Mechatronics Certificate
Any student in the college of engineering (or related sciences) can earn a certificate in mechatronics by passing the required classes and 14 semester hours of courses from the list of approved electives, and by completing an approved mechatronics project. The certificate will be awarded with the bachelor’s degree (B. S.) or at the graduate level.
Required Courses
Pass the year-long Mechatronics sequence (ME EN 3200 and 3210 or equivalent) receiving a grade of B- or better.
Approved Elective Courses
The student must pass 14 hours from the following list of classes, with a grade of B- or better. Other courses can be used with approval from Drs. Meek or Minor.
| Course | Title | Offered | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| ME EN 5200 | Advanced Modeling & Control | Fall | 3 |
| ME EN 5210 | State Space Control | Spring | 3 |
| ECE 5570 | Control of Electric Motors | Spring | 3 |
| ECE 3720 | Analog and Digital Interface | Spring | 3 |
| ME EN 5220/ CS 5310 | Robotics | Fall | 4 |
| PHYSC 3610 | Electronics I | Fall | 3 |
| PHYSC 3620 | Electronics II | Spring | 3 |
Mechatronics Project Requirements
The Mechanical Engineering Department Mechatronics Committee must approve a mechatronics project, done as part of the requirements for the Mechatronics Certificate. The project must include the following:
- Use of micro-controller-based or embedded controllers.
- Mechanical and Electrical component design such as actuators, sensors, signal conditioning, and mechanisms.
- Use of sensors and actuators for feedback-based control.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
ME EN 3200 Mechatronics I: Modeling, Actuators, and Data Collection(4) Prerequisite: ECE 1050 and ME EN 2400 and 2000 and 2040 and CP SC 1000 and upper division ME EN status. Fulfills Quantitative Intensive BS. The first of two mechatronics courses. Students should plan on taking the classes in direct sequence. Mechatronics I introduces dynamic system modeling, instrumentation, actuators, and computer-based data collection.
ME EN 3210 Mechatronics II: Mechanical Components and Control Systems(4) Prerequisite: ME EN 3200 and upper division ME EN status. Fulfills Quantitative Intensive BS. The second of the two mechatronics courses. Students should plan on taking the classes in direct sequence. Mechatronics II continues from Mechatronics I. Students will apply modeling, sensors, and actuators to feedback control systems. Microcontrollers are used to implement control systems in laboratory projects.
ME EN 5200 Advanced Modeling and Control(3) Prerequisite: ME EN 3210 and upper division ME EN status. Students learn modeling in the frequency domain, time domain, and sampled data domain. The theory and application of techniques and tools used for the design of feedback control systems, including root locus, Bode, and Nyquist techniques are discussed for continuous and sampled systems.
ME EN 5210 State Space Methods(3) Meets with ME EN 5210, ME EN 6210, CHFEN 5203, and CHFEN 6203. Prerequisite: CHFEN 4203 or ME EN 3210 or equivalent. Introduction to modeling of multivariable systems in state space form. System analysis including stability, observability and controllability. Control system design using pole placement, and linear quadratic regulator theory. Observer design.
ME EN 5220 Robotics(3) Cross listed as CP SC 5310. Meets with CP SC 6310. Recommended Prerequisite: CP SC 1000 and MATH 2250 and upper division ME EN status. Mechanics of robots, comprising kinematics, dynamics, and trajectories. Planar, spherical, and spatial transformations and displacements. Representing orientation: Euler angles, angle-axis, and quaternions. Velocity and acceleration: the Jacobian and screw theory. Inverse kinematics: solvability and singularities. Trajectory planning: joint interpolation and Cartesian trajectories. Statics of serial chain mechanisms. Inertial parameters, Newton-Euler equations, D'Alembert's principle. Recursive forward and inverse dynamics
ECE 5570 Control of Electric Motors(3) Prerequisite: ECE 3510 or ME EN 3210. Principles of operation, mathematical models, and control techniques for electric motors. Types of motors include brush DC motors, stepper motors, brushless DC motors, synchronous motors and induction motors. Topics covered: steady-state and dynamic characteristics, torque limits and field weakening operation, characteristics under voltage and current sources, open-loop and closed-loop control of position and velocity, and field-oriented operation for AC motors.
ECE/CP SC 3720 Analog and Digital Interfacing with Microprocessors and Microcontrollers(4) Fundamentals of digital-to-analog (D-to-A) and analog-to-digital (A-to-D) circuits, relays, stepper motors, and digital switches. Interfacing digital and analog circuits to computers and micro-controllers. Laboratory included.
PHYSC 3610 Electronics I(3) Meets with PHYCS 6610. Recommended Prerequisite: PHYCS 2229 and 2220. Basic components and introductory integrated-circuit electronics. Noise and noise reduction. Transmission lines.
PHYSC 3620 Electronics II (3) Recommended Prerequisite: PHYCS 2229 and 2220. Meets with PHYCS 6620. Use of PCs in data collection and analysis, and in process control; interfacing to real-world equipment; sophisticated 32-bit processors used; hardware and software treated.