Training proposal based on MeiA to face automation challenges

• Autores: Arantzazu Burgos Fernández, Isabel Sarachaga González, María Luz Álvarez Gutiérrez, Elisabet Estévez Estévez, Margarita Marcos Muñoz
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 30, no. 5, 2014, págs. 1254-1270
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The new challenges in process control require strengthening the development of design skills and the use of real-world experiencesthroughout the engineering curricula. So this paper presents a training proposal that aims to incrementally develop competences forimplementing the control software of industrial automation systems within engineering curricula. The MEthodology for IndustrialAutomation systems (MeiA) guides students through the development process from the analysis, through the design,implementation and operation phases. The student competences are developed through three incremental and integrated levels: (1)initial procedure; (2) introduction of design principles and (3) development of methodological skills. This methodological proposalimplicitly introduces fundamental concepts of software engineering. This ensures that students are able to develop complex controlsystems following structured programming concepts. In addition, they generate different type of documentation about the design,reducing the effort from design to implementation and operation. Furthermore, the training proposal focuses on motivating thestudents through real-world problems, introducing analysis and design issues incrementally through the three levels. At the sametime, multi-disciplinary skills are also introduced by integrating the whole development process from the very beginning. Theexperience after the implementation of the training proposal shows a significant increase in student interest in this engineering fieldin recent academic years.