Development of Remote Instrumentation and Control for Laboratory Experiments using Handheld Devices

Abstract

The unprecedented growth in Internet technologies has created revolutionary changes in the use of collaborative learning tools with remote experimentation. These tools enhance the experiential learning aspects of engineering education. Laboratory experiments are integral part of science and engineering education. Automation is changing the nature of these laboratories, and the focus of the system designer is on the availability of various interfacing tools to access the laboratory hardware remotely with the integration of computer supported learning environment.

Work on laboratory experiments and project works requires access to expensive hardware equipments. The high cost of these instruments along with time consuming development process of experimentation in the educational process creates a significant bottleneck. There is a need for the development of remote laboratory using which the users can access the laboratory instruments and the programmable devices remotely on their smart phones/tablets to perform the laboratory experiments. This implementation avails laboratory facility for complete twenty four hours a day and will increase the productivity of the laboratory hardware and measuring instruments.

This paper presents the detailed architecture and the implementation details of remote laboratory by which user can perform laboratory experiments remotely. Develop mobile based remote laboratory where user can access remote laboratory on his smart phone or tablet to perform the experiments. Software application is developed on Android platform for the implementation.