Don Millard

Multipath agility in electronics manufacturing

Agile manufacturing provides a framework for the improvement of manufacturing productivity and quality through the integration of organizations, technologies, and information resources. The Electronics Agile Manufacturing Research Institute (EAMRI) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is developing new methodologies for agile manufacturing in the electronics industry, and conducting demonstration projects and assessments of the effectiveness of these new approaches. The goal of the EAMRI is the development and integration of information infrastructure to facilitate distributed design, planning, manufacturing, and marketing functions. A goal of this work is to achieve multipath agility in the product development process. Multipath agility provides increased access to alternative resources and information, and achieves improvements in productivity and quality through flexibility of access and utilization of resources, rather than through stepwise improvements in any one task.<<ETX>>

Innovative interactive media for electrical engineering education

The techniques used to educate future electrical engineers need to integrate innovative teaching approaches with todays technology in order to reach and motivate the diverse groups (students, faculty, professionals) that will be involved. This paper provides an overview of the work in progress to create, demonstrate, and implement web-based interactive learning modules (ILMs) and educational multimedia technologies that are being produced under a NSF-CCLI grant at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. These technologies operate within a browser environment and include: a means to capture, review and process a students actions while using a interactive learning module (Scribe); a technology that allows for interactive, collaborative exploration, design and testing across the Internet (WebTeam); and the ability to provide Internet access to instrumented experimentation and data gathering using an inexpensive microcontroller board (LongLab).

Interactive learning modules for electrical, computer and systems engineering

Web-based multimedia tutorials are being developed for use in several undergraduate courses in electrical engineering and computer and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA. These interactive learning modules (ILMs) are created with the Director authoring environment and can be deployed using a standard Web browser with Macromedias Shockwave plug-in as the interface. The ILMs can be used by faculty for in-class presentations and demonstrations, by students for in-class, structured exercises (particularly in the studio format of course delivery) and by students anytime, anywhere via the Internet to explore concepts in more detail and gain practical experience in design and application. The ILMs are developed to provide application-based motivation for learning, present fundamental concepts using animation and visualization and provide interactive practice on problem-solving and open-ended design experience. ILMs are now available on the 555 timer IC, an electrical engineering fundamentals handbook (EE handbook), an electronics circuit card manufacturing handbook, common-emitter amplifier design, analog filters, operational amplifiers, Fourier analysis and convolution. They are currently being used in introductory courses in circuits, electronics, instrumentation and signals and systems, all of which are moving to the studio format. Initial experiences by both faculty and students have been very positive. The combination of interactive learning modules and the studio format of course delivery present a fundamentally new model for the delivery of engineering education.

An improved method for inspection of solder joints using X-ray laminography and X-ray microtomography

This paper describes the application of several imaging technologies available at the Center for solder joint inspection. X-ray laminography was combined with artificial neural networks to classify solder joints. Components with ball grid array, gull-wing and J-lead joints were imaged and several neural network methods were used to identify different classes of defects particularly significant to each type of joint. A novel probabilistic neural network approach for 2-D image classification has been developed which performs as well as or better than a conventional backpropagation network. The smear caused by the laminographic process poses a great challenge to accurate reconstruction and subsequent evaluation of the object. An improved method of accurately reconstructing the solder joint shape from the laminographic images has been developed as part of this research. The method removes artifacts caused by out-of-plane contributions, noise, and smear due to rotation of the source around the object while forming each laminograph, and can be adapted to consider the finite size of the aperture and X-ray scattering. Preliminary application of the method has produced dramatic improvements in the visual quality and signal-to-noise ratio for laminographs of experimental objects. More importantly, the ability to accurately measure the dimensions of the objects being imaged has been made possible by this approach. The possible extension of this work by using more X-ray projections and mathematically intensive routines brings this research into the realm of microtomography, which can help achieve more precise reconstruction at a much smaller scale. A new method of microtomography has been developed that can exceed previous limits in image resolution.

Innovations in Engineering Education using Tablet PCs - Panel Discussion with Four Institutions

This panel discussion will highlight emerging best practices in the use of Tablet PCs to transform learning and teaching in college and university engineering and computer science related courses. Faculty from four institutions will share their experience in redesigning a key course to improve student outcomes, and demonstrate how their innovative use of Tablet PCs has enabled new approaches to collaboration and real-time feedback, improving student achievement and engagement. Through this session, the audience will become participants and experience first-hand how classroom interactions are being redesigned and more learner-centric through the effective use of technology. Presenters will engage the audience by modeling the technology-enabled pedagogy being implemented in their classrooms

Interactive learning modules for electrical engineering education

Interactive learning modules (ILMs) are being developed for use in several undergraduate courses in Engineering at Rensselaer. These multimedia materials are created with the Director authoring environment and can be accessed via a standard Web browser. Instructors can use ILMs for in-class demonstrations, students can use them for structured exercises and learners can use them anytime, anywhere via the Internet. The ILMs allow the students to explore concepts in more detail and gain practical experience in design and application. This paper discusses the development, utilization and assessment of ILMs that are currently being used in our introductory engineering courses in circuits, electronics, instrumentation, and signals and systems, all of which are moving to Rensselaers Studio mode of delivery. The initial experiences by both faculty and students have been very positive, indicating that a combination of using interactive learning modules in the Studio format of course delivery offers a new model for engineering education.

Cybertronics: interactive simulation game for design and manufacturing education

In the Cybertronics interactive simulation game, we create a fictional enterprise, the Cybertronics Corporation, in which the user assumes the role of product designer, manufacturing engineer, marketing expert, and product manager. In working through the decisions required in product development, the user addresses the tradeoff among product performance, cost, quality, and time-to-market. The Cybertronics simulation game has been developed in a modular architecture using Multimedia Director as the development environment. The major components include: Electronics Handbook, Manufacturing Handbook, Functional Design, Parts Ordering, Manufacturing Layout and Planning, Manufacturing Control, and Market and Sales. Each section is an enhanced multimedia module with access to video (e.g. manufacturing operations in a factory) and animation (e.g. depiction of manufacturing process principles). The focus of Cybertronics is on electronics manufacturing and the processes involved in the design and manufacturing of circuit-board assemblies for commercial and military electronics products. Cybertronics has been used in both undergraduate and graduate courses in engineering and management at Rensselaer, and also in corporate training sessions. A formal evaluation process of Cybertronics in the classroom has shown that the experience is effective in presenting the principles of manufacturing activities, and has been especially successful in motivating students to understand the larger context of their engineering and management decisions.

Workshop - improving student engagement and intuition with the mobile studio pedagogy

This workshop will engage the participants in a hands-on ldquostudio sessionrdquo that demonstrates how PCs are being used to create new mobile ldquostudiordquo environments anywhere, at anytime; thereby allowing instructors to engage their students in hands-on activities that provide them with a visualization and scaffolding of key concepts. This new approach to teaching integrates lecture, problem session and laboratory experimentation activities in both in-class and out-of-class environments; providing an avenue for instructors to reap the benefits of employing the Kolb cycle of learning in teaching their courses. The session will begin with an overview of the mobile studio pedagogy, how it is being used in engineering and science courses at three schools (RPI, Howard and Rose-Hulman) and then review, as a result of an assessment (conducted by the Evaluation Consortium at UAlbany), the tremendous impact that the new practices have had on student learning.

Automation issues of SMD automated rework cell

The 1990s has become the decade of electronics manufacturing. Never before has electronics been a major element of nearly every product sector. Surface mount components have become the choice of industry to solve problems met at the circuit boards. New components using increased lead count of the surface mount technology (SMT) components, and also the increasing compactness of the SMT assemblies has demanded the creation of newer rework tools as an essential part of electronics manufacturing. It therefore becomes essential to have a well-controlled process to assure that rework is not only possible but that is consistent and flawless. Automation is the common answer to achieve both efficiency and quality. This paper describes a system for the automated rework of fine pitch components that is under development as part of the Electronics Manufacturing Programme at Rensselaer.

An animated interface for X-ray laminographic inspection of fine-pitch interconnect

While the function of solder joint inspection is to assess joint quality, evolving fine-pitch mounting technologies have made some electronic assemblies impossible to inspect using human-oriented visual techniques. A group of automated inspection tools has recently been developed in response to this need, one of which uses X-ray laminography in conjunction with very elaborate software. The authors present the work that has been performed to provide an easy-to-use animated graphics-oriented, X-ray laminographic solder joint inspection system interface. The interface has been developed to aid in the study of performance-related interconnect inspection.<<ETX>>