Unit 4: Systems control – Area of Study 2: New and emerging technologies
Outcome 2
Evaluate a range of new or emerging systems engineering technologies, and analyse the likely impacts of a selected technology.
Examples of learning activities
- Visit a manufacturer of new and emerging technologies (or a research institution). Use video and/or images and notes from the visit to prepare a short documentary film about new or emerging systems engineering technologies.
- Watch the ABC Education video clip entitled
‘How does 3D printing work?’ Discuss the steps involved in creating a 3D object and the types of materials used in 3D printing as well as the potential for 3D printing in VCE Systems Engineering projects.
- Working in small groups, research a range of 3D printing processes such as:
- extrusion deposition
- stereolithography
- digital light processing
- fused deposition modelling
- selective laser sintering
- selective laser melting.
Share research findings with the class. Use the 3D printing processes
template (docx - 77.07kb)[Insert link to 3D printing processes template word doc] to compare and contrast the selected process from economic, agile development, environmental and accessibility points of view. Present findings in a short multimedia presentation to the class. - Select a subsystem that is being developed to improve the environmental and societal performance of a larger system. Describe how its integration into the system improves the environmental and social sustainability of the product.
- Research a range of subsystems that are being used by autonomous vehicles to provide vision data that is not in the visible light range. Critically analyse how each vision subsystem is integrated with the others.
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Watch the ABC Education video clip entitled
‘A smarter future car’ and discuss the benefits of using vehicles designed especially for use in cities. Research a sensor suite found in autonomous vehicles and present findings.
- Research a new or emerging technology that has been inspired through biomimicry or biomimetics. Use a multimedia platform to present the system from the point of view of its history, as well as present and future use of the system, including a cradle-to-cradle analysis.
- Watch the ABC Education video clip entitled
‘Biomimicry robots’ and the Department of Education and Training’s FUSE resource
‘Robot biomimicry’ and discuss the benefits of creating robots that are more like forms we find in nature.
- Watch the ABC Education video clip entitled
‘How solar energy works’. Discuss what solar cells are and how are they used to allow sunlight to be converted into electricity.
- Watch the ABC Education video clip entitled
‘The future of capturing solar energy’ and conduct a PMI (pluses, minuses, interesting points) about the potential of solar energy.
Detailed example
Autonomous cars working together to improve environmental outcomes
Discuss how subsystems in autonomous vehicles will not simply be concerned with the vehicle of which they are a component but, rather, they will also communicate with other vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle [V2V]) and infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure [V2I]) to improve the continuous flow of traffic and, hence, reduce energy consumption.
Ask students to select a sensor suite used in autonomous vehicles and research how it may improve its performance in traffic through direct modification of the vehicle’s performance, as well as through V2V and V2I communications.
Students present the following information:
- details of the electronic and mechanical components of the system
- details of the control processes used in the system on the vehicle, including V2V and V2I levels
- annotated diagrams of components explaining how the system compares with existing automotive technology and showing advantages and disadvantages of each in a table format
- a flow chart that shows the communication protocols and decision-making priorities on the vehicle – V2V and V2I levels.