{"id":12899,"date":"2025-09-08T09:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/student-lounge\/?p=12899"},"modified":"2025-09-08T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:56:09","slug":"bridging-theory-and-practice-taltechs-innovative-electric-drives-course-with-simulink-and-ti-hardware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/student-lounge\/2025\/09\/08\/bridging-theory-and-practice-taltechs-innovative-electric-drives-course-with-simulink-and-ti-hardware\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Theory and Practice: TalTech’s Innovative Electric Drives Course with Simulink and TI Hardware"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today\u2019s guest bloggers are Dr. Mahmoud Ibrahim and Prof. Anton Rass\u00f5lkin, faculty members at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), who developed a new course dedicated to Electric Drives at the Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics. Over to you\u2026<\/em><\/div>\n

Introduction: from simulation to action<\/span><\/h3>\n
At Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech),<\/span><\/a> Estonia, students are doing more than just learning about motor control, they\u2019re implementing it in real time. Dr. Mahmoud Ibrahim<\/a> and Prof. Anton Rass\u00f5lkin<\/a> developed a new course dedicated to Electric Drives at the Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics.<\/div>\n
In the course blending theory with practice, master\u2019s students use Simulink and Texas Instruments (TI) hardware to deploy, test, and fine-tune control algorithms on actual motors. This innovative approach is part of a broader initiative supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under the project \u201cSkills Reform for the Digital Transformation of Businesses<\/span><\/a>\u201d. The initiative aims to enhance engineering education by equipping future professionals with industry-relevant digital skills through practical learning experiences.<\/div>\n
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Figure 1. Supervising the student in the course.<\/div>\n

Bridging Theory and Industry<\/span><\/h3>\n
Electric drives are critical in applications ranging from electric vehicles (EVs), drones, robotics, and industrial automation. While traditional coursework provides solid theory and limited practice, many students graduate without ever deploying a control algorithm to real hardware. Our goal was to design a portable, scalable lab kit and a curriculum that would make motor control hands-on and approachable for master\u2019s-level students.<\/div>\n

Building the Platform<\/h3>\n
We created a custom lab kit, as shown in Figure 2, that includes:<\/div>\n