Turning a basic electronics lab into a low-cost communications lab

A NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre researcher has developed a solution that allows a basic electronics lab to be transformed into a low-cost, advanced telecommunications one.

NUP/UPNA Professor Antonio López-Martín has connected the basic instrumentation of an electronics lab to a computer and has written some software that allows the measuring data to be acquired and complex, costly instrumentation equipment for communications to be emulated on the computer. That way it is possible to give experimental classes in telecommunications using economical equipment already existing at most universities without any additional expense or additional learning time having to be devoted to the instrumentation.

Prof. López-Martín’s work has already received the best paper award in the category of ‘Innovative Materials, Teaching and Learning Experiences in Engineering Education’ at the 6th IEEE Global Education Conference (EDUCON).

“The invention is particularly attractive for universities in developing countries that cannot afford the expensive equipment needed for a degree in telecommunications engineering,” said Prof. López-Martín. The work has made a considerable impact on the international community and the software has already been transferred to a research centre in Australia and universities in the United States and Mexico.

This author was previously the first European to receive the award for best paper in IEEE Transactions on Education, the journal that is a reference worldwide in engineering education.