Date post: | 06-May-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | mohamed-tawfik |
View: | 513 times |
Download: | 2 times |
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Remote Laboratories: Trends & Challenges
Mohamed Tawfik, Salvador Ros, Felix Garcia-Loro, Elio Sancristobal, Sergio Martin, Charo Gil, Juan Peire, Antonio Colmenar and Manuel Castro
Electrical & Computer Engineering Department (DIEEC)
Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
The implementation of practical sessions in engineering education:
• Paves the way for students to be familiar with the instruments and thus, with the industrial real-world
• Augment the learning outcomes by strengthening the understanding of scientific concepts and theories
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Unfortunately, there exist a wide gap between the engineering educational curricula and the industrial real-world owing to:
• The lack of experimentation availability• The high cost of equipment and administration burdens
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
• Online Laboratories address these needs providing on-line ubiquitous workbenches unconstrained by neither temporal nor geographical considerations
• Recently, hundreds of online laboratories have been developed at many universities
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Online Laboratories
Virtual Laboratories Remote LaboratoriesSoftware application for web browsers (online) or for desktop
Real physical laboratories controlled online
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
A survey over the impact of the most promising technologies on engineering education was carried out during the “IEEE Engineering Education Conference 2010” (EDUCON 2010) on 98 experts in engineering education. The survey was available in the conference blog during several weeks before the event
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
e.g. JKarnaugh v4.1 Virtual Laboratory A virtual laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for solving logic functions by Karnaugh Map method
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
e.g. Digital Electronics Virtual Laboratory
A virtual laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for simulating logic circuits
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Remote laboratories are those laboratories that can be controlled and administrated online. They differ from the virtual simulated laboratories as they are interacting with physical instruments
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
e.g. Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR)
VISIR is a remote laboratory for wiring and measurement of real electronic circuits
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
e.g. Embedded Systems Remote Lab
A remote laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for programming and monitoring embedded devices such as FPGA, Microcontrollers, and CPLD
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
e.g. Hydraulic Plant Remote Laboratory
A remote laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for teaching principles of system control and automatic regulation
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
For more information about remote laboratories, we invite you to access to the web page of the Electrical & Computer Engineering department of the UNED
http://ohm.ieec.uned.es/
Research on Technologies for Engineering Education
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Design & Development
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
The common generic architecture design of today’s remote laboratory for industrial electronics applications
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
There exist three major challenges in building remote laboratories:• Selecting the lab server software• Selecting the client-server communication technology• Integrating the remote laboratories with the Learning Management System
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
The common outstanding technologies applied for remote laboratories lab server software development are LabVIEW and MATLAB
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Both possess rich and powerful features:
• Data exchange with other GUI applications such as COM, ActiveX, CGI, Java and .Net applications, and web services
• Support for standard Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) such as IVI, VISA, PXI, GPIB, VXI, USB, LXI, and others
• Connection with ODBC or OLEDB compliance database; compilation as DLL files to be called from the Lab server software as a driver to execute the experiments on the hardware
• Support for OPC Servers to enable HMI and SCADA
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
• LabVIEW is the most popular remote laboratory environment and it is the most outstanding representative of graphical programming language visualization and parameter tuning for remote operation
• MATLAB is the most powerful computing language for control algorithm development and simulation
• Full using of their advantages can achieve high efficiency programming. In numerous remote laboratories applications, a hybrid method was adopted; the signal acquisition and the GUI were developed with LabVIEW, while numerical calculation and signal processing were developed with MATLAB
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
LabVIEW can support several ways of hybrid programming with MATLAB by means of:• ActiveX automation technology• DLL technology• COM technology• MathScript RT Module
Mathscript module allows embedding .m file scripts in LabVIEW applications by connecting the text-based I/O variables with the inputs and outputs of LabVIEW
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
The client-server layer is responsible for the communication between user interface and the lab server
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
• The client-server layer is responsible for the communication between user interface and the lab server
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
There exist a wide variety of technologies for the communication between client-server:
Desktop Sharing security problems
• Virtual Network Computing (VNC) very slow
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) limited to a single connection Common Gateway Interface (CGI) performance problems ActiveX and Java Applets plugins required
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) plugins required LabVIEW Web server only with LabVIEW applications
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) the actual trend
Each of these solutions have its relative advantages and disadvantages. However, the trend is more shifted towards web standards such as AJAX and Web services. On the mean time for LabVIEW applications LabVIEW web interface is the common choice
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Integration & Implementation
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Recently, remote laboratories have been developed at multiple universities and adopted in engineering education. Furthermore, some of these laboratories are replicated at many universities such as the electronic circuit’s remote labs: NetLab, VISIR, and labs based on NI ELVIS II
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
This was the commence of a new mainstream which advocates a better remodeling of those laboratories to allow their allocation, sharing among universities, and their communication with other heterogeneous systems, e.g., Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
The integration of remote laboratories with educational platform could be classified as follows:
Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) Integration with Metadata Repository Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
LMS is a software application for the realizing classrooms and courses online
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
LMSs have been widely used in distance education for the past two decades. It provides many tools and features such as: Administration Tools: user registration, account roles, user profile, assign
tutors, students and groups, billings, design course contents, scheduling, etc. Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Tools: chat, forums,
video conference, webinars, events, news, emails, calendars, blogs etc. Multimedia sharing Tools: Upload and download videos, audios, photos, files,
etc. Evaluation and Tracking Tool:. Surveys, exams, assignments, user tracking, etc. Standard Compatibility: LMS organizes the content in a hierarchical structure
with regarding to a specific standard in order to allow swapping contents between different LMS without re-writing it again. From the most common used standards are: Shareable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM) & IMS for content
packing IMS QTI (Question and Test Interoperability) for tests and evaluations, Learning Object Metadata (LOM) and Dublin Core for describing and reusing
learning objects.
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
LMS can be open source such as: Moodle , dotLRN, Sakai, Claroline, etc. which could be easily developed and redesigned, thus all our researches are realized focusing on these types of LMS. While Proprietary types such as Blackboard, JoomlaLMS, SharePointLMS, etc. could only be modified by their developers.
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
Even though, most of the features provided by LMS are of crucial importance to practical sessions. LMS, however, is confined to theoretical resources and doesn’t support their practical counterparts
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
Students
Lab1
….
Lab2
LMS
Provided Services:· Administrative tools· Scheduling· Synchronous and asynchronous
communication tools· Assessment and tracking tools· Multimedia sharing tools· Standard compatibility
….
….
The goal is to make use of all the services provided by open source LMSs and apply them in the remote practical lab sessions. As well, to make use of standards such Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), and deliver remote experiments in form of SCORM to be launched at any compatible LMS.
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
Web services-based Middleware Architecture developed at DIEEC-UNED for integrating remote laboratories into open source LMSs such as Moodle.
InternetStudent
Student
Internet
Broker Server
Data Base
??
InstrumentsController
Software Lab
LMS
MIDDLEWARE
Internet
Internet?
?InstrumentsController
Software Lab
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
I. Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
http://www.lila-project.org/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
II. Integration with Metadata Repository
http://www.lab2go.net/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
II. Integration with Metadata Repository
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
USERS
RLMS
Lab ServersEquipments
…...
…...
Diferent Remote Lab Systems
· Common Access Portal· Management· Administrative Tools· Communication Tools· ..· Other
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
The most remarkable RLMSs that have spread among several universities are:
iLab Shared Archuitecture (ISA) – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Sahara (Labshare) – University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)
WebLab Deusto – University of Deusto
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
iLab Shared Architecture (ISA) www.ilab.mit.edu/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
Sahara (Labshare)
scheduling server admin
virtual machinesDatabase
Users
Web Server Scheduling Server
Master Server
Rigs
rig provider
rigs of same typehttp://www.labshare.edu.au/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)
WebLab Deusto
http://www.weblab.deusto.es/
iLab (ISA) Labshare (Sahara) WebLab Deusto
Developer Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
University of Technology of Sydney
University of Deusto
Web Technologies Microsoft (ASP.NET, MS SQL, and IIS).
PHP, Java, PostgreSQL, and Apache.
Python, Java, MySQL, and Apache.
Compatibility Only runs on Microsoft Windows Server.
Cross-platform. Cross-platform.
Authentication
Simple database authentication and ticketing.
Simple database authentication and interface to an institution’s local such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Simple database authentication, OpenID, trusted IP address, Facebook, and LDAP.
Client-server communication
Http-based protocols. Http-based protocols, AJAX, and virtual machines.
Http-based protocols, AJAX and virtual machines.
Provided Services
· user accounts and administrative tools
· scheduling · interactive experiments · user tracking · batched experiments · strong support to distributed
and federated user account management owing to its genius distributive architecture and the functionality of SB, LSS, USS, and ESS
· user accounts and administrative tools
· scheduling · interactive experiments · queuing · arbitration of access to
multiple identical experiment workbench
· user accounts and administrative tools
· scheduling · interactive experiments · queuing · user tracking · mobile access
Multiuser collaboration and communication
Not supported Not supported Not supported
Adding experiments
Complex, owing to the web services API design for the communication with service broker, LSS, USS, and ESS. However, it integrates LabVIEW GUI in a standard and easy way.
Simple, due to its simple protocol and configuration and it is based on virtual machine which provides direct access to the local lab server.
Simple, it provides libraries for Java Applets, Adobe Flash, Java, .NET, LabVIEW, C\C++, and Python, to ease integration of new experiments based on different technologies.
No. of universities 3 (Africa), 3 (Australia), 2 (Asia), 3 (Europe), 2 (North America)
4 (Australia) [62] 2 (Spain)
No. of laboratories added
21 13 6
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
GOLC: Global Online Laboratory Consortium
• The GOLC consortium is focused on promoting the development and sharing of, and research into remotely accessible laboratories for educational use
• The GOLC partners include most of the pioneers in remote laboratories development and deployment
http://online-lab.org/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
GOLC: Global Online Laboratory Consortium
• The trend in researching within GOLC is to create standard APIs that allows communication with different remote laboratory systems that adhere to this standard
• For instance, users of Sahara could access experiments integrated in iLab and vice versaUSER Lab ServerArchitecture
iLab (ISA)
LabShare (Sahara)
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Computer Controlled Commercial Kits for Renewable Energy Applications
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Alecop: Solar Photovoltaic Training Device
http://www.alecop.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Lucas-Nülle: UniTrain-I Photovoltaic course
http://www.lucas-nuelle.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Lucas-Nülle: Small wind power plant
http://www.lucas-nuelle.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Lucas-Nülle: Fuel cell technology
http://www.lucas-nuelle.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Photovoltaic Solar Energy Modular Trainers
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Wind Energy Basic Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Thermal Solar Energy Basic Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled PEM Fuel Cell Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Bioethanol Process Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Biogas Process Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Biodiesel Process Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Waves Energy Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Tidal Energy Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Submarine Currents Energy Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Geothermal (low enthalpy) Energy Unit
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Generating Stations Control
and Regulation Simulator
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Edibon: Computer Controlled Stirling Motor
http://www.edibon.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
ELEKTRON: Solar Energy Trainer-100
http://www.tiendaelektron.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
ELEKTRON: Solar Energy SolarTec-70
http://www.tiendaelektron.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
ELEKTRON: Wind Generator
http://www.tiendaelektron.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
ELEKTRON: Solar Thermal Kit
http://www.tiendaelektron.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
ELEKTRON: Solar Thermal Trainer
http://www.tiendaelektron.com/
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Remote Lab Applications for Renewable Energy
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
“Petru Maior” University of Tg.Mureş:Data acquisition system for monitoring of the solar
energy parameters
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Transylvania University of Brasov:NI ELVIS Photovoltaic Experiment
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University:
Remote Triggered Photovoltaic Solar Cell Lab
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
References• Castro, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Gil, R., Tawfik, M., Pesquera, A., Albert, M. J., Diaz, G., &
Peire, J. (2012). One Step Ahead in the Future of Labs: Widgets, Ubiquity and Mobility. In Remote Eng. & Virtual Instrum. (REV) 2012. Bilbao
• Sancristobal, E., Martín, S., Gil, R., Orduña, P., Tawfik, M., Pesquera, A., Diaz, G., Colmenar, A., García-Zubia, J., & Castro, M. (2012). State of art, Initiatives and New challenges for Virtual and Remote Labs. In 12th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT). Rome, Italy
• Sancristobal, E., Pesquera, A., Martin, S., Gil, R., Tawfik, M., Castro, M., Ruiz, E., Diaz, G., Colmenar, A., & Carpio, J. (2012). Challenges of applying online learning tools in distance learning courses. In Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2012 IEEE (pp. 1-7)
• Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Diaz, G., & Castro, M. (2012). State-of-the-art remote laboratories for industrial electronics applications. In Technologies Applied to Electronics Teaching (TAEE), 2012 (pp. 359-364)
• Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Gil, R., Diaz, G., Peire, J., & Castro, M. (2012). On the Design of Remote Laboratories. In Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), IEEE (pp. 1-6). Marrakesh
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
References• Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Gil, R., Pesquera, A., Tovar, E., Llamas-Nistal, M., Diaz, G., Peire, J.,
& Castro, M. (2012). Common Multidisciplinary Prototypes of Remote Laboratories in the Educational Curricula of Electrical & Computer Engineering. In ASEE Annual Conference (pp. AC 2012-3227). San Antonio, Texas
• Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Gil, C., Pesquera, A., Losada, P., Diaz, G., Peire, J., Castro, M., Garcia-Zubia, J., Hernandez, U., Orduna, P., Angulo, I., Costa Lobo, M. C., Marques, M. A., Viegas, M. C., & Alves, G. R. (2011). VISIR deployment in undergraduate engineering practices. In Global Online Laboratory Consortium Remote Laboratories Workshop (GOLC), 2011 First (pp. 1-7)
• Martin, S., Diaz, G., Plaza, I., Ruiz, E., Castro, M., & Peire, J. (2011). State of the art of frameworks and middleware for facilitating mobile and ubiquitous learning development. Journal of Systems and Software, 84, 1883-1891
• Sergio Martin, Gabriel Diaz, Elio Sancristobal, Rosario Gil, Manuel Castro and Juan Peire, “New technology trends in education: Seven years of forecasts and convergence”, Computers & Education, Vol 57, N 3, P. 1893-1906, 2011
• Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Gil, R., Diaz, G., Peire, J., Castro, M., Nilsson, K., Zackrisson, J., Ha, x00Ba, kansson, L., & Gustavsson, I. (2012). Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) for Remote Wiring and Measurement of Electronic Circuits on Breadboard. Learning Technologies, IEEE Transactions on, PP, 1-1
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012
Remote Laboratories: Trends & Challenges
Thanks for your Attention!Salvador Ros
Electrical & Computer Engineering Department (DIEEC)
Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)