Importance of Practical Relevance and Design Modules in Electrical Circuits education

The interactive technical electronic book, TechEBook, currently under development at the University of Central Florida (UCF), provides a useful tool for engineers and scientists through unique features compared to the most used traditional electrical circuit textbooks available in the market. TechEBook has comprised the two worlds of classical circuit books and an interactive operating platform such as iPads, laptops and desktops utilizing Java Virtual Machine operator. The TechEBook provides an interactive applets screen that holds many modules, in which each had a specific application in the self learning process.
 
 This paper describes two of the interactive techniques in the TechEBook known as, Practical Relevance Modules (PRM) and Design Modules (DM). The Practical Relevance Module will assist the readers to learn electrical circuit analysis and to understand the practical application of the electrical network theory through solving real world examples and problems. The Design Module will help students design real-life problems. These modules will be displayed after each section in the TechEBook for the user to relate his/her understanding with the outside world, which introduces the term me-applying and me-designing, as a comprehensive full experience for self or individualized education. The main emphasis of this paper is the PRM while the DM will be discussed in brief. A practical example of applying the PRM and DM features is discussed as part of a basic electrical engineering course currently given at UCF and results show improved student performances in learning materials in Electrical Circuits. In the future, such modules can be redesigned to become highly interactive with illustrated animations

Capabilities and Impact on Wind Analyses of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a new airborne microwave remote sensor for hurricane observations that is currently under development by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/Hurricane Research Division, the University of Central Florida, the University of Michigan, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The instrument is being test flown in January and is expected to participate in or collaborate with the tropical cyclone experiment GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) in the 2010 season. HIRAD is designed to study the wind field in some detail within strong hurricanes and to enhance the real-time airborne ocean surface winds observation capabilities of NOAA and USAF Weather Squadron hurricane hunter aircraft currently using the operational Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). Unlike SFMR, which measures wind speed and rain rate along the ground track at a single point directly beneath the aircraft, HIRAD will provide images of the surface wind and rain field over a wide swath (approx.3 x the aircraft altitude) with approx.2 km resolution. See Figure 1, which depicts a simulated HIRAD swath versus the line of data obtained by SFMR

Hurricane Wind Speed And Rain Rate Measurements Using The Airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (hirad)

This dissertation presents results for an end-to-end computer simulation of a new airborne microwave remote sensor, the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, HIRAD, which will provide improved hurricane surveillance. The emphasis of this research is the retrieval of hurricane-force wind speeds in the presence of intense rain and over long atmospheric slant path lengths that are encountered across its wide swath. Brightness temperature (Tb) simulations are performed using a forward microwave radiative transfer model (RTM) that includes an ocean surface emissivity model at high wind speeds developed especially for HIRAD high incidence angle measurements and a rain model for the hurricane environment. Also included are realistic sources of errors (e.g., instrument NEDT, antenna pattern convolution of scene Tb, etc.), which are expected in airborne hurricane observations. Case studies are performed using 3D environmental parameters produced by numerical hurricane models for actual hurricanes. These provide realistic \u27nature runs\u27 of rain, water vapor, clouds and surface winds from which simulated HIRAD Tb\u27s are derived for various flight tracks from a high altitude aircraft. Using these simulated HIRAD measurements, Monte Carlo retrievals of wind speed and rain rate are performed using available databases of sea surface temperatures and climatological hurricane atmospheric parameters (excluding rain) as a priori information. Examples of retrieved hurricane wind speed and rain rate images are presented, and comparisons of the retrieved parameters with the numerical model data are made. Statistical results are presented over a broad range of wind and rain conditions and as a function of path length over the full swath

Impact of Spatial Resolution on Wind Field Derived Estimates of Air Pressure Depression in the Hurricane Eye

Measurements of the near surface horizontal wind field in a hurricane with spatial resolution of order 1–10 km are possible using airborne microwave radiometer imagers. An assessment is made of the information content of the measured winds as a function of the spatial resolution of the imager. An existing algorithm is used which estimates the maximum surface air pressure depression in the hurricane eye from the maximum wind speed. High resolution numerical model wind fields from Hurricane Frances 2004 are convolved with various HIRAD antenna spatial filters to observe the impact of the antenna design on the central pressure depression in the eye that can be deduced from it

Hurricane Wind Speed And Rain Rate Retrieval Algorithm For The Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer

This thesis presents the development and validation of the Hurricane Imaging Retrieval Algorithm (HIRA) for the measurement of oceanic surface wind speed and rain rate in hurricanes. The HIRA is designed to process airborne microwave brightness temperatures from the NOAA, Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which routinely collects data during NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft flights. SFMR measures wind speeds and rain rates at nadir only, but HIRA will soon be integrated with an improved surface wind speed model for expanded utilization with next generation microwave hurricane imagers, such as the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRad). HIRad will expand the nadir only measurements of SFMR to allow the measurement of hurricane surface winds and rain over a wide swath Results for the validation of HIRA retrievals are presented using SFMR brightness temperature data for 22 aircraft flights in 5 hurricanes during 2003-2005. Direct comparisons with the standard NOAA SFMR empirical algorithm provided excellent results for wind speeds up to 70 m/s. and rain rates up to 50 mm/hr

Impact of Spatial Resolution on Wind Field Derived Estimates of Air Pressure Depression in the Hurricane Eye

Measurements of the near surface horizontal wind field in a hurricane with spatial resolution of order 1–10 km are possible using airborne microwave radiometer imagers. An assessment is made of the information content of the measured winds as a function of the spatial resolution of the imager. An existing algorithm is used which estimates the maximum surface air pressure depression in the hurricane eye from the maximum wind speed. High resolution numerical model wind fields from Hurricane Frances 2004 are convolved with various HIRAD antenna spatial filters to observe the impact of the antenna design on the central pressure depression in the eye that can be deduced from it

Adaptive Electronic Quizzing Method for Introductory Electrical Circuit Course

The interactive technical electronic book, TechEBook, currently under development at the University of Central Florida, provides a useful tool for engineers and scientists through unique features compared to the most used traditional electrical circuit textbooks available in the market. TechEBook has comprised the two worlds of classical circuit books and an interactive operating platform such as laptops and desktops utilizing Java Virtual Machine operator. The TechEBook provides an interactive applets screen that holds many modules, in which each had a specific application in the self learning process. This paper describes one of the interactive techniques in the TechEBook known as, QuizMe, for evaluating the readersâ?? performance and the overall understanding for all subjects at any stage. The QuizMe will be displayed after each section in the TechEBook for the user to evaluate his/her understanding, which introduces the term me-learning, as a comprehensive full experience for self or individualized education. In this paper, a practical example of applying the QuizMe feature is discussed as part of a basic electrical engineering course currently given at the University of Central Florida

Adaptive Electronic Quizzing Method for Introductory Electrical Circuit Course

The interactive technical electronic book, TechEBook, currently under development at the University of Central Florida, provides a useful tool for engineers and scientists through unique features compared to the most used traditional electrical circuit textbooks available in the market. TechEBook has comprised the two worlds of classical circuit books and an interactive operating platform such as laptops and desktops utilizing Java Virtual Machine operator. The TechEBook provides an interactive applets screen that holds many modules, in which each had a specific application in the self learning process.
 
 This paper describes one of the interactive techniques in the TechEBook known as, QuizMe, for evaluating the readers’ performance and the overall understanding for all subjects at any stage. The QuizMe will be displayed after each section in the TechEBook for the user to evaluate his/her understanding, which introduces the term me-learning, as a comprehensive full experience for self or individualized education. 
 
 In this paper, a practical example of applying the QuizMe feature is discussed as part of a basic electrical engineering course currently given at the University of Central Florida

Java Based Symbolic Circuit Solver For Electrical Engineering Curriculum

The interactive technical electronic book, TechEBook, currently under development at the University of Central Florida (UCF), introduces a paradigm shift by replacing the traditional electrical engineering course with topic-driven modules that provide a useful tool for engineers and scientists. The TechEBook comprises the two worlds of classical circuit books and interactive operating platforms such as iPads, laptops and desktops. The TechEBook provides an interactive applets screen that holds many modules, each of which has a specific application in the self learning process. This paper describes one of the interactive techniques in the TechEBook known as Symbolic Circuit Solver (SymCirc). The SymCirc develops a versatile symbolic based linear circuit with a switches solver. The solver works by accepting a Netlist and the element that the user wants to find the voltage across or current on, as input parameters. Then it either produces the plot or the time domain expression of the output. Frequency domain plots or Symbolic Transfer Functions are also produced. The solver gets its input from a Web-based GUI circuit drawer developed at UCF. Typical simulation tools that electrical engineers encounter are numerical in nature, that is, when presented with an input circuit they iteratively solve the circuit across a set of small time steps. The result is represented as a data set of output versus time, which can be plotted for further inspection. Such results do not help users understand the ultimate nature of circuits as Linear Time Invariant systems with a finite dimensional basis in the solution space. SymCirc provides all simulation results as time domain expressions composed of the basic functions that exclusively include exponentials, sines, cosines and/or t raised to any power. This paper explains the motivation behind SymCirc, the Graphical User Interface front end and how the solver actually works. The paper also presents some examples and results to better explain the concept