Content uploaded by Stefan Cristian Macovei
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Stefan Cristian Macovei on Jan 09, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
Using the Virtual Online Laboratories for the pre-
University
Costel Donose, Cristina-Mihaela
Schreiner
donosecostel@yahoo.com
Department of Electrical Measurements and Materials
Faculty of Electrical Engineerig
Iasi, Romania
Stefan Cristian Macovei
macovei_stefan1988@yahoo.com
S.C.INTELECTRO IASI S.R.L.
Iasi, Romania
Abstract—The purpose of our research is to implement new
virtual labs online for the pre-university environment. This is a
real utility where students can attend laboratory hours without
having to apply direct measurement methods with classical
measuring instruments. Through the labview software we have
developed a virtual instrument used to monitor and control
remote electrical circuits. The implementation of this method
involves the use of the Internet of Things concept (IoT), thus
offering the possibility of connecting several devices that can
participate in laboratory work. This teaching / learning /
evaluation method can be used to conduct contests, olympiads
and also for the evaluation of remote students who, for personal /
medical reasons, can not attend courses.
Keywords—virtual labs; virtual instrument; Arduino-Uno;
LabView software; distance learning; Internet of Things
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
The development of new teaching methods is constantly
increasing in both the university and the pre-university
environment. The use of low-cost platforms [1], [2] has an
essential role in the development of remote monitoring and
control applications [3], [4]. The concept of e-learning is
characterized as a type of distance education. The educational
act is realized through the new information and
communication technologies, especially via the Internet. The
Internet is the best medium for the distribution of teaching
materials (teaching-learning-evaluation).
In our study, the use of LabView software has contributed
to an easily visible improvement in the implementation of
online laboratories [5]. The method used is an integral part of
the IoT concept [6-9] offering virtual technical support
underlying the new technologies.
This learning method proposal has become an important
concern to develop new tools with the potential for interactive
approaches, having a solid background both theoretically and
practically [10], at the pupils' reach to achieve the proposed
laboratory themes. The relationship between practice and
theory can be accomplished much better when new
technologies are reached in education [11].
II.
M
ETHOD AND
I
NSTRUMENTATION
We used the Labview software to implement the online
methods proposed. Through it, we have built a virtual
instrument that can control [12] and monitor [13] various
applications in electrical engineering domain with a wide
spectrum of use. These methods contribute to user comfort in
development of new lab design principles in the online
environment of pre-university education. For the
communication between electronic circuits and the virtual
instrument we used the Arduino Uno kit [14]. This makes the
analog to digital conversion of the data acquisitions that are
taken directly from the electric circuits proper.
Through the Arduino Uno acquisition board, the data taken
from the electronic circuits were stored on a server and then
distributed to the users, as is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. The block diagram of server.
We developed an electronic platform, having the following
components, thus obtaining a physical laboratory application:
o Arduino Uno development platform, featuring an
8-bit ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU), 14
digital input / output pins, a USB connection, a
power jack, a serial program header (ICSP), and a
reset button;
o USB data transmission line;
o Command buttons;
o LEDs;
o Resistors;
o Connection wires;
o The test board.
The entire assembly is shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. The instruments assembly used in the laboratory.
For analog to digital conversion, firstly, the Arduino Uno
acquisition board will initialize the converter followed by
initiating the serial port through which the data is transmitted.
Further, the parameters of the studied circuit are analyzed,
then the values obtained are collected by the data transmission
line.
Finally, the position of the button on the test plate is
checked. If the button is activated, the program runs in the
closed loop, starting from the serial port initialization.
On the other hand, if the button is not actuated, only a
single analysis cycle is performed, as is shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. The block diagram of the Arduino Uno software.
The developed and studied system, shown in Fig. 4,
contains 3 buttons that make it possible to supply electric
circuits and LEDs to show the functionality of each circuit.
The collected information from the electronic circuits on
the test board is transported through the transmission line
between the data acquisition board and the portable computer.
Fig. 4. Hardware diagram of three-button circuits.
III. R
ESULTS
In Fig. 5 are shown the three cases acting of the circuits
performed in the laboratory (operation of a single circuit "a",
the silmultaneous actuation of two circuits "b" and
respectively the operation of the three circuits "c") on the test
board.
Fig. 5. The three cases of the circuits actuating.
On the control panel of the virtual instrument designed for
monitoring the electronic circuits on the test board it is
presented: two controls, one, for initiating the serial port, and
the second for representing the data transfer rate, three LED
indicators for each individual button which indicate the
activity of the circuits, a display characteristic of each circuit,
indicating the electrical values measured and a stop button
offering the possibility of stopping the system at any desired
moment.
The control panel of the virtual instrument for the three
studied cases (action of a single circuit, two circuits and three
circuits simultaneous) are represented in Fig. 6, Fig. 7,
respectively, Fig. 8.
Fig. 6. The front panel of the virtual instrument actuating a electrical circuit.
Fig. 7. The front panel of the virtual instrument actuating two electrical circuit.
Fig. 8. The front panel of the virtual instrument actuating three electrical circuit.
The development of virtual online laboratories is possible
by creating a URL address generated directly from the
LabView software which connects with the users. In our case,
students can develop and conduct remote laboratory hours by
accessing the Laboratory no. 1 front panel of Electrical
circuits using the created link (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9. The laboratory representation for monitoring electrical circuits in the virtual environment.
In this study, we made, on the basis of the didactic
documents, required topics that were sent online to the
pupils, along with the front panel of the virtual instrument.
The students attributions are to study the operation of
electrical circuits by applying Ohm's law on each circuit,
using the electrical values given by the virtual instrument.
Fig. 10. Pupils evolution by level of study discipline.
In Fig. 10 we made a comparison between modern and
classical teaching methods. As a result of the pupils
'assessment, we noticed that using this modern method there
was an increase in students' advancement on several
disciplines.
Fig. 11. Pupils evolution by level of study.
Further, for a clear assessment, according to Fig. 11, a
significant increase in the evolution of the students
throughout the pre-university cycle regarding the use of the
modern teaching method presented was demonstrated.
IV. C
ONCLUSIONS
In this paper was followed the highlighting of modern
methods of teaching, using both hardware and software
equipments and the possibility of monitoring and
controlling remote systems.
To carry out virtual lab work, we used the Labview
software, where we implemented a virtual instrument that
allows electrical values measurements. For communication
between the virtual and the physical environment, we used
an Arduino-Uno Kit to allow the acquisition of data in a
portable computer. Through the Labview software, we
designed an online virtual lab, where students, perform the
work proposed by the lab., at a distance.
The results obtained by this modern method of
developing the distance learning themes help students to
study and recover certain disciplines witch for personal
reasons, have failed to support in real time.
The applications are dedicated to the pre-university
environment but the method can be used in the specialized
laboratories, the university environment and the research,
adapting the virtual instrument to the elaborated projects.
R
EFERENCES
[1] A. Soriano, L. Marin, M. Valles, A. Valera, P. Albertos, “Low Cost
Platform for Automatic Control Education Based on Open
Hardware,” 19th World Congress The International Federation of
Automatic Control, Cape Town, South Africa, pp. 9044-9050, August
2014.
[2] E. Irigoyen, E. Larzabal, R. Priego, ” Low-cost platforms used in
Control Education: An educational case study,” 10th IFAC
Symposium Advances in Control Education The International
Federation of Automatic Control, Sheffield, UK, pp. 256-261, August
2013.
[3] Y. Tetour, D. Boehringer, T. Richter, “Integration of Virtual and
Remote Experiments into Undergraduate Engineering Courses,” 41st
ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Rapid City, SD,
October 2011.
[4] I. Gustavsson, K. Nilsson, J. Zackrisson, J. Garcia-Zubia, U.
Hernandez-Jayo, A. Nafalski, Z. Nedic, O. Gol, J. Machotka, M. I.
Pettersson, T. Lago and L. Hakansson, “On Objectives of
Instructional Laboratories, Individual Assessment, and Use of
Collaborative Rem ote Laboratories,” IEEE Transactions on learning
technologies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 263-274, october-december 2009.
[5] B. Erdera, A. Akara, “Remote accessible laboratory for error
controlled coding techniques with the labview software,” Procedia
Social and Behavioral Sciences 2, pp. 372–377, January 2010.
[6] S. Ziegler, J. Rolim, S. Nikoletsea, J. Fernandes, S. Krco, “Internet of
Things and Crowd Sourcing – a Paradigm Change for the Research
on the Internet of Things,” IEEE 2nd World Forum on Internet of
Things (WF-IoT), pp. 395 – 399, 2015.
[7] S. Singh, N. Singh, “Internet of Things(IoT): Security Challenges,
Business Opportunities & Reference Architecture for E-commerce,”
International Conference on Green Computing and Internet of Things
(ICGCIoT), pp. 1577 – 1581, 2015.
[8] J-W. Wu, D-W. Chou, J-R. Jiang, “The Virtual Environment of
Things (VEoT),“ IEEE International Conference on Internet of
Things (iThings), Green Computing and Communications
(GreenCom), and Cyber-Physical-Social Computing (CPSCom), pp.
456 – 459, 2014.
[9] M. H. Miraz, M. Ali, “A Review on Internet of Things (loT), Internet
of Everything (IoE) and Internet ofNano Things (IoNT),” pp. 219 –
224, 2015.
[10] S. E. August, M. L. Hammers, D. B. Murphy, A. Neyer, P. Gueye,
and R. Q. Thames,” Virtual Engineering Sciences Learning Lab:
Giving STEM Education a Second Life ”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS
ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 9, pp. 18-30, January-
March 2016.
[11] T. Ahoniemi E. Lahtinen, “Visualizations in Preparing for
Programming Exercise Sessions.”, Electronic Notes in Theoretical
Computer Science, pp.137-144, 2007, Tampere, Finland.
[12] C. Donose, C. M. Schreiner, A. C. Podaru, I. Pavel, “Actuating and
Controlling Electrical Circuits by means of Virtual Instruments,” 11-
th International Conference on Electromechanical and Power Systems
(SIELMEN 2017), Iasi/Chisinau, pp. 441-444, October 2017.
[13] C. Donose, C. M. Schreiner, A. C. Podaru, I. Pavel, “Virtual
Monitoring of Electrical Circuitry,” 11-th International Conference on
Electromechanical and Power Systems (SIELMEN 2017),
Iasi/Chisinau, pp. 437-440, October 2017.
[14] J. Boxall, Arduino Workshop . San Francisco, the Library of
Congress, 2013.
