is required to submit a report explaining your answers to items 1 and 2 at the beginning of your next lab meeting on October 3 or 4.

Thank you.