An Interactive Equipment Manual for Students

LABMASTER

http://www.ceen.unomaha.edu/labmaster/HOME.html

JAMES L. WINGERT JR.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Omaha Campus

Abstract

As the Computer and Electronics Engineering (CEEN) program at the Omaha campus continues to grow with the new Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI), so will the use and implementation of more advanced (High Tech.) test equipment in all the Engineering Labs. As the student enrollment in this college increases with the development of this program, so will the student's need for help in using the test equipment. The main problem with this is that students work in labs at all times of the day and night. As a result, there isn’t always going to be someone around experienced enough to show them how to use the equipment. Students need an easily accessible guide to using the test equipment properly. LABMASTER is that guide. It is available from any computer that has access to the World Wide Web. LABMASTER contains user manuals and helpful hints on how to use test equipment safely and efficiently.

General Engineering Lab rooms 305 and 311 were completed for this thesis. They are intended to be the beginning of a hopefully large and successful project. LABMASTER was completed using Adobe Page Mill and some help from a scanner and digital camera.

At the completion of this Thesis, LABMASTER worked correctly in both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers. LABMASTER should work in any browser that can use Frames.

I. Introduction

LABMASTER was envisioned and later designed to assist students in completing their labs without having difficulties operating the test equipment. The chosen method used in this thesis, is to have a web site for all the CEEN labs and all the test equipment contained within them. This web site, LABMASTER, can contain things like user manuals or at least the most commonly used parts of them, a section on helpful hints in performing certain tasks, or anything else that pertains to individual labs or the classes held in them that may be of help to students. The purpose of this thesis was to start this web site using the General Engineering labs, and then make it possible to expand it to the rest of the labs for future development.

The directory structure was designed to make it easy to add labs and equipment in the future. Each lab is completely isolated from all the other labs. The only way to enter a lab different from the one you are already in is to return to LABMASTER’s main page and click on the link to the desired lab. This makes it possible to add or delete a lab without affecting other labs.

II. System Overview

This Thesis did not require hardware design. The following tools were used in the creation of LABMASTER. Adobe Page Mill, a Scanner with OmniPage Pro (OCR) software, and a Digital camera by Nikon.

III. Software Description

LABMASTER was created using Adobe Page Mill. Page Mill has a very helpful tutorial. It was found to be very user friendly.

Figure 1 LABMASTER Home Page

Figure 1 is the Home Page of LABMASTER. It consists of two frames. The second has three sets of Links. The first gives the user a brief description of LABMASTER (It contains a few credits, information on how to navigate throughout the Site, and contact information if you wish to implement a Lab Room or equipment.). The second set contains Links to each Lab Room. If you don’t see “(ACTIVE)” to the right of the Link, then that Lab hasn’t been implemented. The third set has two Links. One Link is to the CEEN Home Page and the other is to a Link within the CEEN Home Page (this Link shows you the layout of the third floor, Engineering side of PKI).

Figure 2 General Labs Home Page

Figure 2 is the Home Page of the General Engineering Labs (RM 305 & 311). It has three Fames. Frame1 (top) is the Title. Frame2 (left side) contains Links back to LABMASTER Home Page and to three pieces of equipment in the General Labs. Frame1 and Frame2 remain unchanged while in the General Labs Site. Frame3 changes depending on which Link in Frame2 is selected. All labs within the LABMASTER Site are initially set up this way.

Figure 3 on the next page is the Computer Design Lab RM 340. It looks similar to the General Engineering Lab Page, but contains information particular to RM 340. Along with the Links to lab equipment, this page has a Link to a CEEN 4330 & 4360 page. With the large class expected in the fall of 2000, there will be a need for extensive notes and helpful hints to assist the students with their Computer Design projects.

Figure 3 RM340 Home Page

IV. O'scope

Figure 4 is an example of how pages on a particular piece of equipment may look.

Figure 4 O'scope Home Page

In this case, there is a picture of the equipment followed by several Links. The O'scope has a lot of controls on it. It is conceivable that their functions may not be obvious to the novice user. To help the novice user, there are links from each control to a definition of that control.

The next Link is "Helpful Quick Starts". This Link takes the user to a list of operations that the O'scope can perform.

The next two Links were added for user reference.

The last Link deals with safety for both the user and the O'scope. This could be the most important section for a given piece of equipment. Safety of the user always comes first followed closely by the safety of the equipment. This Link has a larger font and is capitalized to draw the user's attention.

V. Conclusion

LABMASTER, if implemented correctly, will be a very valuable aid to the CEEN department and the students that use the labs. It will be successful if the rest of the labs are completed in a timely manner and if it is constantly updated to include new additions. One example of something to add to a Lab is in the Computer Design Site. A Link to a CEEN 4330 & 4360 web page was created. In this page you will find hints and secrets that have been learned the hard way over the years. Too many times these secrets are lost from class to class. This doesn't need to happen. This Link contains information from generic board layout to programming hints. LABMASTER can be the key to stopping all the knowledge learned from one class to another from being lost.