Teaching Networked Embedded Control at the Two-year College Level

During the next decade, we will witness the implementation of several large scale technically enabled innovations involving this nation’s electrical power grid and the interstate highway system. These, and many other smaller, discipline specific, intelligent infrastructure systems will enhance the efficiency, safety, and security of human endeavors. Some describe the process of adding intelligence and connectivity to these systems as the creation of the “Internet of Things” or IoT. Already, academic and industry experts in various technical fields have given catchy names to these proposed systems: Smart Grid, IntelliDrive, Smart Buildings, Smart Home, ehealth care, are but a few names that have made it into the popular press. These large scale and not so large scale applications are becoming possible due to the convergence of several key technologies. Essentially, through the use of networked embedded controllers (known as ambient intelligence) and complex sensors and actuators (i.e. sensor networks) one is able to create intelligent infrastructure systems that have the potential to change almost every aspect of humankind’s interaction with the environment. The understanding of the theory and operation of networked embedded controllers and their interaction with sensors and actuators will be one of the required skills needed to deal with these emerging technology applications. This paper will present details about a two course sequence that is designed for students at the two-year college level in the second year of an Electronic Systems Engineering Technology AS degree program. These two courses consist of both theory and laboratory work with a heavy reliance on student projects (typically, of an interdisciplinary nature) that involve the implementation of functional, proto-type, sensor/control networks. Using popular low-cost PIC® microcontroller development boards and a small, self-contained, non-IT, TCP/IP data network, students are able to construct sensor/control networks that can be accessed locally either through standard wired network connections (Ethernet) or wirelessly using either the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) or IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) wireless standards or remotely through available mobile device apps. The successes and failures of the courses will be high-lighted, along with student reaction, examples of student projects, equipment challenges, and the paper concludes with ideas for future course improvements and/or adaptation to other formats or disciplines. Introduction A primary goal of a technical two-year college degree is to provide the graduate with the skills they need, so that they will be successful upon entering the workplace and, at the same time, collaterally provide the local workplace with the workforce that it needs. That workforce has traditionally been made up of jobs in the manufacturing sector and the subsequent required field servicing of the same products once deployed (i.e. field service sector). Desired student outcomes and the closely associated technical program’s educational objectives are typically based on both general and program/discipline specific criteria. For decades, technical programs leading to an electrical/electronics technology (ET) or engineering technology (EET) associate’s degree have tended to follow a cook-book type approach to new curriculum development and/or adoption by focusing on a “parts-centric” approach to the introduction of new technology and the electronic devices that enable it. In fact, the vast majority of these programs, even now, follow a fairly standard collection of technical courses 1 , whose content is oftentimes dictated by the best selling textbooks on the particular subject matter. To be sure, faculty with industry connections, active industrial advisory boards, and recent faculty hires straight from industry or with recent industry experience will usually have a positive influence upon a program’s technical content and delivery. However, in general, the program’s technical courses will typically emphasis the particular technical content and skills needed by local industry and the so called basics or fundamentals of electricity and electronics as neatly packaged in available textbooks. In the meantime, Moore’s Law (actually an observation) keeps on keeping on and the resulting effects on the practical realization of electronics systems and their ever evolving complexity is becoming more and more disrupting to their repair and maintenance procedures. 2,3 As a result, the technical work skills needed by a rapidly changing electrical/electronics industry are, in this author’s opinion, swiftly shifting and morphing into those that emphasis a systems perspective as compared to legacy technical expertise emphasizing parts level knowledge. As pointed out by this author and others that have spoken to this issue, the mass produced consumer electronics entertainment systems of today are primarily throw-away devices (e.g. DVD or Blu-ray players, game consoles, etc). 4,5,6 Furthermore, the manufacturing of mass produced electronic systems in the United States has dropped dramatically over the past several decades and presently offers little job potential for technicians in this field except in certain niche product categories. On the other hand, complex electric/electronics systems that are sold in much smaller quantities (and as a consequence are much more costly) and are installed in the field, to be part of an operational system, tend to be the present drivers of job creation in this field. Recently, there has been much in the popular press about the emergence of a new category of consumer electronics products. This type of product has the adjective “smart” attached to its name. At the recent 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), smart televisions, smart cars, smart homes, and smart health are but a few of the new product lines that are being touted as the next wave of consumer electronics. 7 These products are not so much to do with entertainment (although that can be their primary purpose) as they are for the improvement of the human condition (i.e. safety, security, efficiency, health, sustainability, etc). These products are a new class of electronic systems that use a combination of hardware, software, and communications technologies to achieve their design goals. They will also be another major driver of job creation for the electrical/electronics area. Eventually, other recently announced initiatives such as the “Smart Grid” or “Future Grid” and “Intellidrive” 8 which are closely related (but much larger) systems will eventually provide systemic change to our national infrastructure. As such, they too will help to drive job creation, especially in the electrical/electronics field service sector. The Convergence How have we arrived at this point? How will it affect how and what we teach in our ET/EET technology programs? Today, there is an ongoing convergence of several new emerging technologies and several well established technologies being used to construct sophisticated electronic based systems, namely: smart sensor and actuator technology, computer networking, embedded communications, and embedded microcomputer control. During the next decade, we will witness the implementation of several large scale technically enabled innovations involving this nation’s electrical power grid and the interstate highway system and many other smaller, discipline specific, intelligent infrastructure systems that will enhance the efficiency, safety, and security of human endeavors. Some describe the process of adding intelligence and connectivity to these systems as the creation of the “Internet of Things” or IoT. Already, academic and industry experts in various technical fields have given catchy names to these proposed systems: the already mentioned, Smart Grid and IntelliDrive, Smart Buildings, Smart Homes, e-health care, are but a few that have made it into the popular press. Again, these large scale and not so large scale applications are becoming possible due to the intersection of several key enabling technologies. Essentially, through the use of networked embedded controllers (known as ambient intelligence) and complex sensors and actuators (i.e. sensor networks) one is able to create intelligent infrastructure systems that have the potential to change almost every aspect of mankind’s interaction with the environment. Recently, researchers have coined the term cyberphysical systems (CPSs) to differentiate between early first generation embedded control systems and those embedded control systems that are tightly coupled to the physical world. 9 Examples of this concept are cross and inter-disciplinary systems that require timing to perform their function (e.g. automobile collision avoidance systems, e-health care systems 10 , future grid, etc). Although many would say that these applications are information and communications technology (ICT) enabled, from this author’s perspective, this additional system constraint involving timing tends to move these systems from the realm of the information technology (IT) space and put them into the (newly coined) operational technology (OT) space. 11 Thus placing them more in the technician’s world (think physical layer of the OSI model) than the traditional IT worker’s world (upper layers of the OSI model). If one believes that society and technology are headed in the direction presented above, the understanding of the theory and operation of networked embedded controllers and their interaction with sensors and actuators will be one of the required skill sets needed to deal with these emerging technology applications at the field service level. This paper will present details about a sequence of courses that deal with this technology. These courses are designed for students at the two-year college level in both the first and the second year of an Electronic Systems Engineering Technology (ESET) associate’s