A Control Systems Course Project Serving as a Bridge to a Capstone Course and Research Projects

Wei Zhan; Byul Hur; Boong Yeol Ryoo

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: Capstone/ET Projects I: Electrical and Computer Focus
Tagged Division: Engineering Technology
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--33990
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/33990
Download Count: 525

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Paper Authors

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Wei Zhan Texas A&M University orcid.org/0000-0002-9956-1910

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Dr. Wei Zhan is an Associate Professor of Electronics Engineering Technology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Zhan earned his D.Sc. in Systems Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 1991. From 1991 to 1995, he worked at University of California, San Diego and Wayne State University. From 1995 to 2006, he worked in the automotive industry as a system engineer. In 2006 he joined the Electronics Engineering Technology faculty at Texas A&M. His research activities include control system theory and applications to industry, system engineering, robust design, modeling, simulation, quality control, and optimization.

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Byul Hur Texas A&M University

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Dr. B. Hur received his B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from Yonsei University, in Seoul, Korea, in 2000, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, in 2007 and 2011, respectively. In 2017, he joined the faculty of Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. USA, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. He worked as a postdoctoral associate from 2011 to 2016 at the University Florida previously. His research interests include Mixed-signal/RF circuit design and testing, measurement automation, environmental & biomedical data measurement, and educational robotics development.

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Boong Yeol Ryoo Texas A&M University

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Associate Professor
Department of Construction Science
Texas A&M University

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A., 1995
M.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A., 1992
B.S., Yonsei University, Korea, 1983

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Abstract

Control systems theory is an important course for Engineering Technology programs. However, it can be easily focusing on covering complex mathematical theory and solving theoretical problems. The application of control system theory in applied research and capstone courses can be overlooked. In order to provide practical examples of the control systems and boost their experiential learning, a distance control robot platform was provided to students. They are tasked to design a controller that moves the robot along a wall while keeping a constant distance from the wall. The knowledge from this control course project is then applied in the configuration of a drone that maintain distance from the building in the Capstone course project. Many engineering technology programs are requiring their faculty members to conduct more research. In _____ engineering technology program, faculty members are required to perform well in both research and teaching. It is always a challenge to strike a balance between the two due to the heavy teaching load. This paper shows a case how engineering technology faculty can integrate teaching and research in the control systems course and a capstone course. For this effort, three faculty members teamed up and received an internal funding from the university to study the feasibility of using an intelligent drone platform for building safety inspection. One of the challenges is to fly a drone close to the surface of a building and maintain a constant distance. The course project in Control Systems was designed to let students work in a related topic: How to control a robot to closely follow the contour of a wall. There are apparent similarities and difference between the course project and the research project. Both require a sensor/sensors to detect the distance between the unit and a wall. The measured distance is used as the feedback signal to control some motors. The concepts of control for these two systems are similar. However, a drone is more difficult to control because it flies in the three dimensional space and a robot is only moving on the ground. The course project provides students with an opportunity to work on real-world problems [1]-[3]. Some students found this project interesting and they chose the drone project to be their capstone project. This capstone project is on-going project, and it is expected to build a prototype and to be deployed for building surface surveying missions. The experiences and lessons learned during the Control Systems course project is used to leverage the capstone project and the research task for the faculty team. Overall, the integration of research and teaching in this case helps the faculty members in their research. It also benefits the students in the Control Systems and Capstone courses. In this paper, the details will be provided with the course project and the on-going development in a drone platform. This approach of combining research and teaching can make the faculty members more productive and make students more interested in learning.

Citation
Format

Zhan, W., & Hur, B., & Ryoo, B. Y. (2020, June), A Control Systems Course Project Serving as a Bridge to a Capstone Course and Research Projects Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--33990

TY - CPAPER
AB - Control systems theory is an important course for Engineering Technology programs. However, it can be easily focusing on covering complex mathematical theory and solving theoretical problems. The application of control system theory in applied research and capstone courses can be overlooked. In order to provide practical examples of the control systems and boost their experiential learning, a distance control robot platform was provided to students. They are tasked to design a controller that moves the robot along a wall while keeping a constant distance from the wall. The knowledge from this control course project is then applied in the configuration of a drone that maintain distance from the building in the Capstone course project.
Many engineering technology programs are requiring their faculty members to conduct more research. In _____ engineering technology program, faculty members are required to perform well in both research and teaching. It is always a challenge to strike a balance between the two due to the heavy teaching load. This paper shows a case how engineering technology faculty can integrate teaching and research in the control systems course and a capstone course.
For this effort, three faculty members teamed up and received an internal funding from the university to study the feasibility of using an intelligent drone platform for building safety inspection. One of the challenges is to fly a drone close to the surface of a building and maintain a constant distance. The course project in Control Systems was designed to let students work in a related topic: How to control a robot to closely follow the contour of a wall. There are apparent similarities and difference between the course project and the research project. Both require a sensor/sensors to detect the distance between the unit and a wall. The measured distance is used as the feedback signal to control some motors. The concepts of control for these two systems are similar. However, a drone is more difficult to control because it flies in the three dimensional space and a robot is only moving on the ground. The course project provides students with an opportunity to work on real-world problems [1]-[3]. Some students found this project interesting and they chose the drone project to be their capstone project. This capstone project is on-going project, and it is expected to build a prototype and to be deployed for building surface surveying missions.
The experiences and lessons learned during the Control Systems course project is used to leverage the capstone project and the research task for the faculty team. Overall, the integration of research and teaching in this case helps the faculty members in their research. It also benefits the students in the Control Systems and Capstone courses. In this paper, the details will be provided with the course project and the on-going development in a drone platform. This approach of combining research and teaching can make the faculty members more productive and make students more interested in learning.

AU - Wei Zhan
AU - Byul Hur
AU - Boong Yeol Ryoo
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - A Control Systems Course Project Serving as a Bridge to a Capstone Course and Research Projects
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/33990
DO - 10.18260/1-2--33990
ER -