摘要：AbstractThis paper describes an online laboratory system prioritizing modular and generalised solutions. The system provides a unified user interface to access, manage and control remote experiments. At the same time it does not put up restrictions limiting usable control algorithms or even simulation environments. Several connected devices are integrated with the use of Matlab and Scilab software so users can create their control block diagrams in either Simulink or Xcos. It is even possible to declare variables within these diagrams and then initialize them through the system’s user interface. A set of commands was selected to represent the possible operations a device can implement. This serves to optimize the communication, since each of these commands is interpreted by a specialized python or shell script transferring all the user inputs and other necessary data either directly to the device or to a running instance of a simulation environment. System’s functionality is demonstrated on a remote experiment based on levitating ball in a vertical tube. This method of control makes the system highly scalable as the new experiments can be added while the system is deployed.
关键词：KeywordsVirtualremote labsInternet based teaching of control engineeringControl education using laboratory equipment
