An iLab for Teaching Advanced Logic Concepts With Hardware Descriptive Languages

Abstract

One of the more interesting approaches to teaching advanced logic concepts is the use of online laboratory frameworks to provide student access to remote field-programmable devices. There is as yet, however, no conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach. This paper presents the Advanced Digital Lab, a remote laboratory based on the batched MIT iLab Architecture. With a hardware system under test designed around an Altera EP2C20F484 field-programmable gate array (FPGA), the lab makes it possible for students to implement finite-state machines on a field-programmable device using VHDL. A study was carried out to evaluate the lab. Study results indicated that the Advanced Digital Lab is an effective pedagogical tool. Some observations drawn from the results of the study are also discussed; these may have far-reaching implications for the argument about the effectiveness of the general class of remote laboratories. An important contribution of this paper is that it provides a template for the proper evaluation of remote laboratories along multiple dimensions, particularly those of pedagogy, logistics, and cost.