AC 2012-2936: TEACHING DIGITAL COMMUNICATION USING LABVIEW
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In response to the needs of the power industry, the Electronics Engineering Technology program at Texas A&M University has been revamping the instrumentation course to focus on digital instrumentation, in particular, digital communication protocols. Modbus was selected for its simplicity, open architecture, and wide use in industry as the communication protocol for two course projects in an instrumentation course. LabVIEW was extensively used in the laboratory sessions, which better prepared students for the course projects. Two course projects were designed to familiarize the students with virtual instrumentation, data acquisition, Modbus communication, and simple closed loop control. One involved the instrumentation and control of a brushed DC permanent magnetic motor; the other involved the instrumentation and control of a small scale temperature chamber. Students used one computer, functioning as a Modbus slave, to measure the motor speed or temperature inside the chamber and to turn the motor or the light bulbs on and off. Another computer, functioning as a Modbus master, reads the measurements using Modbus communication protocol via RS-485 wires, compared the measurements to the set points, made control decisions, and sent the commands to the Modbus slave for actuation. Details of the course projects will be discussed in this article. 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.
