Development Of An Operational Amplifier Virtual Laboratory Based On Ilab Architecture And Ni Elvis

We have developed and deployed ‘OpAmp Lab’, a pedagogic operational amplifier virtual laboratory based on the MIT iLab architecture. The architecture is a three-tier architecture that abstracts the various parts of a remote laboratory system into different functional domains. This architecture makes the new virtual Lab experiments scalable and reduces the development and deployment time of new experiments through component reuse. OpAmp Lab uses the National Instrument ELVIS hardware platform for experimental set-up. Basic Op-amp circuits are realized through reconfigurable Dozen Impedance Op-amp configuration mounted on a multimode switch array. The front end or Client is implemented as a Winform Client, written in C# and uses connectible nodes as a metaphor for back-end hardware configuration. Strong emphasis is placed on the realism of the user interface, as we argue, the user interface is the most important determinant of the quality of a user’s educational experience. We discuss the various components of OpAmp Lab and the lessons learnt in the development of the system as well as the development of pedagogical experiments developed for it. OpAmp Lab has been in use at Obafemi Awolowo University, NIGERIA for the last two years. Faculty and students response has been strongly positive. We provide data showing that the Lab offers a viable means of augmenting the laboratory component of electrical engineering curricula in developing countries.