The objective of this project is the adaptation and implementation of an eight-station, personal computer-based, instrumentation course.
Instrumentation, previously developed at Stanford and Drexel Universities, is to be adapted to corresponding courses at Old Dominion University ODU. The instrumentation for one ODU course, ECE 458, is being adapted from a similar course called computer interfacing, developed in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University. The ODU students are to learn a graphical programming language (i.e., LabVIEW) that is then utilized to develop customized or virtual instruments. With the use of these virtual instruments they make measurements of physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc., using sensors. The sensors are connected to the computer, through data acquisition cards and/or digital instruments. The students can also control external devices, using digital-to- analog converters, and hence develop a complete "system".
The second course, being adapted to the ODU setting, is the E4 Introductory Engineering, Test, Design, and Simulation Laboratory, developed at Drexel. This Drexel course is aimed at the retention of freshman engineering students, and the equipment, the structure, and the course content, is to be adapted to a similar course at ODU, i.e., ENGN 110 - 111. The ODU course is a two-credit, two-semester course, required of all engineering students, during their freshman year. The object is to get them excited by getting involved in realistic engineering projects. The LabVIEW -PC based instrumentation enables students at the freshman level to get involved in significant and interesting engineering projects, without much of the tedium that would have been necessary even a few years ago.
