A Robust And Scalable Distance Laboratory Platform

To bring greater attention to the areas of science, engineering and technology, the University of Hartford has merged its colleges of engineering and technology to form the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA). It has also launched the construction of a new building to house the integrated science, engineering and technology programs (ISET). We are actively pursuing initiatives that create a greater level of synergy between the programs and strengthen the college and deliver better-qualified graduates to the workforce. In response, the authors designed and have begun implementation of an automated laboratory test environment (ALTE). Users of ALTE can develop and remotely execute a variety of laboratory experiments over the Internet. Execution of the experiment hardware is controlled by a lab station personal computer (PC) linked directly to the device under test (DUT). Users first login to a management server that provides authentication and ensures that time has been reserved. It then re-directs their browser to the appropriate lab station for the experiment they are about to run. The management server also stores experiment procedures needed by students to perform the lab.