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

carry themajority of the charge when electric current flows in the n-type material. On the other hand,doping a semiconductor with p-type acceptor material (which has only three electrons in theouter shell) results in holes in the valence band. Because there are more holes in the valenceband than there are electrons in the conduction band, the majority charge carriers of p-typematerial are holes.1When current flows through these semiconductors in a magnetic field the charged particles tendto push to one side of the conductor or the other. The resulting voltage difference can bemeasured perpendicular to the current flow. The transverse voltage across a semiconductor iscalled the Hall Effect.2 See Figure 1.The primary difficulty in building this

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

of operations:generate, capture and pulse-width-modulation (PWM). Our students were able toimplement a PWM controller, or an input capture function to measure the period orfrequency of an input signal and generate real-time interrupts.We used the book [1] to provide reading material for the SHC. We discussed the typicaldesign flow of SHC: partitioning, scheduling and implementation. Among the three co-design classifications: SHC of embedded systems, SHC of instruction set processors, andSHC of reconfigurable systems, we studied only the SHC of the embedded systems. Weused several embedded systems as case studies: a car dashboard system, a real-timespectrum analyzer using FFT calculations, MP-3 encoding and decoding, and MPEGencoding and

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

Engineering and Computer Science DepartmentAbstractIn the United States, more than 10% of traditional electrical engineering programs havecombined with computer science into a single department 1. Historically computer scienceprograms emerged from mathematics or electrical engineering departments in the mid to late1960's. Since mathematics is not typically in the engineering college many computer scienceprograms developed independently from engineering programs. In the 1970's and early 1980's,with the advent of the microprocessor and embedded computer systems, computer engineeringevolved mostly out of existing electrical engineering programs and has since become a separatediscipline distinct from electrical engineering with

Conference Session

Optical and Wireless Communication Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Frank, Queen's University; John Carr, Queen's University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

12.172.2 4 5 3 ∗( 3 6 ∋ ∋ 7 8 9 ∀ : 5 − ()), & ()), & ()). ∃ ; < & ∀ + > ())> 3 ! ?−3 &∋∋∋ #)(∗∗ −53 4 0≅Α 1 3

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chia-Jeng Tseng, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

” course at Bucknell University. VHDL is used to define thefunctions and structures of a digital system. The writing of a hardware description is verydifferent from writing a program for software applications. Effective teaching of ahardware description language such as VHDL is a challenging task. To improve theeffectiveness of teaching digital system design using VHDL, numerous pedagogicconsiderations have been taken into account. In this paper major pedagogicconsiderations including course organization and materials are described. Studentfeedback was collected and analyzed; the effectiveness of each course module isreviewed. Common mistakes and general guidelines of writing VHDL descriptions forsynthesis are also presented.1

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

discussion, which was immediately followed by an activity where students solved paper-and-pencil problems, investigated computer simulations, or conducted hands-on experiments. • Access to Professors: The entire class was taught and supervised by a Ph.D. faculty member. Previously, the professor-in-charge had contact with the students only through the lecture Page 12.861.2 portion in which the entire enrollment met in a large lecture hall. Recitation (discussion) and ‐ 1 ‐  laboratory classes, where student-instructor interaction was more easily fostered, were taught by

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

MachineManager’ (VMM) or ‘hypervisor’ that takes complete control of the machine’s hardware. AVMM (Figure 1) is a layer of software between the physical system’s hardware and the operatingsystem. It is primarily used to emulate the hardware resources of the machine. VMMs build onthe lower level hardware platform and provide an interface to the higher-level software.4 TheVMM adds functionality below the existing operating system and application software. A virtualmachine is nothing but an abstraction created by the VMM. There exist a variety of ways inwhich virtualization can be implemented. The basic form is known as ‘full virtualization’. In thisform of virtualization, the hypervisor acts like a fully emulated machine in which a guestoperating system

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Braun, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

objectives. Also, great variation exists in thecorrelation between student performance on traditional problem solving exercises and studentability to master the course objectives. This work summarizes project results and studentperformance over eight years of course offerings.IntroductionAt Cal Poly, the majority of courses in electrical and computer engineering have laboratorycomponents to provide active learning opportunities and teach practical skills. Instructorsincreasingly use active and collaborative learning techniques to enhance the learning value oflecture sessions.1 This work seeks to augment active and collaborative learning to help studentslearn key electronics and integrated circuits concepts more deeply, namely, by finding a betterway

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald Hayne, The Citadel

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

density of FPGA devices increase, so does the impracticality of attaching testequipment probes to these devices under test. Xilinx now provides optional real-timeverification tools that provide on-chip debug at or near operating system speed. TheChipScope™ Pro3 tools integrate key logic analyzer and other test and measurement hardwarecomponents with the target design inside the FPGA. The ChipScope™ Pro tools communicatewith these components and provide the designer with a robust logic analyzer solution as shownin Figure 1. Page 13.251.3 Figure 1. ChipScope™ Pro Test Configuration.Course ContentA program of instruction has been

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Golanbari, University of the Pacific; Rick Garlikov, Garlikov.Com

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

following are example transcripts of portions of teaching sessions using the SocraticMethod in undergraduate engineering courses at the University of the Pacific.Example 1. Example transcript of a portion of a teaching session, using the Socratic Page 13.486.4Method, in an Analog and Digital Communications Systems senior elective course. Theclass is taught in Spring 2008 and a total of 4 students are enrolled: Bryan, Justin, Jesseand Patrick.Professor (MG): Is it important to discuss the idea of the size of a communication signal?If yes, why? What is this idea useful for? If not, why? Bryan, please go first.Bryan: Yes, it is useful, because you need to

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wookwon Lee, Gannon University; Fong Mak, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

above, a new one-semester course onengineering project and management has been recently introduced for first-year graduatestudents. This new course guides students through a complete design cycle from inception tocompletion with a pre-defined project of a complex system. For the required complexity for thecourse, a wireless cellular communication system, in particular, the third generation (3G)Wideband Code-Division Multiple-Access (CDMA) system 1, is considered for the designexercise and project management. In this course, based on the technical standards available fromthe standardization organization, students are required to produce design requirements andspecifications as well as other documents such as functional decomposition, project

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

of a distorted picture ofengineering education. The retention of engineering students is a very difficult problem [1].Demanding engineering curricula and ill-prepared students are often cited for poor retention andgraduation among engineering students. The problem is even more significant amongstunderrepresented minority groups. Lack of proper academic mindset and attitude for success andvery limited computer skills were cited as main challenges for incoming engineering students[2]. Also, lack of experience in bringing an engineering design concept to a working prototypeand poor written oral communication skills significantly contribute to the retention problem [2].The Electrical Engineering (EE) Department of the University of Texas at

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Cavicchi, Grove City College

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

switching circuit with protective diodes.In the PLC code, switches 0 and 3 open before 1 and 2 close. Thus with VAAbar << 0 V, there is,via diodes 2 and 1, already in place a voltage-limiting conduction path to discharge the inductorenergy. With contact potential of 0.6 V per diode, VAAbar is thus safely limited to –(5 + 1.2) V,and all associated solid state relays are protected. Figures 2a and 2b show, respectively, thesituation before and after addition of the diodes via oscilloscope traces of a PLC-driven steppermotor waveform. Notice that the spikes are of the polarity that Lenz’s law predicts (vself << 0upon opening of switches 0 and 3), with exceptions when there was probably some contactbounce that was captured. Students often

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vicky Fang, Cedarville University; Clinton Kohl, Cedarville University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

not expose students to the hardware behavior or the internal instruction behavior. Likewise,FPGA simulation alone will not provide a good real-time visualization of the many digitalsignals which make up the microprocessor hardware. To avoid such drawbacks, we designed aproject that requires each student to implement a 16-bit general-purpose computer on a real timedigital logic simulator named Cedarlogic.Students are given an instruction set specified in the textbook and a short assembly level testprogram. Students will: 1) build the entire computer hardware using the Cedarlogic simulatorfrom fundamental logic gates; 2) write an assembler to translate the test program into binarycode; 3) load the program into the memory of their computers; and

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Anderson, U.S. Naval Academy; Richard Buehrer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

trunk diameter of less than 4 cm, were spaced 2-3 meters apart, and had a height of less than 3 meters. The Page 13.200.3 area was dominated by underbrush such as bushes, tall grass, and the occasional rhododendron or mountain laurel. Forest canopy cover was estimated to be less than 10%. ‚ Light Forest - Dominated by small trees with little or no underbrush. Trees had trunk diameters less than 10 cm, were spaced 1-3 meters apart, and were up to 8 meters tall. Little or no underbrush existed in the space between trees. Forest canopy cover was estimated to range between 10 and 50%. ‚ Medium Forest

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rosemarie Guzman, University of the Pacific; Michael Golanbari, University of the Pacific

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

13.548.3annunciator system as part of the switchgear. Photographs of the switchgear and existingannunciator display window may be found in Figures 1-3. (An AutoCAD drawing of theannunciator display may be obtained from the authors of this paper via email.) Figure 1. Harvey O. Banks Unit 3 Switchgear Figure 2. Unit 3 Switchgear Figure 3. Unit 3 Annunciator Window DisplaySpecificationsThe annunciator system design must follow very specific requirements in order to comply withNational Electrical Code as well as function properly and effectively with the existing unit Page 13.548.4design

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Klein, University of Idaho; Herbert Hess, University of Idaho; Brian Johnson, University of Idaho

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

://seniordesign.engr.uidaho.edu/2007_2008/quest, Jan 20084. Odom, E.M., et al. “Idaho engineering works: a model for leadership development in design education,”Frontiers in Education Conference, 29th Annual, Vol. 1, pp. 11B2/21-11B2/24, Nov 19995. Johnson, T.A., et al. “Senior design in the setting of multidisciplinary research,” International Journal ofEngineering Education, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 570-581, 20076. Marszalek, M.A., et al. “Mentors improve the college experience of engineering undergraduates,” Frontiers inEducation Conference, 35th Annual, pp. F2G-10 – F2G-13, Oct 20057. Hoschette, J.A. “A mentor in hand,” IEEE Spectrum, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 56-58, Feb 19958. Babcock, D.L. and Morse, L.C., Managing Engineering and Technology, 3d ed. New Jersey: Prentice

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Hoffbeck, University of Portland

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

in a communication system course. Page 13.1351.2Using Real RF SignalsThe author's communication systems course uses real AM and FM radio signals to demonstratevarious concepts in communication systems. In addition to the homework assignments whichdeal with the theory of communication systems, the students perform a series of five projectsusing real signals as shown below. 1. Spectrum Analyzer Laboratory Experiment 2. AM Demodulation and Frequency Division Multiplexing 3. FM Demodulation 4. RDS Demodulation 5. RDS DecodingIn the first project, the students use a Tektronix RSA3408A Real Time Spectrum Analyzer toexamine and

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Yost, University of Detroit Mercy; Mohan Krishnan, University of Detroit Mercy; Mark Paulik, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

the curriculum.2 Introduction and BackgroundOver the last 15 years, the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty at University ofDetroit Mercy (UDM) have been exploring various approaches for the integration of acomprehensive autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) design project into the EE curriculum.Effective upper-division curriculum integration has been implemented and assessed, and an awardwinning paper describing our efforts published. 1 In fact, we have noted substantial improvementsin a variety of learning outcomes due to the use of such an integrated and comprehensive project.These improvements include greater student enthusiasm, better concept comprehension, a muchimproved understanding of topical relevance, and significant

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Idowu, Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg; Mohamed Omer, Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

engineering education as a meansfor bringing clarity to presentation of concepts is well articulated and documented in researcharticles [1-6]. The digital tool becomes more attractive especially when the curriculum is socrowded that the instructor must rush through a number of important topics during the semester.The economic dispatch problem (EDP) is a classical power systems (PS) analysis problem that isbroached briefly at the introductory level in typical electrical engineering (EE) undergraduateprograms. The question that presents itself is: What is the most efficient way of introducing thetopic given the fact that there are so many other topics that are deemed appropriate or importantfor a first course in power systems? Furthermore, it is very

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

characteristics of these systems 1. Embedded systems are the fastestgrowing areas of computing in recent years. Over ninety percents of all processors are used inembedded applications, and almost every facet of modern life, such as cellular phones, TVs,video game consoles, GPS devices, network routers, cars and space shuttles, contains embeddedprocessors 2. This growing popularity calls for engineers with experience in designing andimplementing embedded systems. The educators must make available the necessary skills totheir students by incorporating the entire system design and implementation procedures, Page 12.1507.2including specifications and modeling

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

23 and 44. Finally,for the Fall 2006 trial, the cohort sizes for the TL and DPS divisions were 54 and 43,respectively. As documented in Table 1, the prerequisite course GPA of the TL and DPS cohortsdiffered by no more than 0.3 (on a 4.0 scale). One significant difference implemented Fall 2006 in the traditional lecture division wasincorporation of in-class, collaborative homework problems. We believe this prompted morestudents to choose the traditional lecture version of the course in this latter trial (relative toprevious trials), based on success achieved with this methodology in the pre-requisitesophomore-level (Introduction to Digital System Design) course the previous semester. Anothersignificant difference instituted Fall 2006 was

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jimmy Linn, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

of new and innovativemethods in the classroom is only another tool to be used to facilitate the learning process. Todecide if this tool is applicable to a given situation, I recommend following the flow diagram infigure 1. First, course objectives must be evaluated to determine if a computer based lab model isconsistent with reinforcing those objectives. If the answer is yes, then a search for applicable offthe shelf software must be done to determine if available software will meet training andeducation requirements. If no such software is available, consideration of custom software maybe given. Is it cost effective? As one can see from figure 1, the decision process for deciding ifcomputer based laboratory experiments is the correct choice

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Otis, University of Washington; Linda Whang, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

the major factors influencing an engineer’s choice of information source is itsaccessibility, or perceived accessibility.1-2 Since “the more experience engineers have with aninformation channel or source, the more accessible they perceive it to be,”1 it makes sense tointroduce engineering students to a variety of reliable information sources while they are inschool so that when they are working in industry or academia, they will have familiarity withthem and be more likely to consult them. Rodrigues states that “the ideal time for the engineer todevelop his or her information gathering and management skills is not when entering thecorporate world, rather, it is during the engineering education,”9 when they have access to moreinformation

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

and the LSAMP program in order to develop an REU in power electronics targeted toLSAMP participants. The purpose of this program is threefold: 1) to provide additionalopportunities to ERC students to obtain a rich undergraduate research experience, includingconsecutive summer experiences, for interested students; 2) to extend ERC resources to non ERCstudents; and 3) to encourage the participants’ pursuit of engineering research activities andgraduate study after completion of the REU program. Opportunities to expand collaboration arefurther enhanced by the consortium organization of the Louis Stokes Alliances, which provideaccess to several institutions through each regional alliance.The structure of the CPES REU and LSAMP REU programs are

Conference Session

Digital and Embedded System Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Clint Kohl, Cedarville University; Keith Shomper, Cedarville University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

students who use thesesoftware tools will have a “A Ha” experience and say; “Oh, now I see how that works.”Additionally, debugging faulty circuits is often quicker with this type of tool, since all nodes areobservable rather than just the inputs and outputs. After using logic simulation software formany years, we have determined the following list of desirable characteristics. 1. Easy to use Windows program 2. Free or low cost 3. Simultaneous editing and simulation 4. Capable of changing the wires color according to its logic value 5. Smooth transition to advanced commercial software used in the later coursesPrior to the development of CedarLogic, we used the software program “Diglog”.1 Diglog is oneof the components

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

is a packet with thefollowing format: Type Length Data Checksum #define byte unsigned char struct our_packet { byte type; unsigned int length; // assume same byte order byte *data; byte checksum; };Figure 1. Typical data packetThis packet format uses printable characters to define the type of message and binary values todefine the Length field, while the Data field can contain either printable characters or binarydata. The Length value at the beginning of the packet is used to determine when all the data hasbeen received (With this

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

Armed Forces are unmanned; and Two, by 2015, one-third of the operational ground combatvehicles of the Armed Forces are unmanned 1. In support of this, the vision of the United StatesMilitary Academy (USMA) is studying and developing cooperative robotics systems that worktogether autonomously to carry, employ, deploy or retrieve sensor for a variety of purposes.Examples include improvised explosive device (IED) detection and eradication as well as theemplacement and retrieval of surveillance sensors and networks.The main tactical advantages of using unmanned systems to find carry, employ, deploy, orretrieve sensors are that robotic systems can take point during convoys, travel in hazardousenvironments, maneuver in relatively small areas, be

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

acknowledge that studentswould become more engaged in engineering education if professors could consistently assigncircuit experiments that accompany the lectures.[1, 2] Open laboratories have been proposed andimplemented in response to this awareness,[1, 3-6] but effective open laboratories require space,additional equipment resources, and possibly staff if they are to be scalable to meet the needs of, Page 12.1220.2e.g., circuits classes that are offered as service courses for large numbers of students in otherdepartments. Engineering curricula could benefit from tools that allow students to build and testcircuits at home in addition to the

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

times.ChallengesIntroducing system-level design tools into undergraduate courses pose many challenges to theinstructors of these courses. These challenges include:a) Number and functionalities of these tools: A large number of system-level tools are used. These tools are produced by Mathworks, Xilinx, and Mentor Graphics. These tools are used for design creation, functional and timing simulation, debugging, design synthesis, and to map, route, and download the design onto the implementation FPGA. Some of these tools are used to test the physical hardware produced.b) Documentation sizes: As shown in Table 1, these tools have lengthy user guides, references, and getting started manuals.c) Frequency of tools updates and modifications: currently, most of