Science, Technology, Engineering & Math | News

Analog Devices, MathWorks Partner on Analog Discovery Design Kit for Students

• By Kevin Hudson
• 03/26/13

A new portable analog design kit is available to engineering students for less than $100.

The analog discovery design kit from Analog Devices combines MathWorks' MATLAB software and Analog Devices' Digilent Analog Discovery Design kit for a student price of $99.

Features of the portable analog circuit design kit include:

• Dual channel oscilloscope;
• Function generators;
• 16 channel logic analyzer;
• Dual power supplies; and
• USB power.

"The combination of MATLAB and the Analog Devices' Digilent design kits provides a very flexible, powerful learning solution," said Kathleen Meehan, associate professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, in a release. "I don't need to maintain a traditional large lab for my engineering students. Instead, students complete experiments after class, where and when they want with the analog design kit and analyze the data and write lab reports with MATLAB."

Analog Devices' Engineering University Program is intended to provide engineering students and professors with an enhanced experience by "allowing them to experiment quickly and easily with advanced technologies and build and test real-world, functional analog design circuits anytime and anywhere," according to a company release. The program includes access to online and downloadable software and teaching materials, online support, textbook, reference designs, and lab projects to design and implement analog circuits as a supplement to core engineering curricula.

Highlights of the University Program include:

• Hardware development platforms designed to enable students to perform lab quality experiments without needing access to a lab;
• Design and educational help available online, including open-source technical support documentation, exercises, lab projects, and instructional videos;
• Support from MathWorks, along with a variety of printed materials and more than 1,500 MATLAB- and Simulink-based books available for teachers and students; and
• MATLAB integration to allow students to acquire signals directly from Analog Discovery, enabling them to improve their MATLAB skills and deepen their understanding of the circuits they are designing and characterizing.

Analog Devices serves more than 60,000 customers, according to a company release, representing virtually all types of electronic equipment. The company is headquartered in Norwood, MA and has been in business for more than 40 years as a manufacturer of high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications.

MathWorks is a developer of mathematical computing software founded in 1984. The company employs more than 2,800 people in 15 countries, according to a company release, with headquarters in Natick, MA.