Lab Name Properties of waves, using experiment allowing the visualization of AM and FM wave signals.
Subject Area Science (Physics)
Grade 9 - 12
Topic Properties of Waves.
Experiment Title Visualization of AM and FM wave signals showing the frequency and amplitude.
Hardware Local experiment
The experiment require the following components of the 'COSMOS Education Toolkit':
  • Computer Node

Remote experiment
The teacher and the students require to make a reservation in COSMOS testbed. They should follow the steps decribed in this link
Software
  • GNU Radio
  • COSMOS Educational Framework
Number of Sessions to teach the topic 1 - 2 sessions
Educational standards to be addressed
  • MS-PS4-1
    Develop a model and use mathematical representations to describe waves that include frequency, wavelength, and how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
COSMOS concepts to be used for the lab Wireless signals, visualization of AM and FM wave signals on the computer screen, signal strength, relationship between signal strength and amplitude.
K12 Educational Goals (How the educational goals are achieved through teaching using the experiment, how the topic is connected to the COSMOS concepts used) Teaching the properties of waves by visualizing AM and FM wave signals on the computer screen and observing the relationship between signal strength and amplitude.
Short Description and Walk-through of the experiment
  1. Teacher will use a short slide-show to introduce & explain the topic of waves, the different types of waves & the properties of waves.
  2. Materials & equipment are set up on student’s desks.
  3. Activity:
    1. Students will observe the AM signal first. They will move the slider from left to right and observe and record any changes they see in the 3 graphs on the screen. They should pay special attention to the bottom left graph (spectrogram) which shows the amount of energy in the wave.
    2. Students will now repeat the above procedure for the FM signal and record their observations.
    3. Students will then compare their observations for the bottom left graphs (spectrogram) for the AM signal and FM signal and state their interpretations.
  4. After all students complete their handouts there will be a share out with observations and comments.

Remote experiment
The teacher and the students should follow the steps described in this link

Experiment Execution


Select the modulation scheme (FM or AM) you would like to observe over time and press START to begin the experiment. In order to terminate the experiment press STOP.
AM Modulation FM Modulation


Node #1:

Select the modulation scheme (FM or AM) you would like to observe over time and press START to begin the experiment. In order to terminate the experiment press STOP.
AM Modulation FM Modulation

Node #2:

Select the modulation scheme (FM or AM) you would like to observe over time and press START to begin the experiment. In order to terminate the experiment press STOP.
AM Modulation FM Modulation

Experiment Material

NGSS Lesson Plan
Worksheet
Presentation

© 2018 COSMOS Project. Created by Richard Foster, Parkside Preparatory Academy.