Design and implementation of a Web-Based Remote laboratory for Embedded Systems Course Experiments

Abstract

Multiple factors, such as natural disasters, wars, security instability, and the outbreak of serious diseases such as COVID-19, may cause the complete cessation of traditional face-to-face education. Universities have turned to distance learning in order to avoid the difficulty of students being on campus. Teaching laboratory courses remotely is one of the most difficult challenges facing academic institutions when switching to distance education. Most of the available alternative solutions to the traditional laboratory are ineffective or difficult to implement and may cause a negative impact on student achievement. This article presents the Web-based remote laboratory system as an alternative technical solution to the traditional laboratory for teaching programming experiments for Arduino boards. In this system, the student can conduct the experiment remotely on devices and equipment located in the university laboratory. The remote laboratory system is multi-user, scalable, flexible and low cost. The system is implemented using low-cost hardware resources and free and open source software. The system underwent user acceptance testing based on the Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use approach. The results were encouraging, as participants in the system acceptance test showed a good acceptance rate of 70.75%, which confirms the effectiveness of the system and its ease of use.