60 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO.

1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR)

for Remote Wiring and Measurement
of Electronic Circuits on Breadboard
Mohamed Tawfik, Member, IEEE, Elio Sancristobal, Member, IEEE, Sergio Martin, Member, IEEE,
Rosario Gil, Member, IEEE, Gabriel Diaz, Senior Member, IEEE, Antonio Colmenar,
Juan Peire, Senior Member, IEEE, Manuel Castro, Fellow, IEEE, Kristian Nilsson,
Johan Zackrisson, Lars Hakansson, and Ingvar Gustavsson, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper reports on a state-of-the-art remote laboratory project called Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR).
VISIR allows wiring and measuring of electronic circuits remotely on a virtual workbench that replicates physical circuit breadboards.
The wiring mechanism is developed by means of a relay switching matrix connected to a PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI)
instrumentation platform. The entire equipment is controlled by LabVIEW server software, in addition to a measurement server
software that protects the equipment from hazard connections by verifying input circuit designs, sent by students, before being
executed. This paper addresses other approaches such as remote labs based on Data Acquisition Cards (DAQs), NetLab, and
RemotElectLab, comparing them with VISIR in order to emphasize its singularity. Topics discussed are as follows: the technical
description, software, operation cycle, features, and provided services. In addition, the feedback received by students at several
universities and the encountered drawbacks along with the proposed solutions are highlighted. The paper finally addresses the
ongoing and future challenges within the VISIR community including its integration with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and
iLab Shared Architecture (ISA), its new hardware version release that is based on LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI), and its
new open platform version that supports federated access.

Index TermsComputer uses in education, computer-aided engineering, electronics, emerging technologies

1 INTRODUCTION

T HE Signal Processing Department (ASB) at Blekinge

Institute of Technology (BTH) in Sweden together with
National Instruments in the USA (as a supplier of
circuit is submitted, it is first sent to be verified, then it is
sent to be wired and measured by real instruments, and
finally, it is received by the user on her PC-screen in real
instruments) and Axiom EduTECH in Sweden (as a time [2]. VISIR allows realizing real measurement on
supplier of education, technical software, and engineering physical equipment, which is not possible to achieve using
services for noise and vibration analysis) launched the simulation software. For instance, the resistance of a 10k 
Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) Project resistor may vary due to many factors such as temperature
(http://openlabs.bth.se/electronics) at the end of 2006. and hours of utilization. Thus, its real value measured by
The project was financially supported by BTH and the VISIR is not the same as its simulated value measured by an
Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems electronic circuit simulation software such as NI Multisim
(VINNOVA).VISIR is a remote laboratory [1] for wiring and (www.ni. com/multisim/); the value measured by VISIR is
measuring electronics circuits on a breadboard remotely. 9.958k , while the value obtained by NI Multisimis 10k ,
The user designs and constructs her circuit via PC-mouse as demonstrated in Fig. 1.
on a seamlessly simulated workbench that resembles the So far, six universities have already implemented VISIR
real lab elements and components. Once the designed after Blekinge Institute of Technology: Carinthia University
of Applied Sciences and FH Campus Wien for Applied
Sciences, both in Austria; Polytechnic Institute of Porto
. M. Tawfik, E. Sancristobal, S. Martin, R. Gil, G. Diaz, A. Colmenar,
J. Peire, and M. Castro are with the Departamento de Electrica, Electronica (ISEP) in Portugal; University of Deusto and the Spanish
y Control Industrial (DIEEC), Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros University for Distance Education (UNED), both in Spain;
Industriales (ETSII), Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia
(UNED), Calle Juan del Rosal, 12, Madrid 28040, Spain. E-mail: {mtawfik,
and Madras Institute of Technology (IIT-M) in India. The
elio, smartin, rgil, gdiaz, acolmenar, jpeire, mcastro}@ieec.uned.es. following universities have shown their interest in partici-
. K. Nilsson, J. Zackrisson, L. Hakansson, and I. Gustavsson are with ING- pating in this project but they have not yet implemented it:
AET, Blekinge Institute of Technology, SE-371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden.
E-mail: {kristian.nilsson, johan.zackrisson, lars.hakansson, University of Genoa in Italy, Princess Sumaya University
ingvar.gustavsson}@bth.se. for Technology in Jordan, Gunadarma University in
Manuscript received 31 July 2011; revised 10 Mar. 2012; accepted 16 Aug. Indonesia, Institute for the Development of New Technol-
2012; published online 17 Sept. 2012. ogies (UNINOVA) in Portugal, and College of the North
For information on obtaining reprints of this article, please send e-mail to:
[email protected], and reference IEEECS Log Number TLT-2011-07-0083. Atlantica in Qatar. A Special Interest Group of VISIR
Digital Object Identifier no. 10.1109/TLT.2012.20. (SIG VISIR) was created by the International Association of
1939-1382/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE Published by the IEEE CS & ES
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 61

Fig. 2. Topology of remote labs based on DAQ for electronic circuits

measurement.
Fig. 1. Measuring a 10k  resistor using VISIR and NI Multisim.

Instrumentation (LXI), and general-purpose interface bus

Online Engineering (IAOE) (www.online-engineering.org)
(GPIB or IEEE-488.2), which could be connected to the lab
to foster the collaboration within the community and to
server in order to change the value of the circuits
support the project dissemination.
parameters remotely. This combination has allowed the
A brief description of VISIR project was earlier presented
development of a wide range of remote digital signal
by IEEE Transaction on Learning Technologies in [3]. Owing to
processing (DSP) applications, among them electronic
the remarkable results achieved in its implementation and
circuits measurements. For instance, in [8], a remote lab
deployment in undergraduate engineering education at
is developed for recording the amplitude characteristics of a
many universities [4], [5], [6], [7], as well as the widespread
T-notch filter, I/O characteristics of a diode, I/O character-
interest and the demands from researchers for further
istics of PNP, and NPN transistors, characteristic of A and B
information and description of the project, this paper was
class amplifiers, and characteristics of RC filters, and
released to accommodate these demands and to be an
measuring circuits with operational amplifiers (adder,
extension that updates the previously published one [3].
subtractor). In [9], a remote lab is developed for running
This paper compares the system with other emerging
experiments on a normal BJT common emitter amplifier
approaches and thoroughly details all the stages of the
circuit, while maintaining the possibility for the students to
project development shedding light on its hardware and
use a wide range of different setups. In [10], a remote lab is
software aspects, operation cycle, provided services, instal-
developed for measuring the characteristics of noninverting
lation, deployment experiences, drawbacks, as well as
operational amplifier, integrators and differentiators, and
ongoing and future works. This is in order to promote the
half and full wave rectifier. In [11], a remote lab is
adoption of a new learning technology in undergraduate
developed for measuring I/O characteristics of a linear
engineering education. This would pave the way for
variable differential transformer (LVDT).
researchers to incorporate and contribute in the project
Most of the aforementioned approaches are based on
development.
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 addresses measurement and monitoring of static circuits, as they only
the related works, comparing them with VISIR. Section 3 permit changing the instruments parameters of circuits.
describes the hardware components. Section 4 discusses the However, they still present a good alternative for their
software development and the operation cycle. Section 5 traditional counterparts.
outlines the main configuration keys. Section 6 reports on 2.2 RemotElectLab
the deployment feedback received from several universities RemotElectLab [12] is a remote laboratory for measuring
in general and from UNED in particular, along with the
electric and electronic circuits. It is based on the versatile
encountered shortcomings. Section 7 reports on the ongoing
design and prototyping educational integrated platform NI
and future works that aim to enhance the system, increase
ELVIS (http://www.ni.com/nielvis/) that is released by
its availability, and optimize its utilization. Finally, a
National Instruments (NI) (www.ni.com/). NI ELVIS is
conclusion is drawn in Section 8.
integrated with 12 of the most commonly used laboratory
instruments (oscilloscope, DMM, function generator, power
2 RELATED WORKS supply, dynamic signal analyzer, a bode analyzer, two- and
2.1 Remote Labs Based on Data Acquisition Card three-wire current-voltage analyzer, arbitrary waveform
(DAQ) generator, digital reader/writer, and impedance analyze).
Remote laboratories for measurement of electronic circuits All these instruments are fully controlled with LabVIEW,
could be simply built by selecting appropriate lab server and thus, are suited for remote control. In addition, a relay
software such as Matlab, LabVIEW, or other software switching matrix, of double-pole double-throw (DPDT)
written from scratch by a high-level programming lan- electromechanical relays, has been developed in order to
guage, with connection to a DAQ that retrieves and sends allow instruments to measure voltage or currents at
digital and analog signals between the lab server and the different nodes of the circuit remotely. The switching
measured circuit, Fig. 2. In addition, there are several modules are built with a double multiplexer design and
modular types of instrumentation platforms, such as PCI they can be configured as shown: 1-to-8 (possible to measure
eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI), LAN eXtensions for up to eight differential voltages or currents in an equal
62 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

number of branches) and two 1-to-4 (possible to measure up TABLE 1

to four differential voltages or currents in an equal number A Comparison between Different Types of Remote
of branches). The maximum number of switching modules Labs for Electronic Circuits Measurement
is 12. The modules selection is done by a 4-bit address bus
and an 8-bit data bus, provided by the NI ELVIS platform. A
small microcontroller is used for receiving data and
configuring the state of each relay in the module.
RemotElectLab allows instruments to measure voltage
or currents at different nodes of the circuit, and also allows
changing instruments parameters of a circuit, as well as the
components parameters of the circuit. However, it does not
provide the flexibility for entirely constructing a new
circuit online.

2.3 NetLab
NetLab (http://netlab.unisa.edu.au) [3] is a remote colla-
borative laboratory that allows electronic circuits wiring
and measurement. The instrumentation platform is based
on GPIB, which includes an oscilloscope, a function
generator, a power supply, and a digital multimeter
(DMM). The VME eXtensions for Instrumentation (VXI)
standard communication protocol is used for the internal
communication within the command module. In addition, a
1616 programmable relay switching matrix from Agilent
(www.agilent.com) is used to switch the connection
into which all the cards are plugged. For every component,
between the components and the instruments. The switch-
there are various models depending on its technical
ing matrix is connected to the server via RS-232 protocol
characteristics and there is a flexibility to choose among
and to the components via the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2 C)
them. Table 2 illustrates the components of the PXI Platform
protocol. Laboratory LabVIEW is the software used for
actually installed at UNED.
instrumentation control and the communication is based on
Virtual Instrumentation Software Architecture (VISA) 3.2 Relay Switching Matrix
(http://www.ni.com/visa/) standard. The software appli- The relay switching matrix is a stack of PCI/104
cation is written in JAVA and requires the installation of (www.pc104.org) sized boards, manufactured at BTH, that
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on the user-PC. A controls the terminals connection of the components and
webcam is included, which has its own webserver and is
the NI PXI-modules. It acts as a circuit-wiring robot and it
fully controllable by the user. A chat window is provided
is designed for low-frequency analog electric and electro-
within the software application; it displays the names of all
nic circuit experiments. It consists of two types of boards:
logged-on users, including administrators. A booking
1) instrument boards, which handle the connection of their
system is also provided within the software application.
corresponding NI PXI-module, and 2) component boards,
The available components are as follows: resistors, capaci-
which handle the connection of the components installed
tors, inductors, transformers, and programmable variable
in it. The NI PXI-chassis is connected to the relay
resistors. Other components can be easily added or
switching matrix by a USB cable and the terminals of
removed. NetLab is limited to a maximum of 16 two-lead
components, and its virtual workbench does not replicate a the NI PXI-modules are connected to it by either coaxial
real physical breadboard. cables or cords.
The unique feature of VISIR is the flexibility provided by Each board has a certain number of relays controlling
allowing wiring and measurement on a breadboard and by the connections of the terminals of the NI PXI-modules and
supporting a wide range of electronic circuit components. the components. There are common nodes that propagate
A brief comparison on the intrinsic features of the above- within all the boards of the relay switching matrix, creating
mentioned approaches and VISIR is given in Table 1. a node bus that acts as a breadboard, as shown in Fig. 3. A
However, in some cases, it may be more feasible to select peripheral interface controller (PIC18F4550) is hosted on the
other solutions, depending on the type of application. For source board and it communicates with the controller
instance, if a university already has an ELVIS platform, it (PIC16F767) of each board in order to send commands to
may be more appropriate to build RemotElectLab. the relays of that board. These commands let the relays
open or close with regard to the received design of the
desired circuit. The common nodes are divided into two
3 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION group. The first contains the nodes from A to I, and 0
3.1 PXI Platform (GND). The second contains the nodes from X1 to X6, and
The instrumentation platform of VISIR is based on PXI from COM. The ground terminals of the function generator
National Instruments. The NI PXI platform consists of and the oscilloscope are hardwired to the node 0 (GND).
instrument module cards, a controller card, and a chassis The function generator output is hardwired to the node A.
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 63

TABLE 2
PXI Platform Installed at UNED [13]

Fig. 3. The common propagating nodes within the relay switching matrix.

(SPST) relays. Thus, a relay switching matrix can contain up

to 16  10 DPST relays as maximum (or it can contain 16  6
DPST relays and 16  4 SPST relays). In addition, two 20-pin

The oscilloscope channels, as well as the DMM channels,

are dynamically connected to any node, depending on the
users circuit design. The power source connectors (0, COM,
6V; 20V; 20V, and AUX) are connected internally to the
node 0 (GND) and to the nodes of the second group (COM,
X1, X2, X3, X4), respectively, then they are connected to the
first group either by a shortcut wire or by two relay
switches, as the second group are not supported in the
current software version. The complexity of the matrix
depends on the number of nodes it has (e.g., from N nodes
we can obtain N  N  1=2 branches). The current relay
switching matrix has 10 nodes (A-I, 0), which are appro-
priate for undergraduate engineering practices [14]. The
internal interconnection of the instrument boards is
depicted in Fig. 4.
The relay switching matrix can hold up to 16 component
boards. Each component board comprises 10 sockets for
components with two leads, and each socket is connected to
a double-pole single-throw (DPST) relay. Four of these
sockets can be connected to eight single-pole single-throw Fig. 4. The internal interconnection of the instrument boards.
64 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

TABLE 3
Corresponding Board Number of Each (I2 C) Label

integrated circuit (IC) sockets for complex circuit connec-

tions are provided in each component board. Two leads
components occupy one relay, while more leads compo-
nents (e.g., an amplifier) occupy more relays. Putting the
relay switching matrix into a closed case is not recom-
mended because it should be easy to swap components and
rewire branches. However, it is very important to protect
the relay switching matrix from nonqualified persons. Fig. 5. A component board with 10 DPST.
According to the data sheet, the maximum carry current
of the relays is 2 ampere (A) and the minimum life management system (LMS) in order to facilitate the
expectancy is 3  108 operations (approximately two opera- implementation of VISIR in the learning process. The
tions per second continuously for 5 years). capabilities and limitation of these features are associated
The component list file describes all the installed with the account types. Next, the properties and the
components and instruments in the relay switching matrix privileges of each account type are presented.
to make them known to the software. There is only one
4.1.1 Administrator Account
component list per relay switching matrix and each added
component or instrument is listed in the file with regard to The administrator account is the account of the lab provider.
its value, the number of the relays on which it is mounted, VISIR can have one or more administrator account. The
administrator account has the following privileges:
the nodes to which it is connected, and the number of the
board on which it is located. The user can only build circuits . It can create contents in the user interface through
corresponding to the allowed connections in the component the WIKI markup syntax.
list file. The relays of the component boards are numbered . It can upload files, videos, manuals, etc.; this can be
as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13, respectively, i.e., done by uploading them to the webserver (Apache)
this is in the case that all the relays are DPST. In the case and linking them to the PHP code of the Page.
that the DPST relays (5, 7, 11, and 13) are replaced with . It can create update, and delete courses associated
SPST relays, the numbering will be from 1 to 14. Each board with a start and an end date, a maximum number of
has an Inter-Integrated Circuit label that corresponds to a users, and assigned teachers and/or instructor
number, as shown in Table 3. For instance, R_2_7AB 10K accounts.
represents a resistor of 10k ohms installed on the relay . It can modify or remove any user account.
number 7 of the board number 2 and connected to the nodes . In any course, the administrator account can switch
(A, B), as shown in Fig. 5. The entire connection of VISIR is to teacher view to have all the teacher privileges in
shown in Fig. 6. that course.

4 SOFTWARE AND OPERATION CYCLE

The VISIR software is an open-source that is released under
a GNU General Public License (GPL) [15]. In this section, a
step-by-step presentation of the operation cycle is shown
along with the description of the development of each
software component.

4.1 User Interface

The user interface is the frontal web page of VISIR that
handles all the administration, access, and authentication
process. It is written in the scripting language PHP
(Hypertext Preprocessor) in connection with a relational
database management system MySQL, and it is hosted in an
Apache HTTP webserver. It uses the secure protocol
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) and it pro-
vides many features similar to those provided by a learning Fig. 6. A connected VISIR system [16].
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 65

Fig. 8. Simulated workbench.

Adobe Flash and located inside the same folder of the user
interface files, which are hosted by the lab server. The user
chooses the instrument interface with which she is familiar
regardless of the model or the manufacturer of the
corresponding real instrument, as shown in Fig. 7. In this
way, it is possible to use a virtual front panel depicting an
Fig. 7. Student selects the instrument interface with which he is familiar. instrument model to control another instrument model as
long as the performance of the real instrument is equal or
4.1.2 Teacher Account better than the performance of the depicted instrument. The
The teacher account is created by the administrator and available interfaces are as follows:
associated with a certain course. It has the following . a DMM (Fluke 23),
privileges:
. a function generator (HP 33120A),
. Add and remove experiments; this is done by . an oscilloscope (Agilent 54622A),
allowing certain components to appear to the . a DC power supply (E3631A),
student in each experiment. . the default PXI-instruments interfaces from National
. Add, remove, and modify student accounts. Instruments, and
. Make a teacher scheduled reservation; the teacher . a traditional breadboard.
reserves a number of seats within an interval of time After choosing the instrument interfaces, the user starts to
so that,she can put her students in groups and assign design and wire her circuit on a simulated breadboard by
an instructor to each group. These seats are visible to clicking and dragging the simulated components and wires
the student with the teachers name. Accordingly, the with her PC-mouse, as shown in Fig. 8. Once the user gets her
student chooses her group and reserves her seat. circuit ready, with all the instrument values adjusted, and
. The teacher can switch to student view to view the clicks on the perform experiment button. The experiment
contents as seen by her students. client sends the designed circuit with all the adjustments and
the configurations to the measurement server (see the next
4.1.3 Student and Instructor Accounts
section) through the experiment protocol.
The student and instructor accounts are created by the teacher The experiment protocol is an XML-based protocol that
and are associated with a certain course. They only allow
uses either XML Socket or HTTP (the actual configuration)
access to the experiments that are created by the teacher
over the TCP/IP model to transport the requested data to
within such course. The student and the instructor, likewise,
can make a scheduled reservation separately or reserve a seat the measurement server. For instance, an experiment
belonging to the scheduled reservation of the teacher. protocol request sent by a function generator could look as
that shown in Fig. 9. The experiment protocol describes
4.1.4 Guest Account which settings and functions each instrument type can
The guest account is a public limited trial account created by perform, independent of hardware manufacturer. Thus, it is
the administrator, and it does not require registration. It can possible to select an instrument simulated interface in-
be utilized by anyone wanting to try an available experi- dependently of the manufacturer and to create new
ment prepared by the teacher assigned to that account. interfaces of instruments that do not exist in the current set.

4.2 Experiment Client 4.3 Measurement Server

The experiment client is a simulated workbench embedded The measurement server is a software application written
in the HTML code of the user interface. It is written in for Microsoft Windows in Microsoft Visual C++. Thus, the
66 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

Fig. 9. A message based on the experiment protocol to describe the

functions of a function generator.

Microsoft runtime libraries (Microsoft Visual C++ Redis-

Fig. 10. The flexibility provided by IVI standardization [3].
tributable Package) should be installed before running it. It
receives the measurement requests from the experiment
client in separate TCP sessions and through the port 2324. sessions over TCP/IP through the port 5001, and it executes
Thus, connect and disconnect are required for every request it through the connected instruments. After that, the results
made to the server. The requests/responses should not return back to the client PC-screen with the same sequence.
exceed 64 kB in size. The results are represented in the form of measurements on
The role of the measurement server can be defined in the the simulated instruments.
following steps: Most of the undergraduate electronics laboratories of all
Authentication. At each request, it verifies that the client the universities around the world have common equipment
is a valid user by validating the client cookie generated by (oscilloscopes, function generators, DMMs, DC power
the webserver with the database. supplies, and breadboards) regardless of their model and
Verification. It acts as a virtual instructor. It compares manufacturer. The current VISIR supports PXI; however,
the received circuit data with the max lists before sending other universities would like to use another platform such
it to be executed on the real instruments, to avoid hazardous as LXI or GPIB. To enable interchangeability between
circuits or any damage that may be caused to the real workbenches and different grid nodes (different universi-
instruments. A max list is a file created by the teacher to ties), VISIR recommends the functions and attributes
define the permitted values of the components and the defined by the IVI Foundation to be used to describe the
instruments in a certain experiment. This enables the base class capabilities and the class extension capabilities of
teacher to be the sole person responsible for any damage. the lab hardware. In fact, all the instrument drivers installed
The max lists of all the available experiments are inserted in the equipment server are Interchangeable Virtual Instru-
inside the folder of the measurement server software. The ments (IVI) compliant. Accordingly, it is possible to create a
max list of an experiment determines which connections the standardized approach, as described in Fig. 10, which is
experiment is permitted to have. For instance, if the max list easy to adopt. The base capabilities of an IVI-complaint
states that the anode of the power supply is connected to the instrument are the functions of its class that are common to
node A while the cathode is connected to GND, the user most of the instruments available in the class. For instance,
would receive an error if she connects the anode to GND. for an oscilloscope the base capabilities mean edge trigger-
Queuing. It can handle requests from 16 simultaneous ing only but other triggering methods are defined as
clients in less than a second (1/16 second is the maximum extension capabilities. The functions supported by the
time for each request) by queuing all the simultaneous VISIR oscilloscope are listed in Table 4. The goal of the
requests and performing them sequentially with regard to IVI Foundation (www.ivifoundation.org) is to support
the priority, reservation, and so on. 95 percent of the instruments in a particular class. The
Proxy Server. After validating and queuing the requests, Virtual Instrument System Architecture (VISA) standard is
it starts to send the requests sequentially in separate TCP accepted too, but the instrument functions should be those
sessions over TCP/IP through the port 5001 to the defined by the IVI standard.
equipment server (see the next section). The measure- The component list file of the relay matrix is inserted
ment server acts as a gateway and could serve more than inside the equipment server software folder to define the
one equipment server. available components to the software. The whole operation
cycle can be summarized, as shown in Fig. 11.
4.4 Equipment Server
The equipment server consists of the PXI platform and the
relay switching matrix. The equipment server software is 5 INSTALLATION AND START-UP
installed in the NI PXI-controller (or in a separate PC In this section, the key configurations of VISIR implementa-
instead). It is a software application for instrumentation tion and adoption are highlighted. However, a step-by-step
control developed by LabVIEW. The equipment server installation manual (VISIR Installation and Start-up Guide)
software receives validated sequential experiment protocol from the project released documents is available and
requests from the measurement server in separate TCP distributed within the SIG VISIR mailing list. Moreover, a
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 67

TABLE 4 measurement server, the log level, and the database

Base and Extension Capabilities of an Oscilloscope connections. The config.php file adapts the user interface
source on the local hosting machine characteristics (boot-
strapping), and it must be modified to be directing to the
accurate directories and root paths of the local machine. The
config.xml file adjusts the experiment client setting and
connection with the measurement server. The Library.xml
file contains all the available simulated components in the
experiment client,and defines the characteristics of each of
them (number of pins, image, rotation, etc.), and it must be
updated with the available components in the component
list in order to appear to the user.

6 DEPLOYMENT FEEDBACKS AND THE

ENCOUNTERED DRAWBACKS
VISIR has been successfully implemented and deployed in
the undergraduate engineering practices at ISEP, University
of Deusto, and UNED [7]. The overall results were
wiki page is assigned for the installation and the software
satisfactory. Several electronic circuits practices have been
development is available at http://svn.openlabs.bth.se/trac.
carried out by VISIR without any inconvenient. These
The user interface uses HTTPS, which receives HTTP over
practices include
an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to provide a
secured and protected communication. Thus, the HTTPS . Half-wave rectifier with and without a filter.
virtual host must be properly configured and enabled on the . Inverter and noninverter operational amplifier.
Apache server. The NI drivers of the PXI devices and the . Regulator with zener diode.
relay switching matrix must be defined and should appear in . Common emitter and common collector BJT.
the Measurement and Automation Explorer of the Lab- At ISEP, VISIR has been deployed in a course of more
VIEW platform. The relay switching matrix driver is an .ini than 270 students enrolled without many irregularities. The
file that is distributed with the matrix. The EquipmentSer- students stated that they did not feel that it helped with
ver.vi file is used to configure the instruments slots in the NI their motivation but that they would like to extend its
PXI-chassis, the communication port of the equipment utilization to other subjects. They also felt that a formal
server, and the component types. The measure server.conf tutorial could have been helpful. At University of Deusto,
file is used to configure the communication ports of the VISIR was accepted among the students as a useful tool for

Fig. 11. The overall operation cycle of VISIR [17].

68 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

TABLE 5
Survey on VISIR Deployment at UNED (2010/2011)

Fig. 12. An amplifier circuit that requires two AC source and DC sources.

students to gain more efficient experimentation skills during

their first electronics practices. At the end of the course, a
survey was conducted among all the enrolled students
(64 students) in that subject. The survey encompassed
questions in terms of learning outcomes, sense of reality,
and performance. The survey results are shown in Table 5.
practical sessions; the students who had used it gained As shown in the table, the performance of the system is
more self-confidence when they started using the real lab, notably high. The sense of reality could be betterthis may
even though, their first time was through a remote lab. On owe to the lack of live view (webcam) of the equipment,
the other hand, the students considered it as a support tool, since in VISIR student only see the simulated workbench
not a total substitution for real labs. even though she is manipulating a real onebut it is still
At UNED, during the academic year 2009/2010, the relatively high for being a remote laboratory. In general
students of the subject Electronic Circuits and Compo- terms, VISIR was definitely feasible and students enjoyed
nents, a first-year subject of the Technical Industrial the experience and gained a higher motivation for learning.
Engineering career in Spain, used the VISIR installed at On the other hand, much feedback has been gathered
University of Deusto, thanks to an agreement between both from administrators and teachers, from universities within
universities. The goal was to evaluate the system perfor- the VISIR community, who have been working with VISIR.
mance and to check its accuracy and sustain ability when it In addition to the common positive perception, some
comes to real-time deployment. About 40 enrolled students drawbacks and limits have been addressed, which are
were using the VISIR of Deusto during two entire days reviewed in the following points:
without any problems or inconvenience. The students could Lack of assessment and evaluation. VISIR does not
repeat their experiments varying the values all the time they provide a tracking service. Thus, the teacher cannot assess
needed during the two days. In other words, the results students work. The system provides a strong scheme of
were very satisfactory and the system was proven to be security to avoid hazard circuits but it does not allow
sustainable. Many of these students stated that they would the student design to be assessed afterward by the teacher.
like to use VISIR for electronic circuit practices of other The system registers only the student login, which is not
subjects. Many students also stated that it would be better to sufficient to evaluate student work. A solution to this
use VISIR to make the first approach toward the instruments problem is to integrate VISIR with an LMS, which is will be
and, afterward, repeat the same practices in the real discussed in the next section.
laboratory. Owing to this positive perception, the Electrical Limitation of the relay switching matrix. As mentioned
earlier, the relay switching matrix is limited to 16
and Computer Engineering Department at UNED decided
component boards, and it is only developed at BTH (it is
to install its own VISIR for the undergraduate electronic
not commercially available). This has reduced the flexibility
circuits practices. The department installed a VISIR in
of VISIR and has hindered its deployment in many subjects,
December of 2010. The system was in operation starting limiting its utilization to a certain ongoing course, since the
from the academic year 2010/2011 and was used as a practices of each course would require a different compo-
mandatory pre-laboratory work for students of the subject, nent design on the relay switching matrix. A solution to this
Foundations on Electronic Engineeringa subject within problem is to substitute the current relay switching matrix
the new Electronic Engineering grade of Bologna that was with a commercial one, which is will be discussed in the
recently applied in Spain. The goal was to use VISIR to take next section.
the first approach to the instruments and the typical ways of Limitation of the instruments. VISIR comprises most of
work in a real electronics laboratory. Afterward, the the instruments used for undergraduate electronic circuit
students would repeat the same practices in the real practices. However, some circuits require two prototypes
laboratory at the department. This procedure allowed the of a single instrument. For instance, Fig. 12 shows an
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 69

efficient management framework that can support admin-

istration and access to a wide variety of online laboratories
at multiple institutions independently of their developed
platform. It is a pioneer architecture that provides admin-
istration, access, and sharing of heterogeneous remote
laboratories among institutions. The System Engineering
Department at Carinthia University of Applied Science is
currently working on integrating VISIR into ISA framework
[23], [24] to take the advantages of ISA. This integration will
allow sharing of VISIR with a high load capacity in an
efficient way.

Fig. 13. VISIR-LXI instrumentation [13]. 7.3 Integration with LMS

UNED is the second largest distance learning university in
amplifier circuit with two AC and DC sources, which Europe after the Open University of United Kingdom with
could not be constructed by VISIR. The solution to this 205,931 [25] enrolled students. LMS is the main tool
problem is to increase the capacity of VISIR by adding implemented at UNED in the learning process to provide
several PXI modules, which means an increase in cost. In online classrooms education. WebCT (www.blackboard.
addition, the entire software code must be modified and com) and dotLRN (www.openacs.org) are the actual
rewritten in order to include the extra instruments in the implemented LMSs. However, the provision of practical
virtual workbench. laboratory sessions online under a feasible implementation
[26] is still being a major concern of the university. With the
7 CHALLENGES AND FUTURE WORKS advent of remote laboratory technologies, the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department (DIEEC) at UNED has
Further developments are being done within the commu-
embarked on researching into e-learning technologies [27],
nity to enhance the VISIR architecture and to allow a better
[28], [29], [30] and into the possibilities of integrating remote
implementation in engineering education. Next, a brief
laboratories within LMSs [31] to afford the provision of
discussion on each initiative is presented.
practical knowledge online. In addition, this integration will
7.1 VISIR LXI introduce services that are not provided by VISIR such as
As mentioned earlier, VISIR provides the flexibility to user track on and assessment.
choose another platform technology based on IVI drivers. Currently, the department is researching the integration
Thus, a new VISIR system based on LXI platform is being of the common services provided by the VISIR interface
developed at University of Deusto [18]. All the instrumen- with those provided by LMSs. A similar approach has been
tation is from Agilent, as shown in Fig. 13. It consists of a realized at ISEP [32] in order to provide a common access to
power supply (N5746A), an oscilloscope (DSO5012A), VISIR through an open source LMS, known as Moodle.
a signal generator (33220A), a DMM (34410A), and a switch However, in such an approach, users will be required to
(34980A) equipped with two dual 4  16 matrixes (34932A) enter their login credentials in order to be directed to the
that replace the current proprietary relay switching matrix. related experiment. Thus, it does not provide a complete
To reduce the number of components in complex circuits, a integration in the way that the user could access to VISIR
single component can be placed in multiple nodes. A through the LMS with a single sign-on and every account
standard Ethernet connection is applied between the server type in the LMS (teacher, student, administrator, etc.)
and the instruments with a specific IP address for each would have the same privileges of its equivalent account
instrument to identify it. The aim is to reduce the cost of the type in VISIR interface. This would allow the utilization of
PXI platform and the proprietary relay switching matrix, the services provided by LMSs, such as synchronous and
and to increase the system flexibility. Moreover, this asynchronous communication tools, and user assessment
architecture will allow wrapping the system in WebLab- [33], along with the lab work to create a rich integral online
Deusto [19]. educational platform.
The drawbacks of this solution are that it allows only
7.4 VISIR Open Lab Platform 5.0
circuits with single polarization (because the chosen power
supply does not provide negative voltage), it is limited by As mentioned earlier, mounting components on the relay
52 components of two leads, the maximum allowed switching matrix is limited due to the limited number of
frequency is 30 MHz, and finally, owing to the delayed nodes and component boards. However, the project
time response, it could be less scalable. founders proposed a brilliant solution that aims to inter-
connect all VISIR systems, installed at all the universities
7.2 Integration with iLab and institutions within the community, with each other in
The iLab project (http://ilab.mit.edu/wiki) [20], [21], [22], order to create a grid laboratory shared and accessed by all
developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the participants. This would allow expanding the applica-
(MIT), provides a middleware infrastructure based on web tion range; each university could install certain circuits on
services and developed by Microsoft .NET technology, its own VISIR and utilize another type of circuits installed
known as iLab Shared Architecture (ISA). ISA provides an on a VISIR of other universities and vice versa [3].
70 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

The next version of the VISIR open lab platform (5.0) will [4] G.R. Alves et al., Using VISIR in a Large Undergraduate Course:
Preliminary Assessment Results, Proc. IEEE Global Eng. Education
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sharing learning resources. Members of this cloud will be Undergraduate Course: Initial Findings, Proc. IEEE/ASEE Fron-
the VISIR community partners and they should contribute tiers in Education Conf. (FIE), pp. S4G-1-S4G-7, 2011.
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[9] D.A.H. Samuelsen and O.H. Graven, Low Cost Implementation
VISIR has proven to be an outstanding learning technology of Remote Lab with Large Number of Configurations for a BJT
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deployed at several universities in undergraduate engineer- [10] A. Taneja, A. Kushwah, A. Gupta, and V.B. Vats, TeleLab-A
ing practices with satisfactory results either relying on it Remote Monitoring and Control System, Intl J. Online Eng.,
totally or using it partially along with the hands-on vol. 3, 2007.
[11] R.J. Costa and G.R. Alves, Experimenting through the Web a
practices. In this paper, a wide overview on the system Linear Variable Differential Transformer, Intl J. Online Eng.,
construction and functionality has been provided. This vol. 2, Mar. 2006.
paper has discussed all the features provided by VISIR for [12] N. Sousa, G.R. Alves, and M.G. Gericota, An Integrated Reusable
its implementation and deployment in engineering educa- Remote Laboratory to Complement Electronics Teaching, IEEE
tion along with feedback from the universities that had Trans. Learning Technologies, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 265-271, July 2010.
[13] M. Tawfik et al., A New Node in the VISIR Community, Remote
deployed it in their learning curricula. This paper has also Eng. and Virtual Instrumentation, pp. 16-22, 2011.
discussed the limitations and drawbacks of VISIR and has [14] I. Gustavsson et al., Telemanipulator for Remote Wiring of
addressed the ongoing and future works carried out within Electrical Circuits, Remote Eng. and Virtual Instrumentaion, 2008.
the VISIR community in order to overcome the mentioned [15] J. Zackrisson, I. Gustavsson, and L. Hakansson, An Overview of
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further concerns are being discussed within the community
[16] M. Tawfik et al., Towards a Better Deployment of Remote
to extend its support capacity, scalability, and its applica- Laboratories in Undergraduate Engineering Education, Using
tion range to include other types of circuits, e.g., logic Remote Labs in Education: Two Little Ducks in Remote Experimenta-
circuits. VISIR, indeed, is a step forward toward a new tion, J.G. Zuba and G.R. Alves, eds., Univ. of Deusto, 2011.
generation of captivating learning technologies that can be [17] M. Tawfik et al., VISIR: Experiences and Challenges, Intl J.
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[18] U. Hernandez-Jayo and J. Garca-Zuba, A Remote and Reconfi-
gurable Analog Electronics Laboratory Based on IVI an LXI
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2011.
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the [19] J. Garcia-Zubia, P. Orduna, D. Lopez-de-Ipina, and G.R. Alves,
Addressing Software Impact in the Design of Remote Labora-
following projects: e-Madrid (S2009/TIC-1650), RIPLECS tories, IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 4757-
(517836-LLP-1-2011-1-ES-ERASMUS-ESMO), PAC (517742- 4767, Dec. 2009.
LLP-1-2011-1-BG-ERASMUS-ECUE), EMTM (2011-1-PL1- [20] V.J. Harward et al., The iLab Shared Architecture: A Web
LEO05-19883), and the US National Science Foundation Services Infrastructure to Build Communities of Internet Acces-
sible Laboratories, Proc. IEEE, vol. 96, no. 6, pp. 931-950, June
(NSF) Catalyzing New International Collaborations propo- 2008.
sal Building an Ecology of Online Laboratories. As well, [21] J.L. Hardison, K. DeLong, P.H. Bailey, and V.J. Harward,
they would like to acknowledge the support of the Spanish Deploying Interactive Remote Labs Using the iLab Shared
Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness for the granted Architecture," Proc. IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education Conf. (FIE),
pp. S2A-1-S2A-6, 2008.
6-month Visiting Researcher position to Mr. Tawfik at [22] D. Lowe, S. Murray, E. Lindsay, and L. Dikai, Evolving Remote
University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) within the project Laboratory Architectures to Leverage Emerging Internet Technol-
s-Labs (TIN2008-06083-C03-01). As well, they would like to ogies, IEEE Trans. Learning Technologies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 289-294,
acknowledge the support of the VISIR Community and the Oct.-Dec. 2009.
[23] D.G. Zutin and M.E. Auer, Work in Progress: Integrating
Global Online Laboratory Consortium (GOLC). Educational Online Lab Platforms around the iLab Shared
Architecture," Proc. IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education Conf. (FIE),
pp. F1G-1-F1G-3, 2011.
REFERENCES [24] D.G. Zutin, M.E. Auer, and I. Gustavsson, A VISIR Lab Server for
[1] M. Tawfik et al., On the Design of Remote Laboratories, Proc. the iLab Shared Architecture, Proc. IEEE Global Eng. Education
IEEE Global Eng. Education Conf. (EDUCON), pp. 1-6, 2012. Conf. (EDUCON), pp. 30-33, 2011.
[2] M. Tawfik et al., Design of Practical Activities in Electronics [25] Spanish Univ. for Distance Education (UNED): Statistics, http://
Using VISIR Remote Laboratories, Proc. Seventh Intl Conf. Eng. portal.uned.es/portal/page?_pageid=93,510355,93_20540449&_
and Computer Education (ICECE 11), 2011. dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL, 2012.
[3] I. Gustavsson et al., On Objectives of Instructional Laboratories, [26] E.G. Guimaraes, E. Cardozo, D.H. Moraes, and P.R. Coelho,
Individual Assessment, and Use of Collaborative Remote Labora- Design and Implementation Issues for Modern Remote Labora-
tories, IEEE Trans. Learning Technologies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 263-274, tories, IEEE Trans. Learning Technologies, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 149-161,
Oct.-Dec. 2009. Apr.-June 2011.
TAWFIK ET AL.: VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS IN REALITY (VISIR) FOR REMOTE WIRING AND MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRONIC... 71

[27] R. Gil et al., Applications and Security in the Practical Rosario Gil received the bachelors and mas-
Competitiveness Implementation within Learning Environ- ters degrees in telecommunication engineering
ments, ARBOR Ciencia, Pensamiento y Cultura, vol. 187, Dec. 2011. from the Alcala de Henares University, Madrid,
[28] E. Sancristobal et al., Remote Labs as Learning Services in the and the PhD degree in industrial engineering
Educational Arena, Proc. IEEE Global Eng. Education Conf. from the Spanish University for Distance Educa-
(EDUCON), pp. 1189-1194, 2011. tion (UNED). She received a grant in the
[29] M. Tauste et al., Implementation of a Remote Laboratory for Electrical and Computer Engineering Depart-
Practices in FPGAs Programmable Logic Devices, Proc. First ment of UNED in 2005, and has been an
Experiment@Intl Conf. Remote and Virtual Labs (exp.at 11), 2011. assistant professor since December 2010. Her
[30] M. Castro et al., Servicios para Plataformas Educativas: Labor- research interests include the integration of
atorios y Aplicaciones, Proc. Ninth Congreso de Tecnologas different biometric techniques in educational environment by providing
Aplicadas a la Ensenanza de la Electronica (TAEE 10), 2010. them with security and access control. She is a member of the IEEE.
[31] E. Sancristobal et al., Integration View of Web Labs and Learning
Management Systems, Proc. IEEE Global Eng. Education Conf. Gabriel Diaz received the PhD degree in
(EDUCON), pp. 1409-1417, 2010. physics. He is a professor in the Electrical and
[32] G.R. Alves et al., Using VISIR in a Large Undergraduate Course: Computer Engineering Department at the Span-
Preliminary Assessment Results, Intl J. Eng. Pedagogy, vol. 1, ish University for Distance Education. His
pp. 12-19, 2011. research interests include the different ap-
[33] M. Amelung, K. Krieger, and D. Rosner, E-Assessment as a proaches for getting the best of ICT technologies
Service, IEEE Trans. Learning Technologies, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 162- applied to different kinds of security and electro-
174, Apr.-June 2011. nics learning for higher education at universities
[34] I. Gustavsson et al., The VISIR Open Lab Platform 5.0An and also security measurement and metrics, and
Architecture for a Federation of Remote Laboratories, Remote security for process control systems. He was
Eng. and Virtual Instrumentation, pp. 284-288, 2011. awarded the 2007 Chapter Achievement Award and the 2011 Best
Large Chapter Award of the IEEE Region 8. He is a senior member of
Mohamed Tawfik received the BSc degree in the IEEE and vice-chair Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Education Society.
electrical engineering from the Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt, and the MSc degree Antonio Colmenar received the doctoral de-
in electrical and electronics engineering from the gree and bachelors degree in industrial en-
Spanish University for Distance Education gineering, in the field of Automatic and
(UNED), Madrid, Spain, in 2008 and 2011, Electronic, from UNED (National University for
respectively. He is a visitor researcher at the Distance Education). He also received the
Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of associates degree in electronic, regulation and
Technology, Sydney, Australia, as well as a automatisms from the University of Valladolid.
research associate in the Electrical and Compu- Currently, he is a permanent lecturer in the
ter Engineering Department at UNED. He is an author/coauthor of more electric engineering area of the Department of
than 25 publications, including conference papers, book chapters, and Electric and Electronic and Control in UNED. He
journal articles on remote laboratories. He is collaborating on several has been Associated Professor both in the Department of Electronic
researching projects, among them the US National Science Foundation Technology at Alcala de Henares University and the Department of
Catalyzing New International Collaborations proposal Building an Electric and Electronic and Control at UNED.
Ecology of Online Laboratories. He has been a member of the IEEE
since 2009. Juan Peire received the MSc degree from the
Polytechnic University of Madrid in industrial
Elio Sancristobal received the BSc degree in engineering in 1976, and the PhD degree from
computer science from the Salamanca Pontifi- the same institution, and the MSc degree in law
cal University, Madrid, in 2002 and the PhD from the Complutense University of Madrid in
degree from the Electrical and Computer 1997. He works as a researcher, coordinator,
Engineering Department at the Spanish Uni- and director of different projects at national and
versity for Distance Education (UNED) in 2010. international levels. He has worked at the DLR
He has worked at UNED in the University in Cologne, at the University of Oviedo, at the
Distance Education Institute, in the Computer University of Cantabria, and at the International
Science Service Centre, and as an assistant Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkley. He
professor in the Electrical and Computer is currently a professor of electronics technology at the Spanish
Engineering Department. He is a member of the IEEE. University for Distance Education. He has published different technical,
research, and teaching books and articles for journals and confer-
Sergio Martin received the PhD degree in ences. He has also directed radio, TV, and multimedia programs. He
computer engineering. He has been an assis- was an associated editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial
tant professor and a researcher in the Electrical Electronics. He was once a member of the Technological Committee
and Computer Engineering Department at the of the Industrial Electronics Society. He was the chairman of several
Spanish University for Distance Education IEEE International Congresses. He has led about 11 R&D European
since 2006. Since 2002, he has participated Research projects, mostly in ICT applied to education. He served as a
in national and international research projects. research head in more than 20 international projects and has authored
He is a member of the IEEE, the IEEE 10 books, one of them published in the United States. He is an author
Computer Society, and the IEEE Education of more than 100 international and 50 national publications. He is a
Society. He is also a board member of the senior member of the IEEE.
IEEE Technology Management Council of Spain and the Spanish
Chapter of the IEEE Education Society, which has been awarded the
2011 Best Large Chapter Award of the IEEE Region 8.
72 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 6, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2013

Manuel Castro received the industrial engineer- Johan Zackrisson has been working as a
ing degree and the PhD degree in engineering research engineer in the Department of Signal
from the ETSII/Madrid Polytechnic University, Processing at the Blekinge Institute of Technol-
Spain. He works as a researcher, coordinator, ogy since 2003. He has been involved in
and director in different projects, ranging from developing remote laboratories in the fields of
systems applications of simulation techniques, electronics, vibration analysis, antenna theory,
solar system, and advanced microprocessor and security and is now the manager of the
system simulation to telematics and distance laboratories.
learning applications and systems, as well as
computer-aided electrical engineering (CAEE),
acting now as a senior technical director. He is now with the Spanish
University for Distance Education (UNED) as a professor of Electronics
Technology inside the Electrical and Computer Engineering Depart- Lars Hakansson received the MSc degree in
ment. He was previously UNEDs New Technologies vice-rector, signal and telecommunication theory and the
UNEDs Information Services Center director, research, and doctorate PhD degree in mechanical engineering from
vice-director, Academic Affairs vice-director of the Engineering School Lund University of Technology, Sweden, in 1989
at UNED as well as the director of the Department. He worked for 5 and 1999, respectively. He was appointed as a
years in Digital Equipment Corporation as senior system engineer. He senior lecturer in electrical engineering in 1999
publishes different technical, research, and teaching books and articles and as an associate professor in electrical
for journals and conferences as well as multimedia materials and radio engineering with an emphasis on active noise
and TV programs. He belongs to the organizing committee of IEEE and vibration control in 2005 at the Blekinge
EDUCON, IEEE FIE (International and Europe Chair, 2000-2006), ISES, Institute of Technology. His current research
TAEE, and SAAEI conferences as well as program and planning interests include noise and vibration control, adaptive signal processing,
committees member and reviewer and chairman of several committees. automatic control, and signal and vibration analysis.
He is co-chair of the conference EDUCON 2010, TAEE 2010, and
ICECE 2005. He is a co-chair of the 2014 Frontiers in Education Ingvar Gustavsson received the MSEE and
Conference to be organized in Madrid, Spain, by the IEEE and the DrSc degrees from the Royal Institute of
ASEE. He is co-editor of IEEE-RITA and of the Electronic Journal of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, in 1967 and
Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Education Society. He has received the 1974, respectively. After completing the military
Extraordinary Doctoral Award in the UPM and the Viesgo 1988 Award to service in 1968, he worked as a development
the Doctoral Thesis improving the Scientific Research about the engineer at Jungner Instrument AB in Stock-
Industrial Process Electricity Application, as well as the 1997 and holm. In 1970, he joined the computer vision
1999 UNEDs Social Council Award for the Best Didactic Materials in project SYDAT at the Instrumentation Labora-
Experimental Sciences and the 2001 Award for the Innovative tory, KTH. In 1982, he was appointed the head
Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology from the Center for of the Instrumentation Laboratory. Together with
the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. He has been awarded the another research scientist, he founded a private company providing
IEEE EDUCON 2011 Meritorious Service Award (jointly with Edmundo automatic inspection systems for industrial customers in 1983. In 1994,
Tovar), of the EDUCON 2011 conference; the 2010 Distinguished he returned to the academic world to take up his current position as an
Member Award of the IEEE Education Society; the 2009 Edwin C. associate professor of electronics and measurement technology at the
Jones, Jr. Meritorious Service Award of the IEEE Education Society; the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Sweden. His research interests
2006 Distinguished Chapter Leadership Award and for the collective include the areas of instrumentation, remote labs, industrial electronics,
work inside the Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Education Society; and distance learning. He is a co-chair of the scientific advisory board of
the 2011 Best Chapter Award (by the IEEE Region 8); and the 2007 the International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE) as well as a
Chapter Achievement Award (by the IEEE Education Society). He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Online
vice-president of the Board of the Spanish International Solar Energy Engineering. He is a member of the IEEE.
Society (ISES). He is a fellow member of the IEEE (for contributions to
distance learning in electrical and computer engineering education) and
member of the Administration Committee (AdCOM) (2005-2012) of the
IEEE Education Society and vice-president (2011-2012) of the IEEE
Education Society; founder and past-chairman (2004-2006) of the
Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Education Society, and chair of the IEEE
Spain Section (2010-2011).

Kristian Nilsson received the MSEE degree

from the Blekinge Institute of Technology,
Ronneby, Sweden, in 2007, where he is
currently working with the VISIR Open Labora-
tory Platform. His research interests include
distance learning, remote labs, electronics, and
signal processing.