An Open Source Multiplatform Virtual Laboratory for Engineering Education

—An autonomous and multiplatform virtual laboratory for educational purposes is presented. The implemented platform includes a server with a SSH (Secure SHell) connection and a separated repository containing the virtual experiments. The programming of the experiments is implemented in Java language based tool, the EJS (Easy Java Simulation) and uses an external computation engine, for example Matlab. The virtual laboratory provides control system experiments at University level. Two application examples are described, namely, a magnetic levitator and an inverted pendulum-cart system. The virtual laboratory has been successfully used for education and training of Electronics Engineering students. A discussion of the results of this e-learning experience is also presented. I. INTRODUCTION Virtual laboratories constitute a useful teaching and learning environment where the physical system is virtual-ized by means of a series of simulations. The advantages and drawbacks of this educational tool have been studied, especially in the frame of control systems. See for instance [1-4] and the references therein. The particular interest of virtual laboratories in the Control Engineering education is justified by the usually high cost of the purchase and maintenance of the equipment. Also, to give a good service to public education, there should be acquired several units of the hardware, which further increases the economic investment. Another shortcoming, when performing the control experiments with the physical equipment, is the time necessary to carry out the practices, since many students may spend too much time in calculations and initial tests. There are several approaches to overcome these two problems. A first solution is to operate remote laboratories [5], for instance by means of proprietary software as Labview. Remote laboratories require lower investment in hardware since only one or two units of the experimental equipment are required. This solution implies the programming of the front-end, and the development of a web application for the remote laboratory reservations. However , in this approach, the physical equipment has to be powered on during large periods of time, maybe including nights and holidays. Therefore, to ensure the availability and correct performance of the hardware, hard tasks of maintenance are needed. A second solution is the development of virtual laboratories where a graphical environment is used to emulate the experiments to be performed with the physical hard