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RWSL and RDN Definitions

 

 

Remote Web-based Science Laboratory = RWSL

RWSL is a web-based environment consisting of a generic software and robotic interface that allows students and faculty to interact with actual laboratory equipment and collect real-world data in real-time all via the Internet.  In short, RWSL allows the delivery of science lab exercises remotely.

 

RWSL Mediated Labs: When a consistent set of lab equipment is capable of being served to the network so that students may use it to perform their lab exercises, that lab is said to be "RWSL mediated".  (Also see RWSL Lab sub-modules below.)

 

 

The RWSL Node

 

RWSL Node (Node): This is an institution that has the capability to serve remote lab services to the Internet.  It includes one or more RWSL Units as well as all the human infrastructure to operate and maintain the RWSL Units.  RWSL Nodes are the building blocks of the RWSL Distributed Network (RDN). 

 

RWSL Unit (Unit): An RWSL Unit is the hardware and software that can serve one RWSL lab to the network at any given time and may be controlled by only one student from a lab group at any given time.  An RWSL Node may house 1 or more RWSL Units.  However at any given time the institution can serve only as many remote labs to the network as it has RWSL Units.  An RWSL Unit consists of 1 Required Base Module and 1 RWSL Lab.  While all RWSL Units are basically the same only differing in the lab they are serving, some distinctions can be made based on their current function.  These functions of RWSL Units are:

 

RWSL Production Unit (Production Unit):

A production unit is an RWSL Unit that is configured to serve a lab exercise to students.

 

RWSL Faculty Sandbox (Sandbox):

The RWSL Faculty Sandbox is one or more RWSL Units set aside for exclusive faculty use where they can test, explore, and develop lab exercises for use in courses. 

 

RWSL Development Unit (Development Unit): 

A development unit is an RWSL Unit that is being used to develop more RWSL labs for all members of the NANSLO RDN to use, should they purchase the equipment to serve this lab.  A development unit requires highly skilled technical people versed in LabView and other types of programming, robotics, and the ability to imagine and implement solutions to technical and physical challenges.

 

The same Unit can be used for any one of these functions at a time, but it cannot serve more than one of these functions simultaneously.  Designating a Unit for any one of these functions is more a matter of scheduling than it is a matter of hardware.  Unlike the other types of units, the development unit requires specialized personnel.

 

 

RWSL Required Base Module (RBM):  This is the minimum hardware and software required to serve any RWSL lab to the Internet.  It is required by ALL RWSL labs and allows one RWSL lab to be served to the Internet.  At the time of writing it consists of:

1 Network Switch (See to RWSL Components for more discussion of this.) (~$5,000)*

1 Video Streamer
1 Video Mixer
1 PTZ Camera
1 UPS (uninterruptable power supply)
1 Networked Power Bar
1 Lab Computer
1 National Instruments Software
1 Video Archive Computer
1 Miscellaneous (connecting cables, etc)

Estimated Cost: $24,500 ($19,500 without network switch)

This could change as we learn how to deliver remote lab services more efficiently and the technology advances.

 

RWSL Lab Sub-module (Lab or Sub-module*):  An RWSL Lab Sub-module consists of all the RWSL Support equipment and Lab Equipment required to implement one RWSL Lab.  It also includes any software not contained in the RBM that is required by this particular lab.  Examples of RWSL labs are the Spectrometer Lab, the Microscope Lab, the Air Track Lab, etc.  Only one RWSL Lab can be "set-up in an RWSL Unit" at a time.  A single RWSL Lab can be used to support 1 or more lab exercises.  Different lab exercises can be performed using the same RWSL lab by simply preparing different curriculum for each lab exercise.

*NOTE - The term 'Lab' is used through-out this document to mean the RWSL Lab Sub-module, but other parts of the NANSLO RDN prefer the term 'sub-module' to mean the same subdivision of the RWSL unit.

 

Support Equipment:  Support Equipment is that equipment (and software) not contained in the RBM and also not part of the Lab Equipment, but it is equipment that is required to place a particular Lab on-line.  Examples of support equipment would be the Velmex Frame and the Robotic Arm.  Support equipment also includes extra PTZ Cameras and National Instruments Equipment that are not part of the RBM, etc.

 

Lab Equipment:  Lab Equipment is the equipment you would find in any traditional face-to-face laboratory.  Serving lab equipment to the network is the purpose of RWSL.  Examples of Lab equipment include the microscope, spectrometer, air track, various scales, data acquisition equipment, etc.  This also includes software specific to each piece of lab equipment.

 

Lab Exercise (sometimes called the 'experiment'):  Lab exercises are the activities that students perform using the lab equipment.  In a face-to-face lab this is what students do in the lab, so it is the same for RWSL mediated labs.  There can be one or more possible Lab Exercises defined for any given RWSL Lab.  The Lab exercises defined for a particular lab may be written to support various levels of a discipline or even to support use of the lab in different disciplines.  A versatile RWSL Lab is one that supports multiple lab exercises.  Lab exercises are the curricula that instructors design and write for any given RWSL Lab.

(Note - The term "experiment" is not used here, as most lab exercises that students perform are not true 'experiments'.  An experiment implies that the student has a hand in the design of the activity and that the outcome is not already substantially known before they start.  Very few lab exercises that are performed in undergraduate laboratories (face-to-face or RWSL mediated) are true 'experiments'.  However, in the vernacular the term "experiment" is often used to mean the lab exercise or activity that students perform with lab equipment.  Hence it is recognized that others will use it as such.)

 

Review:

RWSL Node:  One RWSL Node consists of:

1 or more RWSL Units + the human infrastructure (techs, admin, etc) to support operation

 

Each RWSL Unit consists of:

1 RWSL Required Base Module

1 or more RWSL lab sub-modules that can individually be served to the NANSLO RDN

 

Each RWSL Lab Sub-module consists of:

0 or more pieces of Support Equipment

1 or more pieces of Lab Equipment

 

For further information on the equipment (with cost estimates) that go to RWSL Components.

 

To establish an RWSL Node the equipment and infrastructure required is defined at "RWSL Node Requirements (Setting up an RWSL Node)".

 

 

The RWSL Distributed Network

(RDN)

 

RWSL Distributed Network (RDN) (also refered to as 'the network'):  The RDN is a non-hierarchical distributed network composed of various RWSL nodes located at various institutions that are cooperating under the NANSLO organization to deliver Remote Lab Services (RLS) to the member institutions of the NANSLO RDN*.    It consists of 2 or more RWSL nodes that are distributed among two or more institutions.  This network is what the NANSLO project has initiated with one RWSL node at North Island College in Courtenay, BC and one at the Colorado Community College System in Denver, Colorado.  The vision is for this network to expand to include multiple institutions and RWSL Nodes that will cooperatively provide RLS for institutions who are part of the RDN so that RWSL resources and expenses can be shared over a much wider community of institutions.  It is expected that each institution hosting an RWSL Node will serve its own students first and make excess RWSL capacity available to the RDN for any member institution to use based on the agreements institutions will make with the NANSLO organization⁺ to be part of the RDN.  (The actual proposed NANSLO RDN membership agreements, policies, and procedures are discussed elsewhere in this document.)  Institutions may participate at a variety of levels, from simply accessing the existing RDN to obtain RLS for their students, through levels where the institution will serve some RLS to the RDN while obtaining other RLS for their own students for those labs they don't serve themselves, to institutions that are primary RLS providers for their own as well as other RDN member institution students.  An additional level of participation will be institutions that will provide RWSL Development Unit capabilities and Faculty 'Sandbox' services to the entire RDN.  Participating RDN institutions will have certain responsibilities and advantages under the NANSLO organization that are proposed elsewhere in these documents.

 

*Because all work done under the NANSLO project is under Creative Commons licensing, it is possible for there to be multiple RDNs under various administrative structures, but at the time of writing the only RDN in existence is the NANSLO RDN, so from now on the term RDN in this document will mean the NANSLO RDN.

 

⁺The NANSLO Organization has not been established yet, but recommendations for this organization are made elsewhere in these documents. See the Network Scaling and Sustainability Model.

 

 

Remote Lab Services (RLS): These the remote labs that are served to the NANSLO RDN by various RWSL Nodes.  They are the product that other NANSLO RDN members consume to serve their own students.

 

 

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