PILAR: Sharing VISIR Remote Labs Through a Federation

Social demands have promoted an educational approach based on an “anywhere and anytime” premise. Remote laboratories have emerged as the answer to the demands of technical educational areas for adapting themselves to this scenario. The result has not only benefit distance learning students but has provided new learning scenarios both for teachers and students as well as allowing a flexible approach to experimental topics. However, as any other solution for providing practical scenarios (hands-on labs, virtual labs or simulators), remote labs face several constraints inherited from the subsystems of its deployment -hardware (real instruments, equipment and scenario) and software (analog/digital conversions, communications, workbenches, etc.)-. This paper describes the Erasmus+ project Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR (PILAR) which deals with several units of the federation installed in different educational institutions and devoted to analog electronics and electrical circuits. Based on the limitations of remote labs, the need for the federation will be justified and its benefits will be described.The authors acknowledge the support of the Escuela de Doctorado de la UNED, the S2013/ICE-2715 - eMadrid project, VISIR+ project Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education 2015 nº 561735-EPP-1-2015-1-PT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP and PILAR project Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership nº 2016-1-ES01-KA203-025327 (Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR). As well as to the Education Innovation Project (PIE) of UNED, “Desarrollos Avanzados Multi-Objetivo de Laboratorios Remotos para Actividades Educativas – DAMO-LRAE”, from the Vicerrectorado de Ordenación Académica y Calidad and the Instituto Universitario de Educación a Distancia (IUED) of the UNED and to the project 2018-IEQ18 from the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros Industriales of UNED.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PILAR: a Federation of VISIR Remote Laboratory Systems for Educational Open Activities

Social demands have promoted an educational approach based on an “anywhere and anytime” premise. Remote laboratories have emerged as the answer to the demands of technical educational areas for adapting themselves to this scenario. The result has not only benefit distance learning students but has provided new learning scenarios both for teachers and students as well as allowing a flexible approach to experimental topics. However, as any other solution for providing practical scenarios (hands-on labs, virtual labs or simulators), remote labs face several constraints inherited from the subsystems of its deployment hardware (real instruments, equipment and scenario) and software (analog/digital conversions, communications, workbenches, etc.). This paper describes the Erasmus+ project Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR (PILAR) which deals with several units of the federation installed in different educational institutions and devoted to analog electronics and electrical circuits. Based on the limitations of remote labs, the need for the federation will be justified and its benefits will be described by taking advantage of its strengths. The challenges that have come up during the different stages and the different approaches to design are also going to be described and analyzedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PILAR: Plataforma de federación de laboratorios remotos VISIR de electrónica analógica

Resumen—Los laboratorios remotos son ya una herramienta de enseñanza/aprendizaje en diferentes campos de la ingeniería y de la ciencia. El laboratorio remoto VISIR es un ejemplo paradigmático de esta nueva metodología en el campo de la electrónica analógica ya que el alumno puede montar y medir circuitos reales de un modo satisfactorio. En la actualidad en Europa hay cinco instancias desplegadas y activas de VISIR y en Sudamérica hay 5 más, cada una de ellas ofrece distintos circuitos eléctricos y electrónicos de manera que el usuario debe saber dónde está desplegado el circuito que él quiere montar y desplegar para poder acceder a él, lo que es una clara limitación. La solución al problema pasa por federar dicho grupo de laboratorios remotosinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Una Federación de Laboratorios Remotos VISIR a través del Proyecto PILAR

Este documento describe cómo un nuevo proyecto Erasmus+, PILAR (Plataform Integration of Laboratories base don the Architecture of visiR), está siendo desarrollado y cómo la puesta en marcha del partenariado y del proyecto está reforzando la red VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality) y el Grupo de Interés Especial de VISIR bajo el Consorcio de Laboratorios online (GOLC - Global Online Laboratory Consortium) de la Asociación Internacional de Ingeniería Online (IAOE - International Association of Online Engineering. La Universidad Española para la Educación a Distancia (UNED) coordina este proyecto que tiene como objetivo federar los sistemas existentes (o nuevos) con el fin de utilizar los recursos de manera más efectiva y eficiente, haciendo transparente para el usuario final la elección de los recursos compartidos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Experimenting in PILAR Federation: a Common Path for the Future

The PILAR (Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR) Erasmus Plus project started in September 2016 and will last three years. The core of the PILAR project is the VISIR remote laboratory —Virtual Instruments System In Reality—. The project aims for a federation of five of the existing VISIR nodes, sharing experiments, capacity and resources among partners, and to provide access to VISIR remote lab, through PILAR consortium, to students from other educational institutions. PILAR will be the framework from which management tasks will be performed and laboratories/experiments will be shared. PILAR will also foster the Special Interest Group of VISIR under the Global Online Laboratory Consortium (GOLC) of the International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spreading remote lab usage: A system — A community — A Federation

Experiments have been at the heart of scientific development and education for centuries. From the outburst of Information and Communication Technologies, virtual and remote labs have added to hands-on labs a new conception of practical experience, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education. This paper aims at describing the features of a remote lab named Virtual Instruments System in Reality, embedded in a community of practice and forming the spearhead of a federation of remote labs. More particularly, it discusses the advantages and disadvantages of remote labs over virtual labs as regards to scalability constraints and development and maintenance costs. Finally, it describes an actual implementation in an international community of practice of engineering schools forming the embryo of a first world wide federation of Virtual Instruments System in Reality nodes, under the framework of a project funded by the Erasmus+ Program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SecondLab: A remote laboratory under Second Life

The present work describes the implementation of a new remote lab, SecondLab, that allows students to control a microbot from Second Life. SecondLab works over WebLab-Deusto, the remote lab of the University of Deusto, giving the students the chance to work with real experiments from a social 3D-based immersive environment. This approach places the remote lab closer to the students, trying this way to increase their motivation to study science and engineering

Easily Integrable Platform for the Deployment of a Remote Laboratory for Microcontrollers

Remote laboratories are the natural solution in order to perform real experimentation under e-learning tools. Nevertheless these tools are the result of the research developed by the universities to cover their own needs without having in consideration the deployment of this technology by other institutions. This paper presents a hw prototype for a Remote Lab for microcontrollers that tries to solve these problems contributing new possibilities from the commercial and professional point of view

Easily Integrable Platform for the Deployment of a Remote Laboratory for Microcontrollers

Remote laboratories are the natural solution in order to perform real experimentation under e-learning tools. Nevertheless these tools are the result of the research developed by the universities to cover their own needs without having in consideration the deployment of this technology by other institutions. This paper presents a hw prototype for a Remote Lab for microcontrollers that tries to solve these problems contributing new possibilities from the commercial and professional point of view

A Federation of Remote Laboratory OERs: Grid of VISIR systems through PILAR Project

Today's educational needs require tools with neither geographical nor temporal restrictions. These tools also have to help students to reach the knowledge and provide them with the skills that the labor market demands. To achieve this goal, the technical areas rely on the contribution that laboratory practices provide. However, traditional laboratory practices, carried out in person at the institution, are limited due to the requirements of both their exploitation and their provision. For this reason, educational institutions have opted for remote laboratories (RLs) as the educational tool to provide the benefits of experimentation in real environments, either as an accompaniment to face-to-face activity or as the only mean of experimentation in real environments. Although RLs provide exclusive benefits <<24/7 availability, integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs), etc.>>, they also present limitations derived from the technology involved <<hardware and software>>; PILAR project << Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of VISIR>> was conceived under this premise. PILAR proposes a federation of 5 Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) systems. VISIR is a RL for wiring and measuring electrical and electronics circuits in a simulated workbench. PILAR aims to create a grid of laboratories shared and accessed by all participants, expanding and empowering the existing systems to a new level of service and capacity