Development of Control Experiments for an Online Laboratory System

Abstract

Remote experiments have been gaining a lot of popularity over the last years. They are available for many areas including control education. The majority of laboratories available via the Internet were developed from scratch and lack modularity, which enables their easier adaptation. Crucially, the diversity of experiments that can be performed on a single device is quite limited. Along with the prospect of simple integration of new devices and simulation environments, this approach presents a way to more effectively utilize the available resources. The presented online laboratory system offers a possibility of an easy integration of new control experiments to the online environment. It allows users to define selected variables inside their block diagrams, upload them to the system and later initialize them within the system’s graphical user interface. The system was tested on a new developed air levitation plant that can be controlled via Matlab simulation environment.