Innovative Approaches to Advance Undergraduate Research Amit Garg1, Avinash Kumar Shudhanshu2, Raj Kumar3 and Sadashiv Raj Bharadwaj4 Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019, India, E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected], 4
[email protected]
Abstract— Over the last few years, there has been a
decline in the students’ interest towards science. Use of technology in the form of various types of sensors and data acquisition systems has come as a savior. Till date, manual routine tools and techniques are used to perform various experimental procedures in most of the science laboratories in our country. The manual tools are cumbersome whereas the automated ones are costly. It does not enthusiast young researchers towards the science laboratories. There is a need to develop applications which can be easily integrated, tailored in school and undergraduate level laboratories and are economical at the same time. Equipment’s with advanced technologies are available but they are uneconomical and have complicated working principle with a black box approach. The present work describes development of portable tools and applications which are user-friendly. This is being implemented using open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board and a development environment for writing software for the board. These tools will inspire young researchers towards science and facilitate development of advance low cost equipment’s making life easier for Indian society. . The paper reviews these developments and their impact on students. I.
science laboratory will enhance interest as well as productivity of students in research by reducing time of collecting and analyzing data. New technology with increased accuracy will boost students to design new experiments and work in the depth of concept.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP Though we have used a range of methods, we discuss some of them in this paper. They are:
Laboratory Virtual Workbench (LabVIEW) (i)
Instrument
Engineering
Use of virtual programming for simulation and calibration of data with various DAQ (Data Acquisition Devices) is the easiest way to overcome complex programming languages, as well as peculiar calibration method of sensors. The basic experimental set up for any of the above listed experiments can be described in the generic form as shown in “Fig. 1”.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last few years there has been a substantial increase in use of sensors across the world in all domains which has eased our life as well as research/education in various fields. However, being expensive there use is only limited to commercial and higher level laboratories. This paper reports a low cost method of acquiring data from different sensors and extending this system to perform different experiments at various levels. Low cost, tailoring as per the need and easy deployment make this system suitable for schools and undergraduate laboratory. This provides a learning environment using sensors and advanced tools for data acquisition and analysis offers many opportunities to students to perform experiments in science and technology in real time to investigate physical phenomena. An automated
Figure 1: Generic Experimental set up for using virtual programming with various DAQ devices.
As shown in “Fig. 1”, the experiment is set up in its conventional form and the data from it is captured using some sensor like voltage sensor, rotary sensor, light sensor or any other. These sensors are interfaced through the data acquisition card, chosen based on the requirement of the experiment, to the PC. The various types of acquisition cards used in some of the experiments are USB based SensorDAQ, NI USB 6008 and NI USB DAQ 6251. The data from the data acquisition card is acquired and analyzed in an application developed using LabVIEW, that provides Graphical User Interface on Drag and Drop basis for processing and acquiring data. We discuss one experiment, performed using labVIEW.
prototype boards contain their own RAM, ROM and processors along with GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) pins for the Ease of Access which makes it a fun to interface with sensors. The generic form of basic experimental setup for any of the experiments listed above is shown in „Fig.1‟
To Study Malus Law The experimental setup for verifying the Malus‟ law is as shown in Fig. 2(a). The setup consists of a He-Ne laser, a set of polarizer and analyzer, a rotary sensor, light sensor, sensorDAQ and a computer. The arrangement was setup on an optical breadboard with all the optical components aligned and firmly fixed. The rotary motion sensor was set at 1440 divisions per rotation and was coupled to the analyzer through a pulley that has the linear calibration i.e. one complete rotation of the analyzer corresponds to 360° through rotary sensor. The sample rate was set to 45 kHz. The measurements in the experiment were done by initially positioning the polarizer and analyzer at 0° and then analyzer were rotated through 0° to 360°. One can rotate either of the polarizer or analyzer. The relative intensity of light beam that passes through two polarizers was measured by the light sensor. The rotary motion sensor measures the angle that was obtained from rotating the analyzer relative to the first polarizer. The rotary motion sensor and the light sensor were connected to digital and analog input channels of the sensorDAQ respectively. The programme developed in LabVIEW version 8.5 records and displays in the computer the light intensity and the angle between the axis of polarizers. The developed programme also plots the light intensity with respect to the angle, the cosine of the angle, and the cosine2 of the angle.[1] The results are as shown in Fig. 2(b).
Experiments
Sensors
Microcontroller Board
Display Devices Android Phone/PC/LCD
Fig.3 : Generic Experimental set up, using Microcontroller Board for performing various experiments
Figure 2(a) Experimental setup for verifying the Malus’ law
i. ii.
Figure 2(b) Results of Malus’ law verification. Light intensity vs Ɵ
Deploying Open Source microcontrollers inside laboratory (ii)
and
prototype
Single-board microcontrollers like ARDUINO and RASPBERRY PI intended to make the application of interactive objects or environments more accessible. This
As shown in “Fig. 3”, the experiment is set up in its conventional form and the data from it is captured using some type of sensor like voltage sensor, rotary sensor, light sensor etc. These sensors are interfaced through to the microcontroller board like Arduino and then to the PC, Android Device, LCD or any other display device. The various types of microcontroller board can be used; here we have used „Arduino Mega ADK‟ as it also provides interface to most common mobile platform i.e. Android and windows. We discuss one experiment, performed using microcontrollers. Calculating time period of a simple pendulum For a complete understanding of calculation of time period through the electronic hardware in the laboratory, the experimental setup is as shown in figure 4. Laser light is made incident on the pendulum in the plane perpendicular to the oscillation of pendulum and a light sensor is mounted behind it to sense the intensity of light. Each time the bob of the pendulum oscillates it obstructs the laser beam and a „no light condition‟ is sensed by the light sensor [2]. The microcontroller has been programmed to calculate the time difference and display the time period on LCD.
Bob Pendulum
Laser Diode
light sensor
Microcontroller
Display Fig. 4.Schematic showing an automated experiment to calculate time period of simple pendulum
III. DEVELOPING COMPUTER AND MOBILE APPLICATIONS. For using Mobile and Computers As display devices we need to develop application mobile devices like Android and operating systems like Windows. Choosing Android is better Option, as android is open source platform. Here we discuss some features of „Eclipse‟, an application which can be used for developing android applications. (i) Eclipse: In computer programming, it is an integrated development environment (IDE). It contains a base workspace and an extensible in system for customizing the environment. Written mostly in Java, Eclipse can be used to develop applications. By means of various plug-ins, Eclipse may also be used to develop applications in other programming languages: Ada, C, C++, COBOL, Fortran, Haskell,JavaScr ipt, Lasso, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby (including Ruby on Rails framework), Scala, Clojure, Groovy, Scheme, and Erlang. It can also be used to develop packages for the software Mathematica. Development environments include the Eclipse Java development tools (JDT) for Java and Scala, Eclipse CDT for C/C++ and Eclipse PDT for PHP, among others. Eclipse uses plug-ins to provide all the functionality within and on top of the runtime system. Its runtime system is based on Equinox, an implementation of the OSGi core framework specification. Fig.3 shows a screen shot of Eclipse IDE The Eclipse IDE for Java Developers contains what you need to build Java applications. Considered by many to be the best Java development tool available, the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers provides superior Java editing with validation, incremental compilation and cross-referencing. Eclipse supports a rich selection of extensions, adding support for Python via pydev, Android development via Google‟s ADT, JavaFX support via e(fx)clips, and many others at the Eclipse Marketplace[3].
Fig. 5 screenshot of an Eclipse IDE
(ii) Visual Basic: Visual Basic is a third-generation eventdriven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model first released in 1991. Microsoft intended Visual Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. A programmer can create an application using the components provided by the Visual Basic program itself. Over time the communities of programmers have developed new third party components, keeping this programming language to modern standards. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, which requires external function declarations. Furthermore, new third party functions (which are open source) using part VB6 source code and part embedded machine code, make the Visual Basic 6.0 applications faster than those designed in C++[4].
Fig. 5 A screenshot of Visual Basic IDE
IV. OPTICS OUTREACH THROUGH SPIE STUDENT CHAPTER
The experiments performed have definitely sparked the interest in them towards this wonderful technology [6].
Over the last few years University of Delhi at ANDC SPIE student Chapter has been promoting hands-on teaching of science at the school level. The objective is to enhance the understanding level as well as interest of students towards optics and photonics at the school level. There has been a decline in level of pursuing science amongst students. Taking this as a challenge, as part of the extension activities under SPIE student chapter, the undergraduate students demonstrated some of the innovative experiments on geometrical optics and fiber optics through various hand-on sessions in many schools of Delhi.
Fig.7 Fiber Optics Kit developed by ANDC SPIE Chapter members
Fig.6 Demonstration of Geometric Optics Concepts in Schools
„Fig.6‟ shows SPIE Chapter student members demonstrating Geometrical Optics Kit to school students. They demonstrated various experiments on geometrical optics using a five beam laser ray box and various optical components like different types of mirrors, lenses, prisms, optical fibers etc. The various hands-on activities includes demonstrations on laws of reflection, image formation using plane, concave and convex mirrors, mirror formula, total internal reflection, image formation using concave and convex lenses and combination of these lenses, lens formula and defects in eye- Myopia and hypermetropia [5]. „Fig.7‟ shows a low cost Fiber Optics Kit developed by our SPIE Chapter student members. Some of the experiments developed and demonstrated („Fig.8‟) include that on determination of numerical aperture, bending loss, fiber to fiber alignment losses, wavelength division multiplexing, process of optical communication etc. The kit developed gave the school students hands - on experience about various characteristics/features of optical fiber and how exactly signals are transmitted. They also came to know exactly why fiber optics is so very important in our day to day life and catering our current bandwidth demands. It also made it easier for the students to learn the concepts involved in fiber optics and help in enhancing their skills.
Fig.8 Demonstration of Fiber Optics Concepts in Schools
V. CONCLUSION The present development shows that how using different low cost software and hardware resources can be deployed for acquiring data from sensors and further displaying these data on LCDs and other most common mobile platform i.e. Android. It helped undergraduate students integrate technology into a science laboratory, use same set of hardware components in different experiments, tailor the set up as per their learning need. At the same time, it helped in examining closely the underlying concept of experiment, minimising the time of experiment, and reducing the error. Students have been able to complete error free experiment and go beyond the realm of the syllabus to develop innovative ideas. Further, this beyond the classroom approach has made students work in an interdisciplinary team as well as approach preparing them as future Scientists/ Technologists pursuing healthy research.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Authors duly acknowledge University of Delhi for providing financial assistance under Innovative Projects from Colleges scheme for the project “Development of Low cost computer controlled science laboratory using sensors and open source hardware and software tools” against sanction no. ANDC-202. Authors acknowledge the contributions of all student members of „University of Delhi at ANDC SPIE Student Chapter‟ for their continuous effort to encourage both undergraduate and school students to go beyond the boundaries of the course curriculum.
REFERENCES [1] Dhruv Dosad, Prabhav Pushkar, Amit Garg, Reena Sharma, Vishal Dhingra „Changing students perspective towards Science using sensors and data acquisition systems‟, International Journal of Electronic and Electrical engineering, Vol. 5(2,. 111-114, 2012. [2] A. K. Shudhanshu, A. Garg, R. Kumar, S. R. Bharadwaj. „Innovation in Basic Science Laboratory through Sensors and Open Source Technology‟ Int. J. of Recent Trends in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 11(2),313-319, 2014. [3] Information on „http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Eclipse_ (software)‟. [4] Information on „http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Visual_ Basic‟. [5] Amit Garg, Vishal Dhingra, Reena Sharma, Avdesh Kumar Singh, Deepak Joshi, Kanika Sandhu, Pratik Chakravarty, Purnima Wadhawan, Vaibhav Sharma, Zameer Khan, „Laser based study of geometrical optics at school level‟, SPIE Volume No.8129, 81290M-1 -10, 2011 [6] Phalguni Mathur, Parveen Kumar Jha, Deepak Kumar, Ajay Acharya, Sahil Srivastava, Pulkit Saxena, Amit Garg, Vishal Dhingra, Development of low cost optical fiber kit to promote Fiber-Optics at the school level, SPIE Vol. 8481, 84810X-1-7, 2012
