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Session 2247

Computer Based Virtual Engineering Laboratory (CBVEL) And Undergraduate Engineering, Technology & Science Research

Nikunja K. Swain & James A. Anderson Cristal Caroll, Priya Olden, James Parker, Maurice Robinson, & Allan Seedarsan School of Engineering Technology & Sciences (SETS) South Carolina State University

I Introduction

Advanced electronics and computerization are revolutionizing today’s industries and the engineering technology and science programs are under pressure to modernize their programs to meet the challenges of this changing technology or to maintain the accreditation of the programs. This requires upgrading laboratories with modern equipment and calls for increased funding and resources. But in recent years there is an increase in enrollment and decrease in resource allocation making it increasingly difficult to modernize the laboratories to provide adequate levels of laboratory and course work. This calls for alternate innovative and cost-effective solutions such as Computer Based Virtual Engineering Laboratory (CBVEL). At South Carolina State University (SCSU), the PC and Virtual Instruments (VI) based system concept is used to design and develop a laboratory called Computer Based Virtual Engineering Laboratory (CBVEL). The CBVEL consists of IBM compatible computers with software and hardware from National Instruments (NI), and is connected to School of Engineering Technology and Sciences (SETS) network and existing equipment. This CBVEL can also be accessed from remote sites using Internet.

This CBVEL is also used to conduct research activities related to a NASA funded project grant. This is a multi-year project involving space science related activities, and generally involves the use of a graphical programming language called Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) for instrumentation, data acquisition, and analysis. This visualization software allows one to design, build, and test VI modules that are then interfaced with real equipment in the laboratory. The LabVIEW software suite is widely used in industry, government labs, and higher education and is an integral component of this NASA project. More specifically, one of the project activities is to design and develop methodologies for real time control of a space telescope locally and remotely using LabVIEW.

The objective of this paper is to discuss the use of CBVEL to provide inter-disciplinary research experience to engineering, technology, science, and K-12 students during Summer 2000.

This paper is arranged as follows: Section II discusses various components used in CBVEL, and LabVIEW application areas. Section III discusses composition of student research teams and weekly assignments of the student team. Section IV deals with on-going work. Section V presents the conclusion. Section VI presents the acknowledgement and Section VII presents the references.

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Olden, P., & Swain, N., & Robinson, M., & Anderson, J. A., & Parker, J., & Caroll, C., & Seedarsan, A. (2001, June), Computer Based Virtual Engineering Laboratory (Cbvel) And Undergraduate Engineering, Technology & Science Research Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9023