Chuliang Wei, Zhemin Zhuang, Qin Xin , Al-Shamma'a, A.I. , Shaw, A., (2012).

A Distance Laboratory System for Electronic Engineering Education. Dept. of Electronics Eng., Shantou Univ., Shantou, China. Retrieved: January 29, 2014, from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6150271&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplo re.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6150271 Laboratory experiments are always vital for a university student in electronic engineer to improve her/his practical skill. However, because of unit cost and availability, student may not get opportunity to use the equipments, particularly the latest industrial equipments, in their experiments. For this reason many graduates require time to adapt to real industrial technology when they leave university.

Feisel, L.D., Rosa, A., (2005). The Role of the Laboratory in Undergraduate Engineering Education. Retrieved: January 29, 2014, from: http:// The function of the engineering profession is to manipulate materials, energy, and information, thereby creating benefit for humankind. To do this successfully, engineers must have a knowledge of nature that goes beyond mere theoryknowledge that is traditionally gained in educational laboratories. Over the years, however, the nature of these laboratories has changed.

Connor, C., (2012). What makes a good lab in Engineering Education. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved: January 29, 2014. From: http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_makes_a_good_lab_in_engineering_education We do not use traditional instrumentation. Rather, each student team purchases a Mobile Studio. What makes this learning environment really different is that it is not confined to a limited access classroom as is the case with traditional labs. The students are able to do all aspects of their classwork (paper and pencil problem solving, computer simulation, experimentation, etc.) anywhere and anytime. The Mobile Studio are not toys but, when connected to a laptop computer, are serious electronic instruments that provide the same quality of measurement and control as much more expensive standard instruments. The key is to empower the students to do their work in the same mode they will see in industry and to pursue their ideas when it is best to do so rather than waiting until we open the door to the lab. With a Mobile Studio or similar device, they carry their lab in their backpacks.

Only with the help of laboratory equipment, experiments, process controls and quality assurance are made possible. Electronic measuring instruments or vacuum apparatuses are the most important working materials in the field of laboratory equipment. Without the help of these important devices, the scientific field of laboratory equipment could not exist. High-quality analysis devices, investigation apparatuses or laboratory instruments are designed for professional applications, especially for the field of laboratory equipment. For every application of laboratory equipment, there is a corresponding instrument, which engineered is according to the ISO-standard and delivers convincing measuring results. Retrieved: January 29, 2014, from: http://www.industrial-needs.com/laboratory-equipment.htm

Multimeter Multimeters are electronic measuring instruments that combine several measurement functions in one unit. Multimeters can be hand-held devices useful for finding and correction of basic faults and field service work or bench instruments which can measure to a very high degree of accuracy. They can be used to troubleshoot electrical problems in a wide array of industrial and household devices such as electronic equipment, motor controls, domestic appliances, power supplies, and wiring systems. http://www.sooperarticles.com/technology-articles/importance-digital-multimeters-530045.html They will test for voltage, current and resistance. These are the three functions needed when trying to diagnose a problem. When you purchase a digital multimeter, one of the most important things to look at is the meter's impedance, which is the meter's operating resistance. Most digital multimeters have very high impedance. Since the meter is part of the circuit being tested, its resistance will affect the current flow through that circuit. http://www.electricityforum.com/test-equipment/digital-multimeters.html

A multimeter's measurement flexibility combined with their precision and accuracy make multimeters an essential tool in any electronics lab. Multimeters will typically be able to measure both AC and DC voltage and current as well as resistance. Multimeters are often used in troubleshooting designs and testing prototype circuits. Multimeter accessories include transistor testing modules, temperature sensorprobes, high voltage probes, and probe kits. http://components.about.com/od/Design/a/Essential-Electronics-Laboratory-Equipment.htm

Features: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/electronics-measurements-what-a-multimetercan-mea.html

Ammeter measures current Current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor. Current is measured in units called amperes. It should come as no surprise, then, that a meter that measures amperage is called an ammeter. Ammeters usually measure current in milli-amperes, also called a milli-amp, and abbreviated mA. One mA is one-thousandth of an ampere. Voltmeter measures voltage The second fundamental quantity of electricity is voltage, a term that refers to the difference in electric charge between two points. If those two points are connected to a conductor, a current will flow through the conductor. Thus, voltage is the instigator of current. The device that measures voltage is called a voltmeter. It turns out that, all other things being equal, a change in the amount of voltage between two points results in a corresponding change in current. Thus, if you can keep things equal, you can measure voltage by measuring current, and you already know of a device that can measure current: It's called an ammeter. The basic difference between an ammeter and a voltmeter is that in an ammeter, you let current run directly through the meter so that you can measure the amount of current. In a voltmeter, the current is first run through a very large resistor and then through the ammeter, and the device makes the necessary calculations. There's a direct relationship between voltage, resistance, and current in an electrical circuit. In particular, if you know any two of these quantities, the third one is easy to calculate. In a voltmeter, a large fixed resistance is used, and the ammeter measures the current. Because you know the amount of the fixed resistance and the amount of current, you can easily calculate the amount of voltage across the circuit. Ohmmeter measures resistance As you know, a resistor is a material that resists the flow of current. How much the current is restricted is a function of the amount of resistance in the resistor, which is measured in units called ohms. The y bo o o G k o , A v ohmmeter. Like voltage, resistance can also be measured with an ammeter. Remember there's a direct relationship between voltage, resistance, and current in any circuit, and that if you know any two of these quantities you can easily calculate the third? To recap, to measure voltage, a voltmeter provides a fixed resistance, uses an ammeter to measure the current, and then uses the resistance and current to calculate the voltage.

To measure the resistance of a circuit, an ohmmeter provides a fixed amount of voltage across the circuit, uses an ammeter to measure the current that flows through the circuit, and then uses the amount of voltage provided by the meter and the amount of current read by the meter to calculate the resistance.

Oscilloscope Electronics are all about the signals and the oscilloscope is the primary measurement tool to observe the shape of signals. Oscilloscopes, often called oscopes or just scopes, display signals in a graphical format on a pair of axis, generally with Y as the voltage and X as the time. This is a very powerful way to quickly see the shape of a signal, determine what is going on in an electronic circuit and monitor performance or track down problems. Oscilloscopes are available in digital and analog variants, starting at a few hundred dollars and running in to the tens of thousands for the top of the line models. Digital scopes have several measurement and trigger options built in to the system which make measurement of peakto-peak voltage, frequency, pulse width, rise time, signal comparisons, and recording waveforms simple tasks. http://components.about.com/od/Design/a/Essential-Electronics-Laboratory-Equipment.htm The oscilloscope, or scope for short, is a device for drawing calibrated graphs of voltage vs time very quickly and conveniently. Such an instrument is obviously useful for the design and repair of circuits in which voltages and currents are changing with time. There are also many devices, called transducers, which convert some non-electrical quantity such as pressure, sound, light intensity, or position to a voltage. By using a transducer the scope can make a plot of the changes in almost any measurable quantity. This capability is widely used in science and technology. www.owlnet.rice.edu/~dodds/Files231/oscilloscope. Oscilloscopes are tools that allow engineers to view signals graphically. The oscilloscope, often just called the scope, displays the signals as a plot of magnitude versus time. There are two types of oscilloscopes: analog and digital. Analog oscilloscopes use a cathode ray tube and display the signal much like a television set displays an image. Digital oscilloscopes sample the signals digitally and are more flexible in how they display, manipulate, and store the signals. www.tek.com/dl/3GW_24499_0.pdf An oscilloscope's primary function is to provide a graph of a signal's voltage over time. This is useful for measuring such things as clock frequencies, duty cycles of pulse-width-modulated signals, propagation delay, or signal rise and fall times. It can also alert you to the presence of glitches in your logic or bouncing switches. http://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse467/05wi/tools/oscopefordummies/OscopeBasics.html

Spectrum Analyzer Like an oscilloscope, a spectrum analyzer produces a visible display on a screen. Unlike an oscilloscope, however, the spectrum analyzer has only one function-to produce a display of the

frequency content of an input signal. (But it is possible to display the time waveform on the spectrum analyzer screen with the proper settings.) And also like an oscilloscope, the spectrum analyzer will always produce a picture on the screen; but if you do not know how to properly use the spectrum analyzer, that picture may be completely meaningless. www.ece.ucsb.edu/~long/ece145a/spec_analyzer

A spectrum analyzer is a laboratory instrument that displays signal amplitude (strength) as it varies by signal frequency. The frequency appears on the horizontal axis, and the amplitude is displayed on the vertical axis. To the casual observer, a spectrum analyzer looks like an oscilloscope and, in fact, some lab instruments can function either as oscilloscopes or spectrum analyzers. A spectrum analyzer can be used to determine whether or not a wireless transmitter is working according to federally defined standards for purity of emissions. Output signals at frequencies other than the intended communications frequency appear as vertical lines (pips) on the display. A spectrum analyzer can also be used to determine, by direct observation, the bandwidth of a digital or analog signal. A spectrum analyzer interface is a device that can be connected to a wireless receiver or a personal computer to allow visual detection and analysis of electromagnetic signals over a defined band of frequencies. This is called panoramic reception and it can be used to determine the frequencies of sources of interference to wireless networking equipment, such as Wi-Fi and wireless routers. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/spectrum-analyzer