Conference Session

Contemporary Instrumentation Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Robertson, Arizona State University; Barbara Rampel, Arizona State University; James Edwards, Raytheon

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

verylarge, massively parallel systems. This in turn leads to the productivity improvementsbehind the title of this paper. Thus an individual can manage tools that make billions ofmeasurements in a very short time period at a cost of nano-$ each (or less). This is a newworld for instrumentation and its practitioners. It requires new skill-sets that in turn placenew requirements on curriculum content and emphasis.Impact on skill-setsThe starting point to determine how these changes in systems applications should affectthe curriculum is to identify the new or enhances skills that are needed. The mainoperational challenges are: Be clear about requirements for accuracy Identify and limit sources of drift that lead to loss of precision

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurement: Innovative Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Marshall, University of Southern Maine

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

insight into the “laboratory based problem solvinglearning environment” that has been developed with financial and technical assistancefrom local industries. The discussion will also identify how the “need” for this type ofproject based curriculum became obvious. Four prerequisite courses are briefly describedbefore focusing on the project based capstone course. These four courses provide thestudents with the technical skill sets needed to succeed in the senior level capstonecourse. Accomplishments and outcomes from the student perspective, the Universityperspective, and the industry perspective will also be shared.Our advancing world of computer integration, process control, industrial automation, andtelecommunications requires technical problem

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurement: Innovative Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gurinder Singh, Future Technology Devices International Ltd. (USA); Lakshmi Munukutla

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

) at the Polytechnic campus recently restructured theircurriculum to provide flexibility for the curriculum to introduce emerging technologies to theirstudents on an ongoing basis by partnering with the industry partners. This paper outlines thelaboratory activities as an example to be included into the existing curriculum for the BS degreeseeking students in the Electronics Engineering Technology program.2. Sample Laboratory ApplicationsIn this Section we discuss laboratory experiments that can be easily implemented in aninstrumentation USB laboratory using FTDI products. These experiments will provide a studentin-depth understanding of various USB concepts.LAB1 – USB to UART Converter (single-port)Serial (COM) ports are all but obsolete in