Paper: Necessity Brings Out a Welcomed Laboratory Change

Arthur Densmore; Hen-Geul Yeh

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption"
Location: Virtual
Publication Date: April 23, 2021
Start Date: April 23, 2021
End Date: April 25, 2021
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--38243
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/38243
Download Count: 361

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Paper Authors

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Arthur Densmore California State University, Long Beach

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Arthur Densmore has been a lecturer at CSULB for six years teaching electronics seminar and laboratory courses and loves the subject. He entered the field of electronics first as a hobby as a child, won 1st place in the California VICA Industrial Electronics state-wide competition in high school and earned all of his degrees in electronics with honors: BSEE at Cal Poly Pomona, MSEE at Caltech, and PhD at UCLA. At the end of each semester he usually receives student reviews above the department and college averages. He holds a US patent and has more than 30 years of experience working in the field at companies including NASA, General Dynamics, and small research firms including UnitedResearch.com, where his unique research paper on The Table of Physical Dimensions can be downloaded.

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biography

Hen-Geul Yeh Cal State University, Long Beach

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Hen-Geul Yeh received the B.S. degree in engineering science from National Chen Kung University, Taiwan, ROC, in 1978, and the M.S. degree in mechanical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Irvine, in 1979 and 1982, respectively.
Since 1983, he has been with the Electrical Engineering department at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), USA, and served as the department Chair since 2016. In addition to his technical and engineering excellence, he was selected as a NASA JPL Summer Faculty Fellow twice, in 1992 and 2003, respectively, and the Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellow in 2006. His research interests include DSP/Communication/Control algorithms development, and implementation using FPGA and digital signal processors. He has published more than 100 research papers on Signal Processing, Communications, Controls, and Smart Grids.
Dr. Yeh is a professional engineer in Electrical and is the recipient of five NASA Tech. Brief and New Technology awards from the NASA, the inventor’s award and other awards at the Aerospace Corporation, the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching award, College of Engineering, CSULB, 2007, the Distinguished Faculty Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award, CSULB, 2009, Outstanding Professor Award, CSULB, 2015, IEEE Region 6, and Outstanding Engineering Educator Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Education of Electrical Engineers in the Areas of Digital Signal Processing, Green Energy, and Smart Systems, 2019. He has received five US patents and patent applications in the area of Signal Processing, Communication and Controls. Since 2010, he has served as the organizer and Conference Chair of IEEE Green Energy and Smart Systems Conference (IGESSC).

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Abstract

Paper: Necessity Brings Out a Welcomed Laboratory Change

Henry Yeh and Arthur Densmore California State University Long Beach Electrical Engineering Department

As many universities may have similarly encountered due to the onset of the pandemic the Cal State Long Beach Electrical Engineering department pondered as the summer approached how to implement its laboratory courses appropriately without the students meeting in the university’s laboratories, as the Cal State system’s response to the pandemic required. Consideration was given to conducting the labs using only simulation; although, limiting the students to simulated labs does not afford the student the opportunity to work with real components and the need to overcome real-world implementation issues when physically building and testing their circuits that we believe are an essential part of the intended student lab experience. We identified the National Instruments (NI) myDAQ as a candidate mini electronics laboratory that each individual student could use to do the required lab work in their personal work area. The myDAQ is powered and controlled by the student’s personal computer and provides all the essential lab equipment functions that the university’s laboratories provide except that the myDAQ is limited to measuring only at audio frequencies. The EE department sold the idea to the College of Engineering and received funding to procure 200 myDAQ units to loan to the lab students. The myDAQs were allocated to the EE lab courses that were deemed of highest priority, and arrangements were made to distribute the myDAQ units for loan to the students through the campus bookstore. The several EE professors assigned to teach the chosen lab courses each learned to use the myDAQ and recorded a series of how-to videos during the summer in preparation for the Fall students to use these customized online videos to hit the ground running with their use of the loaned myDAQ units. The Fall labs went well, with the EE lab students being properly engaged in doing their lab exercises using the myDAQ. At the end of the semester the students were asked for their impressions of using the myDAQ, and the majority of the lab students expressed appreciation of the automated features of the NI myDAQ instrument such as the Bode Analyzer, which automates the measurement of the frequency response of a filter circuit, which automation the university lab instruments don’t yet offer. Student enthusiasm for the myDAQ led some students to suggest that the university also consider investing in the NI myRIO device as well.

Citation
Format

Densmore, A., & Yeh, H. (2021, April), Paper: Necessity Brings Out a Welcomed Laboratory Change Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption", Virtual. 10.18260/1-2--38243

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Paper:
Necessity Brings Out a Welcomed Laboratory Change

Henry Yeh and Arthur Densmore
California State University Long Beach Electrical Engineering Department

As many universities may have similarly encountered due to the onset of the pandemic the Cal State Long Beach Electrical Engineering department pondered as the summer approached how to implement its laboratory courses appropriately without the students meeting in the university’s laboratories, as the Cal State system’s response to the pandemic required.  Consideration was given to conducting the labs using only simulation; although, limiting the students to simulated labs does not afford the student the opportunity to work with real components and the need to overcome real-world implementation issues when physically building and testing their circuits that we believe are an essential part of the intended student lab experience.  We identified the National Instruments (NI) myDAQ as a candidate mini electronics laboratory  that each individual student could use to do the required lab work in their personal work area.  The myDAQ is powered and controlled by the student’s personal computer and provides all the essential lab equipment functions that the university’s laboratories provide except that the myDAQ is limited to measuring only at audio frequencies.  The EE department sold the idea to the College of Engineering and received funding to procure 200 myDAQ units to loan to the lab students.  The myDAQs were allocated to the EE lab courses that were deemed of highest priority, and arrangements were made to distribute the myDAQ units for loan to the students through the campus bookstore.  The several EE professors assigned to teach the chosen lab courses each learned to use the myDAQ and recorded a series of how-to videos during the summer in preparation for the Fall students to use these customized online videos to hit the ground running with their use of the loaned myDAQ units.  The Fall labs went well, with the EE lab students being properly engaged in doing their lab exercises using the myDAQ.  At the end of the semester the students were asked for their impressions of using the myDAQ, and the majority of the lab students expressed appreciation of the automated features of the NI myDAQ instrument such as the Bode Analyzer, which automates the measurement of the frequency response of a filter circuit, which automation the university lab instruments don’t yet offer.  Student enthusiasm for the myDAQ led some students to suggest that the university also consider investing in the NI myRIO device as well.



AU  - Arthur Densmore
AU  - Hen-Geul Yeh
CY  - Virtual
DA  - 2021/04/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Paper: Necessity Brings Out a Welcomed Laboratory Change
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/38243
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--38243
ER  -