Design and Implementation of the Remote Laboratory System to Enhance Engineering Education in Sri Lanka

E-learning, virtual learning, and remote learning techniques are playing a vital role in the modern academic and educational systems. They provide easier access to educational equipment and other resources to a very wide spectrum of individuals in order to achieve their educational objectives. These modern techniques have the capability of improving the quality of the teaching and learning process to a higher standard. In a virtual laboratory, automatic control theory can be verified properly by conducting experiments on models such as coupled tank systems, inverted pendulums, and DC motors. With the remote laboratories, students can access experiments that are not physically available to them at their institutions. Not only that, even if the equipment is available in the institute, the student can access the experiment at any time until they come to a satisfactory level. Since Sri Lanka is a developing country, the availability of experimental resources for higher education is considerably low. Hence, some advanced lab experimental setups are not affordable. Therefore, in this research, a cost-effective remote laboratory system has been developed. First, an open-source web-based programming interface is designed. Next, controller analysis tools and virtual lab models are embedded in the web interface. In addition to that, real-time microcontroller programming and monitoring features are enabled in this proposed remote lab system. In this remote lab system, first students should register with the system, then they can analyze the given model and select the suitable gain and parameters for their controller, and finally they can test the real setup via remote login.