Integrated engineering workstation using the NeXT Step operating system

Author

Bollini, Raghupathy ; Foster, Larry D. ; Gent, Greg

Author_Institution

Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville, IL, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

6-9 Nov 1993

Firstpage

588

Lastpage

591

Abstract

The authors outline the progress and experiences to date on the development of an automated laboratory workstation configuration funded by the National Science Foundation Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program, (NSF-USE-9051175). This workstation was developed at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville using the NeXTStep Unix Mach-based object-oriented operating system. This networked workstation configuration is designed to increase efficiency of the laboratory sessions by automating the data acquisition process and permitting students to analyze data in laboratory session at the workstation. The automation, the ease of data acquisition, and the programmability have provided the students the time to explore and the opportunity to expand their horizon. The authors discuss types of experiments that lend themselves well to automation, review the network configuration and software, and describe both the positive and negative results with this approach

Keywords

Unix; computer aided instruction; computer networks; electrical engineering computing; electrical engineering education; engineering workstations; object-oriented methods; student experiments; teaching; CAI; NeXT Step operating system; USA; University; Unix Mach-based object-oriented operating system; automated laboratory workstation; automation; data acquisition; electrical engineering; experiments; network configuration; networked workstation; programmability; software; students; teaching; Automation; Circuit testing; Data acquisition; Data analysis; Laboratories; Operating systems; Power generation; Power supplies; Test equipment; Workstations;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers in Education Conference, 1993. Twenty-Third Annual Conference. 'Engineering Education: Renewing America's Technology', Proceedings.

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0190-5848

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1482-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.1993.405455

Filename

405455