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Motivation Professors teaching science and technology disciplines such as engineering are commonly faced with the task of combining theory and practice lectures. Theoretical foundations are essential for the student to know the problem at hand. Laboratory sessions are also essential for the student to experiment and understand the relation between theory and practice. Although it is widely recognized that both parts are needed for successful learning, in engineering education they rarely occur at the same time as theory is lectured inside the classroom and practice is carried out inside a laboratory. Mobile technology becomes handy to help bringing experimentation inside the classroom. Using mobile technology, a professor could teach a theory class and interactively monitor and control an experiment that takes place somewhere else. Furthermore, the use of a communication network could allow several students to monitor and/or control the machine at the same time.
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Implementation in the laboratory In order to be able to monitor and control an experiment that takes place away from the classroom, it is necessary to design a system that allows professor and students to interact with the machine that is carrying it out. Two main challenges are at hand. First, the machine must be instrumented so it can send and receive data that shows its current state and makes it possible to modify it. Second, it should be possible for different students to see different outputs independently, so they keep real interest in the experiment. A third challenge arises when a laboratory that is moving -for example an instrumented car- is considered. To solve the communications difficulties, an Internet server working as and intermediate layer was implemented. The server controls flow of data from the experiment to the classroom and the control instructions from the classroom to the experiment. This makes it possible for just one person to control the experiment but for several to view independently the information being generated from the experiment. The layout of the system is shown in Figure 1 considering the most challenging case of an instrumented vehicle, a truly mobile laboratory.
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Figure 1. General layout of the system.
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Implementation in the classroom In order make the implementation as easy as possible, it was decided to visualize the information generated by the experiment, either in form of text, plots or videos, using a standard web browser. The same holds true for controlling the experiment as the interface was also web-brower based. Two solutions were tried. First, National Instruments' LabVIEW was used due to the easiness in which controls and visualization windows can be implemented. Second, a Java interface was developed as an alternative to make the platform open, easy to modify and improve, and less costly. Figure 2 shows a visualization and control window implemented in LabVIEW running in a Tablet PC and a plot being visualized using an iPAQ.
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Figure 2. Visualization and control GUI using a web browser.
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Impact on Teaching Many benefits come from a virtual laboratories network. The two most important are that the relation between theory and practice could be taught naturally and interactively and that the interest of students in theoretical foundations increases as they see its benefits from the practical point of view. Success in the implementation of the virtual laboratory network will be quantified initially using the following measures: number of classes taking advantage of a virtual laboratory and number of benefited students.
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Impact on Student Learning Until now, professors had no real option than to teach theory in the classroom and practice in the laboratory. As theory and practice are separated, students have difficulty in relating one with the other. In addition, by the time the students have a chance to practice, most have forgotten theory. Today, mobile technology has helped to bring experimentation inside the classroom, especially when experimentation is carried out in large machines such as a vehicle or a CNC lathe. The virtual laboratory network is starting to allow students to relate metal-cutting concepts with a real operation, as they control and monitor a machine that is in another campus of the university. For example, students have now the opportunity to see for themselves how different turning parameters, such as velocity or advance, impact the cutting force. As a result, students not only understand better and quicker the different concepts, but show a genuine interest in the manufacturing process. In the future, it is hoped that this experience becomes commonplace across the different engineering disciplines and courses, especially during the basic physics courses when it is more difficult for the student to relate theory to real engineering practice. Another important impact on learning has been the development of the project itself. Twenty undergraduate students from mechatronics, mechanical, electronics and computer engineering have worked together to develop all the necessary hardware and software to make the Virtual Laboratory Network project a reality. As a result, four different works have been published.
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Figure 3. Monitoring a CNC process.
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Although Tecnologico de Monterrey has been recognized in the past for its use of technology to enhance and promote learning, the Mobile Computing for Virtual Laboratories project has arisen genuine interest in faculty and students alike. Prof. Juan de Dios Calderon, specialist in metal-cutting processes remarks that "to be able to show the students how forces change as the cutting parameters are modified greatly increases the understanding and interest in the phenomenon." Prof. Jose I. Huertas, specialist in vehicle performance adds: "the opportunity to show in the classroom how to evaluate a vehicle's performance using a car that is being driven outside the campus is really appealing."
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Quick Facts Dept: Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Courses Impacted: Manufacturing engineering, Tool manufacturing, Automotive engineering and Principles of combustion. # Students Impacted: around 100 so far. # Students working developing the project: 20 # Faculty Involved: 3 principal investigators and 2 professors. This project is funded in part by a 2005 HP Technology for Teaching grant.
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Contact Us Jose Carlos Miranda, School of Engineering and Architecture, jmiranda@itesm.mx Jesus Gutierrez, Computer Science Department, jesus.gutierrez@itesm.mx Gerardo Alducin, Mechanical Engineering Department, gerardo.alducin@itesm.mx http://cima.tol.itesm.mx/hp
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Publications Monroy, V., Calderon, J.D., Miranda, J.C. & Gutierrez, E. (2005) Taking the Lab into the classroom: using mobile technology to monitor and receive data from CNC Machines. CIMEC 2005 and 3rd SME Int. Conf. on Manufacturing Education. San Luis Obispo, Cal. Talledo-Vilela, J.P. & Miranda-Valenzuela, J.C. (2005) Design of a Multiple-point wireless remote data acquisition sytem for mobile applications. 5th Int. Workshop on Design of Reliable Communications Networks. Island of Ischia, Italy. Gomez, M., Miranda, J.A. & Gutierrez, J. (2006) Design and development of application software systems for acquisition and storage of local and remote data for mobile applications using TCP/IP protocols and GPS/GPRS services. To be presented at the 16th Int. Conf. on Electronics, Communications and Computers. Puebla, Mexico. Camacho, G., Alducin, G., Gutierrez, J. & Miranda, J.C. (2006) Software development for local data transfer for mobile applications using GPS and GPRS technology. To be presented at the 16th Int. Conf. on Electronics, Communications and Computers. Puebla, Mexico.
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