MEMS Acceleration Sensors for studying the Simple Pendulum in a General Physics Laboratory

Abstract

A data logger with embedded MEMS accelerometers and wired/wireless communication capabilities has been developed and applied for the study of a mathematical pendulum, a physical system suitable to provide an understanding of inertial and non-inertial reference frames to undergraduate students. The proposed system utilizes Matlab’s Fast Fourier Transform library for data analysis of the measurements of pendulum’s motion that is studied in the context of a General Physics Laboratory in an Electronics Engineering Curriculum. It is expected that the real-time collection and analysis of the experiment’s data using widely acceptable Software tools and appropriate electronics will motivate students to deepen into common physical phenomena. The real-time data acquisition and analysis pendulum platform realized has been partially developed in the context of a diploma thesis conducted in the Department of Electronics Engineering of the Technological and Educational Institute of Piraeus.