PortableLab: Implementation of a mobile remote laboratory for the Android platform

Mobile learning has been receiving increased attention from diverse conferences and publications. The attention is well deserved because, if correctly implemented, it constitutes an efficient complementary tool to the traditional learning methods. Following this idea, we present PortableLab, a mobile learning system that integrates an application developed for mobile devices with Google Android operating system. PortableLab allows students to analyze several poor quality power supply occurrences. For this, the mobile remote laboratory has to connect to a database server where real-time measured data is stored by a local signal processing module. The mobile application was designed as a complementary mean to the classic laboratory lessons. The developed system is a step forward in the development of mobile learning courses, presenting new contents directed for a `hot' platform. This paper describes the system, giving special focus on the system's overall infrastructure and the chosen technical solutions for the mobile application implementation, as well as on some preliminary results.