Electrical Systems
ELEN1000

Year 1, Sem 1 or Sem 2 Core Enabling Knowledge and Skills Technical Competence Practical and ‘Hands-on’ Experience Integrated Engagement with Professional Practice

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Code ELEN1000
Credits 25
Graduate Attributes

Introduction

Electricity underpins nearly all aspects of modern engineering—from infrastructure and manufacturing to automation and digital technologies. A foundational understanding of electrical systems is essential across engineering disciplines, informing the design, analysis, and integration of both large-scale and embedded technologies.

This unit introduces core concepts in electrical engineering, focusing on direct and alternating current (DC and AC) circuits, instrumentation, control systems, and embedded computing. Key principles of circuit behaviour, component interaction, and energy flow are examined through analytical and practical frameworks relevant to real-world engineering applications.

Emphasis is placed on the role of electrical systems in multidisciplinary engineering contexts, including their application in mechatronic systems, automated processes, and intelligent infrastructure. The unit establishes essential knowledge required to interpret electrical schematics, assess circuit performance, and understand the principles behind control and embedded systems used to monitor and optimise complex processes.

Electrical Systems (ELEN1000) forms part of the Engineering Foundation Year and provides a critical platform for further study in both electrical and non-electrical engineering pathways.
Lecture 1 x 2 Hours Weekly 
Science Laboratory 1 x 2 Hours Fortnightly 
Tutorial 1 x 2 Hours Weekly 

Unit Learning Outcomes

  • 1 reflect about their learning and professional skills to identify points of improvement in their journey to become the best possible engineers they can be, GC3, GC4, GC6
  • 2 apply the main laws and theorems of electrical engineering in the analysis of electrical, electronic, and embedded systems, GC1, GC3, GC6
  • 3 solve problems involving electrical, electronic, and electromechanical components, GC1, GC2, GC3
  • 4 use datasheets to understand and select sensors and actuators in simple embedded systems, GC1, GC3, GC6
  • 5 use datasheets to understand and select sensors and actuators in simple embedded systems, GC1, GC3, GC6

Course Learning Outcomes

  • 2 Solve complex chemical engineering problems of industrial and societal significance through the application of discipline-specific and integrated bodies of knowledge, design and sustainability principles
  • 5 Select and use current and emerging technologies to develop and communicate effective and innovative engineering solutions to complex problems

Assessment Breakdown

Recent Unit Changes & Response to Student Feedback

Students are encouraged to provide feedback through student surveys (such as Insight and the annual Student Experience Survey) and interactions with teaching staff.

Listed below are some recent changes to the unit as a result of student feedback.

Thank you all who took the time to answer the End of Semester Survey. Your feedback and my own observations led me to make the following changes to the unit:
  • To make it more engaging and effective, laboratory work will gradually shift from script-based to project-based.
  • Students like the opportunity to modify the weight of their assessments for final mark calculations. This practice will be preserved.
  • Short videos explaining tutorial activities have been prepared.
  • Tutors will demonstrate model solutions in tutorials.
  • Tutorials have been re-designed to include videos showing how to solve selected problems. To provide opportunities for dialogue, I will visit your tutorial session at least twice during the semester.
  • Make clear from day 1 that tutorial sessions are opportunities to become the best possible engineers students can be, not to provide worked solutions to problems. There is a document in Blackboard with solved problems.