The implementation and usage of industrial automation is undergoing major and rapid changes. This change is driven by the need for industry both remain competitive in their cost structure and to increase the levels of quality and consistency in the products that are produced. Today, companies can implement automation at a reasonable price, through advances in sensor technology, networking capabilities, microprocessor design, open architecture for machine controls, Internet applications in machine control, and standardized software. During the past few years, the acquisition cost of vision inspection systems has dropped to levels that permit most companies to purchase and implement the systems. In addition, with the advent of faster computer processors, the vision system is software controlled, and thus the applications are increased. Vision systems provide means by which continuous and total autonomous inspection can be achieved during production. Today's vision systems can easily control guidance of automated manufacturing support components such as robots, as well as interface to sensors and output to auxiliary devices. The Department of Technology at Northern Illinois University has recognized these needs and challenges and has responded by strengthening its curriculum and adding new relevant areas in its automation courses such as machine vision. Within our automation course, basics principles of vision are covered, including camera systems, basic optics, lighting, and image capturing and processing. A key component in this section of the automation course is the hands on experience in which student teams use and apply the vision systems components and software in an automation cell. In addition, the students are taught the principles of vision integration with other control devices, such as PLC's and robotics. From this level of automation instruction, the department has generated much interest in the students, as well as much industrial collaboration with companies in the Northern Illinois region.

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The need for continuous reengineering of the curriculum is evident in this era where most companies are downsizing their engineering staff in an effort to provide cost reduction. In this cost conscious environment, industry is looking for employees that can fill numerous roles within their manufacturing facility. To fulfill these multifaceted industry needs, the Department of Technology at Northern Illinois University constantly assesses the program goals for the Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET) and Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) programs. Over the past year, the Department has identified the area of controls and the integration of these control concepts into real life applications as an area for improvement. Based upon input from regional industry and the Departmental industrial advisory boards, the Department determined that many new engineers and technologists who enter the manufacturing industry have a good knowledge of PLC programming, however, they have very limited exposure to interfacing. To address this problem and solve the needs of our diverse student population, the NIU Department of Technology has developed a new laboratory based PLC course. This course, while teaching the basics of PLC ladder logic and programming, also provides valuable hands on experience in the integration of a PLC with sensors, motion control, vision systems, and robotics. The laboratory experience also includes the development of human interface to the PLC in typical automation applications, both with hand held devices and Microsoft visual basic tools. The students are also involved in a two-week lab based project that requires advanced PLC functions. The current PLC experience was implemented during the spring 2002 semester, the summer 2002 semester and is on its third phase in the fall 2002. This paper describes how this course has been implemented and improved over the three semesters, and some important outcomes from course evaluations received from students and our Industrial Advisory board. This new course will provide improved preparation for the MET and EET students in this important area of control and thus, produce graduates that are more competitive in industry.

Over the past decade the United States has endured many disasters, both man made and due to the forces of nature. In each case, leadership in the public and private sectors learn that more needs to be done to ensure continuity of life and economy. After a catastrophic event, the public sector leadership has to ensure that government is functioning and that affected communities are provided the proper support. Within the private sector, there is a need to ensure that the employees are cared for and that there is a continuity of the business. We have learned that while the specific needs of the public and private sectors after a catastrophic event are unique, there is an overriding need to prepare for the eventual disaster. Disaster preparation is of extreme importance in providing emergency assistance, allowing for evacuation, or ensuring the communications and public safety needs are met before, during, and after an emergency. For a large metropolitan city, the planning efforts take on many levels, due to the complexity of the groups have jurisdiction over the planning and relief efforts. Northern Illinois University and Argonne National Laboratory, working with the State of Illinois and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) partnered to study the effect of such a catastrophic event in the city of Chicago. In any disaster planning scenario, the planners must have the ability to predict how the people who live and work in the region will react to catastrophic events. This planning need to take into account the major and minor transportation routes as well as the public transportation modes, allowing individuals to exit the city. In addition, the planning must also be able to identify routes for emergency vehicles entering and exiting the city, as well as transportation of injured between hospitals. TRansportation ANalysis SIMulation System (TRANSIMS) traffic micro-simulation code, developed by the U.S. Department of transportation, was utilized to model the complex city and its transportation routes. TRANSIMS offers many capabilities that are needed when modeling emergency evacuation scenarios. The software system is capable of simulating individual travelers, their routes, and their transportation mode (such as traveling by car, public transit, or walking) and calculates traffic patterns on the basis of the microscopic interactions between individual vehicles and detailed street network features. This information was developed based upon complex surveys and satellite imaging. Through this software researchers were able to model events and transportation into and out of the city. In addition, undergraduate and graduate students were involved in this complex year-long project. The authors will provide information as to the modeling, input, and output that was obtained. Through an analysis of the motion of the population working and living in the city, planners have a much better Page 14.494.2 understanding of how to react to emergencies that might occur, and ensure that emergency relief can get to the...

The culminating experience in many engineering technology programs is typically a one or two-semester capstone design experience. The underlying premise for this type of senior design course is that at the submission of the final report and/or oral presentation, the students will graduate and be well prepared to enter the workforce. Upon entrance into the technical workforce, the students will be required by their employers to work in an interdisciplinary environment, completing a wide range of tasks, and sharing the results with fellow employees and management. Since the capstone experience serves as the bridge from the role of the student to that of the employee, this culminating experience must prepare the students for this change. The capstone experiences in many engineering technology programs are designed to allow the students to develop open-ended designs in many of the areas within the school's technology programs. The Engineering Technology programs at Northern Illinois University have developed a model for a two-semester interdisciplinary capstone experience which integrates design, theory, and construction into the completion of an open-ended project. In addition, student teams are required to demonstrate that each project incorporates a subset of knowledge from their major course work. The projects are tracked through a tiered faculty input system, where students report to both a main faculty advisor and a course, or project, director. Each design team is given a minimal budget, and therefore, the teams must interface with both product suppliers and sponsoring companies to obtain parts and meet the project goals and timelines. Both semesters of this capstone experience are considered writing and oral presentation intensive, where the design teams are required to present the project findings, both in oral and written forms numerous times during each semester. Through input from the departmental industrial advisory boards, the faculty members involved are able to develop projects which allow the student teams to work on current topics or topics which lend themselves to industrial settings.