A New Generation of Broadly Accessible Remote Engineering Laboratories

该项目旨在通过建立新一代远程工程实验室来支持资源有限的社区和学校，从而为国家利益服务。从2019冠状病毒病危机中吸取的教训帮助教育工作者重新思考大流行时代之后可持续和安全的教学实践。在校外提供动手操作的工程实验室对教育工作者提出了重大挑战。通过利用云计算的优势，实现远程硬件实验室将使学生能够体验到完整的远程体验，而不会影响他们在实验室中学习和完成的内容。这个项目将提高电子和计算机工程专业学生在嵌入式计算和无线通信课程中使用远程实验室的潜力。所提出的工作有望使教育工作者和机构重新考虑通过成本效益高、广泛可及和公平的解决方案来提供动手工程实验室。完整的远程实验室解决方案，包括硬件和软件，对贫困大学和K-12教育具有重要意义。该项目的目标是开发一个基于现场可编程门阵列（fpga）和软件定义无线电（SDR）平台的远程计算和无线通信实验室；提供远程解决方案的全面技术评估；并对学生在远程环境下对这些工程技术的学习和参与进行全面评估。这项工作的范围是可扩展的，将开发的开源硬件和软件工具包可以部署在其他机构，以及K-12和服务不足的社区环境中，为所有学生提供工业级硬件。可持续发展计划包括一个可扩展的解决方案，允许大学将各自的远程实验室集中在一起，进一步增加访问和降低设备成本，并通过共享资源和教学内容促进机构之间的进一步合作。开源远程实验室将通过高度模块化的存储库（GitHub）传播，学校之间的合作将被鼓励改进课程材料，执行版本控制，拉请求，提供问题跟踪，并在他们的大学使用课程材料。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing a new generation of remote engineering labs that support underserved communities and schools with limited resources. Lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis have helped educators rethink teaching practices that are sustainable and safe after the pandemic era. Offering hands-on engineering labs in off-campus settings has presented significant challenges to educators. By taking advantage of advances in cloud computing, implementing a remote hardware laboratory will allow students to experience a full-fledged remote experience without compromising what they could have learned and accomplished if they were physically present in the lab. This project will advance the potential of using remote laboratories for electrical and computer engineering students in embedded computing and wireless communications courses. The proposed work is expected to allow educators and institutions to rethink the delivery of hands-on engineering labs via a cost-effective, broadly accessible, and equitable solution. The complete remote lab solution, including hardware and software, has significance to underprivileged universities and K-12 education.The project’s goal is to develop a remote computing and wireless communication laboratory based on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and software defined radio (SDR) platforms; provide a full technical evaluation of remote solutions; and perform a comprehensive assessment of student learning and engagement in remote settings for these engineering technologies. The scope of the work is scalable, and the open-source hardware and software toolkit that will be developed can be deployed at other institutions, as well as K-12 and underserved community settings, to provide access to industry-grade hardware to all students. The sustainability plan includes a scalable solution that allows universities to pool their individual remote labs together to further increase access and decrease equipment costs and foster further collaboration among institutions by sharing resources and pedagogical content. The open-source remote labs will be disseminated via a highly modular repository (GitHub), and partnerships between schools will be encouraged to improve course materials, perform version control, pull requests, provide issue tracking, and use the course materials at their universities. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.