ENGINEERING LABORATORY ENHANCEMENT THROUGH CLOUD COMPUTING

摘要

Laboratories are important to engineering and technology curricula. Through systematically designed experiments, students can gain hands-on experience, enhance classroom learning, and cultivate career interests. However, traditional laboratory conduction is often restricted by various reasons such as facility cost, conflicted schedule, and limited space. Thus, how to effectively extend laboratories via cyberspace and maximize resources utilization has caused many researchers' attention. In recent years, Cloud Computing technology has developed drastically, which provided an ideal solution for virtual and remote laboratory implementation. This paper presents a project currently conducted at Prairie View A&M University. Using Virtual Computing Lab (VCL), a Cloud Computing application developed by North Carolina State University and IBM, the investigators made a series of LabVIEW based engineering laboratories online. These laboratory setups greatly reduce the cost of experimental facilities, improve the lab schedule function, increase the accessibility of equipment and courseware, and support teachers' instructional needs. At the same time, the original nature and underlying contents of the laboratories are stilled retained. This paper elaborates the infrastructure of the renovated laboratories as well as the current progress and implementation strategies of the project.