Using IR Cameras Beyond Outreach: Motivational Projects for Engineering Students

Affordable infrared (IR) cameras provide a unique opportunity to motivate and enhance the education of engineering students. We used both IR and visible images from a FLIR E60 camera as an instructional vehicle in a digital image processing course, where students came from several engineering majors. These IR and visible images were used as the basis for an open-ended final project in the course. Assessment via both pre- and post-project questionnaires showed the project was a positive experience for the students, and helped motivate them to learn the material. This paper discusses the course, the camera, the project, and how effective it was to add this project to the course

Second Year of Using the Sidekick Basic Kit for TI LaunchPad with Elementary School Students

This paper describes a second year, follow-on study in which 4th and 5th grade students were exposed to engineering-related topics using a microcontroller, input/output circuitry, sensors, and the associated software coding needed to achieve a desired functionality of the hardware. The first year study was described in a paper presented at the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference. This second year study took students to the “next level,” and showed very promising results

Elementary School Use of the Sidekick Basic Kit for TI LaunchPad™

Despite the fact that the Sidekick basic kit for TI LaunchPad™ is intended for a much more experienced group of students, engineers, and makers, we have successfully introduced it into four classes of 5th grade elementary school students. This system mapped well onto the existing science standards of learning established by the State of Virginia. Additionally, the assessment of this process clearly demonstrated that effective learning is occurring

Using Student Knowledge of Linear Systems Theory to Facilitate the Learning of Optical Engineering

For students learning a new topic, being able to use existing knowledge and mental models in the context of the new topic leads to faster learning and a deeper understanding of the new concepts. This paper describes how teaching a graduate-level course providing an introduction to optical engineering for students from multiple engineering majors can be facilitated by using existing concepts and knowledge of linear systems theory, which are common to them all

Using Veterans’ Technical Skills in an Engineering Laboratory

After years of dissatisfaction with student knowledge and ability to use electrical test and measurement equipment (T&ME), a veteran with significant expertise using this equipment was placed in a Circuit Analysis Lab. This paper reports on this trial and its assessment results. Based on the overwhelming success of this program, this one-semester trial was extended for a second semester

An Affordable Software Defined Radio

This paper discusses the utilization of a relatively inexpensive wideband radio receiver in combination with a digital downconverter (DDC) based data recorder to capture and record real world radio signals. The resulting in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) data files are then imported intoMATLAB for processing. This batch processing of real world radio signals allows for a tremendous amount of classroom flexibility in the discussion of software defined radio topics

Quantum Coherence in a Single Ion due to strong Excitation of a metastable Transition

We consider pump-probe spectroscopy of a single ion with a highly metastable (probe) clock transition which is monitored by using the quantum jump technique. For a weak clock laser we obtain the well known Autler-Townes splitting. For stronger powers of the clock laser we demonstrate the transition to a new regime. The two regimes are distinguished by the transition of two complex eigenvalues to purely imaginary ones which can be very different in magnitude. The transition is controlled by the power of the clock laser. For pump on resonance we present simple analytical expressions for various linewidths and line positions.Comment: 6 figures. accepted for publication in PR

Active Brownian Particles. From Individual to Collective Stochastic Dynamics

We review theoretical models of individual motility as well as collective dynamics and pattern formation of active particles. We focus on simple models of active dynamics with a particular emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic dynamics of such self-propelled entities in the framework of statistical mechanics. Examples of such active units in complex physico-chemical and biological systems are chemically powered nano-rods, localized patterns in reaction-diffusion system, motile cells or macroscopic animals. Based on the description of individual motion of point-like active particles by stochastic differential equations, we discuss different velocity-dependent friction functions, the impact of various types of fluctuations and calculate characteristic observables such as stationary velocity distributions or diffusion coefficients. Finally, we consider not only the free and confined individual active dynamics but also different types of interaction between active particles. The resulting collective dynamical behavior of large assemblies and aggregates of active units is discussed and an overview over some recent results on spatiotemporal pattern formation in such systems is given.Comment: 161 pages, Review, Eur Phys J Special-Topics, accepte

Image Fusion: An Introduction to Multispectral Signal Processing

A new generation of affordable infrared (IR) cameras provides both IR and visible images, which allows professors to introduce the concept of multispectral (and hyperspectral) signal processing in a particularly motivating way for students. We describe the use of a FLIR E60 camera in a graduate digital image processing course, in which IR and visible images were used as the basis for an open-ended final project in the course. We used both pre- and post-project questionnaires to confirm that the project was a positive experience for the students, and helped motivate them to master the course material