BYOE: Individual Lab Kit Options for Analog and Digital Circuits Suitable for In-class or At-home Experiments

Yan, Yanjun; Adams, Robert D.; Yanik, Paul; Jack, Hugh; Ritenour, Andrew; Karayaka, H. Bora

doi:10.18260/1-2--36778

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…This cost is unfortunately high for poorly funded institutions. It is for this reason that recent years have seen the introduction of low-cost laboratory instruments [3] such as the National Instruments myDAQ [4] (which also needs a computer as the virtual instrument), the ADALM 2000 [5], Analog Discovery 2 [6], and Red Pitaya [7]. All these relatively lowcost systems combine a function generator, oscilloscope, logic analyser and other instruments into a single package that costs less than $1000 (and as low as $300).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case for Low-Cost Personal Electronic Laboratory Equipment using FPGAs

Adegbite,

Akinwale

2023

Int. J. Onl. Eng.

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The field of reconfigurable computing is gaining a lot of following, and several use cases have been developed for it. At the centre of reconfigurable computing is the field programmable gate array (FPGA) due to its computational speed and versatility. The goal of the work reported here was to show that a single FPGA board paired with a computer monitor can be used as the sole laboratory equipment in a cash-strapped educational institution or by an individual. A Terasic DE1-SoC board was programmed as an oscilloscope, and digital multimeter. In keeping with the low-cost theme of this work, no external signal conditioning circuit was used and the on-board LTC2308 ADC was used for signal acquisition. At frequencies below 15 kHz, the voltage measurements of the developed FPGA lab instrument had a mean error of 58 mV. The voltage measurement errors, however, increased with an increase in frequency and the errors were significant when the signal frequencies exceeded 100 kHz. In terms of the use of the FPGA to replace multiple lab instruments, 13% of the DSPs on the FPGA were used for the implementation and 80% of the Adaptive logic modules. We therefore demonstrate that with $300 dollars, multiple pieces of laboratory equipment can be replaced by a single FPGA board and a monitor.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case for Low-Cost Personal Electronic Laboratory Equipment using FPGAs

Adegbite,

Akinwale

2023

Int. J. Onl. Eng.

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“…Midway through the semester, due to the pandemic mitigation measures, all the college courses in Bulgaria went online. Although we were prepared to give each student an Arduino lab kit [10] from the beginning of the semester and give each group a Touchboard lab kit [11] for their final project, so that the students could do hands-on activities at home, the engagement with the students became more challenging after the courses went online than when we could meet in person.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Project-Based Learning (PBL) Course Offered in Bulgaria in a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Project During the Pandemic

Yan,

Draganov,

Jack (duplicate)

et al.

2022 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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The first author visited the Technical University of Sofia (TU-Sofia) in Bulgaria in Fall 2021 as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to conduct a research/teaching combination project, with the support from the other authors of this paper at both institutions. A project-based learning (PBL) course was offered at TU-Sofia as a facultative course, with 13 students enrolled from two programs and from freshmen to seniors. This paper reports the extensive efforts on course planning, the adaptation of the course offering on the go, and a follow-up plan such as a faculty-led trip to provide an opportunity for the U.S. students to visit Bulgaria (although the May 2022 trip had to be canceled due to the nearby war, the connections that were made and the trip planning will enable another trip in the future). All these activities were impacted adversely by the pandemic, such as the postponement of this trip from Spring 2021 to Fall 2021, the transition of in-person instruction to online instruction in late October, and the less than perfect final project's completion rate, beyond the normal adaptation of a course in a different country given the facility and product differences. The different academic calendars in the U.S. and Bulgarian institutions also made it impossible in finding a suitable period for the students from both institutions to interact, but we were able to connect the students with other American visitors in Bulgaria to get comments on their designs. There were many other challenges, including the cultural influences on design, and communication (often asynchronous with English not being the mother tongue for some), on top of the normal project constraints, which were exactly what stretched the students. This project aimed at carrying out and evaluating high-impact practices such as PBL and vertical integration in a different institution, via a comparison between precourse and post-course surveys. These practices could continue in various forms at TU-Sofia, and the collaboration could grow into COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) opportunities. We encouraged the students to discover and learn from each other. From the students' point of view, the senior students will be prepared for their intensive 7-week capstone project in the next semester, and the younger students will gain valuable experiences while shadowing and actively engaging in the development of the projects. The practices presented in this paper could provide some timely ideas and inspiration for other colleagues who wish to continue international collaborations during the pandemic.

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“…Individual lab kits have been evaluated as a tool to enhance active learning, even before the pandemic [1], and many types of lab kits have been designed for specific courses [2] [3] [4]. The pandemic pushed many educators and students to start using individual lab kits [5] [6], greatly expanding their utilization. The educational community continues to explore and experiment with individual lab kits to find new ways to use them even after the pandemic [7] [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%