Developing a prototype virtual laboratory for distance science and engineering education

Institutions of higher education are actively seeking new methods to complement their science and engineering distance education programs with online experimentation. This paper describes the design and development of a virtual laboratory environment that allows students to perform laboratory experiments from remote locations through a Web browser. A front panel in LabVIEW displays the results and allows storage of acquired data for later processing. A digital camera that provides real time pictures of the monitored equipment is part of the system configuration.