Implementing a Remote Laboratory Experience Into a Joint Engineering Degree Program: Aerodynamic Levitation of a Beach Ball

This paper details a successful and inexpensive implementation of a remote laboratory into a distance control systems course using readily available hardware and software. The physical experiment consists of a beach ball and a dc blower; the control objective is to make the height of the aerodynamically levitated beach ball track a reference trajectory by manipulating the voltage to the blower. MATLAB/Simulink coupled with xPC target serve as the controller platform, while microsoft netmeeting and standard Internet video conferencing equipment are used to interface the distance-learning students with the laboratory equipment. Both local students at North Carolina State University´s campus in Raleigh and distance students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville completed the laboratory experiment. In a student survey, distance students participating in the lab remotely rated the experience as favorably as local students. Course grades, including the design project grade, were similar between the two groups.