Undergraduate - UnitECE4033 - Industrial instrumentation and measurement technologies

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Synopsis

This unit will introduce students to modern instrumentation, measurement theory, control and systems testing. The unit will introduce virtual and modular software and hardware tools and data bus architectures. A brief overview of the relevant industrial standards and protocols as well as expected future development will be included, along with the issues of measurement uncertainties, calibration and statistical analysis of results. There will be an additional section within the unit that will equip students with basic knowledge of occupational health and safety issues related to instrumentation.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit, the students are expected:

1. To understand the importance of instrumentation in modern manufacturing systems and industrial processes.
2. To be capable of integrating different modular instrumentation, measurement, control, computing etc. equipment to form a new system for the given task relevant to the industrial manufacturing environment.
3. To be confident in handling commonly employed data communication standards (buses) between host computers and various on-line or semi-autonomous instrumental systems to perform a variety of tasks (data acquisition, control, signal processing, testing, etc.)
4. To become familiar with the issues that may cause inaccurate measurements and to be well-versed in the statistical methods in measurement error analysis. To know how to present results in a statistically sound manner and to be able to extract useful information out of raw data using sound statistical methodologies.
5. To be aware of the environmental, health and safety issues relevant to high-volume manufacturing in the industry as well as the ability to handle and prevent some common hazardous situations.

Assessment

Laboratory and assignment work: 30%
Examination (3 hours): 70%
Students are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component (assignments, tests, mid-semester exams, laboratory reports) and at least 45% in the final examination component and an overall mark of 50% to achieve a pass grade in the unit. Students failing to achieve this requirement will be given a maximum of 45% in the unit.

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Jamie Evans

Contact hours

Lecture: 3 hours per week
Tutorial/Laboratory: 3 hours per week

Prerequisites

ECE2071 or TRC2400 or (MEC2407 and MEC3458)