Hi I'm at the University of New South Wales for other reasons and I've got a tour of the one of the electronics. Labs here is and I'm with Uh Torsten Lehman Who's associate professor? Yeah, and he you're in charge of this lab, this is yours. This is used for my electronics course, so this is a very typical electronic slot at the University. So let's go in and have a look.

Let's go in. Okay, so this is not your only one. We probably have these slabs probably about four or five in the school. Oh okay, uh.

the equipment is somewhat different, but you know you've got your basic Um, signal generator, power supply, oscilloscope, and Uh and SMU on a computer. Then typically the students make Um, circuit on the breadboard and test them out. Well, as we'll see, you've got a mix of different types of tests. Here is that for different reasons.

What about test gear selection? Yes, Okay, so test year selection is. You know we have to have the basic four different types of equipment and so power supplies are. We can power things and oscilloscope so we can measure things and and so forth. Now in terms of you know exactly what gear we have.

Um, it's not very high-end. It's not necessary when you do a design on a, you know, on a breadboard. Yeah, it's not through your high frequency or accurate anything like that. So what we get is to have something that's affordable and reliable.

That is. The main criteria is for selecting the the gear that we have there and a significantly different gear over here. Yeah, yeah. so this was what we did for when we had covet so we couldn't have any students in the lab.

So what we did instead was Um for pretty much you know all the courses that rely on electronics you know, analogue Electronics Electronics Other causes signal processing where we do need to have some Electronics sitting in there to mesh on. Then what we did, we constructed a custom piece of B and one for each lap. Essentially, it has a bank of Um relays that is controlled by a national instrument, a deck position box it's hooked up to. You know, a crow.

Here it's a Road in Swartz Crow Uh with the the probes and also signal generators. A billion signal data in that. So with that, these students can log in and control the uh, the relay positions. The relay could switch in the signal generator to one part of the circuit or another part of the circuit.

The the crows are just hooked up to, you know, points on the PCB But they can then maybe switch where is being measured in the circuit so it's completely remotely controlled for that. The students can also log in to log into the Rodent Swartz web interface and essentially use the user Crow remotely. I Was going to say because the Rhoden Schwartz has a very nice user. That is exactly exactly why.

Because that's why. Because so you've got those during covert or you've got those during covert for the purpose that we could we could use in there. There's other other questions we can use but rodent swaps because it has built-in web interface that has complete access to to the whole front panel. That's certainly the best one.

got it. And you've got a webcam so they can technically see what they're working on. but really, there's not much action going on. There's no one action here.

There's no more section here though. We have some other setups where there's one over there where there's actually the Um just for make it a bit more fun. We have on on this side over here. So here we actually have action because all right, because and on this one here there are Motors that um and then you can watch and see what the positions are.

so that makes it a little bit more sort of. No, it makes it more intuitive and Hands-On It looks like you're actually doing something and it's just a computer simulation is actually a hardware Doom stuff even if you sit at home. Got it? Yeah, do you engineering faults and failures and ground bounces and other things? Or is that or is this more basic? So this particular one is more basic. So we we have a cause where ground bounce and power supply decoupling and interference between supplies is core.

um and that's you know, the electronics course and for that course we have a piece of B that is set up where there's not fault as such in this, but there's deliberate a paths where you can increase or reduce the ground balance. For instance, um, so you can measure that Yeah, so but that's that's a different board. but it's the same idea. Got it? Because you're you're specifically running a course that is more practical than your more traditional EE Theory course is that can you explain? Yeah, that is that is correct.

So the Um the Electronics course was Um conceived here at the University probably about 15 16 years ago and that was a response to Um you know needs from industry, a need from you know researchers and you know myself that you just not enough to just know how to build an Op-amp on a you know pen and paper design Because if you do that yeah, you can get you can get whatever you like. Yeah, in reality you're limited by the bandwidth you're limited by, you know the power supply um, interference. You're limited by the the output monitors range. You get all sort of things that is not in your sort of triangle drawing on a piece of paper.

So this course is really about making sure that the students appreciate and understand I can can use Electronics and get it to work exactly because that is. One of the complaints is that Oh University graduates. They don't know how to solder. They did.

They've never used a breadboard. They don't know how to use an oscilloscope. That happens at some Unis But not here you guys. Well that is the the idea that they should be able to do all of those things.

Got it? That's correct. Excellent. And you've got multiple Labs similar for different purposes and you get multiple labs for different purposes. So some of the laps, um, have you know we can see here? There's uh, there's a solar panel and a light on top of the benches there.

So this will be used for some photovolta experiments. Um, there's other laps that has um, uh, control, uh, experiment setting up where you have to, you know, control an inverted pendulum for instance and and other things like like that. So there's a I to be. Honestly, you don't even know how many caps we have, but we got lots.

You probably have I don't know, 15 20 teaching Labs so this sort of thing. so some of them have different experiments and that. So for the electronics ones um that is just about the the you know, the analog Electronics or the the electronics course as there's um four laps that is dedicated to that of this sort of size. So some of it actually this is a small lap.

uh some of the laps we have this site or the room is the same but on on this um right hand side here it's there's also. you know, lap benches whereas this is still in the covet setup. Oh, got it. Okay, so you've been post covert is now different.

You're all. you're all back to normal. Pretty much pretty much students have to be on campus now. Stories right? Yeah, got it.

That's right because even though you have this set up and I think we did really well during covert to make sure that the students would still get hands-on experience even though they couldn't be physically in a lab, is still better. being here physically because there's stuff that you know you only learn if you're actually a central and is there always someone in here who can help them out Or so we are trialing some open Labs so that um so that we can keep the labs home for students Whatever they they are that was going to be my question. can they come in any time? Yeah. so so we do have a number of design courses as well where you know you have an old manual design thing that you have to do is typically down on a breadboard, but it could also be you know having a PCB manufactured and soloed up that sort of thing.

Um, and for that, uh, the more lap time you have the better. So so we keep the the labs open for for those sort of design and this lab here. Um, you've got signal Scopes here. So the sigilant Fanboys are going wild.

Uh, why was siglant chosen? Was this before coven? Because obviously you've got the rodent Schwartz specifically for its remote capabilities. Could these ones not do what you wanted or um I don't think these are particular old I Honestly I don't know why the second shows you should um ask that question to to ride because he's the lab managers. Oh okay right the lab manager would be in charge of. yep and as this setup over here different or is this just, um, it's just the same.

No, it looks very similar. That is. that is different. It's different.

Okay, so totally different right? So the students can log into any of the different experiments yeah yeah, that are set up work right? Yeah, yeah so we have to. You know we will change experiments as as the term goes on and then you know the student have to do you know, you know, mesh on different boards. So that's all. It's all changed all over.

You know, when you've got it, you know, during the term right? And they can just phone up and ask some somebody to come in here and change probes or so. Yes, that's that's correct. so they would. Normally they would log in um, on teams or some online platform.

You'll be using teams and there'll be a lab demonstrator in the lab that can help them out. So we normally have Labyrinos drivers to help up the students for. you know, you know, helping them with the problems they have. So and we have had the lab demonstrators in here as well and then the student would be able to, you know, raise their hand and then you know their laptops.

They could come over and you know put the put the probe up if it had popped off or you know, helped them otherwise with the design. So and Electronics is a compulsory part of the Ee degree here, because I know at a lot of universities it's not sort of as such, especially the Hands-On You know the Hands-On Electronics is compulsory at Unsw an eighth of a of a year. I Don't think? yes, 150 hours is is the is the standard time for for a course. and um, yeah, so there's there's one of one of those that's compulsory.

And there's yeah, with many others, the Hands-On soldering you've got to. You've obviously got another soldering lab where they built can physically build projects. So um, there is actually a soloing station down in the corner here, right the very end of the lounge. Well let's go check that out.

and we have that in most of the labs. Uh, so for that, so it is. Um, yeah, so we don't. We just have.

You know, Basic? You know? Yep, you know they're different brands. Yeah yeah yeah, there's different labs for Yeah yeah. But you know that's a that's a basic setup that that we have to solver in here. Oh there we go.

We've got a mantis. Yep, very nice. Okay JBC there you go. Terrific.

Okay so now we've got more micro uh stuff. more surface mount work. Yeah, hot plate. all the rest of it.

Nice. So this is this is one of the things that we're working on to make sure we have more Hands-On practice as well to get. Um so at the moment it's not compulsory to do soldering but I kind of want to work that in and we're building up capability to do service mode. We haven't had that previously but if you've if you buy a chip that is not 20 years old it's going to be a service.

Mark And you probably need to have you know a hot plate and hot air to to sell to something. So we we're working on getting that going. Um so part of the Ee degree do you do a compulsory practical project of your own? Uh, you do choosing or is it your own choosing or are you given? Um, this is this is where you are off your own choosing something that you that you um comes in agreement with an academic supervisor. So this is this would be a one year long course.

So three terms so probably. Uh so three times 150 hours is a nominal amount of work in that and that can be in anything. So we have. We have a very large variety of skills in the school, so that can be in electronics so it could be in control or in Power Systems or in Quantum engineering.

so there's there's many different options for that. It could also be simulation based I could be Hardware based. You know many of the we always have telecommunications. so many of those projects are.

You know they use simulation as the main tool to to get enough to do you know, image processing for instance? it's it's about. You know it's a simulation project, not not a hardware project. Okay, but there could also be harder projects where you you design a system you know around a Fpga or you can do a microelectronics course, a project where which probably also simulation based. Um, but there's lots of different things.

Yeah, I can imagine. There's a massive difference in potential complexity in projects depending on what you choose. How do you sort of evenly judge and grade? You know somebody's working on some obscure Leading Edge thing and others I don't know I want to build a little? You know a relatively Simple Thing compared to what somebody else is doing? Well, the complexity is can lie in many different places. Yeah, so you build a live so good you build you build a system which has you know one true sister and a couple in the darker if your capacitors versus.

So that's it. and you can easily spend a year just perfecting the noise performance of that. even though it on paper, you know it looks like you only got like 10 components. Yeah, of course at the flip side, and if you want to build, say, a risk processor on an Fpga right? Yeah, you've got.

You've got millions and millions of components in there. So, but it's not difficult to get one component to work is Trivial Yeah, it's it's uh. so the complexity can be extremely different, but that doesn't mean that they amount of effort in order to get good results is necessarily different. so this has to be managed obviously.

so somebody might have to do more work on the Uh documentation side of the analysis simulation or something. I wouldn't I wouldn't say that actually. I wouldn't say that because the documentation is fairly well controlled so they all have to write thesis as you know of course. Um, so the amount of riding in that is same.

it's just the nature of the world can be can be quite different. although I Like to compare that to to playing an instrument. Yeah, so you can. You can play a um, say a trombone and to get the nodes.

it's a difficult bit because nothing to help you there. you just got to play it by marathon and ear. So getting a node is hard. You know you compare the playing a piano.

Getting a note is Trivial Hey you press the button. Yeah, it's done. But that doesn't mean that it is easy to play a piano comparable to this phone. It's just that the difficulty lies in different areas.

Good analogy. Yep, Yep. I Like it. Basically, you've got different setups for different applications they all send.

Oh, someone's building a breadboard at the moment and they're all all hovering around. Are they doing a class at the moment? Are they just in here on their free time? Um, they I don't know, right? because you're not in charge at 11 at the moment. I'm not in charge I would imagine that. Um, there might be doing it in the free time.

They might have a project that they're working on, but I don't know, right? So you've got a whole bunch of like a dozen Labs that are even bigger. Uh yeah, yeah, right. yeah. excellent.

Yeah, we're more benches, but probably the same physical size, but more Adventures the you know, odd to final kilowatt. Um. equipment sitting in there for. So this is for for research: 250 kilovolts? Yeah, there should be 400 kilovolt, 10 kilojoules impulse generator.

Oh I could blow some multimeters up here? Yeah, you certainly can. You certainly can. Wow. So okay I know who to talk to or if I need to, uh, blow up some meters.

Fantastic. The high voltage lab, but you've got to be certified to go in there. Oh yeah, yeah, there's lots of training otherwise, otherwise you're not allowed to sit foot in there. Got it? You know? I'm only rated up to 30 volts, 30 volts.

That's good enough. Good enough for electronics. Yep, that is correct. All right.

So these are these have. um also the the power system slaps in there. Yeah I think it sold 240 volts experiments. sitting here it looks like it.

Yeah uh very nice. So lots of experiments for that. Um oh yeah. there we go and wow.

lots of custom setups that's really nice. Yeah, it's very common that that we we have a particular experiment that we want to do and then you know we develop the electronics in-house and and also we have a workshop downstairs that can then help us. you know, doing the mechanical watches for that. Got it? So that's uh yeah.

we have a lot of commit setups I thought as I say these levels here at the bottom end here. the uh the teaching Labs Okay so on the on the high levels we have. you know, networking. We have photonics.

Okay, this is uh this is how an electronics and drives laboratory. Wow, very nice. Okay, we also do battery testing. Yeah, that's also Lithium batteries.

Safety is very much Yokogawa our oscilloscope. Oh the Data Logger of choice as we all passed here. There's uh I can log into the lab again. This is what we have on the line This is an electronic slab.

the basic Electronics but but this is set up to doing control experiments. So there's a couple of you know physical arms that you can move around I'm guessing I don't know the experiment but I'm guessing what you have on the left there is that you've got to use a vision to. then you've got to work out the algorithms that will be the labs in order to to do that. So, but you can see again.

You know the basic setup is basically you know power supply and oscilloscopes, you know? Okay, so they're following a lab exercise up there on the screen. So this is a Makerspace that we have in here. a Makerspace Awesome! So this is it trying to Makerspace we have at the moment. There's a lot of 3D printers in there as you can you can see in the window.

Sure! Um, hello. All together good day. Nice setup guys. I like it.

that's excellent for all you tool aficionados There you go that's beautifully labeled. This is a great maker space I like this so this is like free use. Anytime you can come in it is it is. Ah terrific.

Wow. Oh there's your PCB Lpkf. Um yep. yep.

So they do a piece of emailing. Yep, yep. so it's a milling machine. Yes, um yeah.

so I can do a double-sided but it can't do plated through which we kind of want to move into an older solar mask so it's a bit easier to solder. but yeah, we've got. You've got a service marked sirloin sitting in there and the terrific so so the mega spaces are on. Also soloing workshops as part of the induction to to use the the area.

Terrific. So there's a number of different maker spaces at the University so this is the electronics one. There's also a mechanical maker space and some other spaces. Nice.

SLA 3D Printers and all sorts of stuff. This is a great setup. I'm very proud of what it killed for something like this when I was at University. Nothing like this, We had nothing like this.

Unbelievable. Yep, you have to have your own workshop at home. You know that's that's the only way you've got stuff done. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, which is not very Equitable because you know some some people have that, but not all. So it's good to have spaces like this where you can. You can work great stuff.