The increasing use of microprocessors to sense and control processes in our environment makes the study of interfacing of computers to external devices an important part of an undergraduate computer science curriculum. In this project, students will design a set of experiments to illustrate the principles of computer interfacing for dynamic sensing and control purposes. The interface system will allow the students to substitute virtual (i.e., simulated) instruments for real instruments, and thereby process real data signals. Each student workstation will have a Macintosh IIsi equipped with an interface board that permits the reading of voltage signals from the sensors in the outside world, as well as the control of experiments in that world through signals sent to the control devices. The students will wire-up icons representing the virtual instruments on the screen, thereby producing a sophisticated signal-processing system to analyze and display dynamic data.
