Development of an Open Source Desktop Application Client Software for Running Internet Enabled Laboratories

While laboratory experiments have always been an essential for engineering students at the Faculty of Technology at Makerere University, they have faced major setbacks due to the expensive equipment required for the increasing number of students to interact with physical laboratory experiments. These would then be accessed remotely over the Internet. However, this architecture became unreliable with recent advancement in remote lab technology and expensive to maintain. The led to the adaptation of the Data Socket Transfer Protocol (DSTP) and C# Windows Forms to develop a new software for accessing iLabs. In turn, real time lab measurement data was acquired for experiment analysis and study. This created an open source desktop application that would then be new standard for running iLabs experiments. With this implementation, it would then facilitate adoption of hybrid e-learning labs in various academic institutions both at secondary and tertiary level.