Renaat De Craemer

The EOLES project

The EOLES (Electronics and Optics e-Learning for Embedded Systems) project is a 3-year joint project involving 15 institutions, four from Europe and eleven from the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, whose aim is to create a 3rd year Bachelor degree in Electronics and Optics for Embedded Systems. The project started in October 2012 and is scheduled to end in October 2015. One of the biggest challenges to a full implementation of an e-learning course in engineering is the laboratories. They are unanimously recognized as essential in any engineering course. Contrary to the majority of engineering courses that force students to attend on-site hands-on labs sometime along the course, EOLES students will be able to perform their lab duties online. Indeed, the most innovative aspect of this project is precisely the implementation of a remote laboratory that will enable students to carry out remotely the practical works associated to each technical unit within the course.

EOLES course the first accredited on-line degree course in electronics and optics for embedded systems

The EOLES course is the main result of an innovative and ground-breaking TEMPUS project, focused in Engineering Education. It covers all the problematic areas of Engineering Education, trying of find a suitable compromise in satisfying all the methods of evaluating engineering degrees. EOLES is an international cooperative project, with an emphasis not only on one of the facets of engineering education, but trying to involve all of them. This paper describes the courses preparation and accreditation, its structure (motivated by pedagogical constraints), the E-learning framework, and the virtual and remote laboratories and their integration in the course. Some data related to the current first edition of the course are provided, namely the number of applicants and their countries of origin. While limited to a 3rd year in a Bachelors Degree, for now, it is expected to be extended to a full course in a near future. The EOLES course is the result of an international effort involving experts from different engineering and education areas, in order to provide a better global Engineering Education.

The EOLES project remote labs across the mediterranean

This paper describes the concept, methodology and first steps of an EU supported TEMPUS project EOLES (Electronics and Optics e-Learning for Embedded Systems). Its aim is the creation of a 3rd year Bachelor degree that relies exclusively on e-learning and remote laboratories. The project involves 15 institutions from four European countries and three North African countries. The proposed course will be run from several institutions simultaneously and should be accredited as a formal specialization year in all partner institutions, awarding 60 ECTU (European Transfer Credit Units). The course will integrate a Virtual Learning Environment and a Distributed Laboratory.

Integration of the European bachelor master degree concept at Belarusian universities for physics and engineering students

In order to facilitate the introduction of the bachelor master degree concept at Belarusian universities, courses and teaching materials are developed for master-level programs in physical sciences. A demo-course on “applied physics”, including Electromagnetic Compatibility and System Theory, introduces a powerful learning environment by using a digital learning platform like Blackboard® or Moodle.

EOLES project...teaching unit experiences

EOLES is an international cooperative project, with an emphasis not only on one of the facets of engineering education, but trying to involve all of them. This paper describes the courses accreditation, the structure the E-learning framework, the virtual and remote laboratories integration in the course and focuses on the experiences with one of the Teaching Units. Some data related to the first edition of the course is provided, as well as an initial analysis of the learning results and experiences. The accreditation and validation efforts are also introduced and discussed. The EOLES course is the result of an international effort involving experts from different engineering and education areas, in order to provide a better global Engineering Education.

Reciprocity-based simulation methodology to estimate the power distribution received by electromagnetic energy harvesters

The capability to efficiently harvest power from ambient energy sources is a crucial element for the development of low-maintenance wireless sensor networks. Available energy levels that can be harvested from ambient electromagnetic (EM) sources are rather low (0.1 µW/cm2). Insufficient information about the available EM energy under different working conditions results in poor design decisions, leading to a sub-optimal system design. In this study, a novel and efficient simulation methodology is developed which predicts the statistical distribution of the power harvested by an antenna when immersed in a given (statistical) EM environment. The methodology is used to quantify the impact of the antennas orientation, location, exact geometry and so on, on the quantity of the harvested energy. The methodology is successfully applied to a realistic energy harvesting antenna in different EM environments (indoor, outdoor etc.)