Heureka - Lab
Exploring, discovering, experimenting and comprehending – those are the objectives of the Heureka Lab Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.
Get to know the university – discover the spirit of research
The institutes of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology offer different workshops for middle and upper classes as well as for elementary schools, which provide the opportunity to become familiar with the diversity of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and their respective application areas.
First and foremost, courses in the fields of MINT, micro- and nanotechnology as well as energy technology are offered. Depending on the topic and group, a suitable form of event is chosen: Own experimentation, guidance or lecture.
The workshops are suitable e.g. for physics, technology, mathematics and computer science courses, but partly also for chemistry or geography courses. Most of the workshops are related to upper school topics.
Feel free to share the information with your teachers, so they can contact us! The appointments can be arranged individually.
Currently offered workshops:
Note: Please keep in mind that some laboratories have limited accessibility so that they can only be entered by small groups.
Build your own WLAN antenna! | |
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What is happening? |
Objective of this workshop is to build a WLAN antenna on your own! The self-constructed antennas can be taken home after completing the seminar. That way, the participants have the possibility to improve their WLAN coverage at home. The day starts with a lecture on the base of antenna technology. After a short break, the structure of the antenna will be explained, and then is going to be build under supervision by the participants. The seminar ends with the professional measuring of several examples in the antenna measuring chamber of the institute. A collective visit of the canteen is planned for lunchtime. |
Where? | Institute of High Frequency Technology |
How long? | 7 hours (lunchbreak included) |
Language in bits and bytes: Insights on the digital language processing | |
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What is happening? |
How can speech signals be processed digitally in a mobile phone? How does a virtual band sound spatially and how does a human produce vowels? Those and similar questions will be treated within a varied program. The workshop starts with the test lecture “Language in bits and bytes” which grants a first insight into the area of digital language processing through the analysis of audio files. Afterwards, exercises on the computer as well as small experiments will follow, in which the participants will be dealing with sound editing via autotune, with a virtual 3D-music-band as well as quantization and reverberation. Highlight is the visit of our IKS|Labs. VR glasses and 36 loudspeakers put the pupils optically and tonally right in between the musicians of the symphony orchestra of Aachen. An accompanying quiz with a small award ceremony serves as incentive to deal with the topics in a playful, but intensive way. |
Where? | Institute of Communication Systems |
How long? | about 3 hours |
How do computers learn to see and understand? | |
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What is happening? |
The eye is a powerful sensory organ of the human being: At a glance, we perceive our surroundings and have them analysed by our brain at lightning speed. For computers, however, images are mere numerical values that have no meaning at first. If my car wants to know where a pedestrian is in the picture, or what number someone has written in a sheet of paper, he has to look further. This is possible thanks to Deep Learning. Now the computer has a decisive advantage compared to the human eye. The computer can look deeper – for example with x-rays into the interior of closed surprise eggs – and find out the contents without opening the shell. This is possible by using computer tomography. In this workshop the students learn the basics of computer tomography and deep learning and how to apply them. |
Where? | Institute of Image Processing |
How long? | approx. 4 hours |
Who? | Students EF, Q1, Q2 |
No smartphone without semiconductor - a trip to nanotechnology | |
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What is happening? |
Our modern information technology does not work without semiconductors! The workshop starts with a lecture that gives a brief introduction to the production, operating modes and prospective challenges of two of the most important semiconductor devices: metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor and solar cells. Afterwards follows a laboratory tour, which will be demonstrating the processing of components of semiconductor technology with structure sizes of about 10 nanometers, i.e. in an extension comparable to those of viruses. Depending on the availability of devices, the pupils have the possibility to perform experiments like scanning electron microscopy, solar cell circuits or others. |
Where? | Institute of Semiconductor Electronics |
How long? | about 3 hours |
How to build a microchip | |
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What is happening? |
Within this workshop, the techniques of modern microchip fabrication will be demonstrated by means of a simple example. After a short theoretical introduction to photolithography, the previously learned processes will be demonstrated in the clean room. To do so, a few images will be transmitted to a gold-coated silicon wafer. The application possibilities of the micro technology will be presented on the basis of developed systems by the institute in the area of biomedical engineering. |
Where? | Institute of Microsystem Technology |
How long? | about 4 hours |
The issue of energy revolution | |
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What is happening? |
Within this workshop, topics regarding energy revolution are to be presented shortly. Afterwards, it will be demonstrated in the high voltage laboratory, how lightning can be generated in different forms. The Institute of High Voltage Technology works primarily in the area of components, plants and systems of the electrical energy supply. The spectrum extends from development of new systems and methods to evaluation and optimization of equipment, technologies and energy systems. Important tools are mathematical simulation with software bundles as well as experimental investigations. Due to the close cooperation with a number of research and industrial partners, a close relationship to the practical work can be guaranteed. |
Where? | Institute of High Voltage Technology |
How long? | about 1½ hours |
How do energy converters work? | |
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What is happening? |
In the transport sector, in energy generation and energy distribution, in industrial drive technology as well as in a lot of other areas, electromagnetic energy converters are used in form of motors, generators and transformers. The Institute of Electrical Machines deals with its research and development. Within this workshop, guided tours are offered, which grant the possibility to inspect the electrical machines on different test stands. The visit of a 4MW test stand of wind energy plants is also intended. Circuit and electronic aspects of the academic life will be explained in form of a small practical work. |
Where? | Institute of Electrical Machines |
How long? | 3 to 4 hours |