Implementing a Remote Laboratory Experience Into a Joint Engineering Degree Program: Aerodynamic Levitation of a Beach Ball

This paper details a successful and inexpensive implementation of a remote laboratory into a distance control systems course using readily available hardware and software. The physical experiment consists of a beach ball and a dc blower; the control objective is to make the height of the aerodynamically levitated beach ball track a reference trajectory by manipulating the voltage to the blower. MATLAB/Simulink coupled with xPC target serve as the controller platform, while microsoft netmeeting and standard Internet video conferencing equipment are used to interface the distance-learning students with the laboratory equipment. Both local students at North Carolina State University's campus in Raleigh and distance students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville completed the laboratory experiment. In a student survey, distance students participating in the lab remotely rated the experience as favorably as local students. Course grades, including the design project grade, were similar between the two groups.