Remote Laboratories at NIU (Department of Electrical Engineering) · Use available resources to aid...

Remote Laboratories at NIU and Beyond (Department of Electrical Engineering)

Reza Hashemian

Northern Illinois University

Electrical Engineering

5/18/2016 Remote Laboratories and IoT- NSF Sponsored Workshop

Objective

• Development of Remote Laboratory Access (RLA) for hardware (FPGA) designs, From 2004 to 2015.

• The development of the FPGA Lab has been aimed at:• Simplicity and ease of access by students and in the class demonstrations.• Cost effective and easy to maintain.• Reliability and Security.• Maintain the state of the art.

• Remote and Virtual Laboratories.• Remote Access developments in Industrial scale.


Outline• Initial stage:

• Blackboard Based Digital Hardware Design Using FPGAs• Second stage (e-Lab):

• A Technique to Remote Access a Laboratory for Design and Test• Use of The LabView for communication

• Third stage (uLab):• A Low-Cost Server-Client Methodology for Remote Laboratory Access for Hardware

Design• No extra hardware/interface; serial communication

• Forth stage (vLab):• vLab, A High Speed, Multi-Access, Parallel Processing, Remote Laboratory Access for

FPGA Design Technology• No extra hardware/interface; parallel communication; Multiple-access

• Remote and Virtual Laboratories.• Remote Access developments in Industrial scale.


Outline

• Initial stage:• Blackboard Based Digital Hardware Design Using FPGAs


Purpose

Use available resources to aid in the teaching of digital hardware design.

• CASE STUDY• Design FPGA with Xilinx software tools.

• RESOURCE• Internet Access

• PRODUCT• On-Line Platform


Internet-Based Instructional MediaBlackboard


Communication

Student - Instructor/Student• Design Exchange• Group Discussion• Problem solving and

reporting• Post Student Assignments

• Bit files, text files, etc.


Student Guide3-page web site

Introduction to FPGA Overview of Design

Process Sample Design

Xilinx Software Guide

Documentation and Data sheetsRelated links


Remote DesktopCLIENT HOST


Remote Hardware AccessAfter design is completed with Xilinx Software… Computer 1: Student posts bit file on Blackboard

• Unassisted Design• Computer 2: Student

Remotely tests program and receives results directly

Assisted Design Computer 2: Lab

Assistant tests program and posts result on Blackboard

File transfer Store bit file onto host, and Load into chip


Risk Management

• RISKS• Downloads onto hard drive and memory• Computer hacker

• crack passwords • access to other computers

• PRECAUTION• Isolate Host

• T-drive, I-drive, printers, and Instructor’s files

• Workstation only• NIU Server

• will disconnect Host if strange activity is detected

• HONOR SYSTEM


Outline

• Second stage (e-Lab):• A Technique to Remote Access a Laboratory for Design and Test• Use of The LabView for communication


Digital Design with FPGAsIn our methodology we break the task of digital hardware

design into three parts: • First we connect and communicate from a distance with an

FPGA board, sitting in the lab, through a remote laboratory access system, called e-Lab, shown in the figure.– e-Lab is composed of a data acquisition hardware in

conjunction with a software interface, residing on a laboratory PC. It uses National Instrument’s LabVIEW software and the hardware.

– With e-Lab, a user has control over turning the board on/off, pushing buttons and switches through a graphical user interface (GUI).

• In the second part, a remote computer accesses the lab PC through the Internet, and the lab PC becomes a slave computer. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the RLA environment.


Digital Design with FPGAsIn general, to do their hardware design assignments the students in a digital design course

need to perform the following stages of operations, often multiple times with feedbacks : Computer 1 & 21. Project description and specification.2. Design entry through schematic capture or a Hardware Description Language (VHDL or

Verilog HDL). 3. Functional simulation of the design. 4. Selection of a hardware platform and the pin assignments; design synthesis;

implementation and place and route.5. Timing analysis and post place and route simulation.

Computer 26. FPGA hardware reconfiguration.7. Design verification; testing and debugging; running the application


Digital Design with FPGAsComputers 1 (client) and Computer 2 (server) have

the same design tools and allow the students to perform stages 1 through 5 identically through either of them. This means that each student can locally accomplish all stages of his/her design that involves software tools.

However, the advantage that Computer 2 has over Computer 1 is its proximity to the FPGAdevelopment board and the testing facilities in the laboratory. For Computer 1 to get all advantages of Computer 2 is to remote access Computer 2 and take control of all its activities. We are using the Internet facility plus the Microsoft remote desktop connection facility available through Windows XP.


e - Laboratorye-Lab

• The first task in the project realization is to control and electronically monitor an FPGAdevelopment board -- presently Xilinx SPARTAN 3E STARTED KIT, but it could be any other board.

• The operation uses the LabView tool from National Instruments as a data management system. The LabView graphical tool (GUI) is a data acquisition and control system.

• The LabView interfaces with the hardware, takes measurements, controls hardware, and it analyzes data. Figure 2 shows the control of the feedback indicators in the GUI and a view of the Starter Kit.

Fig. 2. the GUI showing the FPGA development board and the I/O Control

and Feedback Panel. 5/18/2016Remote Laboratories and IoT- NSF Sponsored Workshop

Proposed Remote Laboratory AccessHere is an initial development for the RLA system with LabView, from National Instruments.


Remote ViewingHere the webcam provides visual access to the LCD display available on the Starter Kit.

5/18/2016Remote Laboratories and IoT- NSF Sponsored Workshop

Demo ExampleAs a result, the FPGA board communicates directly with the PC in the lab to receive the input data

through the serial port (Hyper Terminal), and sends the output data to the LEDs on the board and four other output terminals.

• The LabView picks up the signals and shows them on the GUI on the Lab PC. • This means that the FPGA board communicates with the Lab PC both through GUI and the

Hyper Terminal. • Finally the view and control of the Lab PC is given to the office PC through the Window XP remote

access system.• Figure 4 shows the office computer with both views from the LabView GUI, and Hyper Terminal.

It is interesting to see that the brightness of LEDs on the GUI coincide with the inputs given through the Hyper Terminal.

Fig. 4. A Remote accessed computer with I/O Control and Feedback Panel, and the connection

through the hyper terminal.5/18/2016 Remote Laboratories and IoT- NSF Sponsored Workshop

Assessing Student Achievements• Student feedback form on the usage of the E-labs remote access system.• ELE430 Summer 2007

• Please: Do not occupy the system for more than an hour. There could be other students waiting to use the system. If you need more time, please try later.

• Do not store any of your work on the lab computer hard drive. After making a backup of your files, delete all your work. Remember all students would have access to the same computer.

• Name : Z id :• Assignment # Board Used:

• Date: Time:• How much time did you spend on the assignment using the remote access?• Were you easily connected to the remote system?• How many times were you interrupted or the access was difficult?• What steps have you taken to re-establish the connection?• Did you finish the assignment in the designated time slot? If not, why?• Other Comments.


Outline

• Third stage (uLab):• A Low-Cost Server-Client Methodology for Remote Laboratory Access for

Hardware Design• No extra hardware/interface; serial communication


Proposed Remote Laboratory AccessFigure shows a diagram of the newly developed RLA system connecting a classroom computer to

a lab environment.


Proposed Remote Laboratory AccessFigure shows a schematic of the new system based on client-server interfacing. Students can select to work with the system either

through the college LAN (internal use), or through the Internet access (external use).


Proposed Remote Laboratory Access• A GUI for a client, however, is more involved and functional. It can be of many types depending on the application it serves.

Hear is a general purpose GUI, suitable for most applications.


Proposed Remote Laboratory AccessThis is another client GUI that is more suitable for applications with instrumentations and measurements.


Proposed Remote Laboratory Access

Here is a client GUI more suitable for traffic controller designs.


Server System for Remote Laboratory Access1. Startup Machine and files manager,

2. Master server,

3. Leap server,

4. Work Space server,

5. Router,

6. Dell Power Edge,

7. Interfaces for internal and external units,

8. Five Xilinx Nexys4 FPGA boards.


Server System for Remote Laboratory AccessTesting and debugging setup,


Outline

• Forth stage (vLab):• vLab, A High Speed, Multi-Access, Parallel Processing, Remote Laboratory

Access for FPGA Design Technology• No extra hardware/interface; parallel communication; Multiple-access


vLab in Short!


vLab in Short!


• The board image: LEDs, switches, push buttons and 7 segments


FPGA VIEWER



Remote and Virtual LaboratoriesRemote and Virtual Labs are designed to make physical science laboratory more accessible to students remotely through the Internet. There are practically two cases of operations:

• In the first case, the school has its own lab and specialist instructor. The problems, however, are the students volume vs the resources, lab hours, and the convenience of attending Labs.

In this situation, students get familiar with the lab experiments and equipment In one or more sessions . Then for the rest of the time they can go on line.


Remote and Virtual Laboratories• In the second case, Instead of budgeting on

expensive lab equipment the institution makes a contract agreement with another school that has the remote program and the resources available.

This contract can be either a supervise or unsupervised agreement. In the supervised case the host institute provides facilities for both server and client sites. Whereas, in the unsupervised case only the use of the server is contracted.


Remote Laboratories for ChemistryOne of the examples of effectively using RLA is in Science education. Take the case of a Chemistry Lab.


Remote Laboratories for ChemistryPreparing for experiments may be time consuming and sometimes hazardous.


Remote Laboratories for ChemistryOr it may need a lot of preparation and plenty of time to monitor the results.


Remote Laboratories for ChemistryA Remote access laboratory can save time and be more cost effective,


Remote Access developments in Industrial scale (IoT)

• The Internet of Things (IoT) is referred to interconnections of physical objects that are governed/controlled for a single application using internet.

• The system is embedded with software and hardware, where the hardware consists of sensors and actuators designed for the application.

• The Internet of Things allows objects to be sensed and controlled all remotely.


Internet of Things (IoT)

Machine 1Management and

control

Machine 2Application

OperatorTraining, Testing and Debugging


Internet of Things (Io T)Some applications:• Construction industry, • Smart house (thermostat, security and alarm system, and utility control), • Manufacturing, • Medical industry and Health care system, • Environment, • Energy management and smart grids, • Transportation. • Commodity and market• Teaching and Research


Conclusion• Four stages of Remote Laboratory Access (RLA) has

been developed in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering at NIU.

• It was shown, how the RLA has been developed within the last twelve years, from an instructional (Blackboard) type of access to a full remote access with serial and parallel ports, and with multi-access capabilities.

• Remote and virtual laboratories are discussed and a remote access chemistry lab is introduced as an example.

• A brief introduction to Internet of Things (Io T) is provided.


Thank you

Questions ?


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