I currently teach or have taught the following modules at Aston University:
Module leader – Electronics Group Design Project.
Module leader – Internet of Things.
Module leader – Analogue and Power Electronics.
Module leader – Advanced Embedded Systems.
Project supervision – Final Year Project.
The level 6 and 7 versions of the Internet of Things and the level 6 module Advanced Embedded systems were developed from scratch. Considerable focus has been given to hands-on, problem-based learning exercises to improve the employability of Aston’s students. To achieve this, custom hardware was developed in conjunction with problem based laboratories and assessments.
The line following robot (left) was designed for 2nd year group projects and student-led hackathons. Although it does not have closed-loop speed/position control of the DC motors, it does allow for students to experiment with PID control to rotate the robot such that it follows the line. It uses reflective sensors to detect the poisition of the line and brushed DC motors. The hardware platform inlcudes an inbuilt constant current charger for the NiMH PP3.
This gentle introduction to PID control has has led on to final year project students creating DC brushed micromice using full closed-loop motor control.
This board (right) was designed for final year advanced embedded systems. Built around an ATmega1284p, it includes a time division multiplexed seven segment display, an SPI DAC and BNC driving circuitry, ADC inputs (BNC, LDR, temperature sensors and potentiometer), I2C LCD and backlight, LEDs and push-buttons and on-board FT232 and circuitry for USB power and serial communications.
The assessment for this final year modules consists of measuring DTMF tones in software and producing a corresponding FSK output, in real time.
The hardware shown to the left was designed in 2016/2017 for the new Internet of Things modules at Aston University. Comprising of an ESP8266, LCD/backlight, analogue inputs, temperature and humidity sensor, RFID, and an LED/pushbutton, and an I2C expansion port, it allows for students to prototype complex IoT applications without building their own hardware. This allows students to get to grips with UDP, TCP, MQTT, HTTP, CoAP etc.