Compact USB-based Instruments for Education and Remote Laboratory   Projects
  Interactivity, experimenting and performing laboratory practicals contribute much to the efficiency of natural science and engineering education. Computers represent a natural element for today's students, thus the use of computers in experiments may engender considerable enthusiasm amongst them. Here we introduce two open-source, compact USB-based data acquisition devices, which we have developed for the purposes of education. These instruments offer connectivity to various sensors, like thermistors, photodiodes, sensors of acceleration, pressure, magnetic field and many other physical quantities, and provide both digital and analogue outputs. 
Robert Mingesz, Zoltan Gingl, Janos Mellar and Gergely Vadai
physics.ed-ph physics.ins-det