Education/Instrumentation

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LabVIEW DAQ GPIB

Using LabVIEW in Student Projects for Instrumentation and Control

by David McDonald, School of Engineering Technology and Mathematics Lake Superior State University

The Challenge: Teaching students technical and professional skills with modern instrumentation. The Solution: Using DAQ and GPIB hardware controlled by LabVIEW to teach students realworld virtual instrumentation technology that they can readily apply in an academic setting or in industry.
Engineering educators today realize the need to provide students with both technical and professional skills. Students need to acquire communication, teamwork, and project skills to be prepared for todays team-based work environment in industry. In addition, students need instruction in modern instrumentation, including both plug-in data acquisition (DAQ) boards and computer-controlled, standalone instruments. At Lake Superior State University, we are integrating modern, computer-based instrumentation and data acquisition instruction into our technical instruction. This activity is supported by two Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). One ILI grant supports the use of a team-based approach to data acquisition projects in a junior/senior electronics laboratory. This grant helped provide new test equipment that included a GPIB-PCIIA interface, a Lab-PC DAQ board, and LabVIEW software, all from National Instruments. LabVIEW is ideal for these projects because it spans the spectrum of programming skills. We based our labs on PCs running Windows.

Brian Theriault works on a small motor control project that is part of the Instrumentation and Control course. Photo by Mike McQuade, LSSV.

and control course. In the analog electronics course, which has an instrumentation avor, students design various sensor circuits and acquire data with LabVIEW. Students also display outputs such as temperature and pressure. During the instrumentation and control course, student groups complete an instrumentation project selected by their group. Past projects have included environmental controls for a simulated hog barn, motor controls, and signal processing. The senior design projects involve students from the automated manufacturing, electrical, and mechanical areas. Cross-disciplinary teams of students from all three areas are assigned to industry-sponsored

acquisition and automated testing. In a portion of the project, a design team used LabVIEW for testing a parking brake. The second project entailed making design modications to an electric pump as well as updating the workstation where the operator completes the nal pump assembly and tests the pump. The design team of this particular project developed a prototype test stand with data acquisition and wrote the operator test sequence using LabVIEW. The operator enters the specic model number for the pump, then the program accesses the test specications for the pump. The program then controls the test sequence and measures pump parameters while guiding the operator through the assembly and testing process.

LabVIEW software is ideal for

student projects because it spans the spectrum of programming skills.
projects. The student team is expected to deliver an industrial-quality product design or automated manufacturing process that meets the specications of their industrial contact. Last year, two projects with an instrumentation focus used LabVIEW for data

Learning Modern Lab Technology

The second NSF-ILI grant supports introducing data acquisition in fundamental electrical and mechanical courses, including electricity, electrical machinery, strength of materials, dynamics, and control systems. By using data acquisition in several laboratory courses throughout the curriculum, the students become both condent and procient in the use of this modern technology.

Team-Based Lab Exercises with LabVIEW

We have included team-based instrumentation experiences in many laboratory courses as well as appropriate senior design projects. Students work in cooperative learning groups and use the software on various instrumentation projects. LabVIEW plays a key role in an analog electronics course and an instrumentation

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advanced high school students that included similar, group-based LabVIEW programming exercises has already met with success. By using LabVIEW software, students can develop their own solutions to instrumentation problems. As opposed to using

As opposed to using a prepackaged

software tool for data acquisition, LabVIEW develops and strengthens fundamental programming skills while empowering students to control the complete instrumentation project.
a menu-driven software tool for data acquisition, LabVIEW develops and strengthens fundamental programming skills while empowering students to control the complete instrumentation project.1 to develop students programming skills while also introducing them to the eld of electrical engineering. Collaborative exercises of this type help beginning students adapt to school and promote retention. A summer program for
For more information, contact Professor David McDonald, School of Engineering Technology and Mathematics, Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783, tel (906) 635-2208, fax (906) 635-2111, e-mail: dmcdonald@lakers.lssu.edu

The Pump Stand VI

Starting next fall, rst-year students will use the LabVIEW Student Edition in a new orientation course. These students will work in cooperative groups on engaging and motivational instrumentation projects. Projects will be designed

The Software is the Instrument

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