i) Project Title

Computer Interface Experiments for Physics course at Under GraduateLevel

ii) Introduction

It is common experience that the class room teaching with its stress on abstract mathematical formulations frequently fails to impart intuitive understanding of the subject matter. A parallel development through equally rigorous experimental investigation can help to consolidate the learning experience. However this is rarely possible since effective laboratory work can be demanding and tedious.

In the present project the computer interface offers a simple technological solution to what could otherwise be formidable. The interface experiments would be simple inexpensive capable of generating just about any functional form that could be used as an excitation across the input port of a variety of physical circuits. The real time plots are to be generated through the software.

• Origin of the research problem: The setup of computer interface is to be used for the experiments at the undergraduate level. This would lead to the better understanding of the  subject and the applications of a computer towards the automation of various processes.

• Interdisciplinary relevance: With the presence of computers in the teaching laboratories it is feasible to record the real time response function and undertake such frequency domain analysis using the Discrete Fourier Transform.
  
  
• Review of Research and Development in the Subject :        P Jolly et.al. have described the use of computer interface to study the RC network.  Hall
  
  
• Significance of the study: The interface experiments would be simple inexpensive capable of generating just about any functional form that could be used as an excitation across the input port of a variety of physical circuits. The real time plots are to be generated through the software.
  
• While the setup would provide the exposure to the students to the kind of the tasks a computer can do in the laboratory a student would take in to account the physics principles behind the experiments and the innovations in the process of learning by doing. 

iii) Objectives:

• To  develop a hardware and software for the computer interface for physics experiment at undergraduate level
• To design a system for the data acquisition  having
• Display , storage and retrieval of data
• Mathematical modeling of experimental data
• Time and frequency domain analysis
• Graphical investigations of theoretical model

iv)  Methodology

• Design and develop the ADC and DAC cards for the interface to computer.
• Develop the software for the use of the ADC and DAC cards with the computer.
• Develop the system for the stepper motor controller.
• Develop the kit for obtaining the characteristics of a PA system
• Develop the kit for obtaining the characteristics of a network of passive components.
• Develop the kit for obtaining the frequency response of LR and LCR circuits.