Developing a Modern Course for Instrumentation and Measurement
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University
Being one of the youngest engineering schools
in Canada, the York University’s Lassonde
School of Engineering faces all the challenges
typical to building new engineering programs
and courses. At the same time, this presents
a great opportunity for the faculty to develop
truly modern curricula that combine theory
with practical applications and employ modern
pedagogy, with a goal of better preparing
Lassonde’s graduates for the demands of their
future engineering careers.
Challenge: Revitalizing an Essential Course
The Instrumentation and Measurement
Techniques course (MECH2502) is a great
example of a module implementing modern
teaching methods, and linking theory to practical,
hands-on applications. Inaugurated in 2016,
the development of the new sophomore-level
Mechanical Engineering course gave the faculty
a great opportunity to realize their vision,
bring in their experiences from industry, and
implement new pedagogical approaches.
The course instructor, Assistant Professor Nima
Tabatabaei was highly motivated to design an
effective course that would become a flagship
within the Mechanical Engineering program.
With his field of research heavily involving
instrumentation, Dr. Tabatabaei had a very
good understanding of what was the most
practical knowledge students would need in
their future engineering careers. He also had
strong support from an industrial partner,
Quanser. Quanser engineers were ready to help
with the course design, as well as customization
of the lab equipment and course materials to
meet the objectives and outcomes of the course.
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Solution: Modern Course Balancing Theory
and Practice
The main focus of the course was to teach
the basic concepts of measurement and
instrumentation systems. Dr. Tabatabaei and
Quanser engineers brainstormed the course
structure and decided on a combination of
lectures and practical laboratory work.
Focus on Efficient Use of Class Time
The two-hour per week lecture gave the
instructor time to cover the underlying physics
and design of measurement systems for various
phenomena, fundamentals of instrumentation
systems, computerized data acquisition, as
well as data presentation strategies and related
statistics. Modern pedagogy was top of mind
when preparing the lectures. Dr. Tabatabaei
worked closely with the Mechanical Engineering
department’s education consultant, Ms. Minha
R. Ha to implement multiple techniques aimed
at enhancing students’ engagement and
learning outcomes. The lectures were designed
on a flipped classroom concept, with pre-
assigned mandatory and optional readings and
videos to watch. The time in the class could
be then dedicated to discussions and more
complex concepts that would be difficult for
students to master by themselves. Additionally,
Dr. Tabatabaei included in-class demonstrations
to show students how theory relates to
practical applications. He also created in-class
experiments, where students worked with
the demonstration units in small groups,
measuring, for example, the output of a low-pass
filter, and explaining their results using the
concepts taught in the lectures. That is also
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Topics covered in the sophomore-level
Instrumentation & Measurement Techniques course:
Introduction to the DAQ Programming:
LabVIEW Graphical Programming Environment
Basic concepts in Measurement and Instrumentation:
History and Significance; Generalized
Measurement System; Calibration; Standards;
Errors; Statistics; Data Presentation and Plotting
Static and Dynamic Signals Characteristics:
Accuracy, Precision, Tolerance, Sensitivity,
Resolution, Hysteresis; Amplitude, Phase, Frequency
Analog Electrical Measurements and Signal
Conditioning:
Current, Voltage, and Resistance Measurements;
Loading Errors and Impedance Matching; Analog
Signal Conditioning (Amplifiers, Filters, Wheatstone
Bridges, Special Circuits)
Sampling, Digital Devices, and DAQ:
Why Digitization?, Sampling, Nyquist, Aliasing, Analog
vs. Digital, A/D, and D/A Converters, DAQ Systems,
DSP (FFT, etc.), Synchronization and Triggering
Resistive Sensors:
Resistive Temperature Sensors, Resistive Strain
Gauges, Use of Resistance Change to Sense
Position or Angle
Voltage Generating Sensors:
Thermocouples, Pressure Transducer, Tachometer
Pulse Generating Sensors:
Flow Meter, Encoder
Practical Considerations for Temperature and
Strain Sensors:
Errors in Temperature and Strain Measurements;
Thermocouple and Strain Gauge Calibration and
Arrangements, Bridge circuits
Measurement System Behavior:
Amplitude, Frequency and Phase Responses; Zero,
First, and Second Order Instruments
 Introduction Fluid Level
to DAQ Control Flow Rate
Programming Velocity Measurement
Measurement and Calibration

Displacement
Measurement
Strain
Measurement
Heatflow
Q8-USB DAQ and Calibration
SRV02 Rotary Servo Pressure Temperature
Measurement Measurement
and Calibration and Control
Flexible Link
Coupled Tanks

In the Quanser Experiential Lab, students use various Quanser systems to reinforce the theory learned in lectures.

the first example of the experiential learning
they were exposed to during the course.
Quanser Experiential Laboratory
To give students a true hands-on experience
beyond the classroom demonstrations,
Dr. Tabatabaei and Quanser engineers came
with the idea of the Quanser Experiential
Laboratory, adding a two-hour laboratory
session per week to the course. The
lab sessions involved practical measurements
and observations which were mapped to the
topics covered during the lectures.
The open architecture of Quanser equipment
allowed students to learn how to read, process,
and analyze raw sensor signals and calibrate
them to obtain the desired output. Although
the equipment was not developed originally
for measurement and instrumentation courses,
Tanks
Flow meter
Pressure
transducers
Gain and
offset pots high-powered
pump
Using the Coupled Tanks system, students experimented with
measuring the same physical quantity, such as flow rate, using
different sensors and methods, including direct measurement
using built-in flow meter, and indirect measurement by integrating
the output of a pressure transducer.
the hardware customization done by Quanser
expanded the use of these workstations from
classic control experimentation to demonstrating
measurement and instrumentation concepts.
The customization included adding a new flow
sensor to the Coupled Tank system, as well
as designing custom experimental setups for
temperature measurement, operational
amplifiers, and strain measurement. In addition,
two labs were designed and offered toward
the end of the course, where students were
tasked with developing the signal conditioning
electronics (e.g., amplification, filtering, and
Wheatstone bridge circuits) from scratch using
passive and active electronics. These two labs were
specifically intended to provide students with
hands-on experience in developing signal
conditioning circuits, a skill very much needed
for their final projects, and required an
application of the knowledge they acquired
during the course.
With the input from Dr. Tabatabaei, Quanser
engineers also developed a comprehensive
measurement and instrumentation laboratory
curriculum that fully supported the course
learning outcomes. That gave the Lassonde
School of Engineering a great return on
their investment: the equipment acquired
for measurement and instrumentation lab
could be shared with other courses and
departments focused on classic control topics.
Enriching the Course with Project-based
Learning
With the deep commitment of Quanser
engineers to the course design and
development, Dr. Tabatabaei was able to
add another component to the course,
which ended up being very successful: final
projects. As a result, in the Instrumentation
and Measurement Techniques course students
not only learned fundamental concepts in
lectures and got hands-on experience in the
labs but, by designing and developing a real-life
instrumentation system, they also got to apply
their knowledge to solve a practical problem.
Earlier in the semester, Dr. Tabatabei dedicated
lecture time for an Idea Generation Workshop,
where the faculty and Quanser engineers helped
students to come up with feasible ideas for their
final project, using infrastructure available in the
lab and a small budget of aprox. $25 per group.
Students were then tasked to produce a short
video pitching their idea and submit a project
proposal, detailing the project development and
timelines. With feedback from their professors
and Qunaser engineers, they spent the last two
weeks of the course building their systems.
At the end, the systems were presented in
a conference-type setting and judged by the
panel consisting of Lassonde’s Dean, faculty,
and Quanser engineers.
Results: Better Course Outcomes,
Better Students
The design and development of the
Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques
course demonstrated how to successfully
combine several modern teaching methods:
•b
 asic flipped classroom concept to help
students learn the theory more effectively,
by allocating the class time to discussions and
class demonstrations,
• e xperiential learning in the labs to give students
practical hands-on exposure, and
•p
 roject-based and peer learning during the
final project.

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As a result, students acquired a better understanding Final projects: Students developed a pressure Nima Tabatabaei,
reactive robotic arm (Figure 1) and a system for
of the theory and could apply their knowledge optimal positioning of solar panels (Figure 2)
PhD. is an Assistant
in new settings and real-life situations. using Quanser SRV02 rotary servos. Professor in the
Department
The course evaluations summed the course
of Mechanical
experiences from the students’ point of view.
Engineering at York
Although they ranked the course as one of the
University Lassonde
more demanding ones, they also recognized
School of Engineering. His research
and highly valued what they gained during the
interests are design and development
course. Getting the better grasp of the theory,
of hybrid biomedical optics imaging
and being able to connect it to practical
technologies for applications in early
applications are some of the outcomes that
disease diagnosis and screening.
students mentioned as very important to them.
Dr. Tabatabaei received his B.S. and M.S.
Overall, their experience was extremely good
in Materials Science and Engineering,
and positive.
2005 and 2007, and Ph.D. in Mechanical
Dr. Tabatabei highlighted another valuable Engineering from the University of
course outcome: students learned to program Toronto in 2012. Dr. Tabatabaei carried
in LabVIEW. He saw LabVIEW as an industry out research for two years at the Harvard
standard tool, but that is not typically taught in Medical School and Wellman Center for
depth in school. He was, in fact, having difficulties Photomedicine as a postdoctoral fellow
finding teaching assistants for the course - before joining the York University in 2014.
from about 30 graduate students only two
Other individuals contributed to the
had a solid knowledge of LabVIEW. Now all of
course development and implementation:
Dr. Tabatabaei’s undergraduate students
Ms. Minha R. Ha, Educational Consultant,
who took his course are well-versed in LabVIEW.
York University; Mr. Roger Carrick,
In the Winter Semester 2017, the course was Designer-in-Residence, York University;
offered for the second time, and the number Mr. Salar Golrang, Department
of registered students has doubled. While this Technician, York University; Prof. Alex
is definitely exciting, this significant increase in Czekanski, NSERC/Quanser Chair in
class size presents a big challenge, especially for Engineering Design for Innovation,
proper implementation of class demonstrations. York University; Prof. Alidad Amirfazli,
Quanser engineers are still directly involved, Figure 1 Chair of Mechanical Engineering,
helping to improve the lab materials and York University; Prof. Sushanta Mitra,
fine-tune the content. The whole team behind Assocaite Vice-President Research,
the successful course is looking forward to the York University; Peter Martin,
final projects – although this time, they will have Engineering Curriculum Manager,
to go through twice as many. Quanser; Arman Molki, Engineering
Curriculum Specialist, Quanser; Simon
Whitmell, Engineering Curriculum
Specialist, Quanser; Michel Lévis,
Applications Engineer, Quanser; and
Dr. Tom Lee, Chief Education Officer,
Quanser.

Figure 2

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