Rolling labs - Teaching vehicle electronics from the beginning

Abstract

This paper describes the pedagogical approach to teach vehicle electronics at the University of Applied Science Aachen. As vehicle electronics is getting more and more complex, in particular with regard to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and autonomous driving, a dedicated concept is needed to integrate the requirements of vehicle electronics into the studies of electrical engineering. The concept of rolling labs is established during the last years for the studies of electrical engineering. The rolling labs cover different levels of complexity and integration of the electronics and components used in modern applications and hence undergraduate students can start working with interesting and close to reality systems rather early. The rolling labs enable several different possibilities of teaching and learning, either for standard labs, for team works in terms of problem-based learning (PBL) or for individual works like bachelor or master thesis. In addition, the systems can be used as research platforms and for demonstration and marketing purpose to introduce the challenging topic of vehicle electronics to other people.