RAPID prototyping, ROBOTICS, INTERNET, REAL-time computing, COMPUTER input-output equipment, EMBEDDED computer systems, CURRICULA (Courses of study), STUDENTS, and MICROPROCESSORS

This paper describes a new approach for a course and laboratory designed to allow students to develop low-cost prototypes of robotic and other embedded devices that feature Internet connectivity, I/O, networking, a real-time operating system (RTOS), and object-oriented C/C++. The application programming interface (API) libraries provided permit students to work at a higher level of abstraction. A low-cost 32-bit SOC RISC microcontroller module with flash memory, numerous I/O interfaces, and on-chip networking hardware is used to build prototypes. A cloud-based C/C++ compiler is used for software development. All student files are stored on a server, and any Web browser can be used for software development. Breadboards are used in laboratory projects to rapidly build prototypes of robots and embedded devices using the microcontroller, networking, and other I/O subsystems on small breakout boards. The commercial breakout boards used provide a large assortment of modern sensors, drivers, display ICs, and external I/O connectors. Resources provided include eBooks, laboratory assignments, and extensive Wiki pages with schematics and sample microcontroller application code for each breakout board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RAPID prototyping, ELECTRONIC circuits, EDUCATION, EXPERIMENTS, SOFTWARE development equipment, and STUDENTS

This paper describes a new educational power electronics laboratory that was developed primarily to reinforce experimentally the fundamental concepts presented in a power electronics course. The developed laboratory combines theoretical design, simulation studies, digital control, fabrication, and verification of power-electronic circuits based on a set of hardware and software tools. The salient feature of the laboratory is that it takes the students through a step-by-step design, implementation, and digital control procedure for a set of power electronic circuits. A detailed description of the tools along with their use in the developed laboratory is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RAPID prototyping, STUDY & teaching of robotics, COLLEGE students, EMBEDDED computer systems, MICROPROCESSORS, REAL-time programming, and CURRICULA (Courses of study)

For the past several years, a team in the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE), National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, has been establishing a pedagogical approach to embody embedded systems in the context of robotics. To alleviate the burden on students in the robotics curriculum in their junior and senior years, a training platform on embedded systems with co-design in hardware and software has been developed and fabricated as a supplement for these students. This general-purpose platform has several advantages over commercial training kits for embedded systems. For instance, the programming layer has been brought onto an open-source platform ported by Linux and \muC/OS-II such that it is mostly hardware-independent. Meanwhile, in addition to linking to fundamental library functions provided for robotics, users can program the codes not only in C language, but also through visual programming by means of a graphic interface developed along with the platform, allowing users to concentrate on higher-level robot function design. In other words, the platform facilitates rapid prototyping in robotics design. Meanwhile, a tailored laboratory manual associated with the platform has been designed and used in classes. Based on assessments and evaluation on the students who have completed this course, the curricular training is satisfactory and largely meets the requirements established at the design stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical engineering, Power electronics -- Study and teaching, Electrical engineering -- Study and teaching, College students -- Education, and Technical education -- Curricula

Computer-aided design -- Research

The rapid increase in complexity and size of digital systems has reduced the effectiveness of old design methodologies based on physical prototyping. Prototyping via simulation must be used to achieve design cost and time-to-market goals when designing large digital systems. This virtual prototyping design methodology often permits the first physical prototype to be a manufacturable product. A two-course sequence has been developed to introduce students to this design paradigm. These courses teach virtual prototyping techniques and allow the students to use these techniques to develop a simple computer. The students simulate their designs, and then they implement their designs in hardware using field programmable hardware. This allows the students to complete an entire design cycle from idea to actual hardware implementation and compare their physical results to their simulated results. Index Terms--Computer design, computer-aided design, register transfer level, VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), virtual prototyping.

Computer engineering -- Study and teaching, Prototypes, Engineering -- Study and teaching, and Computers -- Study and teaching

This paper describes a new two-quarter undergraduate capstone design class in our computer engineering curriculum. Design groups comprised of students from several different areas of specialization [e.g., software systems, very large scale integration (VLSI) devices and circuits, and computer architecture] design, simulate, implement, and evaluate a complete computing system. Typical examples of projects in the current sequence include a pipelined 32-bit RISC processor, a four-cell systolic array processor, and a video game. The goal is to produce simulation and hardware/software codesign as early as possible in the design process. Students execute software on simulation models prior to any hardware implementation. An assembler and a compiler are developed for the new design. Throughout the sequence, students participate in design reviews and must provide documentation of their designs. The final designs are implemented using an array of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's) contained in a device called a hardware emulator. This allows for ease of design modifications while still having actual hardware for experimentation. Index Terms - Emulation, FPGA's, hardware/software codesign, rapid prototyping, VHDL.

REAL-time computing and DIGITAL signal processing

Presents a low-cost rapid-prototyping system using Texas Instruments Inc.'s TMS320C30 Evaluation Module (EVM) based on the MathWorks' development software. Key aspects of rapid prototyping; System configurations for real-time program building; Building real-time digital signal processing systems.

Simulink 2.0 (Statistical/mathematical software) -- Usage, Real-time systems -- Usage, Real-time programming -- Study and teaching, and Digital signal processors -- Study and teaching

A low-cost rapid-prototyping system using Texas Instruments' (TI) TMS320C30 Evaluation Module (EVM) based on the MathWorks' development software is presented in this paper. The rapid prototyping system serves as an educational tool in learning digital signal processing (DSP) and seeing the concept realized in real time. The development software modules, Simulink, uses graphical block diagrams to create models for real-time implementation and the real-time workshop (RTW), generates C code to be downloaded onto the EVM. The entire building process is fully automatic. This includes compiling, assembling, and downloading of the real-time algorithms. The system was found to be well suited for learning real-time DSP algorithms for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Index Terms--Real-time signal processing, real-time workshop, simulink.

ELECTRONIC circuits and MINING schools

Provides information on the development of a different approach in teaching and development and using electronic circuit fabrication skill by the Division of Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines as part of their undergraduate electronic laboratories. Creation of a vertically integrated facility with advanced computer aided design tools and other electronic tools.

SIMULATION methods & models, AUTOMATIC control of electric drives, ELECTRICAL engineering education, CURRICULA (Courses of study), ACTIVE learning, and INDUCTION motors

This paper describes an attempt to improve the educational methods of an electrical drives control lecture course by incorporating active learning strategies into the classroom. The proposed active learning strategy is based on the combined use of both sample-guided and student-oriented learning approaches and student learning assessments. The main objective of this initiative is to rapidly and easily equip undergraduate engineering students with more practical knowledge of advanced adjustable speed drives control strategies through the use of a minimal number of flexible DSP-based setups. The course organization, including the educational prerequisites and strategies, is described, and several intuitive examples devoted to modeling, simulation, and implementation of ac induction motor (IM) drive control are provided. The proposed educational method gives students an intuitive way of grasping the main concepts and offers them the opportunity to apply their knowledge and explore their problem-solving capabilities. A questionnaire elicited student feedback on the development of their knowledge and practical skills as well as their achievement of learning goals; the results of this evaluation are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PROTOTYPES, QUESTIONNAIRES, STUDY & teaching of robotics, INTERDISCIPLINARY education, CURRICULUM planning, GROUP work in education, and COURSE evaluation (Education)

The authors designed and ran a crash course on emotional robotics involving students from both the Information Engineering School and the Design School of Politecnico di Milano , Milan, Italy. The course consisted of two intensive days of short introductory lessons and lab activity, done in interdisciplinary groups and supported by a well-equipped prototyping and modeling lab. People from very different backgrounds had to work efficiently together, going from problem setting through the demonstration of the physical implementation of an object able to show four different emotional states. Both teacher evaluation and questionnaire-based feedback from the students show that it was successful and useful to set up this type of intensive experience in which students share their abilities to achieve a common goal. Key aspects for the success of the course were the short time the students had to reach a well-defined, yet general, goal, the students' ability to find efficient ways of cooperating and sharing their competences, students' motivation to arrive at a working prototype, and the strong support from teachers and lab personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DIGITAL communications, KNOWLEDGE management, DIGITAL signal processing, VHDL (Computer hardware description language), ELECTRONIC circuit design, and COMPUTER simulation of integrated circuits

Many curricula include separate classes in both digital signal processing (DSP) theory and very high-speed integtrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL) modeling; however, there are few opportunities given to students to combine these two skills into a working knowledge of DSP hardware design. A pedagogical framework has been developed whereby students can leverage their previous knowledge of DSP theory and VHDL hardware design techniques to design, simulate, synthesize, and test digital signal processing systems. The synthesized hardware is implemented on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which provide a fast and cost-effective way of prototyping hardware systems in a laboratory environment. This framework allows students to expand their previous knowledge into a more complete understanding of the entire design process from specification and simulation through synthesis and verification. Students are exposed to different aspects of signal processing design, including finite precision, parallel implementation, and implementation cost tradeoffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COMPUTER-aided engineering, COMPUTER-aided design, ENGINEERING design, ELECTRICAL engineering, CURRICULA (Courses of study), and COLLEGE students

This paper describes the authors' experiences using a system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) approach to support the development of design projects for upper-level undergraduate students in their electrical and computer engineering curriculum. Commercial field-programmable gate-array (FPGA)-based SOPC development boards with reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor cores are used to support a wide variety of student design projects. A top-down rapid prototyping approach with commercial FPGA computer-aided design tools, a C compiler targeted for the RISC soft-processor core, and a large FPGA with memory is used and reused to support a wide variety of student projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LABORATORIES, ENGINEERING, STRIP transmission lines, MICROWAVES, STUDENTS, and EDUCATORS

This paper describes a wireless local area network laboratory project that provides senior and first-year graduate students in microwave engineering courses the opportunity to design, build, and test several passive microstrip components and integrate them into a working system. Students design filters, couplers, amplifiers, diode detectors, quarter-wave transformers, antennas, and stub matching networks in weekly labs that parallel-lectures in a one-semester microwave engineering course. This paper also describes simple inexpensive prototyping and testing methods that have been used in this course. Laboratory materials and technical details of the design are provided on the web for students and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FIELD programmable gate arrays, COMPUTER circuits, and EDUCATIONAL technology

Examines the use of field programmable gate arrays on arithmetic circuit educational digital design. Suitability for technological purposes; Implementation of radix-4 SRT division; Test of circuit prototyping system; Control of prototyping system by personal computer via ISA-Bus.

Electrical engineering -- Curricula

Three sequential design courses for electrical engineering students at the Milwaukee School of Engineering are discussed. Students enrolled in any of the three courses organized themselves into groups of three or four and devised engineering problems with multiple solutions. These problems were presented to their instructors for approval. The students were then required to present their solutions to the problems within a certain time frame.
This article describes a senior-year sequence in design required of all electrical engineering students at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Commencing in the Fall quarter, students form groups of either three or four and formulate a problem having multiple possible solutions which must be approved by their instructor. They must then conduct a feasibility study and present their approach to solving the problem by the end of the Fall quarter. During the Winter quarter, they perform the paper design and analysis and begin prototyping. Spring quarter consists of prototyping, testing, modifying, retesting, and final documentation. All projects are displayed in a 'trade show' type format during the day before Spring Commencement. Five senior classes have completed the nine-credit sequence to date.

Computers -- Study and teaching, Hardware description languages -- Study and teaching, and Computer science -- Study and teaching

This paper describes a new way to teach computer organization and architecture concepts with extensive hands-on hardware design experience very early in computer science curricula. While describing the approach, it addresses relevant questions about teaching computer organization, computer architecture and hardware design to students in computer science and related fields. The justification to concomitantly teach two often separately addressed subjects is twofold. First, to provide a better insight into the practical aspects of computer organization and architecture. Second, to allow addressing only highly abstract design levels yet achieving reasonably performing implementations, to make the integrated teaching approach feasible. The approach exposes students to many of the essential issues incurred in the analysis, simulation, design and effective implementation of processors. Although the former separation of such connected disciplines has certainly brought academic benefits in the past, some modern technologies allow capitalizing on their integration. Indeed, the new approach is enabled by the availability of two new technologies, fast hardware prototyping platforms built with reconfigurable, hardware and powerful computer-aided design tools for design entry, validation and implementation. The practical implementation of the teaching approach comprises lecture as well as laboratory courses, starting in the third semester of an undergraduate computer science curriculum. In four editions of the first two courses, most students have obtained successful processor implementations. In some cases, considerably complex applications, such as bubble sort and quick sort procedures were programed in assembly and or machine code and run at the hardware description language simulation level in the designed processors. Index Terms--Computer organization teaching methods, digital system prototyping, hardware description languages, hardware design, undergraduate curriculum, VHDL.

University of Stellenbosch -- Curricula, Computers -- Study and teaching, Digital integrated circuits -- Evaluation, Engineering -- Study and teaching, and Prototypes, Engineering -- Methods

Index Terms-- Africa, rapid prototyping, reconfigurable logic. I. SUMMARY This paper describes the structure of digital and computer system curricula at a university in South Africa and shows how programmable logic is successfully applied in an environment where ASIC designs are not yet feasible. Programmable logic is used in the courses for rapid prototyping of much more complex digital structures, much quicker and easier, than in the past. VHDL is used to describe digital and computer structures at algorithmic level. Stellenbosch University is the first university in Africa to introduce these concepts in engineering courses.

EMBEDDED computer systems

Discusses the Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors (RASSP) program, a major DARPA/Tri-Service effort designed to overcome the study of embedded digital system designs. Development of technologies that will lead to reduce life cycle costs; Contributions made to RASSP Education and Facilitation (RASSP E&F) program in transferring this technology.

Technology in education, Educational technology -- Analysis, and Programmable logic devices -- Design and construction

Incorporating programmable logic devices (PLD) in digital design courses has become increasingly popular. The advantages of using PLDs, such as complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), have been discussed before. However, previous studies have focused on the experiences from the point of view of the instructor, with some general impressions from the students. This paper instead focuses on the students' point of view, and most importantly, investigates whether the use of programmable logic has helped facilitate the learning process. This investigation was based on the results of a comprehensive survey that was given to the class shortly before the end of the term, and a comparison of final exam scores between a previous class that did not use PLDs and the current class that did use PLDs. The surveys and their test scores provide solid evidence as to gauge whether using PLDs really does benefit students trying to learn digital design and basic computer architecture. Index Terms--CPLD boards, digital logic, educational technology, engineering education, rapid prototyping.