Low-Cost Virtual Laboratory Workbench for Electronic Engineering

Motivation

In the early years of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) degree programmes, undergraduate students face the challenge of grasping the fundamental concepts taught in lectures. In universities offering a 5-year undergraduate EEE programme such as the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria, all the EEE students offer the same course units in their first three years of study. During this three-year period, the students are exposed to the foundations of science and general studies, fundamental EEE course principles and circuit theory. Laboratory activities are concentrated mainly in the second and third years of study. At the end of the third year, students choose their preferred EEE course options: Communication Engineering (COE), Power Systems Engineering (PSE) and Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE). As the students enter into their fourth and fifth years of study, they concentrate mainly on course units for their respective options. At this level, they begin to apply the fundamental concepts learnt in their earlier years to specific problem contexts.