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Computer/Electrical Engineering Transfer Program Cost-Effective Laboratory Facility

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Conference

2001 Annual Conference

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Publication Date

June 24, 2001

Start Date

June 24, 2001

End Date

June 27, 2001

ISSN

2153-5965

Page Count

8

Page Numbers

6.289.1 - 6.289.8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--9027

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/9027

Download Count

400

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Paper Authors

author page

Harold Hultman

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Abstract

The constant evolution of the Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering curriculum has necessitated a downward migration of basic engineering-content courses into the freshman and sophomore years. This has presented a challenge to two-year institutions in regard to articulation of content-rich introductory engineering courses, having equivalent breadth and depth to the university-level courses. This is especially true regarding courses involving both lecture and lab experience, in which the problem of integration of technically-current sophisticated laboratory equipment becomes a major concern. Montgomery College, in Rockville, Maryland, working in close cooperation with the University of Maryland, College Park, our major transfer-to institution, has established a comprehensive EE/CE laboratory facility. This facility provides the freshman/sophomore students with a laboratory experience fully equivalent to the UMCP requirements, so that direct transfer into the junior year is the normal sequence. Montgomery College is the only community college in Maryland that offers this option. Other in-state transferees must take a lab course at UMCP prior to attaining junior status. The laboratory equipment, facility layout, lab experiments, simulation support and course coordination form a seamless sequence of digital and analog experiences. The focus is on providing a learning experience combining phased-level-complexity industry-level equipment and useful/leveraged experiments, with a high-writing-content professional report as the product. This session will provide a brief but comprehensive overview of the design of the course, the objectives and outcomes, the facility and equipment, the laboratory experiments, and the report generation. Several elements will be featured: Each experiment requires designing from an engineering specification, utilizing traditional approaches; a complete simulation, utilizing PSPICE tm ; breadboarding of the circuit; testing of circuit performance compared to specification; and preparation of an industry- standard format technical report During the course, students learn PSPICEtm , both digital and analog functions, in a progressive manner as the experiment complexity increases. In a similar manner, students perform testing of circuits using a planned progression of increasingly complex equipment, and develop the ability to generate their reports in-process during their lab work. This is made possible by the design of each MC laboratory station, which is based on a Pentium processor running windows-based simulations, windows-based test equipment and windows-based word. There is no need for use of a 488 bus, et.al. that requires learning complex equipment control sequences, which the limited course time will not permit.

Hultman, H. (2001, June), Computer/Electrical Engineering Transfer Program Cost-Effective Laboratory Facility Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9027

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