Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angel Martinez, Kansas State University; Steve Warren, Kansas State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-2217: RASCL: A PORTABLE CIRCUIT PROTOTYPING LABORATORYAngel Martinez, Kansas State University Angel Martinez received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University in May 2005 and May 2007, respectively. His areas of research interest include embedded systems, analog & digital electronics, and system-level design.Steve Warren, Kansas State University Steve Warren is an Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Kansas State University. He teaches courses in linear systems, computer graphics, biomedical instrumentation, and scientific computing. Dr. Warren manages the KSU Medical Component Design Laboratory, and his research

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Moore, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-1636: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL TELECOMMUNICATIONLABORATORYGeorge Moore, Purdue University George Moore received the PhD degree from the University of Missouri in 1978. From 1978 to 2001, he was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. Currently, he is an assistant professor at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. His interest include software methods, telecommunication and distributed networking. He is a member of the IEEE, the IEEE Computer Society, and the ACM. Page 12.1404.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 The

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Huettel, Duke University; Kip Coonley, Duke University; Michael Gustafson, Duke University; Jungsang Kim, Duke University; Gary Ybarra, Duke University; Leslie Collins, Duke University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-1630: EXPERIMENT, EXPLORE, DESIGN: A SENSOR-BASEDINTRODUCTORY ECE LABORATORYLisa Huettel, Duke University LISA G. HUETTEL, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Laboratories in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. Her research interests include engineering education and the application of statistical signal processing to remote sensing. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University.Kip Coonley, Duke University KIP D. COONLEY, M.S., is the Undergraduate Laboratory Manager in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. His interests include

Conference Session

Digital and Embedded System Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mukul Shirvaikar, University of Texas-Tyler; Nikhil Satyala, University of Texas-Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Environment for Real Time Systems LaboratoriesAbstractThe goal of this project was to build a superior environment for a real time system laboratorythat would allow users to run Windows and Linux embedded application development toolsconcurrently on a single computer. These requirements were dictated by real-time systemapplications which are increasingly being implemented on asymmetric dual-core processorsrunning different operating systems. A real time systems laboratory curriculum based on dual-core architectures has been presented in this forum in the past.2 It was designed for a seniorelective course in real time systems at the University of Texas at Tyler that combines lecturesalong with an integrated lab. The students are required to have at

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ian Papautsky, University of Cincinnati; Ali Asgar Bhagat, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

microfluidics and MEMS devices for chemical and biological assays. He was the teaching assistant for the Biochip Laboratory course discussed in this paper. Page 12.971.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Introducing Microfluidics to Electrical Engineers: An Integrated Problem-Based Learning ExperienceIntroductionMicrofluidics is a multidisciplinary field comprising of physics, chemistry, engineering andbiotechnology that studies the behavior of fluids at the microscale and the design of systems thattake advantage of such behavior. The behavior of fluids at the microscale differ from“macrofluidic

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yi Cheng, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona; Kathleen Hayden, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona; Zekeriya Aliyazicioglu, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Electrical Engineering and ComputerEngineering programs. They also told us about their strong interests in the applications ofsoftware-hardware co-design (SHC) in embedded systems. With their assistance, we wereable to set up a digital design laboratory with design software from Cadence, Synopsisand Xilinx.There are many inexpensive FPGA boards from several vendors, which offer flexibility,performance and ease of use. Our students can design, implement and test digital circuitsusing a hardware description language, Verilog or VHDL. Many FPGA boards allowusers to instantiate a high performance processor, such as MicroBlaze, PowerPC, andARM, etc., and its memory and I/O devices on an FPGA chip. Therefore, we can use theboard to implement a very

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jimmy Linn, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and applications ofsome innovative technologies in the classroom. I have chosen to concentrate on one suchtechnology in this paper. This technology is the use of computer based laboratory experiments inlieu of or to supplement hands-on laboratory experiments. I will focus on computer based labexperiments. The driving force behind this technology is to speed up student progress onlaboratory experiments and make the learning experience in the lab more efficient. I choose theelectrical field to concentrate my discussion because my background is in electronics and I havesignificant experience teaching electrical courses with accompanying labs. I will first give some

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ernest Kim, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

of concepts introduced in each course.Curricular design of both courses as well as assessments of concurrent registration in the coursesis presented. Specific laboratory design, fabrication, and measurement experiments conducted inthe RF and microwave engineering course that helps emphasize concepts introduced in theengineering electromagnetics course are outlined.IntroductionRadio frequency (RF) and microwave engineering courses are commonly taught as an electricalengineering elective in the senior or graduate years of study.1 Concepts introduced in RF andmicrowave courses benefit from a solid understanding of passive and active circuits, and time-varying electromagnetic field theory.2 With regard to electromagnetic fields, wave

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Bigelow, University of North Dakota

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Engineering Focus program that was developed required that five additionalcourses be inserted into the curriculum. These courses are provided in Table 1. Although thesecourses are specific to our institution, there are similar courses at other institutions that could beadded if a similar program were to be implemented.Table 1: Courses added for the biomedical focus program. Course Name Number of Credits General Biology 1 (w/ Laboratory) 4 General Biology 2 (w/ Laboratory) 4 General Chemistry 2* (w/ Laboratory) 4 Anatomy 3 Human Physiology (w/ Laboratory

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam Neale, University of Waterloo; Jason Shirtliff, University of Waterloo; William Bishop, University of Waterloo; Cutberto Santillan Rios, University of Waterloo

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

processing.Cutberto Santillan Rios, University of Waterloo Cutberto A Santillan received the Engineering degree in Electronic and Communications from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico City, in 1999 and the M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, in 2002. He is also working towards his PhD degree in the same institution. He is currently working as a Laboratory Instructor for electromagnetic, communications and electronic circuit design courses at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include RF & Microwave design, measurement and analysis, RFICs, electronic circuit design and antenna modeling

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dorin Patru, Rochester Institute of Technology; Daniel Phillips, Rochester Institute of Technology; Eric Peskin, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE)

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

accepted into a graduate course of study focusing on biomedical ultrasound at the University of Rochester in 1992 and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1998. He served as a scientist and an assistant professor of research in the Diagnostic Ultrasound Laboratory of Dr. Robert C. Waag at the University of Rochester from 1998 until 2000 at which time he was accepted into a tenure track teaching position in the Electrical Engineering Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he received tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor in 2006. His interests include biomedical applications of electrical engineering including signal processing and embedded systems

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mustafa Guvench, University of Southern Maine

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

span the field of microelectronics including I.C. design, MEMS and semiconductor technology and its application in sensor development, finite element and analytical modeling of semiconductor devices and sensors, and electronic instrumentation and measurement. Page 12.1132.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Optoelectronic Device and Fiber Link Characterization in Computer Integrated Electronics Laboratory AbstractThis paper describes how automated measurement capabilities of a Computer-Integrated

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Shawn Addington, Virginia Military Institute; Wilbur Dale, Virginia Military Institute; Isaac Putnam, Virginia Military Institute

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-1139: ELECTRONS, HOLES, AND THE HALL EFFECTJ. Shawn Addington, Virginia Military Institute J. Shawn Addington is the Jamison-Payne Institute Professor and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the Virginia Military Institute. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He teaches courses, laboratories, and undergraduate research projects in the microelectronics and semiconductor fabrication areas; and, he remains active in curriculum development and engineering assessment. He is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is a member of ASEE

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Don Millard, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Mohamed Chouikha, Howard University; Frederick Berry, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

,physicists recognize problems of river currents and problems of headwinds and tailwinds inairplanes as involving similar mathematical principles, such as relative velocities.4 Gone are thedays when students were ham radio operators, played with Erector/LEGO sets, tinkered withelectronic kits or simply taken things apart for fun. As a result, students have less “gut intuition”and expert skills than prior generations possessed when entering the job market.5STUDIO PEDAGOGY The defining characteristics of studio classes are an integrated lecture-laboratory format, areduced amount of time allotted to lecture; a technology-enhanced learning environment,collaborative group work and a high level of faculty-student interaction. The studio

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wagdy Mahmoud, University of the District of Columbia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

involved in using continually-evolving system-level design tools and theefforts made to reduce their learning times.IntroductionABET 2000 requires providing students with a significant hands-on design experience.Graduating electrical engineering students should have the ability to develop system-leveldesigns for a variety of applications, implement these designs in functional hardware, and test thehardware in real-life operating conditions. To achieve such professional competence, studentsshould be required to participate in a sequence of hardware design experiments and projects.These laboratory exercises aim at: a) sharpening students’ abilities to design complex digitalcircuits and systems, and to interface these designs to peripheral devices, b

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglas Williams, Georgia Institute of Technology; Robert Butera, Georgia Institute of Technology; Selcuk Uluagac, Georgia Institute of Technology; Matthew Clark, Georgia Institute of Technology; Andy Deck, National Instruments; Michael Torba, National Instruments; Steven Trahan, National Instruments

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Write a report outlining a design strategy and assessing its strengths, weaknesses, and feasibility o Write a report describing functional/technical specifications of the proposed design strategy • Write an end-of-project report presenting the final design, strategy, technical description, and performance assessmentThese outcomes were then used as a template to guide development of the course.In order to achieve both the education and design goals of this course, class periods are Page 12.409.4organized to be approximately half lecture and half laboratory. Lectures and labs are held in thesame

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Lord, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Bell Laboratories, General Motors Laboratories, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and SPAWAR Systems Center. Page 12.582.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Effective “Writing to Communicate” Experiences in Electrical Engineering CoursesAbstractTo help develop essential communication skills that engineering graduates need, engineeringfaculty must find ways to incorporate writing into the curriculum. There have been reports ofimpressive work integrating writing centers or technical communication professionals withengineering courses. However, most engineering programs do not

Conference Session

Digital and Embedded System Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Bolding, Seattle Pacific Univ; Dave Van Ess, Cypress Semiconductor

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

core.When designing such a course, the selection of a particular microcontroller is a very importantdecision. The selection should consider not only what microcontrollers are currently popular, butalso the ease of project development using the system, the availability of support to students, thecosts of starting up a lab, and the flexibility of the platform to fit into a course with multipleobjectives. This paper reports on using Cypress Semiconductor’s Programmable System on aChip (PSoC) as the basis for a microcontroller systems design course. The experience ofselecting the PSoC, designing a curriculum around it, designing laboratory exercises andmanaging the course are described. Furthermore, considerations such as the technical andfinancial

Conference Session

Digital and Embedded System Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Liang Hong, Tennessee State University; Md Hasanuzzaman, Tennessee State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

recent focus on wireless video transmission, modulation classification, speech enhancement, and sensor networks. He is a member of IEEE and ASEE.Md Hasanuzzaman, Tennessee State University Md Hasanuzzaman received the B.S. degree and M.S. degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1996 and 1998, respectively, and the PhD degree from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN in 2004, all in electrical engineering. Since 2005, he has been with Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was a research assistant of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and worked on advanced microprocessor

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Caverly, Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Microwave Engineering course includes weekly laboratories where students performbasic microwave measurements and learn to use a contemporary microwave and RF CAD tool(the most recently used CAD software was Ansoft Designer SV). In addition to these weeklyreinforcement exercises, the students are assigned a project to use the tools studied throughoutthe semester to design, simulate, layout and test a prototype microstrip low pass filter circuitbased on LC ladder prototype in the nominal 1200 MHz frequency range. The students usedCAD for the design and simulation and implement the final prototype using inexpensive 1/16”thick single sided FR-4 printed circuit board and easily obtainable copper tape (1/4” and ½” isused). The students then use a Hewlett

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Greene, University of Saint Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

(SS) course, taught in virtually every EE program. The traditionallecture/exam format is, for many students, not effective at instilling the key concepts such thatthe students truly understand. They frequently fail at making the connections betweenmathematical results and physical results and lack the ability to gain engineering insights frommathematical results.Various programs have approached these challenges by adding a lab, or augmenting their classeswith web-based or computer demonstrations. Because of other pressures in the curriculum, wesought an alternative approach that did not increase laboratory time but obtained the goals ofhands-on learning. In order to obtain the increases in comprehension we are seeking, our focushas been on

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Doug Sterk, Virginia Tech; Tim Thacker, Virginia Tech; Elizabeth Tranter, Virginia Tech; Richard Goff, Virginia Tech; Janis Terpenny, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

problems given to the students helped keep them up to speed andabsorb the knowledge presented to them.Toward the end of the program, the students were introduced to a few practical examples of how Page 12.1345.4these converters are used in the real world by going through full design examples, and observingan advance experiment in power electronics research at Virginia Tech.Laboratory Research Portion of the REU ProgramDuring the first days, the students were given a tour of the laboratories at CPES at VirginiaTech’s campus and met with three graduate mentors. The mentors explained the many areas ofPower Electronics research, and what topics they

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cordelia Brown, Purdue University; David Meyer, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

“inverted” course formats werecreated for two core computer engineering classes: a sophomore-level Introduction to DigitalSystems Design course, and a junior-level Microprocessor System Design and Interfacing course.Both of these are 4-credit hour courses that include an integrated laboratory. In the experimental formats, the basic lecture content was delivered asynchronously viastreaming video, while collaborative solving of homework problems accompanied by a detailedwalkthrough of their solutions was done synchronously (i.e., during scheduled class periods) –which we refer to as directed problem solving (DPS). Traditional assigned (outside-of-class)written homework was replaced by collaborative problem solving by students working in smallteams

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Shawn Addington, Virginia Military Institute

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-245: SIX YEARS AND THOUSANDS OF ASSIGNMENTS LATER: WHATHAVE THEY LEARNED, AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?J. Shawn Addington, Virginia Military Institute J. Shawn Addington is the Jamison-Payne Institute Professor and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the Virginia Military Institute. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He teaches courses, laboratories, and undergraduate research projects in the microelectronics and semiconductor fabrication areas; and, he remains active in curriculum development and engineering assessment. He is a registered professional engineer in the

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chia-Jeng Tseng, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

. IntroductionTwo digital design courses are offered at Bucknell University: one is entitled “DigitalSystem Design” and the other is called “Advanced Digital Design.” Both courses consistof three hours of lectures and laboratories weekly. Digital System Design, offered to thejunior class, focuses on logic synthesis; schematic capture is used for design entry.“Advanced Digital Design,” offered to senior and graduate students, addresses system-level design methodologies; the detailed breakdown consists of VHDL, register-transfer-level design methodologies, advanced topics in logic synthesis, and technology mapping.This paper addresses the pedagogic considerations of teaching “Advanced DigitalDesign” using VHDL.The design description of a digital system may

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Chang, USMA; Grant Jacoby, USMA; Lisa Shay, U.S. Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

primarily on laboratory time: the first third of the course is 90% lectureand the last two thirds of the course are based on 90% laboratory time. During the last two thirdsof the course, we provide students with the necessary references, lecture for the first 10 minutes,and direct their learning using experimentation. We are currently using the Board of EducationBasic Stamp platform to teach majors and non-majors how to control and integrate various inputand output components (such as sensors, speakers, lights, motors, etc.) using microcontrollers.Despite this being the first year robotics were introduced to non-majors as the last of their threecourse sequence, over 75% of 36 students surveyed indicated that they would recommended theirpeers to

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Owe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Stephen Williams, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Eric Durant, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2007-596: UNDERSTANDING ABET OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMESOwe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering Dr. Petersen is Department Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He is a former Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and received his Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and an ABET EAC program evaluator in Electrical Engineering.Stephen Williams, Milwaukee School of Engineering Dr. Stephen Williams is Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He received the Ph.D. degree

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dick Blandford, University of Evansville; Deborah Hwang, University of Evansville

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

appropriate equipment tosupport those labs. Computer and electrical engineering have an array of laboratories including anetworks lab and labs for electronics, optics, control systems, circuits, and projects. It iscommon to see computer science students working in electrical engineering project labs, andelectrical engineering students using the resources in the computer science project lab. From theviewpoint of both faculty and students, we appear to have more space and resources than we Page 12.1117.7would have if we were in separate departments.The UpsideThere are genuine advantages to the combined department arrangement. Each advantage alongwith a

Conference Session

Digital and Embedded System Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lynne Slivovsky, California Polytechnic State University; Albert Liddicoat, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

TxDataReg Tx 0x08 16 Word StatusReg Tx FIFO 0x0C ControlRegFigure 8: Xilinx OPB UART Lite CoreIn addition to the cores just discussed, Interrupt Controller, External Memory Controller andSerial Peripheral Interface cores are also presented in class. Students complete a final designproject in lab in which they are required to use a new core, use a prior core in a new mode, ordevelop their own core. The use of soft cores in the laboratory and the closeness to the hardwareimplementation required by memory mapping cores

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hassan El-Kishky, The University of Texas-Tyler; Ralph Hippenstiel, The University of Texas-Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

include an electronic guitar, an iPod dock station, and a color detection machine.The work in the project started late in the summer of 2005 and the laboratory was fullyfunctional early during the spring of 2006. Several undergraduate lab assistants worked on thetask of preparing a categorized set of circuit project plans for the Hobby Shop and compilingthem into a library that was eventually made accessible to students late in the fall of 2005. Eachproject included schematics, a brief description of the use of the circuit, its functionality andapplication limitations. Also, several short talks were given to freshmen classes across campuswith a focus on engineering students in particular. The project was promoted and potentialparticipants were