DalhousieUniversity

in the

Classroom, Dorms and Labs

LabVIEW

Enhanced Learning

Dr. Barry Paton

Role of a University Teacher

• Expert lecturer• Tutorial leader• Problem Solver

• Class Administrator• Builder of Labs, King TA• Quiz Maker, Marker and Adjudicator

WEB Guru

Not all students want to ‘make your day’.

Students need to

hear it in the classroomsee it demonstratedand do it in the lab.

Effective Learning

Evolution of Technology• 1962 Thin Film Transistor• Operational Amplifiers

• 70’s Digital Electronics• 80’s Microprocessor revolution• 90 Graphical User Interface

• 91 LabVIEW moves to Windows• 96 LabVIEW Student Edition• 98 Internet Instrumentation

• 00 Vision, Smart Sensors, Remote Panels

National Instruments Today

Gives the educator all the tools to measure, analyzeand present data is a scientific manner.

This allows students to spend more time This allows students to spend more time making real measurements and testing making real measurements and testing theory with actual measurements.theory with actual measurements.

It is exploration scienceIt is exploration scienceand engineering!and engineering!

Freshman Level

• Transition from high school to university

• Eye opening demonstrations

• Calculations lead to a one number answer

• Measurement leads to a single parameter

• Labs teach concepts, errors & measurements

Classroom Demos

Infrared Imaging

LabVIEW Empowered Labs

Hitachi Oscilloscope

Virtual Oscilloscope

Real Oscilloscope Experiment

Harmonic Analysis

Digital Compass

Sophomore Level

• Each person does the same experimentØdynamic learning environment

• Graphing & Spreadsheet PhysicsØslope, trends, bumps, dips

• Functions f(x,t) , f(x,y)

• ODE (div, curl)

Sopohomore PreLabs

Sopohomore Real Labs

Remote Analysis of Hook’s Law

0 50 100 150

1

2

3

4

5

0

Balloon Radius (cm)

Pre

ssu

re (

kP

a)

PV Curve for Balloon

Hook’s LawForce = - k x

Junior Level

• Experimental Design

• Presentation of scientific data

• High level of abstraction F(x,y,z)ØHamiltonian, wavefunction, partition function

• Simulation (circuit simulation)

• Software Tools (Matlab, Maple & LabVIEW)

• Library & Web

Determine the Diameterof an Optical Fibre

Data for Optical Fiber

-1.00E-01

0.00E+00

1.00E-01

2.00E-01

3.00E-01

4.00E-01

5.00E-01

6.00E-01

7.00E-01

-0.18 -0.16 -0.14 -0.12 -0.1 -0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0

L (m)

Inte

sity (arb

itra

ry u

nits)

Index of Refraction

Theory

<-Data

Experiment

GPS Challenge• To track the movement of a car• using GPS and display it on a map

Marconi GPS Receiver

GPS Version 2.2

Senior Level

• Honing research skills

• When theory and experiments collide

• Extracting signals from noise

• High precision experiments, Copious data files

• Senior research project

• Learn how to be efficient

Fibre Optic Periscope

Virtual Laser Lab

Physics Department

Home of the Virtual Laser Lab and the Remote Lab