The objective of this project is to implement a data acquisition laboratory to be used by electrical engineering majors for experiments in signal analysis, digital filtering and digital control. The laboratory will exploit new personal computer technology in which microcomputer and signal processing elements are integrated with software in a single commercial workstation. This equipment provides an integrated, self-networking system which contains the necessary software and hardware to provide a sophisticated, user-friendly environment for digital signal processing, system analysis,and design. Eight NeXT computer workstations will be set up in a room specifically dedicated to the proposed laboratory. In addition to the computer equipment, each workstation will include a signal generator, digital voltmeter, and tape recorder. This equipment will enable students to generate analog signals, acquire them through a data port, process them digitally, and observe the processed signal in the time or frequency domain. The Mathematica mathematics programming language will be used for computational and modeling studies associated with the teaching of control systems.
