New Technologies and Perspectives for Laboratory Practices in Measurement Science

Laboratory practices are very important activities in BSc (Bachelor of Science) and MSc (Master of Science) engineering courses involving concepts of Measurement Science, because they give to both undergraduate and graduate students the unique opportunity to verify with hands-on experiences the arguments introduced in theoretical lessons. Today there are truly uncountable different possible hardware/software low cost choices available for University teaching which could be complementary or alternative to the commonly used teaching tools (LabVIEW®, MATLAB®, etc.). In effects, the use of open-source and openhardware platforms can offer different advantages with respect to traditional ones; first, they assure a bottom-up approach, which guarantees a pleasant and constructive learning with a gradual comprehension of concepts from the simple ones to more complex ones. Then, these cheap and readily available platforms permit to verify (also at home) the theoretical concepts and the proposed exercises with low cost devices rather than with expensive ones. Finally, the learning outcomes of the basic courses are indispensable to advanced courses where sensors, wireless networking and embedded systems converge, encouraging students to explore and realize new applications, preparing them for successful careers as engineers.