Building complex remote learning laboratories

The interaction with real plants is a key issue in control engineering education in order to consolidate the concepts learned in the classroom. Unfortunately, for several reasons, real laboratories are not always available. On the other hand, Internet technologies have proved to be mature and reliable, becoming a common alternative in the creation of remote laboratories. However, the use of these technologies in complex remote laboratories is not a trivial task as several requisites must be satisfied simultaneously. This article proposes a methodology that eases the creation of remote laboratories establishing the steps to build up a remote access system. This methodology proposes a set of key components that can be used to define the access to a remote plant from a functional point of view. Some of these components are generic being reusable in most applications whereas others are application specific. In summary, the methodology allows designers to concentrate more on the functionality of the applications than on the technical aspects of the underlying technology. The use of this methodology is illustrated with a relatively complex example: A laboratory manufacturing cell. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 53–66, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20239