Five students representing the Electronic Systems Engineering Technology Program (ESET) at Texas A&M University presented papers on a number of topics at the ASEE Gulf Southwest Regional Conference in New Orleans April 2-4.
Tanner Perkins was awarded best student paper for his paper and presentation focusing on a new development partnership between ESET and the NASA-JSC Control and Data Handling (C&DH) branch to develop the Modular Integrated Stackable Layer, or MISL, architecture.
The paper discusses how the partnership seeks to continue the space-qualified hardware development platform initiated by Paul Delaune and his engineering team within the C&DH branch. In his paper, Tanner describes the three primary components of the initiative: new layer development; integration of the architecture into embedded system educational courses and laboratories; and creation of an open development community. Perkins presented the paper which was written by his Capstone Design team. The Capstone project being supported by NASA adds a new, more capable microcontroller intelligence layer to the stack architecture and uses a MISL stack properly configured to control a four-wheeled robot that employs GPS and IMU sensors and a LabVIEW graphical interface.
Sean Kogucz (Krisys Robot: Experimental Learning is Product Development); Isabel Carrillo and Tyler Kates (HAND Activated Non-Obstructive System) and Lindsey Jenschke (Utilizing Commercially Available Products to Demonstrate Reverse Engineering Concepts in Electronic Sysytems Product Development Courses) also presented at the three-day conference.