Remote laboratories: AIP-Primeca RAO platform

Abstract

During last decade, Internet and related web technologies development enabled the arising of e-learning services and made distant learning a reality. As traditional face to face classroom became virtual classroom through Internet, traditional laboratories found their equivalent in e-Laboratories. These e-Labs enable learners to train on remote real or virtual systems. They represent essential components in e-learning environments, especially in scientific and technical disciplines. In this context, AIP-Primeca RAO is a pool of resources and competencies for industrial topics for many universities in Rhone. Due to the constraints of using heavy and shared resources, AIP is setting up new laboratories related to automation as both local and distant resources. After recalling the global context of e-laboratories, this paper describes this platform. It evokes first returns of use and it depicts evolutions to come.

Tele-operated laboratory for teaching logistics operations

“…WebLabs, provide remote access to the real laboratory equipment and instruments in real time. As Rosado and Herreros (2005) and Coquard, Guillemot, Leleve, Noterman, and Benmohamed (2008) mention, some advantages of We-bLabs are the ability to take advantage of human resources and the materials of the laboratories. This is enabled by the integration of the necessary instruments for the execution of the practices in a single workstation; so, the savings in laboratory material are considerable.…”

A Web-Based Remote Lab Platform with Reusability for Electronic Experiments in Engineering Education

“…In a remote lab environment, the experiments can be constructed from real components and instrumentations at a different location from where it is controlled or conducted. In contrast, virtual labs simulate real systems [21] and are generally based on simulation software like Matlab [22] or LabVIEW [23] or specific applications. If powerful simulation calculations are required or specific software is to be used which cannot be easily available on client sides, scientists and engineers have the opportunity to use server-side simulations.…”

“…The lab core provides the functionality as a control system and as a manager be-PAPER A WEB-BASED REMOTE LAB PLATFORM WITH REUSABILITY FOR ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Figure 1. A distributed architecture of the reusable remote lab infrastructure for teaching electronics with self-configurable user-interface [21] tween the different subsystems of the reusable lab server. At program start, the lab core creates its dynamic tables according to the information stored in the experiment configuration database, embracing how the terminals of the equipment, instrumentations and components of the analog and digital devices are connected with the system.…”

Educating the world: A remote experiment in photovoltaics

“…Some advantages of using remote laboratories are: (a) Reduce the number of student hours spending in the laboratory by increasing our self-paced learning offering, (b) Achieving practical experiences with real equipment through Internet connection from home, (c) Giving access to more learning materials, procedures and practical video presentations through e-learning, (d) Monitoring on real time measuring system by using a web camera and storing the acquired data. Students welcome remote laboratories because they increase access flexibility, so they are a growing in number across the world [1], [4][5][6][7][8]. They are particularly beneficial to distance learning students as it avoids time and costs required to attend a physical laboratory at a given location.…”