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

communication systems • Calculate signal attenuation, dispersion, and optical reflection loss through a fiber span; • Carry out Fiber-Optic measurements; • Design fiber-optic communication systems.Course Contents The topics are grouped into three main sections: transmission medium (optical fiber), opticaldevices, and fiber optic communication systems. The outline of the course is listed below4. • Fundamentals of Fiber Optics • Optical Fibers • Optical Sources o Light-emitting diode o Semiconductor lasers • Transmitters • Receivers • Optical Amplifiers, Repeaters and Regenerators • Passive Optical Components • Fiber Optic Measurements: o power loss, OTDR, CD, PMD, BERT

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mouna Nakkar, University of Sharjah

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

industry and is expected to grow more in the next few years.To reflect on this, several leading universities are incorporating alternative teaching methods ofEmbedded Systems1-5. This change is of an agreement to proposals made by chief industryengineers. For example, G. Martin6 mentioned that few universities are changing its curriculumto reflect on industry's needs. Further, he added that the industry have a shortage of SoCengineers that universities are not providing.B. Teaching Embedded Systems/SoC/FPGA designDespite the improvement of reconfigurable hardware, FPGA, and EDA tools associated withthem, FPGA/SoC design is still a difficult pedagogical task especially for undergraduate courses.The design requires a good understating of the

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cordelia Brown, Purdue University; Yung-Hsiang Lu, Purdue University; Melissa Yale, Purdue University; Deborah Bennett, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

course on object oriented programming. It has been observed that traditional paperexaminations do not necessarily reflect students' programming skills. We study whether on-lineexaminations are more appropriate for a programming course. The examinations can be takenon-line or on paper in a classroom. Both formats are open-book and open-note and have the sameamount of time. This study considers the following questions: (1) Do students perform better inon-line examinations because they can type, instead of writing, code and have access tocompilers? (2) Do students prefer on-line examinations to traditional paper-based examinations?What are the reasons? (3) How can appropriate technology be used to maintain honesty? Wemeasured the appropriateness of

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harley Hartman, P.E., P.E., Pennsylvania State University, York; Peter Idowu, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

. They areeasily modifiable to reflect instructor’s comfort and convenience. The tools are effective ingenerating more enthusiasm among students because they provide alternatives to traditionalapproaches to clarifying difficult and unintuitive concepts.Index Terms – AC Machines, AC Concepts, Visualization.1. IntroductionThe present generation of students has a mindset that lends itself to interactive displays andvisually rich environments. Engaging them in the classroom has become an ever-wideningchallenge.As it is widely assumed that this trend will continue1 the possible impacts of various ways forengaging students through technology has been explored. Visualization in particular or the useof computer simulation is found to substantively

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alan Cheville, Oklahoma State University; Charles Bunting, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Page 14.1166.4disagreement among participating faculty which reflected individual beliefs of teaching andlearning. While some faculty felt that grades should be primarily focused on projectdeliverables, others thought that more traditional summative evaluations had more value. In thefirst iteration of the course, reported here, the project comprised approximately 40% of the grade,technician training 30%, and in-class work and examinations focused on concepts 30%.As shown above in Figure 1, the three parallel components of the course had some overlap, butaddressed very different learning goals. These learning goals were drawn from an engineeringdesign taxonomy 6 used in the ECE department to evaluate curricular content. Details on each ofthese

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

supply project) remains at the similar level as inprevious years (2006 and 2007). A large majority of students (95%) agreed or strongly agreedthe project motivated them to learn more and 80% of them were highly satisfied with the project-based laboratory. Page 14.90.12The chart presented in Figure 12 shows that mechanical engineering students and particularlycivil engineering students are significantly less satisfied than the electrical engineering students.All students are supervised by the same supervisors and taught by the same lecturers. Responsesto questions 4,5,7 and 8 reflect student perception of students-staff relationship. Interestingly

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

problemsand solution algorithms. This project comes as a response to the urgent need for newer, moreefficient educational tools to reform the outlook of power engineering education. Thevisualization tool aids students in quickly obtaining a detailed understanding of the power systemanalysis problems when used as a supplement to traditional lecture approaches. Therefore itallows for introduction of other demanding topics within the limited time of an undergraduatecurriculum. In addition, the software visualization tool enables students to spend more time onpower system analysis topics outside the classroom, which have been shown to result in effectivelearning and development of reflective thinking skills.An earlier version of the visualization tool

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Buket Barkana, University of Bridgeport; Navarun Gupta, University of Bridgeport; Lawrence Hmurcik, University of Bridgeport

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

of teaching graduate engineering coursesusing students’ Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences (MI). Thirty volunteers answeredcommercially available Learning Style and MI tests in our Electrical Engineering department.Learning styles are grouped as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK) and can determined bythe VAK learning style test. Learning styles are reflected in different academic strengths,weaknesses, and skills. Studies show that the differences between learning styles will affect botha person’s choice of profession and their success in this profession, both in education and in theworld of business. People who work at something that fits their learning style have a betterchance of becoming successful in it. In this study, tools

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Freudenthal, University of Texas, El Paso; Brian Carter, University of Texas, El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

programs written in strictly imperative languages that reflect thesemantics of the underlying memory model, such as C. Schonberg and Dewar report similarobservations of students graduating from other programs that adopted Java- centric curricula.5While these deficits are not common at schools with architecture-first curricula,3,4,5 object-centriccurricula are asserted to provide complementary advantages. Rather than taking a position onwhether architecture-first curricula are strictly superior to object-first, we implementedcompensatory reforms that appear to be successful, as observed by upper division systemsfaculty and employers who report that recent graduates have attained a dramatically improvedability to program in C

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

FeedbackIndustry feedback was obtained from two sources: 1) the adjunct faculty who in many cases willhire students taking their classes and 2) hiring managers who contact the faculty looking forspecific competencies. Their feedback is summarized below: • Students need to know the basics first. Lab assignments are good but team oriented projects are essential. The most important aspect of the student design experience is the practice of reflection which occurs when the class projects are reviewed by peers and industry based faculty. • “Pre-silicon” hiring managers look for students with more virtual prototyping competencies specifically the area of RTL and ESL languages, synthesis and formal verification

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carl Shek, Virginia Tech; Kathleen Meehan, Virginia Tech; Robert Hendricks, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

imagers were either blurry orpixilated when view on a laptop display.Lighting while photographing the hardware, particularly the breadboard, proved to be a difficultchallenge due to the reflective surfaces in several areas of the breadboard, the level of detail, and Page 14.960.4the various heights of the components. It was found that the best image quality was obtainedusing only room lighting without employing the camera flash when photographs were taken in atypical classroom environment (Figure 1). While there was some loss of detail, the imagesharpness was significantly improved over that obtained when the camera flash was used. Fig. 1

Conference Session

Design in the ECE Curriculum

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Bucks, Purdue University; William Oakes, Purdue University; Jeffrey Richardson, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

these are tracked with the use ofan outcomes matrix. We actively and intentionally engage the students in discussions on howthe outcomes will be met and how they are documented. They know that if all of the outcomesare not met, they would not receive credit for their capstone experience. We work with eachstudent to identify specific experiences, such as lectures, workshops or reflections, which areneeded to document outcomes that are not coming naturally out of the project work. Page 14.620.5Finally, each student meets individually with a faculty review team to discuss their individualprogress and role on the team. This has been important with

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

IPARCreativity Index has been shown to change from a number typical for engineering students to anumber more characteristic of practicing architects.24The creative process has been defined as a progression through four stages: 1) identifying a need(problem definition), 2) investigation of that need (testing, preparation, analysis), 3) anarticulation of a solution (modifying, synthesis), and 4) a validation of the idea or solution(communicating, evaluation).25 This attempt to define a procedure for the creative processmakes this seemingly strange process more familiar to students.25 When documenting historicalcreative discoveries and inventions to gain insight into the nature of creativity, reflection isconsidered to serve as a catalyst for creativity

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Georgios Anagnostopoulos, Florida Institute of Technology; Michael Georgiopoulos, University of Central Florida; Veton Kepuska, Florida Institute of Technology; Kenneth Stanley, University of Central Florida; Alison Morrison-Shetlar, University of Central Florida; Pat Lancey, University of Central Florida; Paula Krist, University of Central Florida; Tace Crouse, University of Central Florida

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Debriefing, where all students and mentors would gatheragain to reflect on the activities and accomplishments of the day. During the Debriefing ashort account was discussed of what had transpired during the day, what had beenaccomplished, what problems had occurred, how they were overcome, etc. Additionally, planswere forged and coordinated for the next day, if applicable. It was rather common that, after thedaily Debriefing, the project staff from the two sites would communicate with each other aboutthe day’s progress and issues encountered.C. Research ActivitiesStudent participants in AMALTHEA are typically organized in research teams typicallyconsisting of 1-3 REU students, a graduate mentor (when possible) and a faculty mentor. Theresearch topic

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

other skills required of the 21st Century Engineer.References1-20 discuss some of the major developments in the world order, in the engineeringfield, and in the educational structure of engineering and engineering technology of the lastcentury leading to the present situation. Despite the obvious pressures to meet the demands of atechnologically advanced and industrialized nation, engineering education at virtually all USinstitutions still follows a traditional model that dates back to the middle of the 20th Centurydesigned to emphasize theoretical content reflecting a postwar embrace of science byengineering programs. A glaring exception is perhaps Olin College, which opened in fall 2002to an inaugural freshman class www.olin.edu/about_olin

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

Page 14.1061.4 operating conditions in a theory-to-practice approach. (narrowing the understanding gap between theory and practice)Figure 1 illustrates examples of four simulations of the “Wireless Fundamentals” module. B A C DFigure 1 Simulations shown above are designed for virtual exploration of signal reflection anddistortion effects. Using the drag and drop option (on the simulations A and C), a student can move thecar around a parking lot and to see the effect of different reflections from surrounding buildings on thesignal shape, phases, and

Conference Session

Pedagogy and Assessment I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill Yang, Western Carolina University; Amy Martin, Western Carolina University; Robert Adams, Western Carolina University; James Zhang, Western Carolina University; Kenneth Burbank, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

% response rate to Q2.The data reflects the uneasiness that the students had on the teaching of Course A. Incomparison to the responses to the control Course B, the data seems to suggest that while thestudents do like the new teaching method, there are at the same time also many places that can beimproved.Combining both numerical assessment data and the open-ended question response, the SAI dataseems to suggest that the students indeed feel they are learning better in a more intentionallearning environment.In addition to SAI, we also conducted two sessions of SGA that are more specifically targeted onthe student learning experiences. In both responses, the students largely embrace the newteaching method in Course A with less than 10% of students

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Freudenthal, University of Texas, El Paso; Mary Kay Roy, University of Texas, El Paso; Alexandria Ogrey, University of Texas, El Paso; Ann Gates, University of Texas, El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

necessarily reflect the views of theNSF.References0 Eric Freudenthal, Mary K. Roy, Alexandria Ogrey, Sherri Terrell, Olga Kosheleva, Pilar Gonzalez, and Ann Gates, Work in Progress - Initial Evaluation of an Introductory Course in Programming that Assists in Career Choices, Proc Frontiers in Education, 2008.1 Design Process for a Non-Majors Computing Course, Proc.36th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), ACM, 2005.2 Mark Guzdial, Narrating Data Structures: The Role of Context in CS2, The Journal of Educational Resources in Computing (JERIC), ACM, 2008.3 David Hestenes, Malcolm Wells, and Gregg Swackhamer, Force Concept Inventory, The Physics Teacher, Vol. 30, March 1992, 141-158.4 Dan

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Bowles, University of South Carolina; Caitlin Buchhaults, University of South Carolina; Donald Griffith, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

they also mustlearn to control a complex system containing sensors, end-effectors, and pneumatic subsystems,all contained on a mobile robot that must be able to both respond to the operator’s control andoperate autonomously.As noted above, this method of outreach, challenge, and inspiration has proven to be successfulwith measurable increases in the numbers of students entering related disciplines in college. Inaddition, the percentages of minorities entering into engineering reflect the percentages of FIRSTalumni entering engineering as well. Women are more than 16 times as likely to enter intoengineering (33% versus the national average of 2%) , African Americans are more than 5 timesas likely to enter into engineering (27% versus 5%), and

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

Page 14.175.7As seen in Table 3 above, at Drexel University, the ECE curriculum provides a certain level offlexibility in the selection of courses to fulfill B.Sc requirements. This table reflects the five yearversion which is taken by the majority of students. With respect to where the emulator fits, onefinds a few options: a) as an experimental component module of the sequence of lab courses thatrun from Years 3-5; b) as an experimental module within one of two junior (Year 4) level powerengineering courses called ECEP354 Energy Management Systems and c) as a experimentalmodule within the second quarter of the three course sequence in Power Systems (ECEP401, 402and 403) offered to all power engineering majors. The next section provides

Conference Session

Pedagogy and Assessment I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ehsan Sheybani; Singli Garcia-Otero; Keith Williamson

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

asa group of critical friends and provides constructive advice on how to improve implementation of Page 14.696.5the program, keeping in mind the purposes of the original award: to increase the quality and quantity of under-represented minorities who earn degrees in science and engineering. Recommendations from the committee have positively impacted the program and the university. Based on the positive influence and recommendations of the committee, the School of Engineering adopted its own student advisory board to reflect student concerns. The School then went to the next level and developed a strategic partnership with some of the

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wagdy Mahmoud, University of the District of Columbia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

videostreams, automated inspection of semiconductor chips finding the boundaries of organs inmedical images, etc.The designed system used many of the software components available in the reference designsprovided by Xilinx. Some of these components need to be modified to take advantage of the IPcores available in the current version of the EDK These modification included the use ofUARTlite, the generation of addresses to connect the UARTlite to the PowerPC 405, and tomodify the microprocessor software specification (MSS) to reflect the use of the UARTlite. AScreen shot of the original image is shown in Figure 1. The detected edges are shown in figures2-4.Figure 1 – Original image Figure 2 – edges using Sobel method

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

LCD, seven segment display and accelerometer boards. Fabricated together, then split apart.Course and lab scheduleAfter adopting the HC08 we had to modify both labs and lectures to reflect the host ofdifferences between the MPU types; both the MPU and the I/O boards were different comparedwith the HC12 demo board. Laboratory exercises were particularly in need of revision. Wemaintain our overall course objectives while taking advantage of some of the additional I/Ofeatures we have on our homemade boards. Even though many of the labs are introductions tovarious topics, the ability to apply the software to the application specific boards has changed thenature of the lab experience a bit and made the use of

Conference Session

Pedagogy and Assessment III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chao Chen; Carlos Pomalaza-Ráez; Ma Oo

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

example,according to an electromagnetic signal attenuation test performed at the U.S. National Institute ofStandards and Technology (NIST)’s Gaithersburg laboratories, the signal attenuation for ½ inchdrywall and plywood is below 1dB around 2GHz frequency band.10 However, if a house is builtusing steel frames or with a concrete structure (e.g., high-rise apartment buildings and hurricane-resistant houses), the 802.15.4 transmission performance is expected to experience greaterdegradation by the house structure than from the nearby wireless signal interference, especiallywhen the 802.15.4 signal needs to be transmitted over a long range and pass through walls. Thisis because steel frames partly reflect radio signals and create multipath

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

reports ≠ Assessment ≠ Evaluation and reflectionCollaboration among students can be encouraged during preparation, conduct and analysis ofexperiments, where students are asked to work in teams. This can be implemented for peer assessment, Page 14.98.4evaluation and reflection as well. Findings from our survey provide some information about studentcollaboration before, during and after the practical experiment.Remote laboratoryA remote laboratory (RL) allows a real physical system set in a laboratory to be remotely controlled from acomputer via the Internet using virtual instruments. The system also enables experimental data to becollected and

Conference Session

Pedagogy and Assessment III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tokunbo Ogunfunmi, Santa Clara University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

accumulate the results over time so that the statisticalanalysis of the results will become better reflective of the sample space, the student population atSanta Clara University.Finally, we have used the results to recommend alternate pedagogical methods for presenting thematerial in the Linear Systems course.In future work, we will analyze the SSCI DT Test results and compare with those of the SSCICT Tests in prior course. We will also track the performance of the students from the CT courseto the DT course.In summary, we met the goals of our study:(1) To determine how much conceptual understanding the students have developed by the end ofthe class (compared to the beginning of the class).(2) To correlate the performance on the end-of-term exam

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

student surveys show that this courseis more versatile than physical implementation type courses because it permits architecturalstudies for optimized implementations, performance and delay analyses, and hardware andsoftware partitioning easily.AcknowledgementThis work supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Educationand Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) under GrantNumber CCLI-0737530. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendationsexpressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of theational Science Foundation. Fig. 10: Virtual prototyping through VHDL code – part 2

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

the oldest university in Tanzania. This position hasallowed the university to play a key role in supporting many newly established universities intheir early stages of growth. Typically, a number of science and technology institutions haverelied on UDSM’s laboratory facilities to conduct experiments required in their curricula.With increasing population, the university has been facing pressure to increase enrollment tocope with the growing number of candidates qualified to enter a higher learning institution. Inturn, this has put pressure on the existing facilities which, for a number of reasons, have notexpanded to reflect the increasing enrollment - a typical problem in many developing countries.An approach to solving this problem was to

Conference Session

Project-Based Learning in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Archibald, Brigham Young University; Doran Wilde, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Anchor 1: “Wow Sam, we’re all reflecting on our college senior projects…” o Anchor 2: “All the liberal arts graduates, huh? Go into science kids! That was impressive.” o Weatherman: “I can barely drive my own car, let alone have a car drive itself.”Third, the project consistently has a positive impact on the students who complete it.They report that job interviews take on a very different tone when they bring up theirparticipation in this senior project. Interviewers ask about the technical design challenges,the experience of working together as a team, and the effort required to complete ademanding project with hard deadlines; all are topics that Robot Racer participants cantalk about enthusiastically and authoritatively. We have

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aurenice Oliveira, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

class and to theinstructor. The class schedule is often updated during the week to reflect the exactmaterial covered in each class. This is one way to keep students informed even if theymiss a class. Although, the author frequently reminds students the advantages ofattending classes regularly.3.5) Educational SoftwareTo support classroom activities, the author has extensively used WebCT® system as aneducational tool. The author has also used other educational software tools such as:BlackBoard® and DesireToLearn®. WebCT is an extremely helpful teaching tool thatcan be used to complement classroom instruction in a variety of ways, such as: • To develop and apply online exams and quizzes; • To post lecture PowerPoint presentations; • To