Labs-to-Go System Identification Experiments

Labs-to-go is an innovative take-home laboratory system suitable for a variety of undergraduate laboratory experiments in civil, mechanical, and computer engineering. Conventional labs are expensive in terms of hardware, lab space, and support staff. Furthermore, for urban universities, the majority of students commute. The labs-to-go project can reduce the pressure on limited lab resources and required commuting via take-home kits which provide a learning experience equivalent to traditional labs. The apparatus consists of a set of smart beam elements, each comprised of an aluminum plate, a piezoelectric actuator, a piezoelectric bending sensor, and mounting hardware, with display and control provided using a personal computer with a digital signal processing interface subsystem. The students assemble (with extensive online teaching assistant support) a specified configuration and then measure and control its behavior using algorithms they develop as part of the assignment. The laboratory experiments fall into two general classes: measurement and control. This paper describes the measurement experiments, in which students use the apparatus to determine the dynamics of the structures and to develop experience with sensing, signal conditioning, and identification. The assessment results confirm that the labs-to- go concept is viable and offer insight into improvements which can enhance the learning outcomes.