ELVIS iLab : a flexible platform for online laboratory experiments in electrical engineering

This thesis describes a project that is part of the collaboration between MIT and universities in sub-Sahara Africa to exploit the value of iLabs in the developing world. The main goal of this project is to develop software that will exploit the value of the National Instruments Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (ELVIS) system in Africa by integrating it into the iLabs shared architecture, while taking into consideration the special circumstances surrounding the deployment of iLabs in Africa such as bandwidth limitations, limited access to networked computers and lack of computer skills on the part of students. Integrating ELVIS into iLabs will facilitate the rapid deployment of new online labs to augment the Physics and Electrical engineering curricula in these universities. iLab development efforts for this project are being done in parallel with developers at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria. One of the main goals of the new system is to fill the gap of laboratory experiences in introductory level electronics and physics classes, which are hardest hit by the lack of equipment due to their typically large enrollment. Our goal is to support the development of electronic circuit building skills by providing an environment where students can easily try different circuit configurations before submitting experiments for execution. We are therefore investigating new iLab client user interface designs that will enable students to create and edit circuit schematics from provided electronic components. Our ELVIS iLab design will also formalize and simplify the process of creating and administering such labs for instructors, thereby speeding up the deployment of new labs in an environment where software development skills are not at a premium.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Gikandi, Samuel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jesus del Alamo.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41601

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/41601