Implementing A Remote Access Engineering And Technology Laboratory Through A Graduate Level Team Project

For many distance engineering courses, labs are either accomplished by gathering students at a central location or are comprised by requiring students to perform computer simulation. Aimed at improving learning effectiveness for the students, Kimmel School graduate students are set out to implement a real-time, remotely accessible engineering laboratory for an undergraduate automation class based on the previous research results [1], [2]. Designing a remote-accessed engineering laboratory can eliminate the unnecessary need for transportation of laboratory equipment, reduce the cost of software licensing, and to provide flexible scheduling for student laboratory exercises. This project consists of four major components: remotely controllable lab equipment, student knowledge assessment tools, information transfer over the networks, and a relational database and user interface design. The project is carried out by four graduate student teams, and each team is responsible for one of the four tasks. One graduate student takes the leadership of overseeing the project progress, coordination among teams, time-line management, and system integration. The first team is composed of three graduate students with engineering technology backgrounds. Two of them are working students who use PLC programming at their jobs. This team designs and programs the lab stations and makes them suitable for remote laboratory exercises. The second team is responsible to develop student tutorial materials and assessment tools. Assessment tools include a “background theory test” and a “pre-lab knowledge test.” Team members are first year engineering technology graduate students whose course knowledge on “Automation Systems” is still current. The third team focuses on information transfer over the networks. The information includes remote access methods, monitoring methods in the lab, and delivering methods of lab results. Both team members possess telecommunications engineering technology background and are familiar with computer networks. The fourth team is composed of two students came from an electrical and computer engineering technology background. They possess moderate programming skills. This team designs a relational database for data storage and a user interface for navigation and data collection.