An ECG lab project for teaching signal conditioning systems in a master's degree in mechatronic engineering

Ongoing technological progress in measurement systems triggered the development of an innovative, hands-on teaching program to help students toward a fuller understanding of recent changes in the field. This paper presents a lab project that links theoretical principles with the practical issues of signal conditioning systems. This is accomplished in the context of a Master's Degree in Mechatronic Engineering, though the experience gained could be applied to other curricula. Students designed and tested a signal conditioning circuit in order to acquire and monitor the electrical activity generated by the heart. This lab project contains most of the circuits studied in lectures and presents a general methodology for the design of signal conditioning systems. Five years of lab project work was compiled, and with the help of students' feedback, we were able to evaluate both the improvement in their knowledge and in their motivation.