Application of data acquisition systems in the undergraduate laboratories of mechanical engineering and engineering science

A number of experiments in different areas of mechanical engineering and engineering science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA, have been revisited to improve the experiments' scope and their educational value for the student. Various experiments are being updated to assist in the ongoing curriculum revision, and to bring in data acquisition methods and protocols into the curriculum. Two cases are presented in this paper to illustrate the benefits and efficiency gained when simple data acquisition programs are included in the curriculum.