BYOE: Fabrication, Implementation, and Design of a Remote Lab Setup for a Sensors and Transducers Course

Mark Trudgen; Dominik May

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Bring Your Own Experiment: Experimentation and Laboratory-oriented Studies
Tagged Division: Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--36777
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/36777
Download Count: 370

Paper Authors

biography

Mark Trudgen University of Georgia

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Is a lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering. He has published in the area of automatic control systems. His research interests include undergraduate laboratory experience, remote labs, and advancing control theory in undergraduates.

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biography

Dominik May University of Georgia orcid.org/0000-0001-9860-1864

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Dr. May is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Education Transformations Institute. He researches online and intercultural engineering education. His primary research focus lies on the development, introduction, practical use, and educational value of online laboratories (remote, virtual, and cross-reality) and online experimentation in engineering instruction. In his work, he focuses on developing broader educational strategies for the design and use of online engineering equipment, putting these into practice and provide the evidence base for further development efforts. Moreover, Dr. May is developing instructional concepts to bring students into international study contexts so that they can experience intercultural collaboration and develop respective competences. Dr. May is Vice President of the International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE), which is an international non-profit organization to encourage the wider development, distribution, and application of Online Engineering (OE) technologies and its influence on society. Furthermore, he serves as Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) intending to promote the interdisciplinary discussion of engineers, educators, and engineering education researchers around technology, instruction, and research. Dr. May has organized several international conferences in the Engineering Education Research field. He is currently program co-chair and international program committee member for the annual International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV) and served as a special session committee member for the Experiment@ International Conference Series (exp.at).

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Abstract

BYOE: Fabrication, implementation, and design of a remote lab setup for a sensors and transducers course. Traditionally, a Sensors (or otherwise called instrumentation course) have learning goals focused on engaging students in laboratory exercises seeking to extract numeric values from experiments by using laboratory equipment. For example, this could be measuring the temperature water while heating, and depending on the major and student experience, assembly of the associated electronics during the lab period is often included. Presently, labs are often either: 1) a series of disconnected/disjointed labs only focused on a single-sensor-application or 2) Prefabricated equipment setups purchased from education companies, which are often costly and have a small scope with very limited possibility for future modifications. Both also suffer from “cookie-cutter” type approaches, which stifle students from experiencing true engineering design methods. Both existing solutions often have no flexibility to be switched between in-person and online teaching, if it is even possible to be implemented online. In this BYOE presentation, we present the design, fabrication, and implementation of a hybrid Sensors and Transducers Active eNgineering Design-bench, or STAND. The STAND was constructed at a major university in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 to provide a sensors laboratory experience with multiple sensors and actuators in a connected setup. The STAND has been used in Summer and Fall 2020 to provide remote students with real experimental data performed real-time. This BYOE paper will show the possible experiments that can be performed, the adaptability and robustness the STAND has in developing new future experiments, and highlight the fabrication and steps needed for creating. Finally, a discussion about the needed technology support and computer software will be presented along with pros/cons for using different types of technology. Presently there are over 10 sensors installed and a live experiment using the equipment will be performed to show the validity of the results presented. The experiment will show the unique features of the STAND that allow for students to engage in higher-level thinking.

Citation
Format

Trudgen, M., & May, D. (2021, July), BYOE: Fabrication, Implementation, and Design of a Remote Lab Setup for a Sensors and Transducers Course Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36777

TY - CPAPER
AB - BYOE: Fabrication, implementation, and design of a remote lab setup for a sensors and transducers course. Traditionally, a Sensors (or otherwise called instrumentation course) have learning goals focused on engaging students in laboratory exercises seeking to extract numeric values from experiments by using laboratory equipment. For example, this could be measuring the temperature water while heating, and depending on the major and student experience, assembly of the associated electronics during the lab period is often included. Presently, labs are often either: 1) a series of disconnected/disjointed labs only focused on a single-sensor-application or 2) Prefabricated equipment setups purchased from education companies, which are often costly and have a small scope with very limited possibility for future modifications. Both also suffer from “cookie-cutter” type approaches, which stifle students from experiencing true engineering design methods. Both existing solutions often have no flexibility to be switched between in-person and online teaching, if it is even possible to be implemented online. In this BYOE presentation, we present the design, fabrication, and implementation of a hybrid Sensors and Transducers Active eNgineering Design-bench, or STAND. The STAND was constructed at a major university in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 to provide a sensors laboratory experience with multiple sensors and actuators in a connected setup. The STAND has been used in Summer and Fall 2020 to provide remote students with real experimental data performed real-time. This BYOE paper will show the possible experiments that can be performed, the adaptability and robustness the STAND has in developing new future experiments, and highlight the fabrication and steps needed for creating. Finally, a discussion about the needed technology support and computer software will be presented along with pros/cons for using different types of technology. Presently there are over 10 sensors installed and a live experiment using the equipment will be performed to show the validity of the results presented. The experiment will show the unique features of the STAND that allow for students to engage in higher-level thinking.
AU - Mark Trudgen
AU - Dominik May
CY - Virtual Conference
DA - 2021/07/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - BYOE: Fabrication, Implementation, and Design of a Remote Lab Setup for a Sensors and Transducers Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/36777
DO - 10.18260/1-2--36777
ER -