A Virtual and Remote Control Laboratory in Moodle: The Ball and Beam System

Abstract This paper presents a web-based control laboratory for a ball and beam system that was adapted to be used within an online course of a Learning Management System platform. The experimentation web environment is presented in the context of the UNEDLabs project, a Spanish network of web-based laboratories for science and engineering education. LabView and data acquisition boards are used in the server-side for the remote laboratory application, Easy Java Simulations for the client-side interface of both the virtual and the remote laboratory, and Moodle for the web environment. The integration between the virtual and remote labs and Moodle is achieved thanks to the use of the EJSApp plugins. Recipients of the resulting application are graduate students who can use the advanced control techniques implemented in this web-lab: robust, fuzzy, and reset control.

[1]  María Guinaldo,et al.  Web-based control laboratory: The ball and beam system , 2010 .

[2]  Jesús Alcalá-Fdez,et al.  jFuzzyLogic: a robust and flexible Fuzzy-Logic inference system language implementation , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems.

[3]  Denis Gillet,et al.  Remote Experimentation Mashup , 2010 .

[4]  R. Kozma.  Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate , 1994 .

[5]  Daniel Moraes,et al.  Design and Implementation Issues for Modern Remote Laboratories , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

[6]  Keith Glover,et al.  A loop-shaping design procedure using H/sub infinity / synthesis , 1992 .

[7]  José Sánchez Moreno,et al.  A Network of Automatic Control Web-Based Laboratories , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

[8]  Orhan Beker,et al.  Fundamental properties of reset control systems , 2004, Autom..

[9]  Sebastián Dormido,et al.  An architecture for virtual and remote laboratories to support distance learning , 2011 .

[10]  J. C. Clegg.  A nonlinear integrator for servomechanisms , 1958, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Part II: Applications and Industry.

[11]  Wolfgang Christian,et al.  Open Source Physics , 2011, Science.

[12]  Christophe Gravier,et al.  State of the Art About Remote Laboratories Paradigms - Foundations of Ongoing Mutations , 2008, Int. J. Online Eng..

[13]  Hiroshi Nakano,et al.  NVLab, a Networking Virtual Web-Based Laboratory that Implements Virtualization and Virtual Network Computing Technologies , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

[14]  Stephen Yurkovich,et al.  Fuzzy Control , 1997 .

[15]  Rory McGreal,et al.  Choosing MOODLE: An Evaluation of Learning Management Systems at Athabasca University , 2007, Int. J. Distance Educ. Technol..

[16]  Hsiu-Ming Chang,et al.  Teaching photonics laboratory using remote-control web technologies , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[17]  Denis Gillet,et al.  Challenges in Remote Laboratory Sustainability , 2007 .

[18]  Wolfgang Christian,et al.  Modeling Physics with Easy Java Simulations. , 2007 .