1.Remote Laboratories: Trends & ChallengesMohamed Tawfik, Salvador Ros, Felix Garcia-Loro, Elio Sancristobal, Sergio Martin, CharoGil, 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

2. 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 ofscientific concepts and theoriesPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 3. Unfortunately, there exist a wide gap between the engineeringeducational curricula and the industrial real-world owing to: The lack of experimentation availability The high cost of equipment and administration burdensPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 4. Online Laboratories address these needs providing on-line ubiquitousworkbenches unconstrained by neither temporal nor geographicalconsiderations Recently, hundreds of online laboratories have been developed at manyuniversitiesPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 5. Online LaboratoriesVirtual LaboratoriesRemote Laboratories Software application for Real physical laboratories web browsers (online) or controlled online for desktopPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 6. A survey over the impact of the most promising technologies on engineering education was carriedout during the IEEE Engineering Education Conference 2010 (EDUCON 2010) on 98 experts inengineering education. The survey was available in the conference blog during several weeks beforethe eventPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 7. e.g. JKarnaugh v4.1 Virtual LaboratoryA virtual laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for solving logic functions byKarnaugh Map method Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 8. e.g. Digital Electronics Virtual LaboratoryA virtual laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for simulating logic circuits Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 9. Remote laboratories are those laboratories that can be controlled andadministrated online. They differ from the virtual simulatedlaboratories as they are interacting with physical instrumentsPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 10. e.g. Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR)VISIR is a remote laboratory for wiring and measurement of real electroniccircuits Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 11. e.g. Embedded Systems Remote LabA remote laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for programming and monitoringembedded devices such as FPGA, Microcontrollers, and CPLD Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 12. e.g. Hydraulic Plant Remote LaboratoryA remote laboratory at DIEEC-UNED for teaching principles of systemcontrol and automatic regulation Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 13. Research on Technologies for Engineering Educationhttp://ohm.ieec.uned.es/For more information about remote laboratories, we invite you to access to theweb page of the Electrical & Computer Engineering department of the UNED Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 14. Design & DevelopmentPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 15. The common generic architecture design of todays remote laboratoryfor industrial electronics applications Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 16. 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 SystemPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 17. The common outstanding technologies applied for remote laboratorieslab server software development are LabVIEW and MATLAB Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 18. Both possess rich and powerful features: Data exchange with other GUI applications such as COM, ActiveX, CGI, Javaand .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 asDLL files to be called from the Lab server software as a driver to execute theexperiments on the hardware Support for OPC Servers to enable HMI and SCADAPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 19. LabVIEW is the most popular remote laboratory environment and it is themost outstanding representative of graphical programming languagevisualization and parameter tuning for remote operation MATLAB is the most powerful computing language for control algorithmdevelopment and simulation Full using of their advantages can achieve high efficiency programming. Innumerous remote laboratories applications, a hybrid method was adopted;the signal acquisition and the GUI were developed with LabVIEW, whilenumerical calculation and signal processing were developed withMATLABPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 20. LabVIEW can support several ways of hybrid programming with MATLAB by means of: ActiveX automation technology DLL technology COM technology MathScript RT ModuleMathscript module allowsembedding .m file scripts in LabVIEWapplications by connecting the text-based I/O variables with the inputsand outputs of LabVIEWPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 21. The client-server layer is responsible for the communication betweenuser interface and the lab server Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 22. The client-server layer is responsible for the communication betweenuser interface and the lab serverPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 23. 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 trendEach of these solutions have its relative advantages and disadvantages. However, thetrend is more shifted towards web standards such as AJAX and Web services.On the mean time for LabVIEW applications LabVIEW web interface is thecommon choice Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 24. Integration & ImplementationPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 25. Recently, remote laboratories have been developed at multipleuniversities and adopted in engineering education. Furthermore, someof these laboratories are replicated at many universities such as theelectronic circuits remote labs: NetLab, VISIR, and labs based on NIELVIS IIPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 26. This was the commence of a new mainstream which advocates a betterremodeling of those laboratories to allow their allocation, sharing amonguniversities, and their communication with other heterogeneous systems,e.g., Learning Management Systems (LMS)Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 27. The integration of remote laboratories with educational platformcould 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 28. 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 29. I.Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)LMSs have been widely used in distance education for the past two decades. It provides manytools 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 30. I.Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)LMS can be open source such as: Moodle , dotLRN, Sakai, Claroline, etc. which could be easilydeveloped 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 bemodified by their developers.Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 31. 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 doesnt support their practical counterparts 32. I.Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)The goal is to make use of all the services provided by open source LMSs and apply them in theremote practical lab sessions. As well, to make use of standards such Sharable Content ObjectReference Model (SCORM), and deliver remote experiments in form of SCORM to be launched atany compatible LMS.. LMSLab1Lab2. .Students Provided Services:Administrative toolsSchedulingSynchronous and asynchronouscommunication toolsAssessment and tracking toolsMultimedia sharing toolsStandard compatibility Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 33. 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.Software Lab ? Internet? ControllerInstruments M I D Student D Software LabInternet LInternet Internet E W LMS ABroker RServerStudent ? E? Controller Instruments Data Base Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 34. I.Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs)http://www.lila-project.org/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 35. II. Integration with Metadata Repository http://www.lab2go.net/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 36. II. Integration with Metadata Repository Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 37. III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs) ......RLMSUSERS Common Access Portal EquipmentsManagement Lab ServersAdministrative ToolsCommunication Tools..Diferent Remote Lab SystemsOther Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 38. III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)The most remarkable RLMSs that have spread among severaluniversities 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 39. 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 40. III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs) Sahara (Labshare)Web Server Scheduling Serverrig provider Master Server scheduling server adminUsers Database virtual machinesRigs http://www.labshare.edu.au/rigs of same typePrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 41. III. Integration with Remote Laboratory Management Systems (RLMSs)WebLab Deusto http://www.weblab.deusto.es/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 42. iLab (ISA)Labshare (Sahara) WebLab DeustoDeveloper Massachusetts Institute ofUniversity of Technology of University of DeustoTechnology (MIT)SydneyWeb TechnologiesMicrosoft (ASP.NET, MS SQL, PHP, Java, PostgreSQL, andPython, Java, MySQL, andand IIS). Apache. Apache.Compatibility Only runs on Microsoft WindowsCross-platform. Cross-platform.Server.AuthenticationSimple database authenticationSimple database authenticationSimple databaseand ticketing.and interface to an institutions authentication, OpenID,local such as Lightweight trusted IP address,Directory Access Protocol Facebook, and LDAP.(LDAP).Client-server Http-based protocols. Http-based protocols, AJAX, Http-based protocols, AJAXcommunication and virtual machines. and virtual machines.Provided Servicesuser accounts and user accounts anduser accounts and administrative toolsadministrative tools administrative tools schedulingscheduling scheduling interactive experiments interactive experimentsinteractive experiments user tracking queuingqueuing batched experiments arbitration of access to user tracking strong support to distributed multiple identical experimentmobile access and federated user accountworkbench management owing to its genius distributive architecture and the functionality of SB, LSS, USS, and ESSMultiuser Not supported Not supported Not supportedcollaboration andcommunicationAddingComplex, owing to the web Simple, due to its simple Simple, it provides librariesexperiments services API design for the protocol and configuration andfor Java Applets, Adobecommunication with serviceit is based on virtual machineFlash, Java, .NET,broker, LSS, USS, and ESS.which provides direct access to LabVIEW, CC++, andHowever, it integrates LabVIEWthe local lab server. Python, to ease integrationGUI in a standard and easy way. of new experiments basedon different technologies.No. of universities 3 (Africa), 3 (Australia), 2 (Asia),4 (Australia) [62]2 (Spain)3 (Europe), 2 (North America)No. of laboratories 21136added 43. GOLC: Global Online Laboratory Consortium The GOLC consortium is focused on promoting the developmentand sharing of, and research into remotely accessiblelaboratories for educational use The GOLC partners include most of the pioneers in remotelaboratories development and deploymenthttp://online-lab.org/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 44. GOLC: Global Online Laboratory Consortium The trend in researching within GOLC is to create standard APIsthat allows communication with different remote laboratorysystems that adhere to this standard For instance, users of Sahara could access experimentsintegrated in iLab and vice versa Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 45. Computer Controlled Commercial Kits for Renewable Energy ApplicationsPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 46. Alecop: Solar Photovoltaic Training Device http://www.alecop.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 47. Lucas-Nlle: UniTrain-I Photovoltaic coursehttp://www.lucas-nuelle.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 48. Lucas-Nlle: Small wind power planthttp://www.lucas-nuelle.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 49. Lucas-Nlle: Fuel cell technology http://www.lucas-nuelle.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 50. Edibon: Photovoltaic Solar Energy Modular Trainershttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 51. Edibon: Computer Controlled Wind Energy Basic Unithttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 52. Edibon: Computer Controlled Thermal Solar Energy Basic Unit http://www.edibon.com/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 53. Edibon: Computer Controlled PEM Fuel Cell Unit http://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 54. Edibon: Computer Controlled Bioethanol Process Unithttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 55. Edibon: Computer Controlled Biogas Process Unithttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 56. Edibon: Computer Controlled Biodiesel Process Unithttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 57. Edibon: Computer Controlled Waves Energy Unit http://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 58. Edibon: Computer Controlled Tidal Energy Unit http://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 59. Edibon: Computer Controlled Submarine Currents Energy Unithttp://www.edibon.com/ Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 60. Edibon: Computer Controlled Geothermal (low enthalpy) Energy Unit http://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 61. Edibon: Computer Controlled Generating Stations Control and Regulation Simulatorhttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 62. Edibon: Computer Controlled Stirling Motorhttp://www.edibon.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 63. ELEKTRON: Solar Energy Trainer-100http://www.tiendaelektron.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 64. ELEKTRON: Solar Energy SolarTec-70http://www.tiendaelektron.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 65. ELEKTRON: Wind Generatorhttp://www.tiendaelektron.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 66. ELEKTRON: Solar Thermal Kithttp://www.tiendaelektron.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 67. ELEKTRON: Solar Thermal Trainerhttp://www.tiendaelektron.com/Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 68. Remote Lab Applications for RenewableEnergyPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 69. Petru Maior University of Tg.Mure:Data acquisition system for monitoring of the solar energy parametersPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 70. Transylvania University of Brasov: NI ELVIS Photovoltaic ExperimentPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 71. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University: Remote Triggered Photovoltaic Solar Cell LabPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 72. 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., Martn, S., Gil, R., Ordua, P., Tawfik, M., Pesquera, A., Diaz, G., Colmenar, A.,Garca-Zubia, J., & Castro, M. (2012). State of art, Initiatives and New challenges for Virtual andRemote 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. InGlobal Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2012 IEEE (pp. 1-7) Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martin, S., Diaz, G., & Castro, M. (2012). State-of-the-art remotelaboratories 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 Designof Remote Laboratories. In Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), IEEE (pp. 1-6).MarrakeshPrincess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 73. 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 EducationalCurricula of Electrical & Computer Engineering. In ASEE Annual Conference (pp. AC 2012-3227). SanAntonio, 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 LaboratoryConsortium 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 andmiddleware 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 technologytrends 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 RemoteWiring and Measurement of Electronic Circuits on Breadboard. Learning Technologies, IEEE Transactions on,PP, 1-1Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012 74. Remote Laboratories: Trends & Challenges Thanks for your Attention!Salvador RosElectrical & Computer Engineering Department (DIEEC) Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED) Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, 14-15 November 2012