2006-910: TECHNICAL PROBLEM SOLVING WITH MATLAB FOR 21ST

CENTURY ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

PROGRAMS

Paul Lin, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne

PAUL I-HAI LIN is Professor and Chair of Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology
Department, Purdue University Fort Wayne Campus. He is a registered Professional Engineer
(EE) in the States of California and Indiana. He is a Senior member of IEEE. Lin's current
research interests include sensor networks, Web engineering, and control applications.

Melissa Lin, Exactech

MELISSA C. LIN is an IT project manager of Exactech Inc., Gainesville, FL, and an associate
faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology department at Indiana
University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Lin's current interests include distance learning
teaching technology, enterprise data and applications integration, and programming language
applications including Microsoft VB.NET, C#.NET, C++.NET, and Java.

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© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006

Technical Problem Solving with MATLAB for 21st Century Electrical and
Computer Engineering Technology Programs

Abstract

In order for engineering technology students to cope and to thrive in the highly competitive 21st
century global world – a world transformed by technology and human ingenuity, it is important
for them to develop such essential skills as interpersonal and self-directional (emotional
intelligence), creative thinking and problem solving, information processing, effective team
communication and collaboration, and effective real-world computing skills. This paper explores
the design, implementation, and assessment of a new course called Problem Solving with
MATLAB which was designed to use the MATLAB and other computer information processing
tools to develop students creative problem solving skills in a 21st century context with the use of
relevant and real world examples and applications in the areas of mathematics, physics,
environment, electrical, electronics, software, and more.

I. Introduction

Before we entered the 21st century, we witnessed many testimonies and reports calling for reform
of our educational system to educate workforce with proper soft and creative technical skills
needed to compete in the global economy. These include but not limited to “Testimony on
Educating Our Force with Technology Skills Needed to Compete in the 21st Century,” presented
on March 24, 1998, by John R. Reinert, past President of IEEE-USA, to United States House of
Representatives1, which stressed the critical importance of education, training and lifelong
learning and called for the government to help developing the critical analytical, communications
and problem solving skills that people need to succeed in a fast changing, technology driven
workforce; 21st Century Learning Outcomes Project2 which involving 16 community colleges
and identify the following 8 competency areas: communication, computation, community,
critical thinking and problem solving, information and management, interpersonal, personal, and
technology skills; Microsoft’s Educating the 21st Century Citizen – White Paper3 urges the use of
21st century tools including computers, software, networking media tools and other technologies
to develop learning skills (process-oriented and cognitive skills) including
information/communication skills, thinking/problem solving skills, and interpersonal/self-
direction skills; and in 1999, Technology Accreditation Commission/Accreditation Board of
Engineering and Technology (TAC/ABET) approved its new accreditation criteria called TC2K4,
in which the criterion 2 – program outcomes specify eleven attributes graduates of engineering
technology programs are expected to have:
a. an appropriate mastery of the knowledge, techniques, skills and modern tools of their
disciplines,
b. an ability to apply current knowledge and adapt to emerging applications of mathematics,
science, engineering and technology,
c. an ability to conduct, analyze and interpret experiments and apply experimental results to
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improve processes,
 d. an ability to apply creativity in the design of systems, components or processes appropriate
to program objectives,
e. an ability to function effectively on teams,
f. an ability to identify, analyze and solve technical problems,
g. an ability to communicate effectively,
h. a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in lifelong learning,
i. an ability to understand professional, ethical and social responsibilities,
j. a respect for diversity and a knowledge of contemporary professional, societal and global
issues, and
k. a commitment to quality

As we entered the 21st century and experienced the challenges of more jobs were moved
overseas. The cheap labor costs of Southeast Asia (India, Malaysia, and Pakistan) are kept
calling more and more US employers who are seeking to lower support costs and improve profits.
In 2003, Manufacturing & Technology News5 reported that an unprecedented high
unemployment rate of 6.7 percent among electrical and electronics engineers and an even higher
unemployment rate of 8 percent among engineering managers is creating a growing level of
anxiety within the engineering community. Engineers fear that the situation will not improve in
the near term given the loss of so many manufacturing plants and the growing trend to "offshore"
engineering jobs. National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)6 and IEEE also raised the
issues that U.S. firms have increasingly utilized offshore engineering workers from countries
with lower overhead to provide drafting, design, and other services. For the America’s technical
workforce, that means the bar for entry-level positions is rising or the same positions are
disappearing completely. What can we do to avoid losing out to offshore outsourcing?

As responsible engineering technology educators, we need to stay competitive and

prepare students to cope and to thrive in the highly competitive 21st century global world
– a world transformed by technology and human ingenuity. It is critically important for
them to apply current basic skill sets, as well as develop such new essential skills as
interpersonal and self-directional (emotional intelligence), creative thinking and problem
solving, information processing, effective team communication and collaboration, and
effective real-world computing skills. In addition, they need to understand the
management, financial, business, environmental, economic and social constraints in
which technical professionals and engineers operate.

Problem solving skill appears in many position papers and reports as an important skill
needed by new workforce. To address this challenge, educators are revising curricula to include
integrated learning environments which encourage learners to use higher order thinking skills,
and in particular, problem solving skills7. The CPET 190 Problem Solving with MATLAB, a two
credit hours course, was created in fall 2004 as a result of the continuing program improvement
process8. It is intended to meet ABET Engineering Technology TC2K criterion 2f which
requires that an engineering technology program must demonstrate that graduates have an ability
to identify, analyze, and solve technical problems. Figure 1, a cause-effect diagram, shows that
the AS Electrical Engineering Technology program outcomes 1 through 7 lead to the
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achievement of the AS EET program educational objective, where the CPET 190 Problem
Solving with MATLAB and ECET 296 Electronics System Fabrication are the two courses
identified to fulfill AS EET Program Outcomes 5. All ECET students are required to take CPET
190, in the second semester, which exposes students to creative technical problem solving
practice that will be part of their daily lives and future careers.

AS EET Prog. Outcomes 1: AS EET Prog. Outcomes 3:

The graduates will have the knowledge, The graduates will have the ability to
techniques, and skills in computer apply creativity in electronics fabrication,
programs, electronics devices, and circuit circuit layout and design with constraints
analysis to succeed as an electronic of professional, ethical, and social
or computer technician. (Items a, b) responsibilities. (Items d, h, I, j)

AS EET Prog. Outcomes 2: AS EET Prog. Outcomes 4:

The graduates will have the ability to The graduates will be prepared to EET Prog Ed Obj 1:
conduct and analyze experiments and work effectively on an engineering Knowledge, Skills, and
apply the results. (Item c) team. (Item e) Techniques in the Building,
Testing, Operation, and
Maintenance of Electronic/
Computer Systems

EET Prog Ed Obj 2:

Have the Knowledge and
ability to continue learning:
AS EET Prog. Outcomes 5: AS EET Prog. Outcomes 6: AS EET Prog. Outcomes 7: On-Job, or in a B.S. degree
The graduates will have the The graduates will be able to The graduates will be prepared program
ability to identify, analyze, prepare and present to further study toward a baccalaureate
and solve technical problems. written and oral technical or for entry into the electronics
(Item f) reports at the levels of profession as an electronic or
technician. (Item g) computer technician. (Items h, k)

Figure 1. The Cause-Effect Diagram - AS Electrical Engineering Technology Program

This paper is organized as follows. Section II serves as an introduction to technical problem

solving process. Section III discusses course design, computer tools, and delivery method.
Section IV presents some technical problem solving examples used in the course. Section V
assesses of the course outcomes. Section VI draws the conclusion.

II. Technical Problem Solving Process

It is observed that the problem solving models developed in the 1960s and 70s that are still used
with many general problem solving courses found in academic are to teach math problem solving
as a thinking skill, not integrated with the rest of the curriculum or work environment.

Through this course, students will learn about the computer-based problem solving on individual
and team-based technical problems, by experiencing several independent and overlapping stages,
including:

1) Problem statement
2) Analyze the problem statement and Plan inputs and outputs
3) Design solution or algorithm
4) Implement the solution (programming)
5) Verifying the solution
6) Document/report writing
7) Present the solution
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The iterative technical problem-solving process as shown in Figure 2 is used in this course.
 Iterative stages

Problem Analyze/Plan Design Solution

Statement (input, output) (Algorithm)

Document/ Implement the

Verifying
Report Writing Solution
Solution
(program)

Presentation

Figure 2. An Iterative Technical Problem-Solving Model

III. Course Design, Computer Tools, and Delivery Methods

This course is designed to provide a study of the principles and practice in problem solving using
MATLAB. It emphasizes solving well-defined electrical, electronics, mathematical, and physics
problems which often have known solutions, and are generally solved from the perspective of a
particular domain using computation methods.

The course description states: “A study of the principles and practice of problem solving using
MATLAB. Topics include MATLAB basics, functions and variables, file input and output, user-
defined functions and program design, complex data manipulation, graphical user interface, and
technical problem solving applications, etc. The students shall gain hands-on experience through
several programming assignments, and practice strategies for collaborative problem solving such
as creating specifications, brainstorming, sketching an idea, solution evaluation, and solution
testing.”

MATLAB offers powerful numerical functionalities, extensive graphing capabilities. It also

supports graphical user interfaces and structured programming paradigms. MATLAB was thus
the software tool of choice for our technical problem solving course which required certain
computation, graphical visualization, and programming.

The expected course outcomes state that students will gain:

1. Knowledge and skills of using MATLAB as a practical, technical problem solving tools
(ABET TC2K Criterion 2, Item a)
2. An ability to apply problem solving sills in mathematics and engineering technology
problems (ABET TC2K Criterion 2, Item b)
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3. An ability to discuss ways and means of analyzing technical data (ABET TC2K Criterion
2, Item c)
 4. An ability to practice technical problem solving process including problem formulation,
understand the problem, problem analysis, collect data, model development, algorithm
development, solution implementation, solution verification, and report/presentation
(ABET TC2K Criterion 2, Items c, d, f, g)
5. An Understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (ABET TC2K Criterion 2,
Item i, j)
6. An understanding the contemporary engineering technology application issues (ABET
TC2K Criterion 2, Item k)

The course contents are organized and presented in the following order:

• Introduction to technical problem solving

• The MATLAB environment, desktop tools, constants, variables, operators and language
syntax, useful commands and built-in functions, and M-file editor and debugger.
• Interactive calculations on electrical power, Ohm’s laws and simple circuits, and math
problem solving
• Using MATLAB arrays and array arithmetic, m-file scripts and functions
• Technical problem solving examples: Series circuit resistance, temperature conversion
• MATLAB Plotting: simple X-Y plots, multiple plots, log-scale plots, and plotting
applications including math functions, trig-functions, electrical measurements –
resistance and current, maximum power transfer
• Built-in functions for managing variables, workspaces, time and date, files, and operating
systems
• Structured program design techniques, algorithms, flow control, conditional statements,
switch construct
• Problem solving examples: full-wave bridge rectifier simulation, evaluating a function of
two variables, calculating gain of Cardioid microphone, bit-wised digital circuit
simulation, RC low-pass filter
• Introduction to basic statistics, statistical analysis (arithmetic mean, variance, standard
deviation), and interpreting empirical linear equation
• Problem solving example – race car speed prediction
• Modular programming and writing user-defined M-file functions
• Problem solving examples – functions for computing parallel resistance, coordinate
system conversion (polar – rectangular), sinewave generator
• Sorting algorithms
• File input and output
• Problem solving examples – creating, saving, and reading data files

This course was approved in April 2004 and offered the first time in fall 2004 as an online
learning course. The recommended benchmarks for ensuring quality in Internet-based distance
education are observed9. Starting spring 2005, the course is offered both online and as a
traditional classroom-based course.

The textbook10 and instructor prepared Microsoft PowerPoint lecture notes are used as the basic
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course materials. Software tools including Microsoft Office, Visio, Project 2003, and MATLAB
6.5 with Simulink and some toolboxes are installed in all departmental labs and are available for
students on the campus, however, distance online students were required to have a computer with
Internet access, and a copy of MATLAB 6.5 Student Version with Simulink11.

Asynchronous online Internet-based teaching/learning process was facilitated mainly by Purdue

University’s WebCT Vista system, and a backup Web server supported by the School of
Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science. The WebcT online course server system
provided students access to course syllabi, lectures using Microsoft PowerPoint slides with
recorded audio, lecture notes, course reference materials and links, homework and project
assignments, quizzes, threaded discussions, group activities, email, and chat rooms. Students
were given 14 lectures, 3 take-home open-book examinations, 7 individual homework
assignments, and 2 group collaborative project assignments.

IV. Technical Problem Solving Examples

Throughout the course, we adopted the top-down problem solving technique which involves the
process that divides a large and complex task into many smaller ones. These steps are

• Clearly state the problem

• Plan the program - define the inputs and outputs
• Design the algorithm and data structure
• Coding - translate the algorithm into MATLAB statements
• Test the program and verify the result
• Document the program, process, and the result

It is quite likely that every step that we mentioned here required some refinements to meet the
needs. We use the following definitions for algorithms and pseudo code. Algorithm is a
procedure for solving a problem in terms of the actions to be executed, and the order in which
these actions are to be executed. Pseudo code can be defined as an artificial and informal
language that helps programmers develop algorithm, or an intermediate step that helps a
programmer to translate the English-language description of problem in to a computer program.
Most students have difficulty in translating the problem statement into a specific program for
implementation. Therefore the problem solving tools such as algorithm and pseudo code can be
used to turn concepts into MATLAB program or other implementations.

Many technical example problems used in the class had been designed and solved using
MATLAB. Here are some examples.

Example 1. A practical full-wave rectifier circuit as shown in Figure 3 includes the following
components:

• A transformer for converting the input voltage level to appropriate an output level. In this
case, we need 110V to 10 V step down transformer.
• A bridge rectifier with appropriate voltage and current rating for converting an AC input
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to a DC output
• Filter circuit (not given here)
 • The output voltage appears at the load resistor RL is called VL.

Bridge
Rectifier
Transformer
5
1 2
3

AC 60Hz 10V
110V 7 VL
Sine wave 4

10 8
9 6
RL =Subcircuit
Figure 3. A Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier without Filter 100 ohms

Figure 3. A Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier Circuit

Students were asked to design MATLAB programs using IF-END and FOR loop to simulate this
full-wave rectifier circuit. The pseudo code includes the following major steps:

Step 1: Define a time vector for simulation (at least one complete sinewave cycle)
Step 2: Set up equations for primary and secondary voltages:
f = 60;
e1 = 10*sin(2*pi*f*t);
e2 = e1/10;
Step 3: Rectify input signal e1, using IF-END or FOR loop
Step 4: Plot AC input and rectified output voltages

We then translate the pseudo code into the MATLAB program as shown below, and the running
result as shown in Figure 4 is also verified.

%full_rec.m
Vp = 110; % Primary side voltage
Vs = 10; % secondary side voltage
f = 60; % Frequency is 60 Hz
T = 1/f; % Period is 16.67 ms
dt = 10E-3*T;
t = 0:dt:T;% For showing 2 cycles
e1 = Vs*sin(2*pi*f*t);
len = length(e1);
% Rectifier operation
for n = 1: len,
if e1(n) >= 0
e2(n) = e1(n);
else
e2(n) = -e1(n);
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end
end
figure(1), plot(t, e2, 'r', t, e1,'b--'), grid on
title('Full Wave Rectifier');
xlabel('Time in sec');
ylabel('Volts');
figure(2), subplot(2,1,1), plot(t, e1), grid on
title('Input signal');
xlabel('Time in sec');
ylabel('Volts');
figure(2), subplot(2,1,2), plot(t, e2), grid on
title('Full Wave Rectified Signal')
xlabel('Time in sec');
ylabel('Volts');

Input signal
10

5
Volts

-5

-10
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018
Time in sec
Full Wave Rectified Signal
10

6
Volts

0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018
Time in sec

Figure 4. AC Input and Rectified Output DC Pulsating Waveforms

Example 2: A Low-Pass Filter.

Problem statement: Find the frequency response of the low-pass filter as shown in Figure 5. A
low-pass filter is normally used to remove high-frequency noise and passing the desired signals
in certain lower-frequency range. Components needed in the circuit include a signal source Vi, a
resistor R and a capacitor C in series:

• The value of R is 16 kΩ, and C is 1 µF

• Knowledge of using complex number for calculating on Amplitude and Phase angle, and
the Gain = Vo/Vi will be needed
• Steady state AC circuit equations are also needed

Analysis: we need to figure out what is the appropriate frequency range response range for this
circuit. We will take a guess using the RC product, which is also called the circuit time constant:
R*C = 16k * 1 uF = 16 milli-seconds. The reciprocal of RC is the 3-dB frequency which is about
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60 Hz, so we will setup the sweep frequency ranges from 1 Hertz to 1000 Hertz for calculation.
Circuit equations for this circuit are listed below:

Xc = -j*1/(2*pi*f*C); Xc will be decreased when f is increased

Output voltage Vo = Vc = I*Xc = Vi/(R –jXc) * (-jXc)

Gain or response = Vo/Vi = (-jXc)/(R-jXc) = 1/(1 + j2πfRC)

From the above equations, the response is a complex number in rectangle form. We need to
convert it to a polar form which consists of a amplitude and a phase component. We may want
to have the subplot for amplitude-over-frequency in the LOG-LOG plot that uses Log scale for
both Frequency and for Amplitude. The second subplot for phase-over-frequency is a semilogx
plot, which means that only X-axis is in Log scale, the y-axis for Phase angle is a linear plot.
How do we know when to chose Log? It is easy to see from this example that when there are a
lot of data points to use, we will choose Log-scale for plotting.

Vr

R= 16 kΩ
Xc Vo
Vi
C = 1µF Vc

Figure 5. A Low-Pass Filter Circuit

The MATLAB Program listed below was tested, and the correct plots as shown in Figure 6 are
also verified.

%rc_lpf.m
%
R = 1600; % 1600 ohms
C = 1E-6; % 1 uF
f = 1: 2: 1000;
% Frequency varies from 1 to 1000 Hz
% Response
Av = 1 ./ (1 + j*2*pi*f*R*C);
% amplitude
Av_amp = abs(Av);
% Phase angle
phase = angle(Av);
% Plots
figure(1), subplot(2,1,1), loglog(f, Av_amp); title('Amplitude Response -
Gain'); xlabel('Frequency - Hz'); ylabel('Av = Vo/Vi'), grid on
figure(1), subplot(2,1,2), semilogx(f, phase); title('Phase Response');
xlabel('Frequency - Hz'); ylabel('Angle of Av = Vo/Vi in Radians'), grid on
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 A m p lit u d e R e s p o n s e - G a in
0
Av = Vo/Vi 10

-1
10

-2
10
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
F re q u e n c y - H z
P has e R es pons e
0
Angle of Av = Vo/Vi in Radians

-0 . 5

-1

-1 . 5
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
F re q u e n c y - H z

Figure 6. Amplitude and Phase Responses of a Low-Pass Filter

Example 3. A function for calculating total resistance of n-resistor in parallel.

Problem Statement: You are asked to develop a MATLAB function for calculating parallel
resistance as shown in Figure 7.

Analysis: To solve this problem, the domain knowledge of electrical circuit is needed. We
learned that the equation for two resistors R1 and R2 in parallel is

• Req = (R1 + R2) / (R1 * R2), or Product-Over-Sum.

The function will be named as p_rs which includes two input arguments r1 and r2 for holding
two resistance values, and the return value is Req. To create a robust function, we should check
all other possible errors including

- If r1 or r2 is less than 0, we set Req = -1 to indicate this is an error. Remember that in

real-world, all resistance are positive.
- If r1 or r2 is equals to zero, the total resistance Req is zero, no computation is needed.
- Finally, if the two normal values of resistance are provided we compute Product-Over-
Sum, return the value.
R1
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R2

Rn
 Figure 7. N-Parallel Connected Resistors

The function was coded using MATLAB editor, and was saved as p_rs.m.

function Req = p_rs(r1, r2)

% Comments
%
if r1 < 0
Req = -1;
else if r2 < 0
Req = -1;
elseif (r1 == 0) || (r2 == 0)
Req = 0;
else
Req = (r1 * r2)/(r1 + r2)
end

We also need to add documentation to the p_rs.m as soon as we can, which should include

• Purposes
• Calling sequence
• Defining Variables
• Record of revisions

We then test the function with various data for example, we tried 10 ohms and 10 ohms in
parallel, p_rs(10,10) the answer is 5, and the unit is ohms. We tested it again with function
within a function such as: p_rs(10, p_rs(20,20)). The MATLAB first calculates p_rs(20,20) and
returns 10; it then computes p_rs(10,10) again, and returns 5 to the screen. We tried to assign
variables ra = 100 and rb = 0, and p_rs(ra, rb) computes total resistance as 0 ohms.

Example 4. An example of open-ended team-based problem solving.

O’Hare Annual Noise Level Reports are available on following website link:
http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/o_noise_annual_noiselevel.shtm, with the following
information: “The data presented summarizes the Day Night Average Noise Levels (DNL). DNL
is a 24-hour time-averaged sound exposure level with a 10 db nighttime (10PM to 7AM)
weighting. The data displays the measured aircraft DNL for each month, each quarter, and the
year-to-date measurement. Aircraft noise is the noise associated with known aircraft operations
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at O'Hare. The quarterly noise levels for each site are displayed on the Aircraft DNL Chart. ….
The daily aircraft DNL noise level varies from day to day. This is primarily because different
runways are used under different wind conditions that affect where the aircraft fly. The Aircraft
DNL Chart plots the monthly aircraft DNL measured at each site.”

Inside this page, an Airport Noise Report Summary (Aircraft DNL) of December 2004 is
available through the following link: http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/noiseleveldec1.shtm, and
DNL chart can be found at http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/noiseleveldec2.shtm.

• Your team is first asked to gain domain knowledge about noise and airport noise, through the
studying of the O’Hare noise level report and solving the following two problems, using
MATLAB. These two problems can be found in on pages 163-164, Ch 4.3 of the MA
153/154 Text book, Functions Modeling Change – A Preparation for Calculus, by Connally,
Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, et al., John Wiley & Sons:
• Example 4, page 163 states: The sound intensity of refrigerator motor is 10-11 watts/cm2.
A typical school cafeteria has sound intensity of 10-8 watts/cm2. How many orders of
magnitude more intense is the sound of the cafeteria.”
• Example 5, page 164 states: (a) If a sound double in intensity, by how many units does its
decibel rating increase? (b) Loud music can measure 110 dB where normal conversation
measure 50 dB. How many times more intense is loud music than normal conversation?
After acquire some domain knowledge of the noise, your team is then expected to study the
O’Hare Airport Noise Report Summary of Dec. 2004, and FAA Airport Noise Standard (search
it through Web), prepare a MATLAB program to plot the O’Hare Noise Report Summary of Dec.
2004, analyze the reported data, and make a report to conclude if the airport meet the FAA noise
standard.

Procedure
1. Form a new team of up to 3-student maximum, select a team leader, identify
individual responsibilities, estimate time needed for the project, and setup meeting
times. (See WebCT Chat room & Whiteboard for team info. (10 points – an email
memo from the team leader on the progress and what are accomplished)
2. Practice the Chat room & Whiteboard available on the WebCT, and prepare a one
page report on how to use this team-work learning support system. (20 points -
prepare a 2 page report on this problem solving environment)
3. Solve Example 4 and Example 5 using MATLAB and the problem solving approach
as highlighted in the textbook: State the Problem, Defines the Inputs and Outputs,
Design the Algorithm, Code MATLAB program, Test the Program. (40 points total,
20 points per question; use MATLAB for programming, MS word and equations
editor for documentation)
4. Collect and log the following info: on team meeting, team collaboration, email, chat
room & whiteboard, and other problem solving activities on a MS Word document.
(50 points)
5. Search Web site for FAA airport noise report standard on noise level (30 points – a
short report document the findings).
6. Study O’Hare Airport Noise Report Summary of Dec. 2004; write MATLAB
programs (may be one is sufficient) to plot 10-row’s data (row 1 to 10), analyze noise
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data (in terms of average of a year, comparing to the noise standards, comparing with
different communities, etc), and prepare a study summary and recommendation (in
 terms of if the O’Hare airport meet the FAA noise standard requirement, if not what
remedy or correction is needed) (150 points)
7. Prepare a MS Word file, with the file name as cpet190_01_hw6_YourTeamName.doc
that contains the following section
(A) Cover Page
Project Title: A Study of O’Hare Noise Summary Report
Project Team Member
Date
(B) Background
Rewrite the given problem statement here
(C) Airport Noise
• Definition of Noise
• Examples of Noise Calculation (item 3: Example 4 and Example 5 are
place here)
• FAA Airport Noise Standard (item 5)
(D) O’Hare Airport Noise Study Report
• Data info (row, column, etc)
• MATLAB Program(s) with data arrays, plot, average calculation,
difference between each data rows, comparing to the standard noise level
etc.
• Summary and Recommendation
(E) Appendix: Logs of Team-based Problem Solving Activities
• Project team formation (item 1)
• Project Team Member responsibilities
• Familiarization with the Problem Solving Tools (item 2: chatroom &
whiteboard, email)
• Logs of problem solving activities (item 4)

V. Assessment of Course Outcomes

The course entitled CPET 190 Problem Solving with MATLAB was designed in spring 2004,
and officially approved for offering in fall 2004 by Purdue University. The instructor was
selected to develop the course material during the summer. In the fall 2004, we had only 9
students enrolled in the course. The low enrollment was mainly due to insufficient time for
proper advertisement through university master schedule. By the end of the semester, 6 students
were successfully completed the course. For spring 2005, there are 16 students enrolled in the
online section and 20 students enrolled in the traditional classroom class with Internet
supplement. The enrollment for fall 2005 is similar to that of the spring 2005.

Institution Support - The instructional design support for faculty met the recommended quality
benchmarks9. The redundancy of online delivery computer systems improved the reliability of
the system and there is only a minor complain from students about the system. The WebCT Vista
online course delivery system was well maintained and operational.
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Course Development – ABET TC2K criterion 2 was used as a guideline for course development,
design, and delivery. Our initial experience showed us that the instructor teaching the course
should be responsible for course development since he or she has a complete understanding of
the course and how it functions. Instructional materials are reviewed periodically to ensure that
students are engaged in problem solving activities.

Teaching/Learning – Authors agreed the teaching/learning methods noted in12 which comments
that the acquisition of knowledge and process skills (learning how to learn) is equally important.
Process skills refer to the abilities to source, analyze, screen, prioritize, and apply a mass of
information to solve the problem at hand. Throughout the course, students constantly interacted
with faculty and other students through voice-mail and/or email, chat rooms, threaded
discussions, and Macromedia Breeze real-time online teaching tools. To ensure continuing
course improvement, students were constantly reminded to give feedbacks on lectures,
assignments, and quizzes rather than just one time at the end of the semester. It is very important
for faculty and students to agree upon expectations regarding times for questions/answering, and
student assignment completion and faculty response. It was observed that students who possess
self-motivation and commitment to learn at distance are the good candidate for taking online
course. Therefore, we decided to offer another section in traditional classroom setting to serve
another student population. Due to the workload concern, it is noted that an increase of credit
hours from 2 to 3 was asked by students for the past two semesters.

Alternative Assessment Methods – To assess student’s knowledge and process skills in problem
solving, the assessment tools used in this course include individual homework assignment, team-
based projects, and open-ended problems along with open-book examinations were used. The
open-ended problems will supplement conventional methods for testing student’s ability in
analyzing and solving structured problems and help us assess the student’s creative thinking
abilities to solve non-structured and non-routine problems. Individual participation in class
discussion and team activities were also graded to encourage the development of communication
and teamworking skills.

Student Support – In addition to student teaching assistance available to help students with
homework problems throughout the duration of the course, students also have access to technical
assistance including detailed instructions regarding to electronic media use, practice sessions,
and convenient access to technical support staff.

VI. Summary

This paper reported our initial experience of the design, implementation, and delivery of a new
freshmen course entitled Problem Solving with MATLAB. Overall, using MATLAB as a tool for
students to practice problem solving has been a very positive development since they can
continue to use the same tool in many advanced courses including analog signal processing,
digital signal processing, and senior design projects. Authors searched many ABET accredited
Electrical Engineering Technology and Computer Engineering Technology programs and did not
find any technical problem solving course of this kind yet. Considering the importance of
problem solving skill and knowledge it is worthwhile to teach students well-structured problem
solving methodology and process skills. In the long run, it will prepare students to adapt to
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changes, and with an ability to use various domain knowledge for modern applications
integration in 21st century’s global workplaces.
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