Mixed Signal Electronics Project Based Learning Approach For Engineering Students

This paper deals with the implementation of a Project Based Learning approach to improve the learning outcomes in a mixed signal electronics course for fourth year telecommunication engineering students. The goal of this approach is to immediately demonstrate to the students the practical usefulness of what they had just learned, increasing their motivation. To accomplish this objective all the theoretical knowledges are consolidated with eleven real-world projects implemented in a Programmable System on Chip (PSoC) 4 kit from Cypress Semiconductor. In the paper, all these projects are described. Besides, at the end of the course, students are required to implement a line follower robot capable to overcome three different circuits (a race track, a sinuous circuit and a maze). Students' opinion about the final project and the achievement of some of the Higher Education Edition European Horizon objectives are analyzed. Finally, the final course student grades evolution shows that the proposed project based learning approach is encouraging.