A Portable Lab for the Practical Study of Modern Computer Engineering

Abstract

This demo paper presents the µLIC educational platform. µLIC makes available to the students of Digital Systems and Computer Architecture courses a quite simple, intuitive and portable hardware platform for the realization of their laboratory exercises. µLIC can also be used in other related courses, such as Embedded Systems or Hardware/Software Co-Design, which allows reducing the time needed to study the manuals of diverse development boards and tools and to concentrate the education towards the core contents of the courses. In addition, the low cost, diminished size, and portable nature of the µLIC boards enables students to carry a personal unit with them all the time to implement the class exercises also outside the classrooms, as well as hobby projects. In the demo, three typical lab assignments of Digital Systems, Computer Architecture, and Hardware/Software Co-Design courses are used to showcase the µLIC educational platform: a traffic light controller, a 4-bit Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) and a mini Space Invaders inspired game, respectively. Index Terms-Computer engineering education, digital systems, educational technology, and programmable logic.

Implementation of Low-Cost Laboratory in Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Inadequate facilities in educational institutions (Ekin et al, 2021), the disproportionate number of available tools and students (Ong & Ling, 2020;Oteri, 2020;Trabelsi & Saleous, 2019) force students to practice activities in groups (Berman et al, 2021), and the high price of tools or machines that meet industrial standards (Fukumoto et al, 2021) becomes a burden for schools. Sometimes the commercial equipment available on the market is unsuitable for educational purposes (Dias et al, 2020). Strategies for fulfilling laboratory/ workshop facilities, including optimizing their use by teachers in learning, have become alternative solutions to improve the quality of learning (Sajidan et al, 2018).…”

Implementation of Low-Cost Laboratory in Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Inadequate facilities in educational institutions (Ekin et al, 2021), disproportionate number of available tools and students (Ong & Ling, 2020;Oteri, 2020;Trabelsi & Saleous, 2019) causing learners to practice in groups (Berman et al, 2021) and the high price of tools or machines that meet industrial standard on the market (Fukumoto et al, 2021) become a burden for schools. Sometimes the commercial equipment available in the market is not suitable for educational purposes (Dias et al, 2020). Strategies for fulfilling laboratory/workshop facilities including optimizing their use by teachers in learning become alternative solutions to improve the quality of learning (Sajidan et al, 2018).…”