AC 2008-17: UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERS FOR CURRICULUM ANDLABORATORY EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENT: A FREESCALE S12MICROCONTROLLER LABORATORY TRAINERSteven Barrett, University of Wyoming Steven F. Barrett received the BS Electronic Engineering Technology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1979, the M.E.E.E. from the University of Idaho at Moscow in 1986, and the Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1993. He was formally an active duty faculty member with the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado and is now an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wyoming. He is a member of IEEE (senior) and Tau Beta Pi (chief faculty advisor). His research
AC 2008-1827: AN "EIA" APPROACH TO SUPPORT LABORATORY LEARNINGENVIRONMENTSNabil Lehlou, University of ArkansasNebil Buyurgan, University of ArkansasJustin Chimka, University of Arkansas Page 13.169.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 An EiA Approach to Support Laboratory Learning EnvironmentsAbstractWhen developing or expanding hands-on laboratory environments that rely on technology, onefaces various challenges. Such inconvenience varies from expensive technological renovations tothe reliance of devices on human intervention, to the non-standardized communication betweennetworked objects that use different native programming languages. To overcome these
proportional-derivative(PD) compensator. From this procedure, design procedures for unified notation lead,proportional-integral (PI), proportional-integral–derivative (PID), and PI-lead compensator weredeveloped. With this proposed approach, students can concentrate on the larger control systemdesign issues, such as compensator selection and closed-loop performance, rather than theintricacies of a particular design procedure.Once students learn the unified design process discussed above, it is important that they get anopportunity to apply it to design and laboratory projects. Most real life examples require designiterations. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed in this paper not only makes thisfeasible, but also makes this an excellent
laboratory settings,as well as in independent projects. The toolkit is being used with students during the spring 2008semester. Preliminary results will be available for the 2008 ASEE convention and alldocumentation for the toolkit is freely available on the project website1.IntroductionOptical fiber technology provides very high quality data communications over great distances.With the growing and now common use of optical fiber in industry and high-end consumerelectronics, the use of optical fiber should be more widely taught. For this purpose we aredeveloping an educational optical fiber data communications toolkit that provides students withthe means to investigate the physical layer in such a network. We first used the toolkit duringthe spring
is defined in the traditional robotics manner). The first and last linksconnect to exactly one joint. No active appendages of any sort were allowed, although the linksthemselves could be complex.To ensure that the students focused their designs toward effective locomotion, the worm robotsare required to pull behind them a ‘chariot,’ which contains the battery and processor. Therobots were thus required to generate good traction and ground force, as opposed to simplygenerating forward motion. The exercise took place over one week, during which there werefour hours of laboratory time.Our prior experience suggested that the motivation of the students would increase significantlywere the design cast as a competition. As such, the demonstration
6-axes of inertial sensor data, GPS, a real time clock (RTC) for data stamping, magneticcompass, and temperature sensing, making it an ideal circuit board for embedded applications.The system integrates analog and digital sensors, serial communication interfaces and protocols,and a user command interface.In this work we outline the development of a digital signal processor-based navigation systemand describe its capabilities. We also describe its application in student work, particularly as thebasis of laboratory experiments in a course on autonomous vehicles.System DescriptionOur research combines low cost readily available components to provide a sensor system capableof improving embedded computing applications and enhancing laboratory
AC 2008-1316: REALISTIC LOOKING INTERFACES: IN SEARCH OF THE BESTERGONOMIC METAPHORS FOR REMOTE AND VIRTUAL LABORATORYINTERFACESDavid Olowokere, University of Alabama at BirminghamKayode P. Ayodele, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLawrence O. kehinde, Texas Southern University, Houston, TexasOlutola Jonah, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityTemitope O. Ajayi, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, NigeriaO.O. Akinwunmi, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Page 13.1025.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Realistic Looking Interfaces: in Search of the Best Ergonomic Metaphors for Remote and Virtual Laboratory Interfaces.AbstractIn the last few years
. Page 13.574.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Evaluating Development Boards for Laboratory Based Embedded Microcontroller Courses: A Formal Evaluation MatrixAbstract:With all the different development board options available for laboratory basedembedded microcontroller courses, how do you know that you have selected the bestoption? As part of the effort to improve the curriculum in the Electrical and ComputerEngineering Department at Purdue University, several different development boards wereevaluated. To assist in this process and make the “best” choice, a formal evaluationmatrix was developed to assess the various attributes of each option. The evaluationmatrix and rationale for the criteria are explained in
AC 2008-1057: PILOTING A GAME-BASED VIRTUAL LEARNINGENVIRONMENTFelipe Arango, Stevens Institute of TechnologyGonca Altuger, Stevens Institute of TechnologyEl-Sayed Aziz, Stevens Institute of TechnologyConstantin Chassapis, Stevens Institute of TechnologySven Esche, Stevens Institute of Technology Page 13.982.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Piloting a Game-based Virtual Learning EnvironmentAbstractIn a new technological era, where virtual environments and social networks are redefining howstudents interact with each other and exchange information, alternative and complementaryapproaches to traditional hands-on laboratories are emerging. Educational
development of interactive mathematical objects especially supporting the visualization of complex mathematics and physics related problems.Thomas Richter, University of Stuttgart After receiving his Ph.D degree in mathematical physics at the Berlin University of Technology (TU-Berlin), Thomas Richter worked for two years in the private enterprise "Algovision Technology" as project leader for image compression. In 2002, Thomas Richter returned to the TU Berlin, working on Virtual Laboratories at the DFG-funded mathematical research center "Matheon" of the Berlin universities. Since 2003, he continued his research and standardization work on image compression in cooperation with Pegasus Imaging, a
, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria Danilo Garbi Zutin obtained his BSc degree in Electrical Engineering form the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) in Brazil. As a student, he has developed undergraduate research during three years at the university and has joined an internship program at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria, where he has worked within the Remote Electronic Laboratory project. The work was focused in developing a system for testing and designing ASICs as a part of the tele-learning system of the institution. The work has resulted in a system that allows designing and testing ASICs by means of an online platform. His areas of interest are
AC 2008-363: REAL-TIME, EMBEDDED-SYSTEMS NETWORKING: A NOVELWAY TO DEVELOP AN INTERACTIVE UNDERGRADUATE COURSEEce Yaprak, Wayne State University Dr. Ece Yaprak is a Professor of Engineering Technology in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University. Her areas of interest include computer networks and communications where she has published extensively. She has held engineering positions at General Electric and Ford Motor Company, and research fellowships at NASA (John Glenn, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ames Research Center, and the Johnson Space Center) and the U.S. Navy (SPAWAR). She has received teaching excellence awards from her Division and the College of Engineering. She has received
inexpensive microcontrollers replace discreteelectronic component designs. For example, a microcontroller may be used to read an analogsensor and control an output display or actuator, a simple task ideally suited to an inexpensivemicrocontroller, and one that can be implemented with only basic microcontroller experience.The goal of the project is to design microcontroller hardware, software, and courseware that willbe used in several classes in the ME curriculum, so that the students gain familiarity withcommon microcontroller systems and applications without taking a special elective. Thehardware design must be useful for classes and laboratories including programming, electroniccircuits, measurement systems, control systems and mechatronics
CarAbstractThis paper describes the development of the Motor Controls Toolkit (MCT) for a series ofcontrol system experiments. We intend to eventually use the MCT with an off-the-shelf hobbytype car type chassis. This combination of hardware provides a portable, relatively inexpensiveplatform that can be used for high school or college level classroom demonstrations or for anundergraduate laboratory or independent study in control and automation. The kit providesopportunities to study controls principles, signal processing, and simple power electronics.The MCT consists of a Xilinx field programmable gate array (FPGA) development boardinterfaced with a daughterboard that contains drive electronics for the motor, interface logic foran optical encoder, a
the pedagogicalpuzzle. This feedback is used to refine and optimize the course for the student to get the mostfrom the experience. This optimization is heavily based upon the premise that students haveresponded to the best of their ability using their own work.When this premise is found to fail, a common response by the instructor is to reduce the courseweight of the component(s) where academic integrity may be questioned (e.g. computerprogramming laboratories). While this appears to limit the gains of the dishonest student, it willalso demotivate the honest students by: 1) Placing less emphasis on core aspects of the course building blocks, and 2) Continuing to reward questionable methods with high marks.In the effort to limit the
set up in a lecture / laboratory formatand meet twice a week for 1 hour and 50 minutes. These three engineering courses add up to sixsemester hours and span the entire freshman year.The “original” freshman engineering course sequence between 1998 and the spring of 2007included engineering fundamentals (circuits, material balance and statics), computer applications(Excel, Mathcad and Solid Edge), statistics, engineering economics, teamwork, communicationskills, and a design project. The students did most of their work in teams, including homeworkproblems, laboratory activities and presentations. The freshman year culminated in a designcompetition between student teams.In 2002, the College began to pilot a robotics-centered set of freshman
developed a software pack-age tailored to the TMS320C6711 and TMS320C6713 DSK (DSP Starter Kit). The 6713 DSKis shown in Fig. 1. After several years of experience with our original winDSK program for theTMS320C31 DSK, the new winDSK6 software package is greatly improved and more capable,and takes full advantage of the higher performance DSKs. The winDSK6 program is a WindowsVista/XP/2000 application that provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), and ensuresthat the first experience with the DSK is a positive and motivating one. This software makes theDSK hardware much more accessible to new users, and facilitates easy-to-use, ready-made class-room and laboratory demonstrations. For simplicity, all application software and DSK code
user interfaces (C-based text, Visual Basic GUI), and two data acquisitiondevices (USB data acquisition, simulated multi-channel IO device).IntroductionThe popularity and importance of automated controllers has grown rapidly over the past fewdecades1. The subject of Control systems has grown in importance in education as well. Thereare numerous challenges educators must face when teaching a control systems course. Studentslearn far more from their studies when they have an actual laboratory experiment to help relatethe abstract concepts of engineering to real life design problems2. While simplified physicalsystems such as the inverted pendulum or the digital servo are common in academicenvironments, design for more practical systems is
, but largely uninteresting today. This perception may stem from thetraditional use of ray tracing as an offline or batch technique: until recently, generating a singleimage required either several minutes of computation on desktop systems or extremelyexpensive, highly parallel systems found only in large research laboratories. Others believe thatthe physical and mathematical underpinnings put the algorithm beyond the reach ofundergraduate students, relegating the study of the algorithm to graduate-level courses.However, we believe that ray tracing is an ideal vehicle through which to reinforce and applyfundamental concepts in computer science. To develop an understanding of the algorithm,students must integrate and extend knowledge in computer
possibleexperiments. The course, low cost robot, three developed laboratory modules, and results of thestudent evaluations are discussed in this paper.Overview of Microcontrollers and Robotics CourseSeveral years ago the Computer Science Department in the Watson School of Engineering andApplied Science at Binghamton University we designed and began to offer an upper-divisionundergraduate course entitled Microcontrollers and Robotics1. This was done in response to thereality that an important application of computer science is that of using embeddedmicrocomputers to control hardware systems. These are ubiquitous in electronic devices foundalmost everywhere in modern society, and, in particular, in embedded control systems and robotsused in industry, science
the LabVIEW software, the basics of LabVIEW are taught within the ENRG-1403course. Fundamentals of LabVIEW and examples are given in both the classroom and lab.The ENGR-1403 students are also not required to have previous knowledge of programmablelogic and software. The students learn programmable logic controller software and hardwareapplications through the use of programmable logic controllers that are in the ENGR-1403course lab. Note that only smatterings of students in the ENGR-1403 course, mainly those thatwork in industry, do have some limited experience with programmable logic.A fire alarm system systems laboratory is used in the ENGR-1403 course with the lecture. Thisfire alarm signaling systems laboratory has programmable logic
the robot-vision system set-up in the University ofMaryland Eastern Shore Mechatronics and Automation Laboratory (UMESMAL). Alsothe dual water tank, rotary pendulum and flexible rotary arm utilize Simulink andRealtime Workshop from Mathworks Inc. for real-time control applications in theUMESMAL. The visual representation of control algorithms in Simulink is translated to Page 13.769.4Matlab m-files, which are subsequently translated to optimized ‘C/C++’ code andcompiled using a Visual C++ compiler for real time control solutions [18].Matlab “Image Processing Toolbox” has been utilized along with other softwareenvironments such as PCI-Geomatics, ArcGIS
optimization. He has consulted for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wimpey Offshore Ltd., and Argonne National Laboratory. Address: Department of Civil Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026; telephone: 618-650-2815; e-mail: mrossow@siue.edu. Page 13.844.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Learning Statics by Studying Worked ExamplesIntroductionThe traditional way to learn in a problem-solving course such as statics is to solve a largenumber of homework problems. This approach is often inefficient and frustrating becausestudents spend so much time
dualgraphics displays allowing the student to use one display for his or her personal workspace,while the second display could be used to view/share information with the instructor’s desktop,or to share into other students work during collaborative sessions. This project was started inmid-August 2007 and assessment results are presented in this article for Fall 07 and the early partof Spring 08.IntroductionOne of the thrusts for our Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department curriculum is topromote the active learning aspects for our engineering students during classroom lectures aswell as during laboratory experiments needed for the course1. Based on student technology fees,departmental and collegial funds, two collaborative classrooms were
/ trusses, machines Iowa State Statics http://bits.me.berkeley.edu/cw/00/02/36/1/static.exe Authorware John Hopkins Truss designer Web-based software http://www.jhu.edu/~virtlab/bridge/truss.htm Engineering Mechanics Statics & dynamics Missouri- http://web.umr.edu/~oci/index.html Rolla MecMovies - Mechanics of Materials Basics to combined stress states http://web.umr.edu/~mecmovie/index.html Missouri Virtual Laboratory for Structural Mechanics State http://www.ae.msstate.edu/vlsm/ Engineering Mechanics of Solids MIT
AC 2008-1015: A CORRELATION DETECTOR SIMULATIONJames Reising, University of Evansville JAMES A. REISING is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana, where he has taught since 1980. Prior to that time he was employed by Eagle-Picher Industries at the Miami Research Laboratories and the Electro-Optic Materials Department. He is a senior member of IEEE.Mark Randall, University of Evansville Mark E. Randall is a Staff Engineer for the University of Evansville College of Engineering and Computer Science. He is presently working on a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Evansville. Mark has two
television display, the need for personalcomputers dedicated to each lab station was eliminated, and replaced with one common personalcomputer to serve all the stations in the lab. This resulted in a much less cluttered and moreeasily maintained lab, and demonstrated interesting input/output capabilities of the ‘HCS12processor that were used in the station design. Students seemed satisfied with the lab stations,and were eager to use them to explore the capabilities of the ‘HCS12 processor.References 1. (authors omitted for review), “Comparing the MC68HC11 and the TMS370 as Vehicles for an Introductory Microcontroller Laboratory,” 1994 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1994). 2. (authors omitted for
department. Assessment feedback indicated stu-dent interest in a larger number of hands-on, laboratory based electives. The trendwas reinforced by further survey feedback that suggested possible improvement ty-ing in more electrical engineering fundamentals in its computer science offerings.Finally, industrial evolution is geared towards increasing the amount and intelli-gence of features in their products while reducing size and extending portability.Several of the industrial partners that serve on the Industrial Advisor Board forthe College of Engineering and Computer Science have demonstrated a move to-wards providing those features through software modifications rather than hardwaremodification. A growing need for capable software engineers in
were provided with a sample RiSC instruction setthat is Turing Complete. In their subproject 1 report, they were required to use that giveninstruction set to prove that their instruction set was also Turing Complete.The second subproject was generally easier for the electrical engineering students than thecomputer science students, as the electrical engineering students had previously taken a digitalcircuit laboratory course and had better understanding of how registers and multiplexors work.To compensate for this, the second subproject assigned to the computer science students includeda sample datapath and control to handle two of the instructions from the RiSC instruction set;this was unnecessary for the electrical engineering students.As
Record No. 1307, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1991.(7) Robert Brooks (a/k/a: James Matthews) and Carl Monismith, Direct Tension and Simple Stiffness Tests---Tools for the Fatigue Design of Asphalt Concrete Layers, Transportation Research Record No. 1388, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1993.(8) Robert Brooks (a/k/a: James Matthews), Investigation of Laboratory Fatigue testing Procedures for Asphalt Aggregate Mixtures, Journal of Transportation Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 119, No.4, 1993.(9) Robert Brooks (a/k/a: James Matthews), The Effect of Aggregate Gradation on the Creep Response of Asphalt Mixture and