PocketLab University

PocketLab University is an initiative to develop college-level labs that students can conduct at home, in their dorm room, or in any other setting without the need for laboratory equipment. Lab 1 uses PocketLab Voyager to understand the physical principles that enable temperature sensors to convert the physical property of temperature to an electrical property that we can measure with simple circuitry. The student assignment is below.

Introduction to Rangefinders

Rangefinders, sometimes called motion sensors or motion detectors are commonly used in probeware, camera autofocus, and robotics. Rangefinders operate on the principle of a time-of-flight measurement and consist of a transmitter and receiver. The transmitter emits a signal (ultrasonic or optical) then the receiver detects the reflection or echo of the signal. The amount of time between transmit and receive is called the time-of-flight and is used to calculate the distance to the reflecting object:

Introduction to Pressure Sensors

Pressure sensors are one of the most widely used sensors and can be found in probeware for lab measurements, but more commonly in billions of devices including smartphones, wearables, automobiles, drones, weather centers, and medical instruments. Pressure sensors were one of the first sensors to be miniaturized and mass produced at a low cost through microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication.

Introduction to Accelerometers

What does an accelerometer measure? The obvious answer is acceleration, but that's not really true. An accelerometer actually measures normal force or restoring force which we equate to acceleration using the formula, F=ma. This article will explain the fundamental operating principles of accelerometers and answer the question: how does an accelerometer work? We will also investigate the capabilities and drawbacks of accelerometers in certain applications.

You can investigate these concepts on your own using: