Data Acquisition Systems: An Integral Part Of Undergraduate Engineering And Technology Programs

This paper describes example student projects and course activities in data-acquisition s ystems in undergraduate engineering and technol ogy programs at La ke Superior State Universi ty. The focus of the paper is to show that students from e lectrical, computer and mechanical engineeri ng as well as manufacturi ng engineering technology programs study and use modern da t acquisition systems in several cour ses as well as independent pro ject work. Though LabVIEW software along with National Instruments data-acquisition boards are most common ly used, other systems such as SA GIAN Inc.'s CAMILLE system is used also in certain applications. It is shown that students in mechanical e ngineering and technol ogy programs who ha ve traditional ly avoided electronics and computers have readi ly and enthusiastical ly taken to da ta-acquisition systems.