Next Generation Unified Framework for Remote Laboratory Experiments

 

Return to Environmental Scan Report

Return to Environmental Scan - Projects Within the US and Canada
Previous: Bismark State College - WebLab

 

Name:

Develop Next Generation Unified Framework for Remote Laboratory Experiments

 

Location:

Texas

 

URL(s):

http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0935208 

Presentation1: http://vr-lab.engineeringtech.tsu.edu/publications/docs/RSMSL.pdf

 

Contacts:

Alan Cheville (Project Manager)

EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers
ENG Directorate for Engineering

 

Gangbing Song (Principal Investigator) gsong@uh.edu
Li Sun (Co-Principal Investigator)

 

Mr. Claudio Olmi, Ph.D. Student

 

Participating institutions:

University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Boulevard
Houston, TX 77204 713/743-9240

 

Funding Source(s):

NSF

 

Purpose:

 

Policies:

 

Procedures:

ABSTRACT

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)

This engineering education research award to the University of Houston in collaboration with Texas Southern University will employ researchers to develop a general framework for remote laboratory experiments with the goal of making access and use independent of the computer platform, operating system, and browser. Barriers to access to remote experiments would be reduced through the use of a web page interface. Existing experiments will be used to test and evaluate the remote laboratory framework, and this framework will be integrated into a number of courses. The unified framework will reduce the need for special computer expertise by faculty wishing to use remote laboratory experiments, so a larger pool of faculty can take advantage of these resources in laboratories and classrooms. This project will allow much wider use of physical laboratory work in educational environments which have limited space and physical resources. The project can also potentially increase the utilization of physical resources through scheduling of off-site users, thus making laboratory equipment more cost effective. Hands-on laboratory experience is an essential part of undergraduate engineering education, and this research will advance understanding of how to broadening access to remote laboratory experiments and improve engineering education to prepare students for engineering jobs.

 

 

Hardware:

Computer Pentium III 900MHz (according to Presentation1)

 

Software:

(Note - This list was derived from Presentation1)

LabView (LabView graphic code is included), Matlab, Java Applets, Flash, C++, Free Software capable of running on older computers, Linux, MySQL

See also: http://vr-lab.engineeringtech.tsu.edu/publications/docs/AC2011_1070.pdf 

 

Scheduling Solutions:

There is a solution described in Presentation1.  See Slides 6 to 9 of this presentation

Also see: http://vr-lab.engineeringtech.tsu.edu/publications/docs/proceeding_39027.pdf 

 

Academic level:

University level and possibly research

 

Academic area:

Engineering

 

Lab names:

Smart Materials and Structures Lab (see Presentation1)  (Note - It is uncertain if this is the same project, but it does come from the University of Huston and has G. Song's name on it.)  This presentation indicates that there may be other labs 'in the wings', but it only identifies this one.

 

Capacity:

 

Comments:

• Beyond the NSF announcement a quick Internet search has not revealed anything more about this project except that the University of Huston did receive the award.  One item that turned up was dated 2011 indicated that they were just trying to hire researchers to take this project forward.  If that is the case then it is just starting.  Contradictory to that the paper found at this link:

http://vr-lab.engineeringtech.tsu.edu/publications/docs/AC2011_1070.pdf

seems to indicate that perhaps some preliminary progress has been made.  Other than being at the University of Huston and bearing Dr Gangbing Song's name it is unclear if this is the same or a related project.  Having said that further research will need to be done to find this project and to determine if it is indeed an RWSL-like project. (RKE 120116)

• A further search turned up Presentation1.  This presentation does seem to indicate that this is an RWSL-like project, but that it is in the development stage and not yet in the production stage.  (RKE 120118)
• Another paper of interest:  http://vr-lab.engineeringtech.tsu.edu/publications/docs/368.PDF (RKE 120118)
• Recommend contacting Claudio Olmi and Gangbing Song when time permits (RKE 120118)

 

 

Previous: Bismark State College - WebLab

Return to Environmental Scan - Projects Within the US and Canada