Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jan Machotka, University of South Australia; Zorica Nedic, University of South Australia; Andrew Nafalski, University of South Australia; Ozdemir Gol, University of South Australia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-1171: A REMOTE LABORATORY FOR COLLABORATIVEEXPERIMENTSJan Machotka, University of South Australia Jan Machotka is an electrical engineering graduate of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He spent more than 10 years working as a professional consultant in industry in Czechoslovakia and abroad. He started his academic career 20 years ago at the South Australian Institute of Technology. He is currently a Programme Director for undergraduate, postgraduate and transnational students at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. He is also responsible for final year students’ projects for four engineering streams in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Freudenthal, University of Texas, El Paso; Frederick Kautz, University of Texas, El Paso; Bivas Das, University of Texas, El Paso; Luc Longpre, University of Texas, El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

theirwork.Traditional networking laboratoriesA good network teaching laboratory is essential to support student learning in a Networks course.A traditional networking lab, in addition to the computers, requires networking equipment such asrouters, switches and appropriate connections. The equipment needs to be updated regularly forthe students to be able to apply the skills they learn in the lab directly in the work force.Unfortunately, traditional networking labs are a fairly scarce resource. In addition to the cost ofequipment and updates, it is a challenge to design the lab to allow flexible configurations. Thesenetwork configurations are often not compatible with the campus network. Class assignmentsmay be restricted to those that can be performed using

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mukul Shirvaikar, University of Texas, Tyler; Karthik Somaraju, University of Texas, Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-527: LABORATORY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT USING RENESASTECHNOLOGYMukul Shirvaikar, University of Texas, Tyler Dr. Mukul Shirvaikar is the Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Tyler, where he develops curriculum and laboratories in computer engineering. Prior to this he worked at Texas Instruments specializing in real time imaging systems. Dr. Shirvaikar graduated with his doctorate from the University of Tennessee. He also has a M.S. degree from the University of Maine, and a B.Tech. from Banaras Hindu University, India. His current research interests include real time imaging and engineering education.Karthik Somaraju, University of Texas, Tyler

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zorica Nedic, University of South Australia; Andrew Nafalski, University of South Australia; Ozdemir Gol, University of South Australia; Jan Machotka, University of South Australia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-784: A PROJECT-BASED LABORATORY FOR A COMMONFIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING COURSEZorica Nedic, University of South Australia Zorica Nedic received her MESc degree in electrical engineering, specializing in electronics, from the University of Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. She obtained her ME in electrical engineering (control) in 1997 from the University of South Australia (UniSA), Adelaide, Australia. She worked for six years as a design engineer at the Institute Mihajlo Pupin in Belgrade. Since 1991, she has been working as a lecturer in electrical engineering at the UniSA. She is currently studying for her PhD degree at the UniSA in the field of modeling biological vision.Andrew

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adnaan Jiwaji, MIT; James Hardison, MIT; Kayode P. Ayodele, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, Makerere University; Alfred Mwambela, University of Dar-es-Salaam; V. Judson Harward, MIT; Jesús A. del Alamo, MIT; Bryant Harrison, MIT; Samuel Gikandi, MIT

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-1806: COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF REMOTEELECTRONICS LABORATORIES: THE ELVIS ILABAdnaan Jiwaji, MIT Adnaan Jiwaji is a Masters of Engineering graduate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis was development of remote laboratories for Africa with iLabs. Currently he is a Software Engineer for the Clusters and Parallel Storage Technology group at Oracle.James Hardison, MIT James Hardison is a Research Engineer with the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives at MIT. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Presently, he is involved with the management and development of online

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yakov Cherner, ATeL, LLC; Ahmed Khan, DeVry University; Amin Karim, DeVry University; Gary Mullett, Springfield Technical Community College

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-2163: SIMULATION-BASED VIRTUAL AND HYBRID LABORATORIESFOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS EDUCATIONYakov Cherner, ATeL, LLC YAKOV E. CHERNER, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of ATEL, LLC. He combines over 25 years of teaching experience with extensive experience in writing curricula and developing educational software and efficient instructional strategies. Dr. Cherner develops new concepts and simulation-based e-learning tools for STEM education that use real-world objects, processes and learning situations as the context for science, engineering and technology investigations. He also proposed and implemented the pioneering concept of integrated adjustable virtual laboratories and designed

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-1230: COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS LABORATORY PROJECTSFEATURING INTERACTIVE SIMULATION AND VISUALIZATIONEd Doering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Edward Doering received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Iowa State University in 1992, and has been a member the ECE faculty at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology since 1994. He teaches courses in digital systems, circuits, image processing, and electronic music synthesis, and his research interests include technology-enabled education, image processing, and FPGA-based signal processing.Sam Shearman, National Instruments Sam Shearman is a Senior Product Manager for Signal Processing and Communications at National Instruments

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stuart Wentworth, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Level Electrical Engineering Core LaboratoryBackgroundThe junior level core laboratories at our university are not tied to specific technical areas orclasses. Instead, the junior labs are designed to be multi-disciplinary, integrating conceptsthroughout electrical engineering. Such an approach has a number of advantages1-4, one beingthat students can more readily appreciate the interrelation between electrical engineering subdisciplines. In addition to the technical content, the core laboratories also develop our students’teaming and communications skills (both oral and written). Laboratory course structurethroughout the junior year consists of a Monday lecture, followed by a 2-hour lab period later inthe week.For over a

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ahmed Rubaai, Howard University; Ramesh Chawla, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-278: LABORATORY EXPERIMENTATION AND REAL-TIMECOMPUTING: AN INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAhmed Rubaai, Howard University AHMED RUBAAI received the M.S.E.E degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1983, and the Dr. Eng. degree from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1988. In 1988, he joined Howard University, Washington, D.C., as a faculty member, where he is presently a Professor of Electrical Engineering. He is the Founder and Lead Developer of Howard University Multipurpose and Multidisciplinary Automation and Control Laboratory. His research interests include built-in intelligent controller for high performance industrial drives, hardware testing in

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mustafa Guvench, University of Southern Maine

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

“design” is emphasized in this course. As a matter of fact the juniorelectronics courses (ELE342 and ELE343) constituting prerequisites for this course alsoemphasize design but at a smaller scale and using discrete BJT and off-the-shelf ICs rather thanat the chip level using CMOS technology. This emphasis on “design” in our electronics sequence Page 14.888.2of courses has been implemented starting with an NSF grant to establish and develop a“Computer-Integrated-Electronics” Laboratory (C.I.E. Lab) in the early 1990’s. The concept of“Computer-Integrated-Electronics Laboratory” simply brings computers into the electronics labwhere designs

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dietmar Moeller, University of Hamburg; Hamid Vakilzadian, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

concept of object separation may be realized by programming, and functionalityof each unit may be represented as a visual module for allowing a flexible and intuitivemodeling of individual sections of the system and/or processing, an important strategy invirtual prototyping. The connection of all modules forms signal processing chain, where themodules communicate with one another through the chain. Fig. 3 Elements of a Design in VHDLThe virtual prototyping laboratory will assist the students in choosing proper designparameters and the implementation technology, and connecting the modules in a processchain as shown in Fig. 4.Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module n¦¦¦¦¦¦⎯⎯→¦¦¦¦¦¦⎯⎯→¦¦¦¦¦¦⎯⎯→¦¦¦¦¦¦active

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Prakash Ranganathan, University of North Dakota; Richard Schultz, University of North Dakota

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aaron St. Leger, United States Military Academy; Anthony Deese, Drexel University; Chikaodinaka Nwankpa, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-1464: AN ANALOG POWER SYSTEM EMULATOR AS A LABORATORYTOOL FOR TEACHING ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMSAaron St. Leger, United States Military AcademyAnthony Deese, Drexel UniversityChikaodinaka Nwankpa, Drexel University Page 14.175.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 An Analog Power System Emulator as a Laboratory Tool for Teaching Electric Power SystemsAbstractMost power systems courses incorporate both software and hardware components intolaboratories. Each of these technologies has strengths and weaknesses. In this paper, a novelanalog power system emulator is presented as a unique laboratory tool for teaching powersystems

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian Belu, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

power electronics is the problem-oriented and project-basedlearning approach. Students are often unaccustomed to assimilating materials from manyareas at one time, thereby making it difficult for them to simultaneously bring togetherthe circuit, signal and system analysis, electromagnetics and control theory topics whichare required to fully describe the operation of a power electronic converter. The project-based course and laboratory described in this paper directly addresses these difficulties byhelping students to reduce theory to practice. This approach supports the prerequisitelecture material and allows study of some practical issues which are best handled in alaboratory setting. The course format makes the students gradually more

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Burkett, University of Alabama; Charles Snead, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Capstone Woodwind Quintet as well as Principal Hornist of the Tuscaloosa Symphony. Page 14.956.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Picasso’s Clarinet: When Art and Engineering CollideAbstractA pilot-scale laboratory was explored in an introductory electrical and computer engineering(ECE) course designed to exercise creativity. The idea for this laboratory was initiated by themusic department as a way to promote collaboration and as part of a fund raising activity. In thislab, students built lamps from retired musical instruments. The creative process was marked byprogression through various stages including

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hetal Jasani, Northern Kentucky University; Wei Hao, Northern Kentucky University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

systems), Computer Networks, and Operating Systems. Page 14.738.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Innovative Network Security Course DevelopmentAbstractNetwork security courses become increasingly popular in colleges (including communitycolleges) and universities. This paper discusses about developing the novel course of networksecurity using laboratory activities. It elaborates innovative projects that are suitable forlaboratory work in network security curriculum. It explores both hardware and softwarecomponents that are now being used for practical exercises in network security courses. Mostoften these

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wei PAN, Idaho State University; S. Hossein Mousavinezhad, Idaho State University; Kenyon Hart, Idaho State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2009-959: DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING: THEORY AND PRACTICE,HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREWei PAN, Idaho State University Wei Pan is Assistant Professor and Director of VLSI Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Department, Idaho State University. She has several years of industrial experience including Siemens (project engineering/management.) Dr. Pan is an active member of ASEE and IEEE and serves on the membership committee of the IEEE Education Society.S. Hossein Mousavinezhad, Idaho State University S. Hossein Mousavinezhad is Professor and Chair, Electrical Engineering Department, Idaho State University. Dr. Mousavinezhad is active in ASEE and IEEE and is an ABET program evaluator. Hossein

Conference Session

Pedagogy and Assessment III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Egbert, Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

by MSU will be set at MSU rates. Tuition rates for engineering courses will be set at Missouri S&T rates. MSU will collect tuition and fees for the engineering courses and send the money to Missouri S&T. Missouri S&T will reimburse MSU for engineering courses taught by MSU faculty. 8. Department chairs in the Civil and Electrical Engineering programs at Missouri S&T will provide administrative oversight of the respective programs. 9. The programs will be jointly reviewed by Missouri S&T and MSU every three years.Special one-time state funding provided monies for the procurement of laboratory equipment, theremodeling of rooms on the MSU campus to make laboratory space for the two new programs,and

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jean-Claude Thomassian, State University of New York, Maritime College; Anoop Desai, Georgia Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

employed in the teaching ofElectronics and Network Analysis. The analysis of this paper follows comparable studies onmedia-based instruction. Cohen et al1 who found that students learned additional informationfrom such instruction techniques in contrast to traditional modes of instruction. Moreover,Powell et al2 further explored this analysis and found that such instructional techniques werehelpful in raising the GPAs of the students.PSpice, an acronym for Personal Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis, is ageneral purpose analog circuit and digital logic simulation software used to check the reliabilityof circuit designs and to predict circuit behavior. SPICE3 was originally developed at theElectronics Research Laboratory of the

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arun Ravindran, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Patricia Tolley, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Arindam Mukherjee, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

required for the course areprogramming using a high level language such as C/C++ or Java and an understanding of logicdesign, both which a typical undergraduate computer engineering student acquires at thesophomore or the junior level. An associated laboratory component was also developed, whereweekly hands-on laboratory sessions serve to reinforce the ideas learned in the lecture. Thecourse projects are drawn from a variety of disciplines which use high performance computingincluding bioinformatics, scientific computing, and signal processing. The course was assessedthrough pre and post tests, focus groups, and external evaluators drawn from faculty from otherdepartments. Our assessments indicate that the course has had a significant impact on

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rachid Manseur, State University of New York, Oswego; Adrian Ieta, State University of New York, Oswego

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, classrooms, project labs and offices for faculty, staff, and support personnel asneeded. Most, although not all, courses in the engineering core curriculum and electives arebetter taught with laboratory sessions or in studio format with hands-on activities. To this end,the following list provides examples of required facilities: 1. Circuits and Electronics studio This laboratory and its equipment can support several courses such as circuits, analog electronics, signals and systems, instrumentation and related elective courses. 2. Digital Systems Studio Several courses in the digital electronics and computer systems areas can be

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark McDermott, University of Texas, Austin; Jacob Abraham, University of Texas, Austin; Mihir Ravel, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

design and embedded system-on-chip (SoC)design.Background and MotivationA sequence of four graduate level courses was chosen for this analysis for three reasons: 1) thedependencies the courses have on laboratory based instruction, 2) applicability to thesemiconductor industry and 3) each course builds upon the previous course culminating in acapstone course that unifies the systematic design competencies that are needed to build complexsilicon systems. These silicon systems are composed of both hardware and software componentsthat implement complex algorithms and functions, and these functions determine thecompetencies required by the student.The four courses in the sequence are described in detail in the next section and include: 1) Basic

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lihong (Heidi) Jiao, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, loss budgeting, Bit-Error-Rate budgeting, and transmission capacity budgeting arekey to optical communication system design. Both cost and performance are the concerns insystem design and often times trade-offs have to be made. Wavelength Division Multiplication(WDM) technology is essential in today’s networks. Issues related to dense WDM and coarseWDM are discussed. At the end of this section, students are expected to design a single channelmulti-building campus network and single channel undersea network with the givenspecifications. To help students understand basic concepts taught in class and put knowledge in use and gainhands-on experiences with optical fiber and optical components, both classroom demonstrationsand laboratory

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; Wajiha Shireen, University of Houston; Farrokh Attarzadeh, University of Houston; Miguel Ramos, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, University of Houston MIGUEL RAMOS is the Director of Accreditation and Assessment Services for the College of Technology at the University of Houston. His primary focus has been the practical application of assessment and evaluation strategies to enhance educational quality in the college and university. Prior to joining the University of Houston, Dr. Ramos worked as a researcher for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, and as an Evaluator for Boston Connects. He earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation from Boston College in 2004.William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston WILLIAM FITZGIBBON, III earned his BA and PhD degrees from Vanderbilt University in

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jiecai Luo, Southern University; Fred Lacy, Southern University; Pradeep Bhattacharya, Southern University & A&M College; Perry Daniels, Texas Instruments

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

considerations that will reduce the test portion manufacturingcost. This process is calling Design for Testability (DFT). The skills a test engineer should have include mastery of basic circuits includingthe ability to design and troubleshoot them using laboratory equipment as well asAutomatic Test Equipment (ATE). The test engineer should also be able to program(C++, MATLAB, and LabVIEW) and to effectively communicate technical issues to bothproduct marketers (possibly non-technical) as well as product designers (very technical). The high demand of the electronics industry is the main reason for establishingnew classes in universities. Practice based education is one of the many ways the “can dospirit” can be inspire in many students

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

matt gallagher, Vermont Technical College; Andre St. Denis, Vermont Technical College; John Murphy, Vermont Technical College

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

use in everything from automobiles to remotelysituated data loggers. A balance needs to be struck in offering these courses: basic conceptsmust be conveyed along with skills that will allow students to be productive in future situations Page 14.826.2where they will use these devices. Basic concepts such as interrupts, memory maps and parallelports can be taught in a classroom with accompanying text and laboratory. Many standarddemonstration boards exist that can serve as a vehicle for showcasing these concepts in the lab1.Many courses have been developed with these types of boards2,3,4. What can be lacking in suchan approach is giving the

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Asad Azemi, Pennsylvania State University; Nannette D'Imperio, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Science CourseAbstractIn this work, we present a new teaching approach that we have implemented in our introductorycomputer science programming course. The methodology consists of team teaching, a hybriddelivery system, recorded lecture retrieval capability, readiness assessment activities, objectiveassessment of student progress, and cooperative learning through team work. The team teachingapproach consists of two faculty members being present and actively involved in lecture deliveryand classroom activities, which take place in a computer laboratory setting. The hybrid deliverysystem consists of using Centra, a real-time communication, collaboration and learning softwareenvironment, for lecture delivery, recording, and active student

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharlene Katz, California State University, Northridge; James Flynn, California State University, Northridge

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

developed increased theirunderstanding and motivation. Cost was minimal and could be nearly zero with available freesoftware and downloadable signals.I. IntroductionThis paper presents a set of classroom demonstrations developed for use in the senior levelanalog communications course that is common to most electrical engineering programs. Thedemonstrations are intended to provide motivation to students with little or no practicalexperience with communications systems. By using software defined radio (SDR),communication systems are demonstrated with signals that are familiar to students. Thedemonstrations can be used in any classroom or laboratory with minimal cost.Section II of this paper provides background on some of the issues that faculty

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wagdy Mahmoud, University of the District of Columbia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

paperprovides details of laboratory exercises and a senior project that is implemented using both softcore and hard core processors on three different FPGA boards. Advantages and disadvantages ofeach of these implementations will also be presented. The paper will also detail the challengesinvolved in using continually-evolving embedded processing tools and the efforts made to reducetheir learning times.IntroductionThe Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requires providing studentswith a significant hands-on design experience. Graduating electrical engineering students shouldhave the ability to design, test, and verify the correctness of operation of systems, subsystems,and components for real-time application.The aggressive

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mouna Nakkar, University of Sharjah

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

be also used in embedded system laboratory courses as well as a workshop onSoC. The tutorial is organized to be completed within 6-8 hours. A sample group of junior/seniorstudents took this survey and the initial results are positive. The design and tutorial are availablefor public at the University of Sharjah website.IntroductionA. SoC revolutionThe last ten years witnessed a revolutionary shift in the traditional design of VLSI to a moremodern approach which is SoC; i.e. a board with reconfigurable hardware (FPGA) and otheradded chips and I/O features. As a result, the embedded systems market in general increaseddrastically. Jackson estimated that 98% of processors are used in embedded systems1. Currently,the market for SoC is a $2 billion