The Internet-Based Laboratory “Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Electronics” as an Example of a Modern Remotely Accessible Educational Package for Obtaining Open Engineering Education

Abstract

The article discusses matters concerned with developing an automated remotely accessed laboratory training workshop with the use of modern information and communication technologies. The experience gained at foreign (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the United States; the University of Technology, Sydney, UTS, Australia; and others) and Russian (the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow; the Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk) universities in this field is analyzed. In particular, the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI) has long been developing and applying automated laboratory training workshops. MPEI specialists took part in drawing up the national industry standard that describes the requirements for such equipment. The constantly widening use of information technologies in the modern society entails significant changes in the means and methods for training specialists in the field of engineering and technology. It is shown that single sets of equipment can be developed and efficiently used for arranging a large number of labs within the framework of intramural, extramural, and distance education. Access to such sets is available round-the-clock through a computer network. For getting access to the sets, a student only needs to have a connection to the Internet. The article presents the structure of the remotely accessible automated education laboratory workshop. The features of the accomplished development are pointed out. The constructed laboratory equipment is briefly described. It is shown that, with the present level achieved in the development of telecommunication technologies, a shift can be made from producing many copies of the software installed on each user workstation to creating software systems made in the form of web applications. This approach was also used by the authors in creating software for serving remote users of the laboratory package. This software can run on different platforms. The structure of the software and its brief description are given. It is shown that computer simulation of the studied objects is a necessary component of the laboratory package. As a rule, proprietary software systems have the greatest capabilities. Unfortunately, their use in systems for mass education is difficult from both the financial and organizational points of view. For this reason, the considered computer-based package is supplemented with a remote computer simulation subsystem. An example of implementing and applying the described development is given.