Applications of dynamic data analysis: a multidisciplinary laboratory course

This paper describes a junior-level multidisciplinary laboratory course centered around industrial applications of dynamic data acquisition and analysis. The course was developed with funding from an NSF Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) grant and is offered as a NSF Foundation Coalition (FC) course. It is also open to traditional aerospace, electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineering students. In the course, teams of four (maximum) students with complementary interests and skills are drawn from more than one discipline. It is intended that the associations developed within and among the teams will enable cooperative multidisciplinary design projects in the senior year. The course consists of four weeks of introductory material followed by four laboratory modules, each concerning a specific application of signal acquisition and analysis. Currently, these modules include speech encoding and enhancement, machinery sound power measurement, machine condition monitoring, and motor condition monitoring. Each module is independent, so the modules may be presented in any order. The course concludes with a small design project. Three instructors have been involved in teaching the course, one from mechanical and two from electrical engineering.