Scalable multiuser remote laboratories provide on-demand hands-on laboratory experience

Abstract

Remote Triggered (RT) Laboratories have emerged as viable alternatives in developing skills to deal with physical phenomenon and instrumentation in absence of real laboratory experience. Over the past decade several RT experiments have emerged in different parts of the world including those developed under Govt. of India's National Mission on Education through ICT as part of Right to Education (RTE) Program. However, as the technology to build RT labs evolves there is a growing concern at high cost of RT labs compared to real labs. Though high end instrumentation, 24×7 access and advanced ICT features are attributed to RT labs, however, ‘multi-user scalability’ i.e. multiple simultaneous users in large numbers is still an elusive goal for most. This may primarily be because most RT labs merely automate the traditional experimentation methodology whereas efforts are needed to evolve a technology friendly method that is amenable to multi-user scalability. This paper presents a remote triggered electronics laboratory that not only operates in a traditional one-equipment-one-user ‘interactive mode’ but also provides large multi-user scalability through one-second-a-lab ‘batch mode’. Such innovations in technology are crucial to empower less privileged segments of the society through education.