Offline and online thermostat experiment with LabVIEW and Arduino

This paper presents the responses and opinion of a small number of test users who experimented with a temperature control system both offline and via Internet. The hardware is an Arduino based system that is accessible via a LabVIEW online VI. The system was developed in the frame of a BSc thesis project and is now under testing for inclusion in control engineering courses for undergraduate mechanical and energy engineering students. Among the reasons of this thesis topic are the need to extend learning sources beyond classical textbooks, collections of example problems and simulated problems. Today there are both hardware and software resources, that are readily available with quite low cost and flexibility in usage. As the presented system is implemented in Hungarian at the time of this writing, and only 5 volunteer testers have used it, the results can only be considered as a pre-pilot study. However their feedback proves that the project should be pursued and further enhancements based on user responses are being worked on. The presented setup and the wide availability and ease of use of both Arduino and LabVIEW allow interested users the reproduction and extension of the system based on their needs and interests.