The automatic control telelab: a user-friendly interface for distance learning

In this paper, a remote laboratory of automatic control is presented. The main target of this laboratory is to allow students to easily interact with a set of physical processes through the Internet. The student will be able to run experiments, change control parameters, and analyze the results remotely. The automatic control telelab (ACT) allows the user to design his/her own controller by means of the MATLAB/Simulink environment, and to test it on the actual plant through a user-friendly interface. An additional feature of ACT is its architecture, allowing for an easy integration of new processes for control experiments. The ACT is reachable at http://www.dii.unisi.it//spl sim/control/act.

I. Introduction

Recent years have witnessed dramatic changes in graduate education because of Internet and Web technologies. Web-based teaching, distance learning, electronic books, and interactive learning environments will play increasingly significant roles in teaching and learning processes in the near future.