A STUDENT-DESIGNED LABORATORY COMPANION BOARD FOR A COURSE ON MICROPROCESSOR INTERFACING AND EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

 Abstract – This paper describes the production and usage of a student-designed laboratory companion board for a core course on microprocessor interfacing and em-bedded systems in the Department of Electrical and Com-puter Engineering at Queen’s University. The companion board connects to existing digital-only hardware in order to provide analog-digital conversion and other features. The design and prototype implementation of the compan-ion board was pursued as a capstone design project by three students during the 2014-2015 academic session. The student designers had agreed from the outset to allow their intellectual property to be used for educational pur-poses. In mid-2015, a production run of 30 boards was completed. A total of more than 300 students then used the companion board in laboratory activity during the Fall 2015 and Fall 2016 terms. The introduction of this student-designed equipment into the laboratory has been a positive development that provides an example to stu-dents of how material learned in multiple courses can be integrated together to produce a valuable outcome.