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Session 2559

Utilizing Student Computers for Laboratory Data Acquisition in a University-Wide Laptop Environment

Lewis G. Frasch, P.E. Lawrence Technological University

Abstract

Laptop computers are being required of all students starting with the freshmen class of 2000. Traditional thermal science labs are being equipped with Analog-to-Digital converters to output the lab's traditional analog signals as a digital signal carried by a RS232 cable. Read-only files with appropriate software can be loaded on a student laptop when they come to lab, and the student's computer becomes the data acquisition system for the lab.

Background

In the fall of 2000, Lawrence Technological University (LTU) began requiring that all entering freshmen have a laptop computer. In each succeeding year, the next class rank (i.e. sophomores in fall 2001) would be required to have a laptop. The laptops are a standard model leased by the unversity to the students and regularly upgraded. Student laptops that develop problems are fixed by the help desk or exchanged if the problem is too serious to fix quickly. They are pre- loaded with a standard set of software for each college. For example, all engineering laptops are pre-loaded with a high-end CAD program, programming language, equation solver, and office software. Students who wish to use their own laptop must have one that is compatible with the university's and loaded with the same software.

The ability to assume that all students and, therefore, all student lab groups will have a current laptop with predictable software allows two basic lab issues to be addressed. For one, it makes a standard computer available for data acquisition in any experiment. Secondly, if the laptops can be used as stand-alones, it allows LTU to avoid the built-in obsolescence of permanent lab computers. Further, it reinforces the student's understanding of the laptop as a tool.

Prototype Context

The Thermal Science Lab (TSL) is a senior level lab taken by all ME students. It consists o f a series of experiments designed to reinforce the principles learned in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer in the context of real equipment. Well-designed experiments tend to be used for a very long period of time. In the spring of 2001, a very gifted group of students requested to do a Design Studio redesigning one of the TSL experiments. (Design Studio is a one-semester version of the usual yearlong capstone design course. It is very intense and only allowed by special permission.)

Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Frasch, L. (2002, June), Utilizing Student Computers For Laboratory Data Acquisition In An University Wide Laptop Environment Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11163