Virtual Instrumentation in the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory

该机构的物理系学生在学术界和工业界都取得了巨大的成功，因为他们毕业时对现代实验技术有了透彻的理解，这些技术可以应用于各种科学问题。现在，学生们使用的许多传统仪器可以被一台计算机和一块便宜的数据采集卡所取代。由此产生的“虚拟仪器”是由用户为特定任务选择或设计的软件创建的，为实验设计提供了极大的灵活性。这个项目是为物理系的实验实验室开发虚拟仪器站，供各级学生使用。该设备帮助学生理解，好的实验并不是为了获得正确的结果，而是在调查的过程中。通过为广泛的实验目的提供相对快速设置、易于使用和操作成本低廉的虚拟仪器，该部门希望鼓励学生探索比使用更传统设备进行的更具创新性和迭代性的实验。

Physics students from this institution have enjoyed significant success in academia and industry because they have graduated with a thorough understanding of modern experimental techniques that can be applied to a variety of scientific questions. Many of the traditional instruments with which students work can now be replaced by a single computer and an inexpensive data acquisition card. The resulting `virtual instruments` are created from user-selected or designed software for a specific task, offering tremendous flexibility in experiment design. This project is developing virtual instrumentation stations for the experimental labs in the Physics Department, for use by students at all levels. This equipment helps students understand that good experimentation is not about obtaining a `correct` result, but rather on the process of investigation. In providing virtual instruments that are relatively quick to set up, easy to use, and inexpensive to operate for a wide range of experimental purposes, the department hopes to encourage students to explore more innovative and iterative experiments than they would pursue with more traditional equipment.