How to learn modern electronics

A guide to the adventurer
First of all, basic electronics can be simple to understand, but to understand it deeply and see were the rabbit hole goes you have to do some serious kind of study. The plan to enlightenment has multiple parallel path’s, but books, internet info, youtube video channels and good forums constitute the main pillars.

Books

I’m suggesting that you read the books from cover to cover and not only for reference.

The three books that you should read first, are cheap books but they are very good. You should read them in this order, they will give you a really good grasp of electronics and some of there most common applications. They are enthusiastic and bring the subject to life!

Getting Started in Electronics
by Forrest M. Mims III
Pag 128

Practical Electronics for Inventors, 4th Edition
by Paul Scherz, Simon Monk
Pag 1050

ARRL Handbook 2022
by ARRL Inc
Pag 1280 separate in several volumes for easy reading
Note: Study also the digital supplemental files.

Most common Components in electronics
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/Most_common_components_in_electronics

Now that you know a little bit about what electronics is in the majority of the fields that are connected to electronic circuits, you should try to delve a little deeper in each subject.

Circuit analysis you should read.

DC Electrical Circuit Analysis - A Practical Approach
by James M. Fiore
Pag 374 Price: Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

AC Electrical Circuit Analysis - A Practical Approach
by James M. Fiore
Pag 422 Price: Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Workbook for DC Electrical Circuits
by James M. Fiore
Pag 128 Price: Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Workbook for AC Electrical Circuits
by James M. Fiore
Pag 159 Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits 6th Edition
by Charles K Alexander, Matthew Sadiku
Pag 992

Semiconductor devices and OpAmps

Semiconductor Devices: Theory & Application
by James M. Fiore
Pag 407 Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Operational Amplifiers & Linear Integrated Circuits 3th Edition
by James M. Fiore
Pag 589 Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Grob's Basic Electronics 12th Edition
by Mitchel Schultz
Pag 1264

Electronic Devices - Conventional Current Version 10th Edition
by Thomas Floyd
Pag 976

Electronic Principles 8th Edition
by Albert Malvino, David Bates
Pag 1120

Fundamentals of Microelectronics 2nd Edition
by Behzad Razavi
Pag 928

Principles of Electronics
by Colin Mitchell
Pag 778 Price Free online
book

Going deeper into the rabbit hole in electronics.

The Art of Electronics 3th Edition
by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill
Pag 1220

The Art of Electronics - The x Chapters
by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill
Pag 500

Learning the Art of Electronics - A Hands-On Lab Course 1st Edition
by Thomas C. Hayes, Paul Horowitz
Pag 1150

Electronic Circuits: Handbook for Design and Application, 2º Edition
by Ulrich Tietze
Pag 1543

Microelectronic Circuits 8th Edition
by Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. (KC) Smith, Tony Chan Carusone, Vincent Gaudet
Pag 1296

Power electronics

Power Electronics
by Daniel Hart
Pag 496

Audio amplifier and electronics

Small Signal Audio Design 2th Edition
by Douglas Self
Pag 780

Audio Power Amplifier Design, 6th Edition
by Douglas Self
Pag 718

Designing Audio Power Amplifiers 2nd Edition
by Bob Cordell
Pag 792

RF and Microwave

Electromagnetics Explained - A Handbook for Wireless/RF, EMC, and High-Speed Electronics 1st Edition
by Ron Schmitt
Pag 410

Radio Hobbyist’s Designbook
by Leonard H. Anderson
K6LHA
Book

Fundamentals of Microwave and RF Design 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 229, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Microwave and RF Design: Radio Systems. Volume 1, 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 244, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Microwave and RF Design: Transmission Lines. Volume 2, 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 284, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Microwave and RF Design: Networks. Volume 3, 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 240, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Microwave and RF Design: Modules. Volume 4, 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 254, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Microwave and RF Design: Amplifiers and Oscillators. Volume 5, 3th Edition
by Michael Steer
Pag 219, Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Circuit Design - Practical Analysis and Design Tools
by Manou Ghanevati, Ali Behagi
Pag 304

RF Circuit Design 2nd Edition
by Christopher Bowick
Pag 256

Microwave Engineering 4th Edition
by David M. Pozar
Pag. 752

Planar Microwave Engineering: A Practical Guide to Theory, Measurement, and Circuits
by Thomas H. Lee
Pag. 882

RF Microelectronics 2nd Edition
by Behzad Razavi
Pag. 916

Antenna design

Practical Antenna Handbook, 5th Edition
by Joseph Carr, George Hippisley
Pag 784

Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 4th Edition
by Constantine A. Balanis
Pag. 1104

PCB Design

KiCad Like a Pro
by Dr Peter Dalmaris
Pag 485

Signal Integrity Issues and Printed Circuit Board Design
by Douglas Brooks
Pag 428

Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified 3rd Edition
by Eric Bogatin
Pag 992

High Speed Digital Design - A Handbook of Black Magic
by Howard W. Johnson, Martin Graham
Pag 447

SDR - Software Defined Radio

Software Receiver Design: Build your Own Digital Communication System in Five Easy Steps
by C. Richard Johnson Jr, William A. Sethares, Andrew G. Klein
Pag 480

Software Defined Radio using MATLAB & Simulink and the RTL-SDR
by Robert W Stewart, Kenneth W Barlee, Dale S W Atkinson
Pag 672
book

Wireless Communications from the Ground Up: An SDR Perspective
by Qasim Chaudhari
Pag 828

Digital Signal Processing in Modern Communication Systems
by Andreas Schwarzinger
Pag 398

Radio Astronomy

VLF - Very Low Frequency Observations
https://britastro.org/node/8791

INSPIRE VLF-3 Rev #1C Receiver Kit
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS and schematic
https://theinspireproject.org/
https://theinspireproject.org/img/VLF3_Rev1C.pdf

Fundamentals of Radio Astronomy: Observational Methods
by Jonathan M. Marr, Ronald L. Snell, Stanley E. Kurt
Pag 368

Radio and Radar Astronomy Projects for Beginners 2nd Edition
by Steven Arnold
Pag 332

An Introduction to Radio Astronomy 4rd Edition
by Bernard F. Burke
Pag 540

The Physical Processes and Observing Techniques of Radio Astronomy: An Introduction
by Thomas G. Pannuti
Pag 548

The Radio Sky and How to Observe It 2010 Edition
by Jeff Lashley
Pag 251

Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy
A. Richard Thompson, James M. Moran, George W. Swenson Jr.
Pag 918
book

RADAR

Stimson's Introduction to Airborne Radar 3rd Edition
by George W. Stimson, Hugh D. Griffiths, Christopher J. Baker, Dave Adamy
Pag 774

Principles of Modern Radar: Basic Principles Volume 1
by Mark A. Richards, William A. Holm, James A. Scheer
Pag 960

Principles of Modern Radar: Advanced Radar Techniques and Applications Volume 2
by William L. Melvin, James A. Scheer
Pag 960

Principles of Modern Radar: Radar Applications Volume 3
by William L. Melvin, James A. Scheer
Pag 816

Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar: Signal Processing Algorithms
by Walter G. Carrara , Ronald M. Majewski
Pag 554

Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing, Second Edition 2nd Edition
by Mark Richards
Pag 656

Small and Short-Range Radar Systems
by Gregory L. Charvat
Pag 428

Video Course Site in Radar Systems Engineering
Dr. Robert M. O'Donnell - Lecturer
http://radar-course.org/

Video Course - Introduction to Radar Systems Online by Robert M. O'Donnell
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUJAYadtuizA8RC2Qk8LfmiWA56HZsk9y

Video Course - Radar Systems Engineering Course by Robert M. O'Donnell
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNKgf4Cv_NZ1_fZt0bAJXAro6MlaTAEAU

Video Course - Alberto Moreira ESA - SAR: Principles & Applications
http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2013/07/SAR_Principles_Applications

A Tutorial on Synthetic Aperture Radar - ESA
http://www2.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~mdisney/teaching/teachingNEW/3051/PPRS_7/esa_sar_tutorial.pdf

Microcontrollers

How to learn modern Embedded Systems
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Embedded_Systems
STM32 BluePill in Rust - Project template and lot's of info
This is the project template I use in my BluePill projects.
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/stm32_bluepill_in_rust__Template
All relevant Info on Pico and a starting project Template.
Where I have put all the info that I consider to be relevant for Pico development in Rust.
Raspberry Pi Pico in Rust Proj Template with RTIC USB-Serial and UF2
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/Raspberry_Pi_Pico_in_Rust__Proj_Template_with_RTIC_USB-Serial_UF2

Embedded Controllers using C and Arduino 2nd Edition
By James Fiore
Pag. 166 Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Laboratory Manual for Embedded Controllers using C and Arduino 2nd Edition
By James Fiore
Pag. 100 Price Free Creative commons, but small symbolic price if bought on paper on Amazon.
book and videos

Programming Arduino - Getting Started with Sketches, 2nd Edition
by Simon Monk
Pag 192

Programming Arduino Next Steps: Going Further with Sketches, 2nd Edition
by Simon Monk
Pag 320

AVR Programming - Learning to Write Software for Hardware
by Elliot Williams
Pag 474

Beginning STM32 - Developing with FreeRTOS, libopencm3 and GCC
by Warren Gay
Pag 432

Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers: Building real-time embedded systems using FreeRTOS, STM32 MCUs, and SEGGER debug tools
by Brian Amos
Pag 496

Real-time Operating Systems Book 1: The Theory
by Dr. Jim Cooling
Pag 296

Microprocessors and Computer Systems

Digital Design and Computer Architecture: ARM Edition
by Sarah Harris, David Harris
Pag 584

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 6th Edition
by John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson
Pag 936

Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition: The Hardware Software Interface
by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy
Pag 696

Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, 3th Edition
by Randal E. Bryant, David R. O'Hallaron
Pag 1120

Raspberry Pi

Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux
by Derek Molloy
Pag 720

FPGA

Verilog by Example: A Concise Introduction for FPGA Design
by Blaine Readler
Pag 124

VHDL By Example: A Concise Introduction for FPGA Design
by Blaine Readler
Pag 120

DSP – Digital Signal Programming

Signals and Systems 2nd Ed
by Alan Oppenheim, Alan Willsky, Hamid
Pag 1000

Videos - Prof. Iain Explains
https://www.iaincollings.com/

Signals Systems and Inference
by Alan Oppenheim, George Verghese
Pag 608

The Scientist & Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing
by Steven W. Smith
Pag 626 Price Free on the net
book

Understanding Digital Signal Processing 3rd Edition
by Richard G. Lyons
Pag 954

Discrete-Time Signal Processing 3rd Ed
by Alan Oppenheim, Ronald Schafer
Pag 1144

Introduction to Signal Processing
by Sophocles J. Orfanidis
Pag 795
book

Mathematics of the discrete fourier transform (DFT) with audio applications, 2th Edition
by Julius O. Smith III
Pag 322
book

Introduction to digital filters with audio applications
by Julius O. Smith III
Pag 480
book

Physical audio signal processing for virtual musical instruments and audio effects
by Julius O. Smith III
Pag 826
book

Spectral audio signal processing
by Julius O. Smith III
Pag 674
book

The Fast Fourier Transform FFT and its applications
By E. Oran Brigham
Pag 448

Become an Audio Programmer
https://www.thewolfsound.com/

Play List - 42 Audio Illusions & Phenomena -- Psychoacoustics
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL618khw0A-t51dsZ8DQK5fYkwrowtFYKn

Programming

How to learn modern Linux
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Linux
How to become dangerous in Algorithms
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_become_dangerous_in_algorithms
Simple notes on the C Programming Language
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/Simple_notes_on_the_C_Programming_Language
How to learn modern C++
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_C_Plus_Plus
How to learn modern Rust
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Rust
How to learn modern Python
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Python
How to learn modern Machine Learning
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Machine_Learning

Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming
by Eric Matthes
Pag 544

C Programming - A Modern Approach, 2nd Edition
by K. N. King
Pag 832

Extreme C: Taking you to the limit in Concurrency, OOP, and the most advanced capabilities of C
by Kamran Amini
Pag 822

Beginning C++17: From Novice to Professional 5th Edition
by Ivor Horton, Peter Van Weert
Pag 799

Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ 2nd Edition
by Bjarne Stroustrup
Pag 1312

Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces
Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau
Pag 714
www.ostep.com

The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook
by Michael Kerrisk
Pag 1553

Linux Driver Development for Embedded Processors, 2th Edition
by Alberto Liberal de los Ríos
Pag 680

Wikipedia list of algorithms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_algorithms

Mathematics

How to learn Mathematics from the ground up
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_Mathematics_from_ground_up
How to learn modern Compressive Sensing
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_modern_Compressive_Sensing

Engineering Mathematics
by Prof Anthony Croft, Dr Robert Davison
Pag 1024

Higher Engineering Mathematics, 8th edition
by John Bird
Pag 924

Physics

How to learn Physics from the ground up
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/How_to_learn_Physics_from_the_ground_up

Advanced Physics For You
by Keith Johnson , Simmone Hewett
Pag 512

The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol I, Vol II and Vol III
by Richard Feynman
Pag 1552 Price Free on the net
book

Machine Learning on the Microcontroller

TinyML: Machine Learning with TensorFlow Lite on Arduino and Ultra-Low-Power Microcontrollers
by Pete Warden, Daniel Situnayake
Pag 504

Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques to Build Intelligent Systems 2nd Edition
by Aurélien Géron
Pag 851

Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control
by Steven L. Brunton, J. Nathan Kutz
Pag 492
book

Analog Devices Courseware and practical labs.

Sites

Youtube Channels

Forums

EEVBlog forum

Electronic Equipment

Two Handheld DMM (to measure voltage and current at the same time)
Soldering iron or station
Two power supplies
Oscilloscope – 2 or 4 channels 100MHz
How NOT To Blow Up Your Oscilloscope!
Wave Form generator
Logical analyzer (if possible)
Spectrum Analyzer (nice but expensive gear)

Selected deeper articles from the Magazine Nuts and Volts

Selected deeper articles on RF

Really good articles - RF Technical Articles - YO3DAC - VA3IUL - Iulian Rosu

Selected Videos on the tenacity to make a complex electronic product when you don't even know how blink an LED.

Pete Bevelacqua - How I learned to stop blinking LEDs and make a product

Selected videos of analog electronics

Selected videos of how to make a OpAmp with discrete components and how it works

Original article
DIY Operational Amplifier by JIM KEITH
Video - 411 Build an OpAmp - part 1 - current source
Video - 412 Build an OpAmp - part 2 - differential amplifier
Video - 413 Build an OpAmp - part 3 - output driver
Video - 414 Build an OpAmp - part 4 - output stage
Video - 415 Build an OpAmp - part 5 - offset voltage adjust
Video - 416 Build an OpAmp - part 6 - how an OpAmp works
Video - 417 Build an OpAmp - part 7 - Spice modeling the DIY Op-Amp
This video explains the Class B and AB of a Push and Pull and other type of class B and AB amplifier.
Video - 271 two types of class B amplifiers

Selected videos on RF

Selected videos of STM32 Micro-Controller programming

Selected videos of MicroPython ESP32 and STM32 micro-controller programming

First video tutorial

Second video tutorial more project based

Selected videos of Machine Learning TensorFlow Lite on Raspberry Pi

Selected videos showing all the steps in KiCAD to design a PCB for STM32 with RF and USB.

Deeper videos on analog electronics design with math calculations

Diodes and Transistors

JFETs and MOSFETs

Thyristors

Op Amp Basics

Active filters

Oscilators and RF

Construction techniques

Digital Fundamentals

Oscilloscopes

Deeper videos on DSP - Digital Signal Processing

Online Courses

Embedded systems development courses ESP32

Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE
I took this course and I recommend it, because it is a good course. It's an extensive course, good for the beginner and not so beginners. It covers in many, many projects all the micro-controller programming and the IoT - Internet Of Things stuff with the Arduino IDE. The author is constantly adding material to the course. I have experience with several different micro-controllers and in my opinion, the ESP32 and the future ESP32-S02 are good safe bet's to learn micro-controllers in general and IoT in particular. Also they are low cost and have large range of advanced features.
Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE
Learn ESP32 The ESP-IDF
I took this course and I recommend it highly, this is an excellent course. This is a course for a more professional or more in depth persons, for the ones that really need to know what's under the hood and want to make use of every feature, capacity and possibility that the incredible ESP32 provides. The other kind of person that I can imagine doing this course is if you are already a developer for example in PC or web context, you will rapidly understand all the details and understand all the micro-controller power that the author explains to you. The framework used (ESP-IDF) is the one made by ExpressIF, the enterprise that makes the ESP32. The knowledge that you will obtain from this course is really profound, although the author goes to extensive length to explain the foundations that you need even in more advanced C programming, it is for people that already used a micro-controller before, be it a simple Arduino Uno board, or a more professional one. But I would like to say clearly that, the knowledge that you obtain from this course is profound. In my opinion it gives you the tools, it enables you to work professional on this field developing embedded systems software with the ESP32 including IoT. The course already as 12 hours, with all the code accessible in GitHub, but it's author is currently still adding content. It also includes advanced sections on freeRTOS. It uses in a very intelligent and useful way the free Visual Studio Code Editor in Windows and Linux, even allowing debugging in ESP32 inside Visual Studio Code with a cheap 10 dollars JTAG addon board.
Learn ESP32 The ESP-IDF

Embedded systems development courses STM32

Microcontroller Embedded C Programming: absolute beginners
Foundation course on Embedded C programming using STM32 Microcontroller.
by FastBit on Udemy
Mastering Microcontroller with Embedded Driver Development - MCU 0
Learn bare metal driver development systems using Embedded C: Writing drivers for STM32 GPIO,I2C,SPI,USART from scratch
by FastBit on Udemy
Mastering Microcontroller : TIMERS, PWM, CAN, RTC,LOW POWER - MCU 1
Learn STM32 TIMERS, CAN,RTC, PWM,LOW POWER embedded systems and program them using STM32 Device HAL APIs step by step
by FastBit on Udemy
Mastering RTOS: Hands on FreeRTOS and STM32Fx with Debugging - MCU 2
Learn Running/Porting FreeRTOS Real Time Operating System on STM32F4x and ARM cortex M based Mircocontrollers
by FastBit on Udemy
ARM Cortex M Microcontroller DMA Programming Demystified
Direct Memory Access Demystified with STM32 Peripherals (ADC, SRAM,UART,M2M,M2P,P2M) and Embedded C code Exercises
by FastBit on Udemy
STM32Fx Microcontroller Custom Bootloader Development
Learn fundamentals of Bootloader Development for your ARM Cortex Mx based STM32Fx Microcontroller
by FastBit on Udemy

Embedded systems development courses on Linux

Embedded Linux Step by Step using Beaglebone Black
Learn ARM Linux systems, Embedded Linux building blocks ,Busybox, Beaglebone interfacing Projects
by FastBit on Udemy

PCB design courses

KiCAD like a Pro
I took this course and reed the book and I recommend it highly, this is an excellent course. There comes a time that every person that enter this field of electronics or embedded systems, will feel the need to make a professional looking board for the system that you design. When breadboard, soldering wires or simples pre-fabricated modules connected by wires, are not enough. That is the time to start learning about how to design a PCB's. Starting by drawing the schematic, to the design of the effective PCB, reaching out to a fabric to make you PCB and then assemble in your home or in the fabric with an assembly service. This course cover it all. KiCAD is a free open source tool that is of professional grade.
KiCAD like a Pro

All my other guides

The links to all my guides are in:
Guides on Linux - Programming - Embedded - Electronics - Aeronautics
https://github.com/joaocarvalhoopen/Guides_Linux-Programming-Electronics-Aeronautics

Have fun!

Best regards,
Joao Nuno Carvalho

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