Remote Connectivity and Instrument Control in Engineering Education with Keysight Technologies

The widespread availability of local area networks (LAN) and web access has enabled many useful teaching and instruction processes, especially in the area of distance learning. In the engineering disciplines, educators are increasingly searching for ways to provide more hands-on time for their engineering students in an efficient, flexible and cost effective manner. This is especially true for electrical engineering departments that may have limited access to laboratories, particularly those with higher cost test equipment. One solution that is gaining significant attention is the use of remote access to engineering labs and test instrumentation. Unlike virtual web simulations, remote access gives students a hands-on experience with direct control over actual test instruments and devices. Many of today’s test instruments have built-in networking capabilities, which allow them to be accessed 24 hours a day from virtually anywhere.

There are two enabling developments that have made all of this possible. Firstly, development in instrument hardware, which enables much more connectivity capabilities.

One such connection technology is LXI. LXI is an instrumentation platform based on industry standard Ethernet technology, designed to provide modularity, flexibility and performance to test systems gaining popularity in the test community. A key advantage of LXI is that it uses industry-standard Ethernet technology and fits seamlessly into existing networks so that equipment can be accessed from computers on the LAN. LAN-based connectivity enables access to remotely located systems. For example, LXI instruments can be connected anywhere where there is LAN access; making remote lab work possible. LXI devices provide a built-in web interface, allowing setup and execution using any standard web browser.

An LXI example: Data Acquisition

Keysight Technologies’ 34972A (702-7958) Data Acquisition/Data Logger Switch Unit is a typical test instrument that can be set up to be accessed remotely. This product features built-in LAN (and USB) interfaces so it can be easily connected to a PC or laptop. An intuitive graphical web interface offers remote control over the network for measurement configuration, data logging and data monitoring. Students can log into the device by simply opening any common web browser, entering the IP address of the instrument, and opening the 34972A built-in web-server homepage.

The data acquisition unit, when used with a demo device for example, can be an excellent tool for teaching the measurement basics of thermistors, thermocouples, and solar cells, as well as subsequent data analysis such as temperature profiling, thermal conductivity, and airflow effectiveness. Another advantage of LXI is that multiple instruments can be connected (for example, data acquisition units, power supplies, function generators, etc.) to create virtually any test/measurement scenario. In the case of the Keysight 34972A, I/O control cards are available to control the connections to and from the device under test, therefore providing additional lab flexibility.

Click here to find out more information about Keysight’s 34972A. Or to see an example of connecting the 34972A to a wireless network, see this application brief.

The other development that enables remote teaching and learning in engineering education is the availability of powerful and user-friendly software that can be used simultaneously across multiple instruments and benches. Here is an example of such a software: Keysight’s BenchVue Software.

An instrument software example: BenchVue software

A powerful instrument software can make the biggest difference in running a lab that is catered to teaching some 60 to 120 engineering undergraduates. Here are some key benefits, using BenchVue as an example:

1. Connect and remotely control multiple instruments and benches.

In a remote teaching and learning scenario, each lab bench uses a Windows-based PC, which acts as an IO Server (a feature of the free Keysight IO Library Suite software). If desired, the PC’s built-in webcam can even be aimed at the instruments for remote video monitoring. Any number of instruments can be connected depending on the size of the USB hub(s). Four typical instruments are shown in the figure below. BenchVue today supports over 450 different Keysight models.

2. Easy connection and lab start-up.

In an engineering teaching lab, it is not uncommon to find more than 30 instrument benches being used for a batch of students. Or even more for universities with larger intakes. Hence, the initialising of these labs can be quite a time-consuming endeavour, from starting up the individual equipment and ensuring the right settings are loaded. Today’s modern software can address such problems.

Upon turning on the instruments, BenchVue can be configured to automatically detect and connect with all instruments at the bench. Instructors can then remotely initialise all connected bench instruments to a known state in preparation of the class with a single click. This would definitely save time as lab technicians no longer need to go from station to station to configure the instruments needed for a particular lab.

3. Easy instructor monitoring.

While students run their labs, instructors can run BenchVue from their central PC, to simultaneously view and operate up to 9 instruments on each station. Instructors can easily scroll through all of the connected instruments on their BenchVue interface, check for connections or bring them to the PC’s main viewing video for discussion. Using Keysight’s Connection Expert, users can further group these instruments according to benches or groups, and view these groups using the filter function.

4. Saving lab experiment results.

A large part of lab exercises involves recording and analysing data. Where this may have been done manually in the past, students can run BenchVue on each station and easily export screen images and trace data to Word, Excel, MATLAB or CSV files, with the files being saved anywhere on the LAN network. Students can then access the data from their PCs or mobile devices as long as they have access to the school’s network. Instructors can create folders in the network that students could save their work on, which can be easily retrieved for marking later.

To find out more about Keysight's BenchVue software, click here and read our article.

Educators today seek to provide the best learning experience for students - balancing between leveraging on new technologies and providing real instrument experience. 

For more information on teaching resources from Keysight Technologies, click here.