“…Deploying simulation components across the internet allows distributed users to access powerful software applications collectively, and extends the capabilities of a traditional computer laboratory to a completely virtual deployment. Furthermore, given the many uncertain factors in the physical systems, such as sensor noise, actuator imperfectness, structural flexibility and damping, etc., a more realistic knowledge of the system being designed is obtained if the simulation incorporates direct links to the hardware components, forming a hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) platform 19,20 . Therefore, an effective eDesign architecture should not only provide distributed students with software simulations but also enable them to experiment with a HILS platform remotely.…”