The aim of the thesis is to upgrade an existing Remote Laboratory for Active Noise Control (ANC) and acoustics experiments providing users with a more authentic real life experience. This is done by designing a solution that allows remote position control of microphones inside a ventilation duct for ANC experiments. The suggested features to be implemented substantially improve the flexibility of the existing remote laboratory, based on the Virtual Instrument System in Reality (VISIR) platform, as well as providing more control over the system as a whole. The work in the project may be divided into the following steps: theoretical design of mechanical and electrical parts of the system along with control algorithms which include a study of similar solutions and related work, implementation of designed system, subsequent testing of the system, connecting the implemented system to the equipment for remote communication and adding the appropriate features to the remote control interface.

Hands-on laboratory experiences are a key part of all engineering programs. Currently there is high demand for online engineering courses, but offering lab experiences online still remain a great challenge. Remote laboratories have been under development for more than 20 years and are part of a bigger category, called online laboratories, which includes also virtual laboratories. Development of remote laboratories in academic settings has been held back because of the lack of standardization of technology, processes, operation and their integration with formal educational environments. Remote laboratories can be used in educational settings for a variety of reasons, for instance, when the equipment is not available in the physical laboratory; when the physical laboratory space available is not sufficient to either set up the experiments or permit access to all on-site students in the course; or when the teacher needs to provide online laboratory experiences to students taking courses via distance education. This dissertation proposes a new approach for the development and deployment of online laboratories over online platforms. The research activities performed include: The design and implementation of an architecture of a system for Smart Adaptive Remote Laboratories (SARL) integrated to educational environments to improve the remote laboratory users experience through the implementation of a modular architecture and the use of context information about the users and laboratory activities; the design pattern and implementation for the Remote Laboratory Management System (RLMS); the definition and implementation of an xAPI-based activity tracking system for online laboratories with support for both centralized and distributed architectures of Learning Record Stores (LRS); the definition of Smart Laboratory Learning Object (SLLO) capable of being integrated in different educational environments, including the implementation of a Lab Authoring module; and finally, the definition of a reliability model to detect and report failures and possible causes and countermeasures applying ruled based systems. The architecture proposed complies with the just approved IEEE 1876 Standard for Networked Smart Learning for Online Laboratories and supports virtual, remote, hybrid and mobile laboratories. A full set of low-cost online laboratory experiment stations were designed and implemented to support the Introduction to Logic Design course, providing true hands-on lab experience to students through the a low-cost, student-built mobile laboratory platform connected via USB to the SARL System. The SARL prototype have been successfully integrated to a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and a variety of configurations tested that can support privacy and security requirements of different stakeholders. The prototype online laboratory experiments developed have contributed and been featured in IEEE 1876 standard, as well as been integrated into an Industry Connections Actionable Data Book (ADB) that was featured in the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017. SARL is being developed as the infrastructure to support a Latin American and Caribbean network of online laboratories. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

High quality noise and vibration measurements outside of a laboratory environment on real life structures and applications are not trivial. True boundary and operating conditions enforce unique challenges on the measurements. Measurements in hazardous situations such as high magnetic fields, and high temperature environments, etc., where ordinary measurement equipment and methods may not be employed, require further precautions. Post measurements objectives such as analysis, design and strategic decisions, e.g., control, rely heavily on the quality and integrity of the measurements (data). The quality of the experimental data is highly correlated with the on-field expertise. Practical or hands-on experience with measurements can be imparted to prospective students, researchers and technicians in the form of laboratory experiments involving real equipment and practical applications. However, achieving expertise in the field of sound and vibration measurements in general and their active control in particular is a time consuming and expensive process. Consequently most institutions can only afford a single setup, resulting in the compromise of the quality of expertise. In this thesis, the challenges in the field of sound and vibration measurements in high magnetic field are addressed. The analysis and measurement of vibration transferred from an operational magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to adjacent floors is taken as an example. Improvised experimental measurement methods and custom-made frequency analysis techniques are proposed in order to address the challenges and study the vibration transfer. The methods may be extended to other operational industrial machinery and hazardous environments. To encourage and develop expertise in the field of acoustic/vibration measurements and active noise control on practical test beds, remotely controlled laboratory setups are introduced. The developed laboratory setup, which is accessed and controlled via the Internet, is the first of its kind in the active noise control and acoustic measurements area. The laboratory setup can be shared and utilized 24/7 globally, thus reducing the associated costs and eliminating time restrictions.

This study investigated the perceptions of students, the instructor and the laboratory assistant about the use of remote access technology in group projects of programming language courses. Their perceptions are investigated in terms of three aspects: effects of the use of this technology on their motivation, the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use of this technology. A central shared project server was installed for group project studies of students. To access to the central project server, Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection, which is a remote access technology, was used. The data were collected from 2nd grade university students by using a computer attitude scale and a questionnaire developed by the researcher. Also, interviews were conducted with the course instructor and the laboratory assistant. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the results. In results, the high percentage of indecisive students, which is between 38% and 48%, was noticeable. It was concluded that by increasing the length of usage of the system this high ratio may be decreased to reasonable levels. On the other hand, high number of the rest of the students reported positive perceptions. They expressed that remote access technology is a useful and also easy to use technology. It is concluded that students, the instructor and the laboratory assistant accepted the use of this new technology in their learning environment. Also, like instructor and the laboratory assistant, they stated that it affected their motivation towards the group projects in a positive way.

This thesis presents a framework for an intelligent interface for the access of robotsupported remote laboratories through the Internet. The framework is composed of the student assessment and coaching system, the experimentation scenario, and the associated graphical user interface. Student assessment and coaching system is the main feature of a successful intelligent interface for use during remote experimentation with a robot-supported laboratory setup. The system has a modular structure employing artificial neural networks and a fuzzy-rule based decision process to model the student behaviour, to evaluate the performance and to coach him or her towards a better achievement of the tasks to be done during the experimentation. With an experimentation scenario designed and a graphical user interface, the system is applied to a robotic system that is connected to the Internet for the evaluation of the proposed framework. Illustrative examples for the operation of the each module in the system in the context of the application are given and sensitivity analysis of the system to the change in parameters is also done. The framework is then applied to a mobile robot control laboratory. The user interface and the experimentation scenario is developed for the application, and necessary modifications are made to the student assessment and coaching system in order to support the experiment.

Este trabalho aborda o uso de experimentação remota como forma de aprimorar a educação em sistemas de controle e automação. Para isto, uma arquitetura é proposta, onde experimentos reais podem ser combinados com partes simuladas (virtuais) criando um experimento de realidade mista. Um ambiente de ensino à distância, acessível na Internet, engloba o experimento remoto para proporcionar maiores recursos pedagógicos, guias e materiais educacionais teóricos aos estudantes. As diversas tecnologias, presentes no estado da arte, utilizadas para a elaboração da arquitetura são descritas e comparadas para facilitar o entendimento das escolhas realizadas. Trabalhos correlatos são apresentados para descrever o estado da arte dos laboratórios de experiências remotas de diversos tipos. Com base neste estudo, deficiências e vantagens são apontadas para a criação da arquitetura proposta. Para validar a arquitetura são propostos diversos estudos de caso com implementações utilizadas nos cursos de automação e controle da instituição na qual este trabalho está relacionado, ou ainda em cursos de educação à distância para atingir um público mais amplo. Esta dissertação está relacionada como resultado importante do consórcio internacional RExNet, financiado pelo projeto europeu Alfa, do qual a UFRGS faz parte. / This work aims to the use of remotely web-based experiments to improve the learning process of automation and control systems theory courses. An architecture combining virtual learning environments, remote experiments, students guide and experiments analysis is proposed based on a wide state of art study. The validation of the architecture uses state of art technologies and new simple developed programs to implement the case studies presented. All implementations presented in this work uses an Internet accessible virtual learning environment providing educational resources, guides and learning material to create a distance learning course associated with the remote mixed reality experiment. The experiment is integrated in the learning environment and support the mixture of real equipments combined with simulated ones (virtual). This mixture of equipments (components) is automatic controlled by the user and is a new developed technology called interchangeable components. The state of art section of this work presents, compare and describes several technologies used to implement the proposed architecture. Related work of remote experimentation and virtual learning environments is also presented. The architecture was elaborated based on appointed advantages and drawbacks of the related studies. This work is part of the RExNet consortium, supported by the European Alfa project.

Este trabalho aborda o uso de experimentação remota como forma de aprimorar a educação em sistemas de controle e automação. Para isto, uma arquitetura é proposta, onde experimentos reais podem ser combinados com partes simuladas (virtuais) criando um experimento de realidade mista. Um ambiente de ensino à distância, acessível na Internet, engloba o experimento remoto para proporcionar maiores recursos pedagógicos, guias e materiais educacionais teóricos aos estudantes. As diversas tecnologias, presentes no estado da arte, utilizadas para a elaboração da arquitetura são descritas e comparadas para facilitar o entendimento das escolhas realizadas. Trabalhos correlatos são apresentados para descrever o estado da arte dos laboratórios de experiências remotas de diversos tipos. Com base neste estudo, deficiências e vantagens são apontadas para a criação da arquitetura proposta. Para validar a arquitetura são propostos diversos estudos de caso com implementações utilizadas nos cursos de automação e controle da instituição na qual este trabalho está relacionado, ou ainda em cursos de educação à distância para atingir um público mais amplo. Esta dissertação está relacionada como resultado importante do consórcio internacional RExNet, financiado pelo projeto europeu Alfa, do qual a UFRGS faz parte. / This work aims to the use of remotely web-based experiments to improve the learning process of automation and control systems theory courses. An architecture combining virtual learning environments, remote experiments, students guide and experiments analysis is proposed based on a wide state of art study. The validation of the architecture uses state of art technologies and new simple developed programs to implement the case studies presented. All implementations presented in this work uses an Internet accessible virtual learning environment providing educational resources, guides and learning material to create a distance learning course associated with the remote mixed reality experiment. The experiment is integrated in the learning environment and support the mixture of real equipments combined with simulated ones (virtual). This mixture of equipments (components) is automatic controlled by the user and is a new developed technology called interchangeable components. The state of art section of this work presents, compare and describes several technologies used to implement the proposed architecture. Related work of remote experimentation and virtual learning environments is also presented. The architecture was elaborated based on appointed advantages and drawbacks of the related studies. This work is part of the RExNet consortium, supported by the European Alfa project.

Este trabalho aborda o uso de experimentação remota como forma de aprimorar a educação em sistemas de controle e automação. Para isto, uma arquitetura é proposta, onde experimentos reais podem ser combinados com partes simuladas (virtuais) criando um experimento de realidade mista. Um ambiente de ensino à distância, acessível na Internet, engloba o experimento remoto para proporcionar maiores recursos pedagógicos, guias e materiais educacionais teóricos aos estudantes. As diversas tecnologias, presentes no estado da arte, utilizadas para a elaboração da arquitetura são descritas e comparadas para facilitar o entendimento das escolhas realizadas. Trabalhos correlatos são apresentados para descrever o estado da arte dos laboratórios de experiências remotas de diversos tipos. Com base neste estudo, deficiências e vantagens são apontadas para a criação da arquitetura proposta. Para validar a arquitetura são propostos diversos estudos de caso com implementações utilizadas nos cursos de automação e controle da instituição na qual este trabalho está relacionado, ou ainda em cursos de educação à distância para atingir um público mais amplo. Esta dissertação está relacionada como resultado importante do consórcio internacional RExNet, financiado pelo projeto europeu Alfa, do qual a UFRGS faz parte. / This work aims to the use of remotely web-based experiments to improve the learning process of automation and control systems theory courses. An architecture combining virtual learning environments, remote experiments, students guide and experiments analysis is proposed based on a wide state of art study. The validation of the architecture uses state of art technologies and new simple developed programs to implement the case studies presented. All implementations presented in this work uses an Internet accessible virtual learning environment providing educational resources, guides and learning material to create a distance learning course associated with the remote mixed reality experiment. The experiment is integrated in the learning environment and support the mixture of real equipments combined with simulated ones (virtual). This mixture of equipments (components) is automatic controlled by the user and is a new developed technology called interchangeable components. The state of art section of this work presents, compare and describes several technologies used to implement the proposed architecture. Related work of remote experimentation and virtual learning environments is also presented. The architecture was elaborated based on appointed advantages and drawbacks of the related studies. This work is part of the RExNet consortium, supported by the European Alfa project.

Les travaux pratiques représentent une composante incontournable de l'apprentissage. Toutefois, leur mise en œuvre au sein de laboratoires physiques requiert des infrastructures souvent coûteuses pour les institutions de formation qui peuvent ainsi difficilement faire face à la forte augmentation du nombre d'étudiants. Dans ce contexte, les laboratoires virtuels et distants (VRL) représentent une alternative pour assurer le passage à l'échelle des activités pratiques à moindre coût. De nombreux travaux de recherche ont émergé au cours de la dernière décennie en se focalisant sur les problématiques techniques et technologiques induites par ces nouveaux usages, telles que la fédération, la standardisation, ou la mutualisation des ressources de laboratoires. Cependant, les récentes revues de littérature du domaine mettent en exergue la nécessité de se préoccuper davantage des facettes pédagogiques liées à ces environnements informatiques innovants dédiés à l'apprentissage pratique. Dans cet objectif, nos travaux exploitent les traces issues des activités réalisées par les apprenants lors de sessions d'apprentissage pratique pour mettre en œuvre les théories socio-constructivistes qui sont au cœur de l'apprentissage exploratoire, et ainsi favoriser l'engagement et le processus de réflexion des étudiants. À partir de la littérature traitant des relations sociales entre apprenants, nous identifions dans un premier temps un ensemble de critères pour la conception de systèmes d'apprentissage pratique engageants. En s'appuyant sur une architecture de cloud computing, nous avons ensuite réalisé Lab4CE, un environnement web pour l'enseignement de l'Informatique capable de masquer la complexité des tâches de gestion des laboratoires, mais surtout d'exposer des capacités éducatives avancées. En effet, Lab4CE repose sur les Learning Analytics pour supporter différentes formes d'apprentissage telles que la collaboration, la coopération ou l'entraide entre pairs, mais également pour fournir des outils d'awareness et de réflexion visant à promouvoir l'apprentissage en profondeur pendant et après les activités pratiques. Plusieurs expérimentations en contexte d'apprentissage réel et présentiel montrent une évaluation positive de Lab4CE par les apprenants en terme d'utilisabilité, qu'ils s'appuient de manière significative sur nos outils d'awareness et de réflexion, mais que des artefacts supplémentaires sont nécessaires pour accroître leur engagement spontané dans des interactions sociales d'apprentissage. De plus, ces expérimentations soulignent l'existence d'une corrélation significative entre l'engagement des étudiants dans la plateforme et les stratégies d'apprentissage qu'ils mettent en œuvre d'une part, et leur performance académique d'autre part. Ces premiers résultats nous permettent d'affirmer que les théories socio-constructivistes sont un levier à l'engagement et à la réflexion dans les VRL. Ils nous invitent à confronter notre approche à d'autres modalités d'apprentissage, mais aussi à intégrer de nouvelles sources d'informations pour approfondir nos analyses du comportement et ainsi renforcer nos contributions à une meilleure prise en compte de l'apprentissage pratique dans les EIAH. / Practical activities, used in exploratory learning, represent a major component of education: they make learners acquire not only knowledge, but also skills and attitude, and they help them bridging the gap between theories and the real world within they are applied. However, the physical laboratories hosting these activities rely on expensive infrastructures that make very difficult for institutions to cope with the high increase of the students' population. Within this context, virtual and remote laboratories (VRL) bring an affordable alternative to provide practical activities at scale. Numerous research works have come up for the last decade; they mainly focused on technological issues such as the federation of remote laboratories, their standardization, or the pooling of the resources they provide. Nevertheless, the recent literature reviews highlight the need to pay more attention to the educational facets of these innovative learning environments. With that purpose in mind, our works make use of the learners' traces collected through their practical learning sessions to sustain socio-constructivist theories, on which practical activities rely on, and thus to engage students in their learning tasks and further their reflection. Starting from the study of scientific research, we identify as a first step a set of criteria required to design practical learning systems that support social interactions between learners. We then developed Lab4CE, a web-based environment for Computer Science education. This environment relies on a cloud computing architecture to provide learners with their own virtual resources, and hides the complexity of the inherent management tasks while offering advanced educational capabilities. Indeed, Lab4CE builds on learning analytics to enable different forms of learning such as collaboration, cooperation, or peer assistance, but also to supply learners as well as teachers awareness and reflection tools that aim at promoting deep learning during and after practical activities. We carried out several experimentations in authentic and hands-on learning contexts. They stressed the fact that learners evaluate positively the usability of Lab4CE, and they significantly rely on our awareness and reflection tools. However, extra artifacts are required to increase their spontaneous engagement in social learning interactions. Moreover, theses experimentations suggested a significant correlation between, on the one hand, student's activity in the environment and the learning strategies they apply and, on the other hand, their academic performance. These first results allow us to assess that socio-constructivist theories leverage engagement and reflection within VRL. They also invite us to put our approach into practice in other learning settings, but also to extend the sources of information to deal with our behavioral analyses in depth, and thus to enhance our contributions regarding the adoption of practical learning within technological environments.

Το αντικείμενο της διδακτορικής διατριβής αφορά στην ανάπτυξη μιας ευέλικτης και επεκτάσιμης αρχιτεκτονικής που θα αξιοποιηθεί στον σχεδιασμό συστημάτων για την διεξαγωγή πειραμάτων από απόσταση. Τα συστήματα αυτά αναφέρονται ως RLs (Remote Laboratories) και επιτρέπουν στους χρήστες να χειρίζονται απομακρυσμένα τον διαθέσιμο εργαστηριακό εξοπλισμό με σκοπό την διεξαγωγή πειραμάτων. Στην διεθνή βιβλιογραφία έχουν καταγραφεί σημαντικές ερευνητικές προσπάθειες που σχετίζονται με την ανάπτυξη RLs σε διάφορα γνωστικά αντικείμενα. Όμως ακόμη και σήμερα δεν έχει υιοθετηθεί από την επιστημονική κοινότητα κάποια κοινά αποδεκτή αρχιτεκτονική για την ανάπτυξη RLs. Αρχικά προτείνεται μια αρχιτεκτονική για την ανάπτυξη RLs η οποία ονομάζεται ARIAL (Architecture of Internet Accessible Laboratories) η οποία είναι ανεξάρτητη από το γνωστικό αντικείμενο των υποστηριζόμενων από απόσταση πειραμάτων. Η συγκεκριμένη αρχιτεκτονική είναι επίσης ανεξάρτητη τόσο από το υλικό (hardware) όσο και από το λογισμικό (software) που θα αξιοποιηθεί για την ανάπτυξη ενός RL. Η ARIAL αποτελείται από δύο δομικά στοιχεία, τον MWS (Main Web Server) και το WS (WorkStation). Ο MWS αναλαμβάνει κυρίως την διαχείριση των χρηστών και των διαθέσιμων WSs. Ενώ τα WSs που συνήθως βρίσκονται σε πολλαπλότητα, αναλαμβάνουν αποκλειστικά την διεξαγωγή των υποστηριζόμενων από απόσταση πειραμάτων. Η επικοινωνία μεταξύ του MWS και των WSs επιτυγχάνεται μέσω μιας βάσης δεδομένων που επιτρέπει την πρόσβαση μέσω διαδικτύου. Επομένως, τα WSs μπορούν να εγκατασταθούν σε οποιαδήποτε γεωγραφική τοποθεσία επιτρέποντας την ανάπτυξη ομοσπονδιακών RLs. Όμως το σημαντικότερο χαρακτηριστικό της προτεινόμενης αρχιτεκτονικής το οποίο συμβάλει αποφασιστικά στην βιωσιμότητα ενός RL, είναι η υποστήριξη από απόσταση πειραμάτων που έχουν σχεδιαστεί και υλοποιηθεί από τους χρήστες. Με στόχο την επιβεβαίωση της ARIAL προτείνεται ένα RL στην ψηφιακή επεξεργασία σήματος με DSPs που ονομάζεται R-DSP Lab (Remote Digital Signal Processors Laboratory). Το R-DSP Lab παρέχει στους χρήστες την δυνατότητα είτε να διεξάγουν ένα από τα προκαθορισμένα από απόσταση πειράματα είτε να επιβεβαιώσουν την ορθή λειτουργία μιας DSP εφαρμογής που ανέπτυξαν οι ίδιοι. Το συγκεκριμένο RL επιτρέπει επίσης την ανάπτυξη από απόσταση πειραμάτων από τους χρήστες. Στην περίπτωση αυτή οι χρήστες εκτός από την DSP εφαρμογή που επιθυμούν, θα πρέπει να υλοποιήσουν και το GUI (Graphical User Interface) που αναλαμβάνει τον απομακρυσμένο έλεγχο της παραπάνω DSP εφαρμογής. Κατά την διεξαγωγή οποιουδήποτε από τα παραπάνω απόσταση πειράματα οι χρήστες μέσω μιας κατάλληλα σχεδιασμένης ιστοσελίδας έχουν την δυνατότητα να ελέγχουν απομακρυσμένα τα διαθέσιμα εργαστηριακά όργανα. Στην συνέχεια προτείνεται ένα RL στην ψηφιακή επεξεργασία εικόνας με DSPs που ονομάζεται R-DImPr Lab (Remote Digital Image Processing Laboratory). Το συγκεκριμένο RL επιτρέπει την επιβεβαίωση μιας DSP εφαρμογής που αναπτύχθηκε από τον χρήστη αξιοποιώντας το API (Application Program Interface) του R-DImPr Lab. Η DSP εφαρμογή αναλαμβάνει την ψηφιακή επεξεργασία εικόνων που λαμβάνονται από τον διαθέσιμο αισθητήρα εικόνας. Κατά την διεξαγωγή του από απόσταση πειράματος ο χρήστης μέσω της ιστοσελίδας του RL αφού επιλέξει τις ρυθμίσεις του αισθητήρα εικόνας, έχει την δυνατότητα να παρατηρήσει τόσο στην αρχική όσο και στην επεξεργασμένη εικόνα. Με σκοπό την διεύρυνση των δυνατοτήτων του R-DimPr Lab σχεδιάστηκε και αναπτύχθηκε ένα σύστημα επεξεργασίας εικόνας με DSPs το οποίο παρέχει στους χρήστες την δυνατότητα να διεξάγουν από απόσταση πειράματα ελέγχοντας απομακρυσμένα, τόσο την λειτουργία της αντίστοιχης DSP εφαρμογής όσο και την θέση του αισθητήρα εικόνας. Ο έλεγχος της θέσης του αισθητήρα εικόνας επιτυγχάνεται μέσω ενός μηχανισμού κίνησης που βασίζεται σε δύο βηματικούς κινητήρες και επιτρέπει την περιστροφή του αισθητήρα εικόνας σε δύο άξονες. Επιπρόσθετα, διερευνείται η δυνατότητα ανάπτυξης από απόσταση πειραμάτων στην ψηφιακή επεξεργασία εικόνας με DSPs από τους χρήστες αξιοποιώντας το R-DSP Lab. Τέλος, προτείνεται ένα RL στην αρχιτεκτονική των υπολογιστών που επιτρέπει στους χρήστες να προγραμματίσουν σε assembly μια από τις δύο διαθέσιμες CPUs (Central Processing Units). Κατά την διαδικασία επιβεβαίωσης, αρχικά φορτώνεται στο FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) της διαθέσιμης αναπτυξιακής πλατφόρμας η υλοποίηση του συστήματος που βασίζεται στην επιλεγμένη CPU. Στην συνέχεια μέσω του GUI της ιστοσελίδας του προτεινόμενου RL, οι χρήστες έχουν την δυνατότητα να παρατηρήσουν βήμα προς βήμα τις μικρο-λειτουργίες που λαμβάνουν χώρα στην επιλεγμένη CPU κατά την εκτέλεση του προγράμματος. / The subject of this Ph.D. dissertation deals with the development of a flexible and expandable architecture which will be exploited in the design of systems for the conduction of remote experiments. These systems are referred as RLs (Remote Laboratories) and allow the users to handle remotely the available laboratory equipment in order to perform remote experiments. Significant scientific efforts which deal with the development of RLs in several cognitive fields, have been documented in the international literature. However, even today a commonly accepted architecture for the development of RLs has not been adopted by the scientific community. At the beginning, an architecture for the development of RLs which is called ARIAL (ARchitecture of Internet Accessible Laboratories) and is independent of the cognitive field of the supported remote experiments, is proposed. This architecture is also independent of both the hardware and the software which will be utilized for the development of the corresponding RL. The ARIAL consists of two structural elements, the MWS (Main Web Server) and the WS (WorkStation). The MWS undertakes the management of the users and the available WSs. Each one of the multiple WSs is exclusively responsible for the conduction of the supported remote experiments. The communication between the MWS and the WSs is achieved through an internet accessible database. Therefore, the WSs can be installed in any geographic location allowing the development of federal RLs. However, the most important feature of the proposed architecture which contributes decisively to the sustainability of a RL, is the support of remote experiments designed and implemented by the users. In order to confirm the ARIAL, this Ph.D. dissertation also proposes a RL in digital signal processing with DSPs which is called R-DSP Lab (Remote Digital Signal Processors Laboratory). The R-DSP Lab provides the users with the ability either to perform one of the predefined remote experiments or to confirm the operation of a DSP application which is developed by them. In addition, the proposed RL allows the development of remote experiments by the users. In this case, the users implement offline both the desired DSP application and the GUI (Graphical User Interface) which undertakes the remote control of the above DSP application. During the conduction of the above remote experiments, the users are able to remote control the available laboratory instruments through a carefully designed web page. Subsequently, a RL in digital image processing with DSPs which is called R-DImPr Lab (Remote Digital Image Processing Laboratory), is also proposed. This RL allows the verification of a DSP application developed by the user utilizing the API (Application Program Interface) of R-DImPr Lab. The DSP application undertakes the digital process of images which are captured by the available image sensor. During the conduction of the remote experiment, the user through the web page of the proposed RL, selects the parameters of the image sensor and observes both the original and the processed image. In order to expand the features of the R-DImPr Lab, a digital image processing system based on DSPs was designed and developed. This system allows the users to perform remote experiments by controlling remotely both the DSP application and the position of the image sensor. The control of the image sensor’s position is achieved through a motion actuator which is based on two stepper motors and allows the rotation of the image sensor in two axes. In addition, this Ph.D. dissertation explores the possibility of the development of remote experiments in digital image processing with DSPs by the users utilizing the features of the R-DSP Lab. Finally, a RL in computer architecture which allows the users to program in assembly language one of the two available CPUs (Central Processing Units), is proposed. During the verification process, the implementation of the system which is based on the selected CPU, is loaded into the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) of the available development platform. The users through the GUI of the proposed RL’s web page, are able to observe the micro-operations which take place in the selected CPU during the step by step program execution.