Conducting an Electronics Remote Lab Experiment: A Case Study

A laboratory experiment in an undergraduate course on electronics was conducted remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lab assignment was to construct and analyze a single-transistor NPN amplifier. In the conventional on-site lab experiment the students would construct the amplifier on a breadboard, carry out measurements of DC and small signal characteristics, and compare with both SPICE simulations and manual calculations. The pandemic prevented the attendance of students in the lab, and thus the experiment was redesigned and carried out online, using remotely controlled instruments through the internet. It was found that to some extent a remotely conducted experiment can substitute the on-site work, and there are some unique advantages of this approach. On the other hand, some aspects of the on-site laboratory experiment cannot be substituted by the remote experience, and this is discussed in the paper.