Design of an educational emulation framework for mechatronics control unit development

Teaching mechatronics is a great challenge since the subject is a multidisciplinary area of electrical, mechanical and IT knowledge. Students must deepen their knowledge in these slightly related fields of engineering. Tasks and solving problems in mechatronics require cognitive and operational knowledge and practical experience about systems design and analysis. Since mechatronics engineering is a fast-developing and practice-oriented field placing more emphasis practical and project-based education at universities is strongly encouraged by the industry. The paper presents an educational framework designed for students with a specialization in vehicle mechatronics. The aim of the system is to provide the emulation of a real vehicle module, which must be operated by appropriately designed controller unit.