MEXLE – A new Multimodal System for Experiments and Learning in Mechatronics

This paper presents the new MEXLE system which supports basic learning as well as advanced experiments in mechatronics education. The MEXLE system consists of (1) a flexible hardware platform, (2) a rich software library, (3) a PC and smartphone based control and visualization interface and (4) a web based learning environment. MEXLE can support the practical and the project based learning in electrical engineering, electronics, control engineering, electrical drives, sensor networks, digital signal processing, wireless communication and a lot of other educational subjects. In this paper we concentrate on the introduction of the concepts of the MEXLE hardware platform and on a first application of modules as a learning tool for analog circuit design. The MEXLE environment is used by students of our university in form of a Lab-in-a-Box system. It not only supports the lab classes but is also available for personal home use for the students. For this application it is especially important to have not only functional modules but also modules for in-system power-supply and measurement (DVM, scope, function-generator.