Abstract
In this paper the design process of a real-time water monitoring system developed to enhance water sustainability education is discussed. This system, called the LabVIEW Enabled Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS), is a realworld application extension of a set of data acquisition modules that were successfully implemented using LabVIEW in the first freshman engineering course, Engineering Exploration ENGE 1024, at Virginia Tech. The system measures water quality and quantity data including flow rate, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and temperature-as indicators of stream health for an on-campus impaired stream-in real time. In addition, weather parameters (temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity and precipitation) are measured at the LEWAS site on Virginia Tech campus. The LEWAS is solar powered and uses the campus wireless network through a high-gain antenna to transmit data to remote clients in realtime. Pilot applications of the LEWAS have been implemented into ENGE 1024 to address issues related to water sustainability education. Students have given positive feedback regarding the impact of real-time monitoring on increasing their environmental awareness.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 505-519 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | International Journal of Engineering Education |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - 2014 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Education
- General Engineering