Virtual Control Units in Remote Labs

Abstract

Enforced by current results of research in the field of the Internet of Things, working with virtual models has taken a significant step forward. To use such technologies in interactive collaborative and blended learning scenarios, virtual, remote and hybrid online labs has a long tradition in the engineering education process. In virtual or hybrid labs, parts of the experiments take place not on real, but on virtual instruments. In the paper, we present virtual design tools, used in a hybrid online lab that supports a course in designing combinational and sequential logic for control systems. We describe a new integrated hardware-oriented design tool called BEAST (Block-diagram Editing And Simulation Tool) supporting a circuit-oriented design process and works as virtual control unit in a hybrid online lab. We also discuss in which learning scenarios virtual control units have proven themselves.