Abstract-Solar energy generation requires efficient monitoring and management in moving towards technologies for netzero energy buildings. This paper presents a dependable control system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) to control and manage the energy flow of renewable energy collected by solar panels within a microgrid. Data for optimal control include not only measurements from local sensors but also meteorological information retrieved in real-time from online sources. For system fault tolerance across the whole distributed control system featuring multiple controllers, dependable controllers are developed to control and optimise the tracking performance of photovoltaic arrays to maximally capture solar radiation and maintain system resilience and reliability in real time despite failures of one or more redundant controllers due to a problem with communication, hardware or cybersecurity. Experimental results have been obtained to evaluate the validity of the proposed approach.

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In response to the rapid growth of online teaching and learning, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has been developing a number of remotely accessible laboratories. In this paper, we present our newly developed remote lab robotic rig that uniquely addresses challenges in Mechatronic courses. The rig contains a mobile robotic platform equipped with various sensory modules placed in a maze with a pantograph power system enabling continuous use of the platform. The software architecture employed allows users to develop their simulations using the Player/Stage simulator and subsequently upload the code in the robotic rig for real-time testing. This paper presents the motivation, design concepts and analysis of students' feedback responses to their use of the remote lab robotics rig. Survey results of a pilot study shows the participants highly agreeing that the remote lab contributes to, "deeper understanding of the subject matter", "flexible learning process" and "inspire research in robotics".

Conventional undergraduate teaching laboratories are valuable in terms of their contributions to students learning but are generally costly to develop and maintain and often have extremely low overall utilization rates. These issues can be addressed through cross-institutional sharing of laboratories. This is, however, limited by the overarching requirement that students are physically co-located with the laboratory apparatus. In this chapter we will describe the nature of the challenges with regard to cross-institutional sharing and the potential benefits that can be achieved if a solution can be found. A possible solution is the use of remote laboratories that can be accessed across the internet with a suitable model for laboratory sharing that promotes both institutional and individual engagement. We describe the characteristics that such a model should have and show how the Labshare project is providing a nation-wide model within the Australian Higher Education context.

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