A plan for developing a laboratory to accompany two undergraduate courses in sensors and actuators is described. The principal objectives of this laboratory are: (1) To provide students with opportunities for investigating the operational characteristics of a variety of thermo-mechanical sensors and actuators; (2) To introduce students to methods by which the signals detected by ideal as well as non-ideal transducers can be processed to recover information about a point or region in a specimen which may or may not be adjacent to the measurement point; (3) To provide appropriate software for modeling the response of a sensor; and (4) To provide students the opportunity for designing, fabricating and verifying the operation of a sensor meeting specific design objectives. The principal pieces of equipment necessary to establish this laboratory include: (a) sensor and actuator systems; (b) signal excitation, detection, and measuring equipment; and (c) data acquisition and processing instruments. Experiments are planned for a broad range of transducer technologies. Students will learn experimental methods for determining a sensor's spatial and temporal transfer characteristics.
