Real Time, Remote Circuits And Electronics Laboratories For Distance Learning

Employing distance education techniques in teaching electrical engineering courses will continue to grow. One of the major obstacles in distance education is providing relevant, hands-on laboratories for students. This project is aimed at giving students real-time access to standard laboratory instrumentation and electronic circuits via the internet. Students manipulate real instruments such as oscilloscopes and function generators with mouse clicks, change circuit measurement points, modify circuit connections, and adjust component values. The oscilloscope waveforms and meter readings are measured by real instruments in a central laboratory and the resulting data are sent back to the student’s computer for display. The student can view a list of which experiments are currently available and select an experiment to run. The student activity is recorded for evaluation by the instructor.