SIGNAL SWITCHING MATRICES FOR REMOTE LABORATORIES - EXISTING SOLUTIONS AND A NOVEL APPROACH USING FPGA TECHNOLOGY

摘要

The concept of software controlled flexible hardware interconnections in the field of remote laboratory systems is introduced in this paper. Existing solutions for this problem are reviewed and a novel approach using FPGA technology is proposed. The FPGA implementation method is described in details and compared to the existing solutions in terms of implementation costs, surface requirements, universality, and feasibility. It is shown that the novel approach using FPGA technology for the implementation of software controlled hardware interconnections stands as the most desirable solution for this purpose.