Cost effectiveness issues in remote experimentation

Constant innovation and product evolution in the area of embedded systems necessitates educational institutions and other training providers to continuingly reassess the content of engineering curricula in the context of this developing field. Increasingly Web based distance education courses are on offer, augmented by the provision of remote experimentation laboratories facilitating distant access to campus based physical resources. This migration to a remote experimentation platform requires substantial financial investment and time commitments. However remote experimentation provision may lack flexibility in terms of concurrent usage typically restricted to synchronous access by single users through resource timetabling. This paper details our recent experiences in the provision of remote experimentation facilities for embedded system training. The paper focuses on the development costs incurred, the cost effectiveness of the approach and issues related to scalability and the delivery of asynchronous learning facilities in the context of remotely accessible embedded systems