The Design and Implementation of a Remote Automatic Control Laboratory: Using PID Control as an Example

[[abstract]]As automatic control systems are widely used in industry, the study of them is one of the most important introductory courses offered in college-level curricula. In this paper, we propose a networked learning model for automatic remote control PID experiments, including a platform and a networked learning system designed according to competence-based education methods. The online system offers a new approach to practical learning in a virtual laboratory. To evaluate the efficacy of the system, we conducted an experimental study using students enrolled in the automatic control course at Tungnan University in Taiwan. We consider three instructional methods in this paper: a traditional method, a remote learning system method, and a competence-based networked learning method. The effects of students' academic performance prior to taking the course on their achievements with regard to PID control learning are also discussed. Thirty students were randomly divided into three groups, and one instructional method was implemented for each group. The students were also divided into two groups (high and low) according to their GPA scores in the previous school year. The data were subjected to two-way ANOVA analysis, and the interaction effect between two independent variables, i.e., one of the instructional methods and the student’s performance prior to taking the course, was observed. We found that both variables have a significant effect on a student’s learning outcomes. The results show that our competence-based networked learning system is as effective as the traditional instructional method.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]E

[[alternative]]遠端自動控制實驗設計之研究

博士[[abstract]]本文結合教材(Content)、通訊(Communication)、電腦(Computer)與控制(Control)等4C的技術領域，設計遠端自動控制實驗網路教學平台，以及遠端監控系統，並將能力本位教學原理應用於此教學架構。此遠端自動控制系統提供之教學平台，讓學生利用網路即能夠遠端監控實驗室的設備，可應用在大專院校的控制實驗課程，以實施專業技術實習之網路教學模式。透過本系統學生不需要再學習或書寫任何網路程式，即可操控遠端控制伺服器驅動實驗室設備，並透過即時視訊，隨時監控掌握實驗室設備之動作及狀態。本文提出並實際落實PLC與PID控制的網路教學系統，所得結果顯示本系統的執行成效良好。為評估教學成效，進行實驗教學，探討不同的教學方法和不同程度的學生對遠端控制實習學習成就的影響，結果顯示這種透過網路的自動控制實驗設計與利用實體實驗室實習的效果相當，此遠端控制之網路教學模式應可擴展至其他專業科目或實習的教學，以提昇技職教育之教學方法及教學效果。[[abstract]]This dissertation integrates the 4Cs—content, communication, computer and control—in designing remote learning systems and visual monitoring systems coupled with techniques from competence-based education. Our proposed remote control system provides an online environment that students can access anytime, anywhere to control or observe equipment in the laboratory. Moreover, our remote automatic control platform can be implemented in college-level automatic control courses for students and instructors to carry out online laboratory courses. Here, we demonstrated two successful remote learning systems for PLC and PID control, respectively, that show promising results. To evaluate the efficacy of our system, we conducted an experimental study and analyzed the outcomes of different instructional methods. We investigated the effect of students’ prior academic performance on their academic achievements in the automatic control course. The results show that our system is as effective as the traditional instructional method. We hope that our findings will help improve the teaching and learning effectiveness of vocational education methods.[[tableofcontents]]Table of Contents 　 Table of Contents I List of Figures IV List of Tables VI Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2 Purposes 2 Chapter 2 Related Works 6 2.1 The Strategies and Advantages of E-learning 6 2.2 Remote Control System and Its Advantages 10 2.3 Competence-based Education 11 2.4 Visual Monitoring System 13 2.5 Our Experiences on Remote Control Laboratory 14 2.5.1 Power Monitoring System 14 2.5.2 Remote Control Lab Using PDA 18 2.5.3 PLC Control Lab Using GSM System 21 Chapter 3 The Design of a Remote Learning System and a Visual Monitoring System 27 3.1 The Design of a Remote Learning System (RLS) 27 3.1.1 Overview 27 3.1.2 System Architecture 29 3.1.3 Class Management Center (CMC) 34 3.1.4 The Design of a Remote Desktop Program 37 3.2 The Design of a Visual Monitoring System (VMS) 39 3.2.1 Overview 39 3.2.1.1 Server End 40 3.2.1.2 Client End 42 3.2.2 A Real-time Moving Object Segmentation Scheme 42 3.2.2.1 Seed Determination and Region Growing 44 3.2.2.2 Region-based Change Detection 47 3.2.3 Implementation and Results 48 Chapter 4 A Web-based Virtual Laboratory for PLC 51 4.1 Overview 51 4.2 System Architecture 53 4.3 PLC Program Design 54 4.4 PLC Remote Execution 56 4.5 On-line PLC Virtual Lab 57 Chapter 5 A Remote Automatic Control Laboratory for PID Control 60 5.1 PID Controller Laboratory Course: the Traditional Method 60 5.1.1 Theory 60 5.1.2 Laboratory Equipment 62 5.1.3 Experiment 62 5.2 Using the RLS for On-line Practice 64 5.2.1 On-line Materials 64 5.2.2 Remote Execution 64 5.2.3 Execution Results 65 5.3 Competence-based Networked Learning System 66 5.4 Analysis of the Instruction Outcomes 69 5.4.1 Experiment Design 69 5.4.2 Research Hypotheses 71 5.4.3 Results 72 Chapter 6 Conclusion and Future Works 77 References 79 Appendix A. Publication List 84 List of Figures Figure 2-1. Architecture of the power monitoring system 16 Figure 2-2. The operating interface of the power monitoring system 17 Figure 2-3. Hardware architecture of the system 19 Figure 2-4. Server-end interface of the thermostat control 20 Figure 2-5. Client-end interface 20 Figure 2-6. PLC control interface 20 Figure 2-7. System architecture of the M-PLC control lab using the GSM system 23 Figure 2-8. The control and monitoring interface on the server end 24 Figure 2-9. Sending SMS message to PLC 25 Figure 2-10. Report from PLC 26 Figure 3-1. System architecture of the RLS 30 Figure 3-2. Server/client control flow of the RLS 33 Figure 3-3. Control flow of the CMC 35 Figure 3-4. Homepage of the CMC 36 Figure 3-5. Student booking records 36 Figure 3-6. Pseudo-code for picture encoding/decoding 38 Figure 3-7. Camera control unit 41 Figure 3-8. Encoding unit 42 Figure 3-9. Object segmentation and application 43 Figure 3-10. Flow chart of object segmentation 43 Figure 3-11. Pseudo-code for Seed Determination and Region Growing 46 Figure 3-12. Network packets transmission process for real-time Monitoring 50 Figure 4-1. Flow chart for PLC design/execution 55 Figure 4-2. The course materials of the PLC virtual lab 57 Figure 4-3. The facility of the elevator simulation 58 Figure 4-4. PLC program design interface 58 Figure 4-5. PLC execution and video display 59 Figure 4-6. Remote control interface developed using VB 59 Figure 5-1. Block diagram of a closed loop PID control system; R(S): reference input, E(S): error signal, C(S): controlled variable, and Gc(S): transfer function 61 Figure 5-2. Feedback 33-100 mechanical unit for PID control 62 Figure 5-3. Block diagram of the DC motor position control system 63 Figure 5-4. Real-time response of the PID position Controller (Kp= 65, Ki= 0 and Kd= 0) 63 Figure 5-5. Flow chart of PID controller design/execution 65 Figure 5-6. Response interface of PID position control for the RLS (Kp= 65, Ki= 0 and Kd= 0) 66 Figure 5-7. Learning flow chart of CBE+RLS 68 List of Tables Table 3-1. Notations 44 Table 5-1. Descriptive statistics 72 Table 5-2. Levene''s test of equality of error variances 73 Table 5-3. Summary of two-way ANOVA results 73 Table 5-4. Multiple comparisons 75[[note]]學號: 888190039, 學年度: 9