Networked Digital Control and Data Acquisition for an Undergraduate Controls and Robotics Laboratory: A Progress Report

This paper outlines the development status of a multidisciplinary controls and robotics engineering laboratory for undergaduate electrical and mechanical entineering majors based on an integrated computer network of automated data acquision, analysis and control tools. Personal computers, the heart of the student workstations, are interfaced to analog computers for simulaton, and to actual hardware for control and automation of typical manufacturing operations and industrial processes. The personal computer workstations will be networked to the existing supercomputer capabilities of the University of Texas Center for High Performance Computing. In addition, the student workstations will be networked to an instructor´s station to allow for real time student-instructor interaction. The proposed laboratory enhancements includes equipment to support dta acquisition, measurement, control, optmization and design. The Electrical and Mechanical Engineering programs at UTSA are both housed within the Division of Engineering, therefore, the adminstration of such a multipurpose lab is administratively feasible.