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- A demo prototype of a reconfigurable IEEE1451.0-compliant and FPGA-based weblabPublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Zenha-Rela, MárioA reconfigurable weblab prototype was designed according to the I E E E1451.0 Std. based on FPG As. A brief introduction about its architecture and underlying infrastructure is presented. After an overview about the main features of the weblab, namely the standard access and the reconfiguration capability, the proposed demonstration for the exhibition session is described.
- FPGA-based weblab infrastructures guidelines and a prototype implementation examplePublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Zenha-Rela, Mário; Poley, R.; Wishart, C.Recent trends show an increasing number of weblabs, implemented at universities and schools, supporting practical training in technical courses and providing the ability to remotely conduct experiments. However, their implementation is typically based on individual architectures, unable of being reconfigured with different instruments/modules usually required by every experiment. In this paper, we discuss practical guidelines for implementing reconfigurable weblabs that support both local and remote control interfaces. The underlying infrastructure is based on reconfigurable, low-cost, FPGA-based boards supporting several peripherals that are used for the local interface. The remote interface is powered by a module capable of communicating with an Ethernet based network and that can either correspond to an internal core of the FPGA or an external device. These two approaches are discussed in the paper, followed by a practical implementation example.
- A customizable platform for remotely teaching & learning LVDTsPublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Fernandes, Samuel; Jorge, Joni; Alves, Gustavo R.In electrical engineering, sensing natural phenomena requires the use of transducers, such as the sensors named Linear Variable Differential Transformers (LVDTs). They are traditionally interfaced with computer devices through signal conditioning circuits to measure linear displacements with good linearity, sensitivity and precision. Their adoption in many industrial applications requires from engineering schools a particular attention to create the best conditions to teach and learn them, in particular by providing infrastructures to enable students the conduction of experimental activities. To overcome some of the difficulties faced by engineering schools (low budget, curricula time constraints, lack of infrastructures, among others), this paper presents a remotely accessible infrastructure comprising a customizable platform that enables the conduction of real LVDT experiments. Since the infrastructure is currently a prototype solution, some improvements are suggested, in particular the possibility of using some of the issues described in the IEEE1451.0 Std. that was originally published to design and interface smart transducers.
- Using a 3-tier Training Model for Effective Exchange of Good Practices in as ERASMUS+ ProjectPublication . Alves, Gustavo R.; Fidalgo, André; Marques, Maria A.; Viegas, Clara; Felgueiras, Carlos; Costa, Ricardo J.; Lima, Natércia; Kulesza, Wlodek; García-Zubía, Javier; Castro, Manuel; Pester, Andreas; Pavani, Ana; Silva, Juarez B. da; Schlichting, Luis; Marchisio, Susana; Fernández, Ruben; Oliveira, Vanderli F. de; Pozzo, María I.VISIR+ is an Erasmus+ project that aims to develop educational modules for electric and electronic circuits theory and practice following an enquiry-based teaching and learning methodology. The project has installed five new VISIR remote labs in Higher Education Institutions located in Argentina and Brazil, to allow students doing more experiments and hence acquire better experimental skills, through a combination of traditional (hands-on), remote and virtual laboratories. A key aspect for the success of this project was to motivate and train teachers in the underpinning educational methodology. As such, VISIR+ adopted a 3-tier training process to effectively support the use of VISIR in the Institutions that received it. This process is based on the “train the trainer” approach, which required the participating partner institutions to identify and engage a number of associated partners, interested in using their newly installed remote lab. To measure the quality of the training process, the same satisfaction questionnaire was used in all training actions. This paper presents a detailed description of the training actions along with the analysis of the satisfaction questionnaire results. Major conclusions are that the quality level of the training process remained practically the same across all training actions and that trainees sometimes considered the practical use of the VISIR remote lab as difficult, irrespectively of where and when the training action took place.
- Remote and mobile experimentation: pushing the boundaries of an ubiquitous learning placePublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.Concepts like E-learning and M-learning are changing the traditional learning place. No longer restricted to well-defined physical places, education on Automation and other Engineering areas is entering the so-called ubiquitous learning place, where even the more practical knowledge (acquired at lab classes) is now moving into, due to emergent concepts such as Remote Experimentation or Mobile Experimentation. While Remote Experimentation is traditionally regarded as the remote access to real-world experiments through a simple web browser running on a PC connected to the Internet, Mobile Experimentation may be seen as the access to those same (or others) experiments, through mobile devices, used in M-learning contexts. These two distinct client types (PCs versus mobile devices) pose specific requirements for the remote lab infrastructure, namely the ability to tune the experiment interface according to the characteristics (e.g. display size) of the accessing device. This paper addresses those requirements, namely by proposing a new architecture for the remote lab infrastructure able to accommodate both Remote and Mobile Experimentation scenarios.
- The use of Embedded Smart Modules for Designing Standard-based and Reconfigurable WeblabsPublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Zenha-Rela, MárioThe Internet appearance has been changing engineering education. Both students and teachers can now access educational resources using Internet-accessible devices, such as PCs, smart phones or tablets. The collaboration among institutions was improved, since different and specialized resources are easily shared and disseminated, contributing to the improvement of engineering courses. While at the beginning those resources were limited to static documentation, simulations and to other computer-based tools, the requirement for experimental work activities posed by every engineering course incentivized the appearance of remote laboratories, also known as weblabs. Currently, they are seen by the educational community as a cost-effective and flexibility solution for the conduction of experimental activities. Despite the adoption of weblabs in many engineering courses, further efforts are required for their widespread. According to the research community, one of the biggest difficulty is the lack of standardization in their design and access. This incentivized the appearance of a consortium named GOLC (Global Online Laboratory Consortium)13, the working group IEEEp1876 Std.14, as well as many PhD research works. However, most of these initiatives are mainly focused on the software layers for describing and accessing laboratories, underestimating the possibility of designing and sharing the instruments and modules, named as weblab modules, for conducting the target experiments. To fulfill software and hardware requirements for designing and accessing weblabs, the document proposes the use of the IEEE1451.0 Std. This standard provides a reference model for network-interface and access smart transducers, which can be designed as the weblab modules required to conduct the target experiments. Additionally, the proposed solution also suggests using reconfigurable hardware devices, namely FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), to create the weblab infrastructure. By describing the weblab modules according the IEEE1451.0 Std. and using standard HDL (Hardware Description Files) files, these can be easily replicated and shared through different weblab infrastructures, promoting this way the design of reconfigurable and standard-based weblabs using embedded smart modules.
- Collaborative learning in a qeb-accessible workbenchPublication . Ferreira, José M.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Costa, Ricardo J.; Hine, NickWeb-based course management and delivery is regarded by many institutions as a key factor in an increasingly competitive education and training world, but the systems currently available are largely unsatisfactory in terms of supporting collaborative work and access to practical science facilities. These limitations are less important in areas where “pen-and-paper” courseware is the mainstream, but become unacceptably restrictive when student assignments require real-time teamwork and access to laboratory equipment. This paper presents a web-accessible workbench for electronics design and test, which was developed in the scope of an European IST project entitled PEARL, with the aim of supporting two main features: full web access and collaborative learning facilities.
- An FPGA-embedded oscilloscope based on the IEEE1451.0 Std.Publication . Costa, Ricardo; Pinho, Diogo; Alves, Gustavo R.; Zenha-Rela, MárioDigital oscilloscopes are adopted in several areas of knowledge, in particular in electrical engineering, since they are fundamental for measuring and classifying electrical signals. Thanks to the proliferation of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), embedded instruments are currently an alternative solution to stand-alone and modular instruments, traditionally available in the laboratories. High performance, low cost and the huge flexibility to change functional characteristics, make embedded instruments an emerging solution for conducting electrical experiments. This paper describes the project and the implementation of a digital oscilloscope embedded in a FPGA. In order to facilitate their control, an innovative architecture is defined according to the IEEE1451.0 Std., which is typically used to develop the denominated smart transducers.
- Extending the IEEE 1451.0 Std. to serve distributed weblab architecturesPublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Zenha-Rela, Mário; Costa, Ricardo; Alves, Gustavo; Restivo, Teresa; Cardoso, Alberto; Alves, José C.The appliance of the IEEE1451.0 Std. into the remote experimentation domain may be an interesting solution not only to develop reconfigurable weblab infrastructures, but also to improve the way infrastructures, and their experiments, may be shared. Therefore, this paper proposes a distributed weblab architecture supported on a IEEE1451 concept named Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS). It is suggested the use of a new TEDS, named LabTEDS, to provide information about weblab infrastructures namely, web location, technical resources and type of experiments described according a metadata model specification defined by the Lab2go project. The access to the architecture is made through the IEEE1451.0 HTTP API extended with new functions. At the end of the paper a thin implementation of the architecture is presented, supported on a cross-mapping established between the HTTP functions and the low-level commands, which are used to control the weblabs.
- Adopting building automation in weblabsPublication . Costa, Ricardo J.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Santos, Domingos S.Several companies have been developing domotic Stds. for building automation, enabling users to locally and remotely control several home devices, like: lights, power sockets, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, among others. Besides contributing to improve the building comfort, these Stds. may also be adopted for other purposes, namely in weblabs used in sciences and engineering remote experiments. To increase the sense of immersion in weblabs, we identify domotic Stds. as a standard solution for turning on/off the power infrastructure and controlling the light and temperature conditions of the physical space where a specific experiment may run, thus approaching the sense of being in the lab facilities while accessing them through the corresponding weblab interface. After identifying the added value to weblabs in terms of power savings and in the control of the environmental conditions, we used our knowledge and the WWW to conduct an extensive search on domotic Stds., and after analysing the results obtained, we choose the most appropriated one to be implemented in a Weblab. Regarding the adopted Std., a proof-of-concept is also described, enabling the control of an halogen lamp and a power socket, using a specific Web interface.
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