Educational platform lets students interact with circuits remotely

The myDAQ portable instrumentation device is designed by NI and incorporates Texas Instruments analogue circuits such as data converters, amplifiers and interface and power management components. The hardware integrates with NI LabVIEW graphical development software and enables interaction with real analogue circuits, sensor measurements and signal processing. The device is pocket sized and powered by usb connection and, according to NI, can be used for engineering students to experiment during homework assignments. Students are provided with eight LabVIEW software based instruments including a digital multimeter, oscilloscope, function generator, Bode analyser, dynamic signal analyser, arbitrary waveform generator, digital reader and digital writer. "Students need exposure to real circuits and hardware, but the problem for engineering professors is trying to meet the increasing cost of providing real electronics with continually tighter budgets," said Dr Tony Ambler, chairman of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas, Austin. "NI myDAQ is inexpensive enough for every student to have their own, plug it into their laptop at home, in the dorm or in the park, and experiment with the real electronics all around them, without using lab time or lab equipment." When combined with LabVIEW on a pc, NI says the device allows students to learn core concepts in engineering curricula that include analogue circuits, sensor measurements and signals and systems courses. A number of universities throughout the US are already developing myDAQ curricula and NI is making these and other resources available to educational institutions and students.