Lab exercises are a pedagogically essential component of engineering and technology education. Distance education remote labs are being developed which enable students to access lab facilities via the Internet. Collaboration, students working in teams, enhances learning activity through the development of communication skills, sharing observations and problem solving. Web meeting communication tools are currently used in remote labs. The problem identified for investigation was that no standards of practice or paradigms exist to guide remote lab designers in the selection of collaboration tools that best support learning achievement. The goal of this work was to add to the body of knowledge involving the selection and use of remote lab collaboration tools. Experimental research was conducted where the participants were randomly assigned to three communication treatments and learning achievement was measured via assessments at the completion of each of six remote lab based lessons. Quantitative instruments used for assessing learning achievement were implemented, along with a survey to correlate user preference with collaboration treatments. A total of 53 undergraduate technology students worked in two-person teams, where each team was assigned one of the treatments, namely (a) text messaging chat, (b) voice chat, or (c) webcam video with voice chat. Each had little experience with the subject matter involving automation, but possessed the necessary technical background. Analysis of the assessment score data included mean and standard deviation, confirmation of the homogeneity of variance, a one-way ANOVA test and post hoc comparisons. The quantitative and qualitative data indicated that text messaging chat negatively impacted learning achievement and that text messaging chat was not preferred. The data also suggested that the subjects were equally divided on preference to voice chat verses webcam video with voice chat. To the end of designing collaborative communication tools for remote labs involving automation equipment, the results of this work points to making voice chat the default method of communication; but the webcam video with voice chat option should be included. Standards are only beginning to be developed for the design of remote lab systems. Research, design and innovation involving collaboration and presence should be included.

Modeling underwater acoustic propagation comes with a variety of challenges due to the need for proper characterization of the environmental conditions. These conditions include ever changing and complex water properties as well as boundary conditions. The BYU underwater acoustics open-air tank test-bed and measurement chain were developed to study underwater acoustic propagation within a controlled environment. It was also developed to provide ways to test and validate ocean models without the high cost associated with obtaining open ocean measurements. However, tank measurements require additional characterization of boundary conditions associated with the walls of the tank which would not be present in an open ocean. The characterization of BYU's underwater acoustic tank included measuring the calibrated impulse response of the tank through frequency deconvolution of sine swept signals in order to determine the frequency dependent reverberation time through reverse Schroeder integration. The reverberation time allows for calculating the frequency dependent spatially averaged acoustic absorption coefficient of the tank enclosure boundaries. The methods used for this study, common to room acoustics, also yield insights into the Schroeder frequency limit of the tank as well as validate models used for quantifying the speed of sound in the tank. The acoustic characterization was validated alongside predicted values and also applied to a tank lined with anechoic panels in order to improve the potential for modeling the tank as a scaled open ocean environment. An initial investigation into effective tank models evaluated the idealized rigid-wall and pressure-release water-air boundary model, a finite-impedance boundary model applying the measured acoustic boundary absorption and a benchmark open ocean model known as ORCA in order to determine potential tank model candidates. This study demonstrates the efficacy of the methodology for underwater acoustic tank characterization, provides a frequency dependent acoustic boundary evaluation from 5-500 kHz, and provides an initial comparison of tank models with applied characterization.