Johan Zackrisson

Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) for Remote Wiring and Measurement of Electronic Circuits on Breadboard

This paper reports on a state-of-the-art remote laboratory project called Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR). VISIR allows wiring and measuring of electronic circuits remotely on a virtual workbench that replicates physical circuit breadboards. The wiring mechanism is developed by means of a relay switching matrix connected to a PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) instrumentation platform. The entire equipment is controlled by LabVIEW server software, in addition to a measurement server software that protects the equipment from hazard connections by verifying input circuit designs, sent by students, before being executed. This paper addresses other approaches such as remote labs based on Data Acquisition Cards (DAQs), NetLab, and RemotElectLab, comparing them with VISIR in order to emphasize its singularity. Topics discussed are as follows: the technical description, software, operation cycle, features, and provided services. In addition, the feedback received by students at several universities and the encountered drawbacks along with the proposed solutions are highlighted. The paper finally addresses the ongoing and future challenges within the VISIR community including its integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and iLab Shared Architecture (ISA), its new hardware version release that is based on LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI), and its new open platform version that supports federated access.

Remote Access of Computer Controlled Experiments

In this paper, we present a way for students to access and operate laboratory equipment, controlled by a laboratory computer via a remote access program. In this way, the solution is not dependent ...

VISIR work in progress

The VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality) Open Lab Platform is an architecture that enable universities, secondary schools, and other organizations to open instructional laboratories for remote access with preserved context. VISIR emanates from a feasibility study made in 1999 at BTH (Blekinge Institute of Technology) in Sweden. Today, VISIR laboratories are online at seven universities globally where thousands of students can work and conduct most experiments that can be performed on a solderless breadboard remotely without any risk of being harmed. IAOE (International Association of Online Engineering has organized SIG VISIR a Special Interest Group for VISIR. Further development of the platform is carried out in this Community. This paper is about work in progress especially at BTH.

Remotely controlled laboratory setup for Active Noise Control and acoustic experiments

This paper presents a remotely controlled educational experiments setup for Active Noise Control (ANC) and acoustic experiments. The experiments setup is based on the Virtual Instruments Systems in Reality (VISIR) open source platform, National Instruments LabVIEW software and a Digital Signal Processor TMS320C6713 from Texas Instruments. The software development and equipment are controlled remotely form a client PC using a standard web browser. The proposed laboratory setup focuses on ANC experiments applied to noise in a ventilation duct. The laboratory setup will enable students to test and investigate properties and behaviour of adaptive algorithms in reality as compared to more confined simulations usually carried out in Matlab etc. The general steps in ANC, such as the feasibility of active control, designing, testing and debugging ANC algorithms, configuration and implementation of an active control system, are all covered. In addition students will be able to study the effect of analog to digital converters (ADC), anti-aliasing filters, digital to analog converters (DAC) and reconstruction filters using digital signal processing in reality, etc. The laboratory setup is suitable for a wide range of courses such as sound related experiments in upper secondary school physics, digital signal processing, adaptive signal processing, and acoustics at university level.

Expert Competence in Remote Diagnostics - Industrial Interests, Educational Goals, Flipped Classroom & Laboratory Settings

The manufacturing industry are dependent of engineering expertise. Currently the ability to supply the industry with engineering graduates and staff that have an up-to-date and relevant competences might be considered as a challenge for the society. In this paper an education approach is presented where academia - industry - research institutes cooperate around the development and implementation of master level courses. The methods applied to reach the educational goals, concerning expert competence within remote diagnostics, have been on site and remote lectures given by engineering, medical and metrology experts. The pedagogical approach utilized has been flipped classroom. The main results show that academic courses developed in cooperation with industry requires flexibility, time and effort from the involved partners. The evaluation interviews indicate that student are satisfied with the courses and pedagogical approach but suggests more reconciliation meetings for course development. Labs early in the course was considered good, and division of labs at the system and the component level. However further long-term studies of evaluation of impact is necessary.

International Cooperation for Remote Laboratory Use

Experimenting is fundamental to the training process of all scientists and engineers. While experiments have been traditionally done inside laboratories, the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies added two alternatives accessible anytime, anywhere. These two alternatives are known as virtual and remote laboratories and are sometimes indistinguishably referred as online laboratories. Similarly to other instructional technologies, virtual and remote laboratories require some effort from teachers in integrating them into curricula, taking into consideration several factors that affect their adoption (i.e., cost) and their educational effectiveness (i.e., benefit). This chapter analyzes these two dimensions and sustains the case where only through international cooperation it is possible to serve the large number of teachers and students involved in engineering education. It presents an example in the area of electrical and electronics engineering, based on a remote laboratory named Virtual Instruments System in Reality, and it then describes how a number of European and Latin American institutions have been cooperating under the scope of an Erasmus+ project, for spreading its use in Brazil and Argentina.

Lab sessions in VISIR laboratories

Experimental activities with real components are an essential part of all courses including or devoted to electrical and electronic circuits theory and practice. The knowledge triangle composed of hand-written exercises, simulations and traditional lab experiments has been enriched with the possibility for students to conduct real experiments over the Internet, using remote labs. This tutorial is devoted to one such remote lab named Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR). The Global Online Laboratory Consortium (GOLC) elected VISIR as the best remote controlled laboratory in the world, at the first time this distinction was awarded. At the end of this tutorial, attendees are expected to know what is VISIR, what can (not) be done with it, who is currently using it, and how can one integrate it in a given course curriculum.

Development and implementation of an advanced remotely controlled vibration laboratory

Currently an advanced remotely controlled vibration laboratory is developed and implemented at Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. The new developments in the laboratory setup will provide users to carry out vibration measurements on a cantilever beam system with remotely adjustable dynamic properties and to estimate dynamic characteristics of it. The dynamic properties of the cantilever beam are remotely modified by attaching structural parts such as a block of mass, a spring mass system and a non-linear spring. In the development of this remote-lab, a number of different approaches were adopted for the production of well-defined experiments. Also, the new prototype laboratory is designed based on finite elements modeling (FEM) and LABVIEW. The test object, attachment mechanism for sub structures, relevant experiments, and proper interface for managing the lab via Internet and many other things have been considered.