Proposed Micro lab-text... your input?
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Hi all,
Will Devenport and myself have been in discussion with a major text
book publisher to develop an electronics lab manual intergating
microcontrollers.
Our 'rough' ideas so far is an electronics lab-text(light on the
text) that would span a common electronics curriculum, having
electronics experiments to build/test for various subjects. Our
intend is to show intergration of micro's as another tool, and not a
separate subject, while adding some 'excitement' to typically dry
labs.
Early labs would be simple input/output devices(switches, led's,
etc), some active elements such as photo-resistors etc.
Then on to using transisistors to drive larger loads, using SSR's,
etc.
Communications labs, such as serial data transmission via wire, IR,
Fiber. Maybe find ways to work in I2C or other common serial comms,
RF possibly, opto-isolators, etc.
and so on....
Again, the intend is to show integration and interfacing early on and
build from there, having labs in a variety of subjects.
The labs would have a brief discussion of the principles, but expect
the student's lecture course to cover most of the theory (resistor,
transistor, op-amps, etc).
We would like any input you are happy to share.
1) Micro of choice: We've worked with a number of different micro's,
and while all have advantages and limitations, the BS2 seems to have
the most features while being easiest to get students experimenting
without a huge learning curve, though it does have some definite
limitations. Any thoughts? (We teach PIC's and 8051 in higher level
micro-dedicated classes).
2) Board: We anticipate needing a fairly decent amount of room for
breadboarding. The BOE might be a little small when it comes to
components, especially when interfacing some DIP16 digital chips to
it. Also, external devices, SSRs, lamps, etc, will need good
connections. Possibly have a board with 4 or 6 screw-down
terminals? It would be nice to at least have a single LED/switch on
board so the students would have something to start with, and they
always seem to need at least that much in any experiment. Parallax
has told us they would consider designing a specific board, and of
course keeping price down would be a consideration. Thoughts?
3) Parts: We expect a decent electronics lab to have major devices
on hand, though there will probably be a specific parts lists.
4) Has this been done before? Are we trying to reproduce something
already on the market?
Any feedback on the general concept of the lab text, or specific
areas, including ideas for lab areas, would be appreciated.
-Martin Hebel and Will Devenport
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.siu.edu/~imsasa/elm
and
SelmaWare Solutions
http://www.selmaware.com
Will Devenport and myself have been in discussion with a major text
book publisher to develop an electronics lab manual intergating
microcontrollers.
Our 'rough' ideas so far is an electronics lab-text(light on the
text) that would span a common electronics curriculum, having
electronics experiments to build/test for various subjects. Our
intend is to show intergration of micro's as another tool, and not a
separate subject, while adding some 'excitement' to typically dry
labs.
Early labs would be simple input/output devices(switches, led's,
etc), some active elements such as photo-resistors etc.
Then on to using transisistors to drive larger loads, using SSR's,
etc.
Communications labs, such as serial data transmission via wire, IR,
Fiber. Maybe find ways to work in I2C or other common serial comms,
RF possibly, opto-isolators, etc.
and so on....
Again, the intend is to show integration and interfacing early on and
build from there, having labs in a variety of subjects.
The labs would have a brief discussion of the principles, but expect
the student's lecture course to cover most of the theory (resistor,
transistor, op-amps, etc).
We would like any input you are happy to share.
1) Micro of choice: We've worked with a number of different micro's,
and while all have advantages and limitations, the BS2 seems to have
the most features while being easiest to get students experimenting
without a huge learning curve, though it does have some definite
limitations. Any thoughts? (We teach PIC's and 8051 in higher level
micro-dedicated classes).
2) Board: We anticipate needing a fairly decent amount of room for
breadboarding. The BOE might be a little small when it comes to
components, especially when interfacing some DIP16 digital chips to
it. Also, external devices, SSRs, lamps, etc, will need good
connections. Possibly have a board with 4 or 6 screw-down
terminals? It would be nice to at least have a single LED/switch on
board so the students would have something to start with, and they
always seem to need at least that much in any experiment. Parallax
has told us they would consider designing a specific board, and of
course keeping price down would be a consideration. Thoughts?
3) Parts: We expect a decent electronics lab to have major devices
on hand, though there will probably be a specific parts lists.
4) Has this been done before? Are we trying to reproduce something
already on the market?
Any feedback on the general concept of the lab text, or specific
areas, including ideas for lab areas, would be appreciated.
-Martin Hebel and Will Devenport
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.siu.edu/~imsasa/elm
and
SelmaWare Solutions
http://www.selmaware.com
Comments
Original Message
From: "Martin Hebel" <martin@s...>
To: <basicstamps@egroups.com>
Sent: jeudi 7 d