The Quanser Method

© 2013 Quanser Consulting Inc. All rights reserved

The Quanser Method™ is a systematic approach to improving the effectiveness and relevance of engineering education. It integrates a holistic view of modern engineering design processes into practical methodologies that can be deployed within the conventional lecture + lab + projects structures found at most institutions. The end-result is a modernized curriculum that better reflects the needs of industry and society, while maintaining the depth and rigor of traditional pedagogy.

The Quanser Method recognizes the complexity of modern engineering design. In particular, it integrates three broad groupings of activities common to most real-world design tasks:

• Modeling and analysis: rigorous mathematical and scientific foundations.

• Experimentation and testing: experimental refinement and validation of models, development and optimization of prototypes.

• Business factors and process management: support of technical designs with resources and processes for commercial success or the achievement of overall objectives.

The following figure illustrates Quanser’s “full circle” view of the method. From an industrial perspective, this representation is very typical of the modern engineering process.

Prior to the emergence of modern digital computation and mechatronic techniques, however, such a holistic approach would have been prohibitively complex and expensive for deployment in academic environments. Quanser, through its extensive experience in designing and commercializing sophisticated test beds for mechatronic, robotic, and control applications, have developed the technology components and the methodologies to realize effective and cost-effective outcomes.

In the context of the key technical workflow that constitutes the core of engineering processes that are enabled by the me-chatronics framework, the Quanser Method integrates:

The above workflow can be applied to most engineering disciplines and consequently, the Quanser Method provides a suitable conceptual framework for a broad range of academic departments and application fields. Additionally, the Quanser Method adapts readily for research and teaching as each embodies strong elements of rigor and application needs.

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• Mathematical modeling• Computer simulations• Data collection and system identification• Control design• Parameter estimation

• Real-time systems• Code generation• Hardware-in-the-loop simulation• Optimization• Implementation and deployment

The Quanser Method is a rational response to a changing worldEngineers are at the forefront of the global response to emerging societal challenges. Viable solutions to climate change, water quality, food source stability, security, and ultimately, prosperity, are inherently technological and scientific in nature and require a new generation of engineers who can command the best in techniques and technologies to unravel ever-increasing complexity.

The curriculum disconnectOne of the most significant trends in modern engineering is the acknowledgement that today’s systems are significantly more complex than those encountered by past generations of engineers. The average modern car holds more than 100 computers. A single smartphone has more computing power than all of NASA during the Apollo program. And we can no longer draw on large stores of energy without seriously considering the impact on the environment or economies.

The engineering solution to such grand challenges literally requires the very best in thinking and doing that often cross the discipline boundaries. Furthermore, the rate of change of industry and society is so accelerated that solutions are often required with unprecedented response time.

Has the engineering curriculum kept up to date? Sadly, for many institutions, the necessary evolutions and possibly revolutions in curriculum have been slow in coming. In key areas such as control systems, the core conceptual foundations of most courses share the same theoretical base as courses from decades ago with very little coverage of the remarkable developments in the field in the past two decades. In other key areas such as computing, mathematics, fundamental engineering sciences, one can find similar disconnects between what we are teaching and what the world is demanding.

The importance of the lab experienceThe hands-on laboratory has had an important role in engineering education for more than a century. Observation and measurement have been at the heart of many engineering lab courses. For decades, our students have measured displacements and velocities, pressures and flow rates, voltages and currents, temperatures and concentrations, and more. Clearly such fundamental observation and measurement skills are critical for engineering success but more recently, the engineering community has been exploring a much greater diversity of hands-on experiences in the curriculum. Activities such as open-ended problem-solving, projects and interdisciplinary exercises are examples of more recent trends in the modernization of the hands-on component of education.

The “Flipped” courseThe notion of the flipped course emerged as educators in many fields openly questioned the effectiveness of the typical lecture-centric approach to education at many levels. The historical model has been to have students gather in a classroom and observe/absorb a lesson from an instructor. They then go home, or go to the lab, to do related exercises or experiments. In the age of Massive Open Online Classes (MOOC), there are many more options to deliver the content that the lecture has historically done. The flipped course responds to this by requiring students to learn the basic lecture-type concepts on their own time via on-line or other typically digital resources, and then converge on the university where they engage in activities that absolutely require the human or expert dimension. Group problem-solving, open-discussion, deep case studies, and of course, rich hands-on lab experiences, are examples. In other words we have flipped the role of the classroom and the dorm room.

In such a flipped world, the role of the lab has increased in importance. In many ways, modernized, enriched, and relevant experiences in the on campus lab can be effective ways to make the connections between theory and the real world. And within the flipped class framework, there would be even more time and energy available for faculty and students to engage in meaningful interaction. The Quanser Method is a systematic approach that facilitates the development and deployment of such modern labs.

The Quanser Method provides a modern framework for educationThe Quanser Method and its application in education has its origins in a purely technical methodology that it pioneered for helping researchers and industry manage the complex design process for mechatronic control of sophisticated devices. In the company’s early days, Quanser introduced a range of now common techniques to accelerate design and controller prototyping. Among these contributions is the first practical tool set for real time control on the popular MATLAB® and Simulink® platforms. More recently, Quanser continued this work to support similar design efficiency on the LabVIEW™ platform from National Instruments.

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These deep roots in improving the state of the engineering art in ambitious research and industrial context provided a strong, thoroughly relevant framework to derive an education-appropriate variation of the methodologies. The result was the Quanser Method.

The global mechatronics movementMechatronic control is one of the most important engineering techniques developed within the twentieth century. Today it stands as one of the most pervasive techniques to manage technology and to trigger innovation. Mechatronics marries the flexibility and power of digital computation with engineering systems – be they machines, circuits, structures, chemical reactions, or broader classes of processes. The level of precision, efficiency, and innovation that engineers produce is the direct consequence of their ability to sense, measure, and respond to physical phenomena within our devices and systems.

This naturally interdisciplinary nature of mechatronics is beginning to influence academic activities at many levels. Computer control of systems is a very common dimension in many research applications. In teaching, low-cost microcontrollers and kits such as Arduino and Lego Mindstorms are beginning to enter the curriculum at various levels. In addition to the obvious applications in control and embedded systems courses, first year projects, capstone projects, and even fundamental computing courses are beginning to introduce the concepts as one of the most important modern tools in the engineer’s toolkit.

The Quanser Method, however, offers a significantly richer variation of this important trend. In addition to the basic digital techniques of hooking up and programming a computer to control a simple device, Quanser offers higher-fidelity, advanced dynamics, application platforms where the same control techniques are applied to more sophisticated, realistic devices. In essence, the Quanser Method embodies the difference between the question “How do you make this simple device move?” to “How do you design this much more complex device … and make it move?”. The design of modern vehicles, industrial processes, biomedical systems and energy management systems require a greater focus on the scientific and conceptual framework of the system dynamics. The Quanser Method provides a clear roadmap to learning, exploring, and mastering this complexity.

From research and industry to the undergraduate labThe potential benefits of the Quanser Method in education is significantly more profound than in research where many of the techniques are currently practiced or indeed, were pioneered by the research community. Within education, however, the Quanser Method offers practical, cost-effective ways to revitalize the curriculum and bridge the curriculum gaps.

Specific dimensions of a Quanser Method framed lab curriculum include:

Realistic experimental test beds: Quanser systems offer a unique balance of real-world system fidelity and appropriate, configurable idealizations to isolate the particular dynamics of interest that are more effective for learning core concepts. With most systems, exercises can scale from basic motion types and measurement, to classical control, to advanced control and applications. In all cases students can effectively connect the dots between the theory of the dynamics with measurable observations with repeatable, deterministic results to ensure well-paced learning.

Integrated modeling and simulation: Quanser has always believed and practiced engineering design enriched with rigorous modeling and simulation techniques. In addition to the principal system hardware, Quanser solutions offer the necessary modeling, simulation, control, and real-time software, and the supporting courseware and resources to make mathematics and modeling an empowering dimension in engineering design and not a conceptual impediment to comprehension.

Realistic applications and workflows: at a high level, the Quanser Method relies on variations of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) applications. HIL techniques have emerged as one of the most important techniques to accelerate design and improve system performance and product quality in key industries such as automotive, aerospace, biomedical, and energy industries. Using a rich collection of models and immersive 3D visualizations, all integrated via flexible courseware resources to standard Quanser equipment, institutions can provide students with lab experi-ences that are not just more engaging, but also provide highly relevant and needed skills for modern industry.

Complementary experiences: the Quanser Method is ideally suited for modern teaching techniques such as project- based learning, student competitions, and open-ended problem-solving. The integration of rigorous engineering analysis and design, with realistic application objectives (often open-ended) provides opportunities to introduce professional skills such as project management, research, and technical communication. The empowering dimensions of mechatronics techniques also provide effective avenues for senior projects and even entrepreneurial competi-tions. Quanser systems uniquely offer an extensive range of courseware and resources to facilitate this broader learning experience.

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The Quanser Method complements modern academic realitiesThe reality of the modern university mirrors any large complex organization. Indeed, many institutions view their existence as a business, as much as it is a provider of services to society. The fundamental issues relating to the ability to attract top faculty and students, to maintain the highest academic reputation, and to produce graduates with clear intellectual, professional, and innovation potential, have started to frame the strategies and tactics of the modern university throughout the world.

The Quanser Method offers substantial advantages to institutions within the academic context, as already outlined, but also in the very important objectives of recruitment (students, researchers, faculty, funding), retention, and the final products of the academic enterprise (graduates, research achievements, societal impact):

The showcase lab: a very concrete application of the Quanser Method at the institutional level is the building of the so-called “showcase” lab – i.e. that technology-empowered lab is the modern realization of the grandest among the traditions of higher education – the vibrant and vigorous pursuit of knowledge through collaboration and creativity. Quanser-empowered showcase labs offer the obvious excitement of mechatronic and robotic systems; the richness of important, challenging applications; and the modernized activities that clearly articulate an institu-tion’s vision and commitment to innovation.

High school recruitment: many of Quanser’s recent partnerships with leading universities have included initiatives to enhance the first year student experience in engineering. In addition to curriculum modernization, many believe that introducing high-visibility, socially relevant activities within the first year is an effective way to attract the brightest new students. Example initiatives include the adaptation of advanced Quanser devices to suit the first year experience, including the conversion of systems to HIL, video-game-inspired engineering simulations. Such approaches are intended to inspire curious high school students who will then see the particular institution as one that is more progressive, exciting, and more consistent with the modern youth perspective.

Student retention: exciting new labs, when married with experiments that build career-relevant skills, are strong motivators to keep students engaged in the engineering programs. In the US, engineering dropout rates average at an alarming 40%. The reasons include the abstractness of the courses and the lack of obvious connections to the real world. The Quanser Method provides a consistent and persistent framework to keep students engaged in all of the fundamental theoretical and applied concepts, but always in ways that help build that critical conceptual bridge to society and careers.

Global Quanser community: as market leaders, Quanser offers institutions a gateway to a global network of likeminded institutions and industrial partners. Quanser actively aggregates and disseminates the best work of constituent institutions in the form of case studies, archives of technical resources and publications, academic collaboration at conferences and academic meetings, and advanced research collaborations.

• Relate to hobby robotics

• Reduce engineering

High School

• Sensors and data • Connect to math and physics

Year 1 and 2

• Modelling and control

• Design projects

Year 2 and 3

• Research

• Advanced applications

Grad

Hardware: Dynamic system plant with sensors

Software: Real time, DAQ, 3D Visualization engine

Application: Models, control, virtual reality, UI appropriate for level

Excercises: Explorations, system dissections, experiments appropriate for level

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The evolution of the Quanser MethodThe genesis of the Quanser Method was an urgent need to make research and teaching of modern control systems and mechatronic concepts more effective, relevant, and efficient. Concurrently, the global engineering community initiated major discussions on the revitalization that engineering academe needs to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of society.

Today, the Quanser Method offers practical solutions to make the required transformations in pedagogy and research methodologies easier and more cost-effective. The Quanser Method, however, is a living concept. As important as the key elements discussed in this paper are, it still constitutes an ephemeral snapshot of academic reality. The true potential of the method is derived from Quanser’s core philosophy of being an integral partner within academic communities and not just a conventional vendor. The Quanser Method will continue to evolve as institutions develop innovative academic solutions to their challenges and uncover further opportunities for Quanser to contribute.

Further readingWhy Johnny Can’t Design: A series of articles written by Dr. Tom Lee, Chief Education Officer, Quanser. It discusses specific challenges and insights in engineering education. (www.eeweb.com/profiles/tom_lee)

The Impact of Control Technology: A comprehensive series of vignettes published by the IEEE Control Society, with contributions from global control authorities. It docues on the importance and potential of modern control and mechatronic techniques for solving some of society’s most pressing problems. (http://ieeecss.org/general/impact-control-technology)

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