This project dramatically changes the way students learn and use electronic circuits by creating a hands-on, integrated electronic circuit prototyping facility. The facility resonates with important industrial and commercial themes in manufacturing techniques, concurrent engineering, and competitiveness. The key ability of this facility is that it allows students the means of easily designing a circuit board using high-functionality devices, simulating the behavior and response to external stimuli, and quickly producing a prototype etched/drilled circuit board. The cycle times and cost associated with producing a high-quality prototype are greatly reduced and, for the first time, are appropriate for undergraduate instructional purposes. This project brings an existing, rudimentary facility to its full potential and demonstrate to the educational community the merits of giving students a new means of expressing their electronics skills. Included in this project are four design workstations with appropriate software, an upgrade for an existing mill/drill machine, and various industry-standard tools. The upgrade of this facility enables a higher student throughput and brings a new level of electronic-related instruction to eight core curriculum courses in this division with over 200 electrical-specialty students. These students are gaining the ability to construct a far higher level of real-world circuits, opening up new possibilities in solving system level problems.
