Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Harris, California Polytechnic State University; Dominic Dalbello, Allan Hancock College; Jianbiao Pan, California Polytechnic State University; Albert Liddicoat, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

students. To accomplishthis, the team partitioned the initial concept of one learning module into the development of twolearning modules: (1) a tutorial learning module that will provide the student with foundationalknowledge of PCB technology and the resources available on the web, and with a proceduraltemplate for developing a PCB board; and (2) a laboratory learning module designed to replacetwo standard experiments on operational amplifiers (op-amps) which we believe are taken by allengineering students in the lower division.The development of each of the learning modules will be discussed below. The plan is tointegrate these learning modules into the lower division electrical engineering service coursetaken by all engineering majors. The

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Meyer, Purdue University; Mark Johnson, Purdue University School of ECE; Cordelia Brown, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

others appeared to be transcribed “after the fact”. We attempted to address these issues by evaluating each student’s lab notebook tear-out sheets several times throughout the semester (on a total of four different occasions). While this rather significant effort on the our part lead to notable improvements in the lab notebooks relative to previous offerings, there is still room for improvement especially for team members charged with software development, who generally kept the “worst” notebooks. The fundamental problem appears to be getting students to: (a) appreciate the value of a good lab notebook, and (b) take it seriously.1

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arlen Planting, Boise State University; Sin Ming Loo, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

device containing programmable logic components (logic block),programmable interconnects and memory elements. This programmability allows the user tochange functionality an unlimited number of times to fit the desired application. For theMicroprocessors course, the FPGA is used to instantiate a soft-core processor.The Altera DE2 (Figure 1) was selected as the FPGA development board for updating theMicroprocessors course. With a complete set of tools, a large selection of standard devices, andthe ability to be reconfigured, the Altera DE2 has all the features necessary for prototyping andaddressing numerous protocols. The Altera DE2 integrates industry-standard development anddebugging tools (Eclipse IDE, GCC compiler and GDB debugger) that the

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Soonghwan Ro, Kongju University, Rep. of Korea

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

course evaluation, examination marks and term projectresults between the year 2007 and previous years.The effectiveness of the new kit could be confirmed by quantitative analysis, and alsoqualitatively in the class. It could also be seen that the students’ interest in the course improved.1. OverviewComputer System Architecture, [1] written by M. Morris Mano, has been the most widely usedteaching material for training and understanding computer operation since its publication. Thisteaching material provides an understanding of computer operation, assembly language andassemblers, and enhances ability in hardware design and software programming.However, it is very difficult for students to learn this subject through theoretical lectures

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Baker, Texas Tech University; Brian Nutter, Texas Tech University; Mohammed Saed, Texas Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

activitiesconsidered to be important contributors to student retention. Swail2 also notes thatresearch opportunities are very beneficial to science and engineering students. Studyingreal-world applications of classroom concepts improves the student’s educationalexperience and preparedness for the job market. Faculty-student contact beyond theclassroom is also cited as helping to build student motivation and providing positivefuture impact on educational and career decisions2. Grabowski3 also identifies successfactors in undergraduate research that include 1) cross-disciplinary projects, 2) value bothto students and to faculty, 3) close faculty mentoring, and 4) authentic rather thanexperiential activities. Such a program is identified with increased academic

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sheng-Jen Hsieh, Texas A&M University; Yuan-Teng Cheng, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

. This is especially important when learningprogramming. However learning PLC programming is different from learning general purposeprogramming because equipment interfacing and control is involved.Unfortunately, educational institutions often lack the resources needed to help students tobecome proficient with PLC programming. For example, a Manufacturing Automation andRobotics course typically uses programmable logic controllers, sensors, robots, and machinevision systems in teaching automated manufacturing system design. However, students’ learningis hindered by obstacles such as:• High faculty-to-student ratios: For example, the ratio for Manufacturing Automation and Robotics at one major university is 1:36 for lectures and 1:18 for each

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J.W. Bruce, Mississippi State University; Lee Hathcock, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

; ∋ ( )∗ # + , ,− ,−! ,− ,− + ! ( . . ! %,,/∋ + ∀ ,,/ ( 0 ! . ,,/ ! 1 2222234 506− 7 %∗)0∋ ∗)0 0 ∗)0 0 . . 8 ∗)0 . Page 13.172.26 ! ∃ !9 ! ! : ! ! ! ; < = > + . ? + 8

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ed Doering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Sam Shearman, National Instruments; Erik Luther, National Instruments

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

conceptualthreads from the required curriculum and strengthens their DSP programming skills with a seriesof mini-projects1.The choice of computational platform for mini-projects and in-class demonstrations is a keydesign decision for the course. Richard Hamming once said “the purpose of computing is insight,not numbers,” and students gain manifold insights when they interact with a signal processingsystem of their own creation. The choice of a development environment for optimum studentlearning revolves around two critical issues: (1) the total time required to transform a conceptinto a working system, and (2) the degree to which the system is interactive. Frustration resultswhen the development process takes too long or is too complicated. In addition

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suk Kim Chin, Australian Catholic University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

teamwork environment, these high achievers feel that the poorer studentswaste their time. Also, the less talented students can be encouraged to participate strongly in theproject, thus eliminating a significant number of “passengers”.1. Introduction“We need to work to support ourselves and we want a life, therefore time for study is scarce”depicts the typical full-time student characteristics in ACU, Australia. Part-time students, withages varying between 25 and 50, have one or more of the following responsibilities: • a demanding job; • family; and • the need to improve their career potential.The scarcity of time for study is witnessed by the aforementioned student characterization and assuch, it is desirable to design courses which

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Khalid Al-Olimat, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

recommendation and combined two courses the ECCS 335Energy Conversion and the ECCS 336 Power Systems into one course. The combined course iscalled ECCS 338 Electric Machines and Power Systems. The course covers the topics of bothearlier courses. The topics of this new course include the following: 1. Magnetic circuits 2. Direct current motors 3. Three phase circuits 4. Power transformers Page 13.943.3 5. Synchronous generators and motors 6. Induction motors 7. Per unit and impedance diagrams 8. Transmission line models 9. Load flow analysis 10. Optimal dispatch of generation.To optimize the time spent in the classroom and

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Saeed Khan, Kansas State University-Salina; Greory Spaulding, Kansas State University-Salina

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

flared sections (3 inches long). Thefirst cylindrical section has a diameter of 4 inches and the last flared section has adiameter of about 36 inches. The overall length of the antenna is about 5 feet long. Whilethe antenna was designed by electronic and computer engineering technology (ECET)students, mechanical engineering technology (MET) students took charge of building itunder the supervision of their MET instructor. The structure was built by spot weldinglaser-cut pieces of sheet metal. ECET students made experimental measurements toverify the predicted gain and functionality.Motivation:The design of the large Cantenna (Figure 1) was taken up by students as a classproject for the Communication Circuit Design (ECET 420) course. Chief

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Osama Mohammed, Florida International University; Nagy Abed, Quanta Technology

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

and implementation of the realtime with Hardware in the loop (HIL) simulator for digital control algorithm developmentand testing are discussed in this section. The overall system architecture is shown in Fig.1.The system consists of drive board, target PC, master PC, the sensors, the dc supply, FPGAI/O DAQ card and the real time shell.1- The Drives boardThe drive board consists of two independent three phase inverters. Each 3-phase inverter usesMOSFETs as switching devices. The drive board was used to perform a variety of controlexperiments on both AC and DC machines. Page 13.1026.3The main features of the control board are: • Two

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bruce Krogh, Carnegie Mellon University; Tsuhan Chen, Carnegie Mellon University; Tuviah Schlesinger, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

thanthe binary classification of EE vs. CE. We present a new ECE core curriculum that eliminatesthe outdated EE/CE distinction and describe how this core better prepares ECE students topursue advanced courses and careers in all sub disciplines of ECE.IntroductionDespite the large number of “electrical and computer engineering” and similarly nameddepartments at US universities, there are currently only 14 universities offering accredited BSdegrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering.1 Most universities continue to have separateBS degree programs in Electrical Engineering (268) and Computer Engineering or ComputerSystems Engineering (165).1 Our university introduced the BS in ECE as a single degree over15 years ago.2 This curriculum, which we

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ramakrishnan Sundaram, Gannon University; Fong Mak, Gannon University; Sunil Tandle, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Machine DrivesIntroductionThis paper presents a real-time instrumentation setup that benefits the subject matter intwo courses: electric drives and test and measurement. The paper discusses virtualinstrumentation-based interfaces for real-time control and display of electric machinedrives. This approach will lead to the flexibility of applying this setup as a platform tostudy electric drives as well as the LabVIEW-based (from National Instruments, Inc.)experimentation design.In this lab, the machine drive is implemented using a distributed real-time simulationsystem from Opal-RT 1 with machines and power electronics drive board as hardware-in-the-loop (HIL). The simulation executes on a hardware configuration consisting of theCommand Station

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Charles Kim, Howard University; Mohamed Chouikha, Howard University; Veronica Thomas, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

. His"Mobile Studio" project developed a hardware/software interface which, when connected tocomputer via USB cable, provides similar functionality to that of the laboratory equipment currentlyassociated with an instrumented studio classroom2. The first generation Mobile Studio was realizedby a tablet PC, and instrumentation interface implemented on a breadboard, and graphic displaysoftware as shown in Fig. 1. The instrumentation interface reads data from and sends signals to thestudent circuit made in the open space of the interface board. The graphic display software allowsstudents, by tapping icons and clicking buttons, to measure and display data and to generate signals.With access to wireless internet for class materials, the portable set

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Beams, University of Texas at Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

.” (By comparison, a similar search for“Electronics Workbench” produced 312 “hits”). The evaluation version of PSpice is frequentlybundled with textbooks. Examples of these include texts on general circuit analysis 1, generalelectronics 2,3, communication systems 4,5, power electronics 6, and photovoltaic systems 7.There are also textbooks intended as primers or introductions to PSpice itself 8,9,10,11. Publishersoften support web sites that provide worked-out examples from the textbooks.However, it is often easier to create one’s own additional PSpice examples rather than to siftthrough the mountain of available resources. This was the genesis of the PSpice Archive of theUniversity of Texas at Tyler. The collection began as an ad hoc effort to

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arif Uluagac; Douglas Williams, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

modules use National Instruments'LabVIEW for their programming and development platform with the Speedy-33 DSP board andLEGO Mindstorms NXT Brick as the hardware platforms. Many of the modules can also be runcompletely on the host computer's sound card. Modules have been developed for examiningdifferent aspects of topics such as sampling, aliasing, and filtering, while working with data thathas been captured and processed in real-time. Students are able to interact with the hardware anddata through GUIs, thus obviating the need to first develop real-time programming skills. Thispaper will describe these modules and how they are designed to be used both in lectures and aspart of homework assignments.1. IntroductionRecent advances in embedded

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dale Buechler, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

as feedback. Lecture notes andreadings are posted in advance to allow efficient coverage of the theory and more time for in-class examples and assessment. In-class “board-work” using the document camera is scannedand placed on the class webpage. Electronic submission of homework and projects isencouraged, allowing students to make fewer trips to campus. Fourth, flexibility should beincorporated into the course syllabus. Most non-traditional students have outside commitmentssuch as work and family which require missing at least 1 class per semester. Allowing studentsto drop their worst exam, quiz, homework, etc., helps students overcome such absences. Finally,assessment needs to be an integral part of each course. Instructors need to

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dorian Yeager, Grove City College

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

set of non-negative integers, and is thereforeappropriately styled a “step function”. We define, for each complex number c, if ; otherwise, if the iteration below terminates then the value will be the terminalvalue of the integer variable n: n := 0 z := 0 while |z| < 3 do: z +c n := n + 1 end whileFinally, if the above iteration does not terminate before some prearranged number MAXIT ofiterations, then is given the value MAXIT.The Mandelbrot set is the set of all complex numbers c for which will always be MAXITno matter how large that constant is chosen to be. In other words, the Mandelbrot set is the set ofcomplex numbers for which the iteration

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill Yang, Western Carolina University; Yeqin Huang, Western Carolina University; Robert Adams, Western Carolina University; James Zhang, Western Carolina University; Kenneth Burbank, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

(1b) cwhere n is the index of refraction, ω is the frequency of light and c is the speed of light invacuum. These are in general vector equations in three dimensional (3-D) space, but mosttextbooks use the linear polarization assumption to simplify them into scalar wave equations.For planar waveguides, usually a one-dimensional (1-D) model is used as illustrated in Figure 1. y E ∂/∂y=0 y H ∂/∂y=0 n2 n2 n1 H n1 E -a a x -a a x TE

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Friauf, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Stephen Williams, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Steven Reyer, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Owe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

thereare numerous other writing tasks as well, all intended to parallel business and industryrequirements. They focus on providing evidence of individual contributions and range fromengineering notebook entries to bi-weekly “elevator” style reports – very short succinct reportsthat demonstrate the progress made in the latest time interval. Finally, in conjunction with our“trade-show”-style Senior Design Show in May of each year, each team must create a posterwith a primary pictorial emphasis to highlight their design. This is part of a poster competitionthat takes place the same day.BackgroundMuch has been written about the essentials of writing requirements in various curricula settingsand career preparations.1-3 Surveys repeatedly have

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Fred Cady, (Retired) Montana State University; John McLellan, Freescale Semiconductor

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

criterion has taken into account such factors as commercial popularity, referencematerial availability, third-party resources and available feature set.Table 1 Microcontroller Application Modules Processor Architecture RAM (kB) Flash ROM (kB) Bus Clock (MHz) HCS08QG8 HCS08 0.512 8 10 MC9S12C32 HCS12 2 32 25 MC9S12DT256 HCS12 12 256 25 HCS12XDT512 HCX12 20 512 40 DSP56F801 DSP 4 24 80 MCF5211 ColdFire V2

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jin-Hwan Lee, University of Cincinnati; Ali Asgar Bhagat, University of Cincinnati; Karen Davis, University of Cincinnati; Ian Papautsky, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Computer Engineering. It now includes students from mechanicalengineering, environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, and chemistry.Figure 1. MEMS and BioMEMS courses offered at the University of Cincinnati.Fifth-year undergraduate students (seniors) in the Electrical and Computer EngineeringDepartment take a sequence of 3 senior capstone courses for a total of 9 credit hours in theirsenior year.4 Typically, students self-organize into teams and select a project of interest. Theymay choose a variety of projects proposed by industry, community organizations, professors, co-op employers, or themselves. All teams meet with the course instructor and complete a series ofdeliverables to specify and document their projects. Each team has a

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Freudenthal, University of Texas at El Paso; Brian Carter, University of Texas at El Paso; Frederick Kautz, University of Texas at El Paso; Alexandria Ogrey, University of Texas at El Paso; Robert Preston, University of Texas at El Paso; Arthur Walton, University of Texas at El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

implementations of programfragments. Lab assignments utilize both languages and introduce students to commandinterpreters, scripting, collaborative development tools, and subroutine linkage of procedurallanguages. Assignments are distributed, “handed in,” and grades distributed using thesubversion source code repository.The reformed course’s outcomes are a superset of the original, with extensions including (1)understanding of C and its runtime environment, (2) parse trees, and (3) implementation ofdynamic memory management.ContextObject-oriented design is accepted as a primary programming model2 and many computerscience departments have adopted Java as their principal teaching language in many lower-division courses. Furthermore, Java programs are

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Asad Azemi, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

can potentially lead to ineffectiveclassroom teaching 1-3. There are also works that have focused on making their PowerPointpresentations more effective 4.Teaching with Tablet PCs has recently attracted attention as a potential tool for educational useand a “Classroom Presenter” system has been developed 5-7 for delivering computer sciencecourses. Surveys of this system 5-7 indicate that students pay more attention and gain a betterunderstanding of the course material. The system described in [5] was further extended forcollaboration and active learning within the classroom, where students could submit digital ink-based material to the lecturer, within a Tablet PC-based classroom, to display on the projector 8.Based on our experience, the

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frank Kragh; Jeffrey Reed; Carl Dietrich; Donna Miller

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Northrup, Western New England College; John Burke, Western New England College

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, there seemed to be a huge disconnect. There was noticeable knowledge lossover the summer break. It is well documented that knowledge retention decays over time9.Therefore, in the feedback discussions, faculty brainstormed ideas for refreshing the memories ofthe junior level students. The first key change at the course level of the junior microelectronicswas the requirement of summer homework. It was believed that students who did their summerhomework, would have better knowledge retention. Thus, over the summer, students wererequired to do homework problems similar to those shown in Figure 1 and to bring thoseproblems with them to the first class of the microelectronics course. Figure 1: Example summer homework problem

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Saeed Monemi, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona; Zekeriya Aliyazicioglu, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, vocal functions may be the only means ofcontrolling a wheel chair.Goals and Objectives`The objective of this project was to modify an electric wheelchair with voice recognitionso that voice commands can be used to control the movements of the wheelchair. Theidea is to better aid the mobility of users with extreme disabilities, such as paraplegics(paralyzes from the waist down) and quadriplegics (paralyzes from the neck down).The following goals were identified by the faculty and students: 1. Design a new wheelchair controller that uses voice recognition. 2. Interface the voice recognition with the new controller. 3. Interface the controller with the electric wheelchair. 4. Implement sensors to detect nearby objects in order to

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Cambron, Western Kentucky University; Walter Collett, Western Kentucky University; Stacy Wilson, Western Kentucky University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

is dedicated to project-based learning (PBL).Engaging students with the concrete, hands-on, and real-world problems is a great motivator.PBL has grown in acceptance in the undergraduate community during the past two decades. 1-4WKU’s EE faculty are focused on undergraduate education. Our faculty are rewarded andrequired to engage students in activities to support the development of a clear understanding ofengineering practice.5 Our goal is to provide students with relevant project experiences insideand outside the classroom. Faculty have developed a series of experiences throughout thecurriculum to support this mission which culminates in a year long design sequence. Studentsprepare for outstanding professional leadership by participating in

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew O'Fallon, Washington State University; Jack R Hagemeister, Washington State University; Clint Cole, Washington State University, Pullman; Joseph Harris, Digilent Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

to start with. In this way we kept the initial cost down and had theflexibility to only include peripherals that we could include in our course.The Digilent CerebotII Embedded Controller Board, shown in Figure 1, is designed around theATmega64L microcontroller. The board provides a stable platform for an introductory oradvanced microcontrollers and embedded systems courses. The board is designed to beinexpensive, less than $40, and very versatile. The CerebotII contains eight R/C servoconnectors, eight Pmod connectors (5 x 12-pin, 3 x 6-pin) for use with peripheral modules or Page 13.738.4devices. It also is compact in size, 4.3” x 2.8