Circuit Simulation for Undergraduate Labs

Circuit laboratory simulation software, developed by Thoth Gunter(Sleepy Ibis LLC) and funded by Northwestern University is designed to both simulate circuits, and help teachers in their efforts to teach undergraduate level circuit labs. The tool offers teachers the ability to create and distribute custom circuit elements and integrated lesson plans.

The software includes standard expected functionality, such as the circuit construction, the saving and loading of circuits, as well as the ability to take screen shots are all included.

Custom circuit elements creation extends not only to element properties such as resistance, capacitance, inductance, and voltage but also uncertainty. Custom measurement tools, and instruments, can also be constructed. These instruments include customisable noise, bias and drift parameters. Custom element and instrument properties can hidden from students allowing for any number of measurements and statistical analyses to conducted.

Integrated lesson plan functionality allows teachers to distribute lesson plans directly within the application. Instructions, multiple choice questions and diagrams can all be accessed directly from the program.

If you are interested in using the circuit simulation you can get the source code here, or get a compiled copy here.

The project was written from scratch with minimal external libraries, and is distributed using the MIT licence. Feel free to extend and change the program to your liking.

To contact me please email me at: thothgunter(at)live(dot)com .