A Network of Automatic Control Web-Based Laboratories

This article presents an innovative project in the context of remote experimentation applied to control engineering education. Specifically, the authors describe their experience regarding the analysis, design, development, and exploitation of web-based technologies within the scope of automatic control. This work is part of an inter-university project known as AutomatL@bs, in which seven Spanish universities joined efforts to share their experimentation resources across the Internet. The paper begins by providing a background of how the development of virtual and remote control labs with pedagogical perspectives should be addressed. In particular, we present examples of remote labs developed by two of the university groups taking part in AutomatL@bs. We then present the automatic booking system that manages the access of users to each laboratory's didactical setup. Next, we show the integration process of every component into a Learning Management System (LMS). Finally, an overall system assessment of the students' perception of the quality of the experimental environment as a learning tool is analyzed.