GPS Tour

One of the teams in our Embedded/Realtime course is gaining some recognition. They are building an application for handheld (Windows CE) devices utilizing a GPS add-on device. The goal is to produce an application that would help perspective students tour campus at their own pace. The admissions office would have a set of handheld devices that they could loan to prospective students and their families. As they walks around campus, the device highlights the buildings that are close by and the user can see information about each building. The team, consisting of Joshua Buzzard, Stephen Nowell, John Yackovich and (recently added) Brian Clarke presented a prototype to University President Dr. Ruud who was quite impressed with the project. They will be continuing development into the Spring when they will present it to the Board of Governors.

Surface Mount Soldering

This week, if MCT 164 is open, check it out! An alum has loaned our Embedded class the equipment necessary to do surface mount soldering. That means that our students can practice mounting chips whose pins do not go through the circuit board. Instead the chip sits on top of the circuit board and the solder joints at the pins also secure the chip to the board. This certainly requires a steady hand as the joints are small enough that a microscope is required to see them as you create them. This is certainly a unique opportunity for those students and we really appreciate Ed Bockhoeffer for loaning the equipment. Check it out!