ABSTRACT
The objective of this paper is to present the results of the implementation process of the Lab-Tec@Home kit, an educational innovation that allows students to set up home laboratories to test and validate basic control engineering concepts. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to measure the acquisition and development of students' perceived achievement of complex thinking competency during this educational practice, considering how valuable it is to improve their perception of additional skills while fulfilling the objectives of the innovation. We implemented a validated instrument to measure this competency before and after using the Lab-Tec@Home kit and in a control group where this educational innovation practice was not carried out. Although the results did not show a statistically significant difference in the level of perception or the improvement achieved between the groups, they indicated an impact on the homogeneity of the students' perceived skills, which is a value of this educational tool and its greatest finding and contribution.
ABSTRACT
In a wide range of control applications, balance control systems are known to be one of the most crucial and challenging applications. 2-DOF ball balancing platform is an experimental platform which can perform various kinds of balance control experiments. Hence, this laboratory experiment is widely used in many control engineering courses. But with COVID-19, travel restrictions and social distancing, performing laboratory experiments have become much more challenging. Hence, this research explores the feasibility of performing control engineering experiments on Ball on plate system in a simulation environment for distance learning purposes. This paper represents the control design theory, system modelling & simulations of ball balancing platform and proposes a method of performing lab experiments for remote-learning. All the system modelling and simulations of this research were done using MATLAB Simulink based on the Simscape model developed using SolidWorks. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
New pocket-sized laboratories are proving to be an excellent tool as complementary equipment that students and lecturers can deploy to test control engineering design techniques. Here, the description and outcome results of an IFAC activity funded project entitled as Pocket-Sized Portable Labs: Control Engineering Practice Made Easy are presented. The project was executed in Portugal, from January 2021 to the end of June 2021, during the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. The global aim of this project was to motivate preuniversity students to enroll in control engineering courses by showing and demonstrating that simple practical experiments may be easily accomplished using portable pocket-size laboratories. © 2022 The Authors.
ABSTRACT
The paper presents a project-based learning approach for the undergraduate level first course on control systems in the context of electrical and computer engineering program. We share the experience of a complex engineering project model that assumes no access to lab facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic but targets learning outcomes of a fundamental control system course, i.e., system modeling, performance investigation, analysis, design of analog or digital controller for a selected open-loop unstable system. The project utilizes Tinkercad Circuits which is a free online circuit simulator. The approach provides a solution to one of the challenges of remote or virtual engineering labs, i.e., a requirement of having high-performance expensive hardware and resource-intensive software support. Results are presented in terms of student samples and learning outcomes achieved at the end of the project. © 2022 The Authors.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the evolution of a master course taught simultaneously at multiple master specialisations. The analysis of the course structure, content, teaching and evaluation modes has been presented over several years, including both pre-pandemic and during Covid19 pandemic time. The challenges of dealing with a highly heterogeneous student group are explained and solutions that have been implemented over the years are analysed by means of their effect in student satisfaction scores and learning effect percentage. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors.
ABSTRACT
Due to the nature of most postgraduate theses in control engineering and their similarities to industrial and software engineering projects, invoking novel project control techniques could be effective. In recent decades, agile techniques have attracted popularity thanks to their attributes in delivering successful projects. Hence exploiting those methods in education and thesis supervision of engineering topics can facilitate the process. On the other hand, because of the limitations imposed by the CoVid19 pandemic, the integration of well-established online tools in collaborative education is noteworthy. This paper proposes an application of the agile project management method for the supervision of postgraduate students' theses in the general field of engineering. The study extends a Scrum technique combined with approved systems engineering and team working tools such as Jira Software, Microsoft Teams, and Git version control (Github website). A custom designed V-model to nail an outstanding thesis is presented. The overall blended method is beneficial to provide feedback and self-assessment aid for the students and the supervisors. Employing this technique has shown promising progress in easing the supervision of students whilst helping them to manage their projects. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors.
ABSTRACT
Practical work is one of the most important instructional tools in control engineering. To address concerns linked to the cost and space requirements of traditional hands-on laboratories, technology-enabled laboratory modes, such as virtual, remote, and take-home laboratory modes are proposed. Each of these alliterative laboratory modes has its own set of benefits and emphasizes a distinct learning goal. Furthermore, due to lockdown and physical proximity restrictions imposed by policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the employment of these laboratory modes has been quickly increasing. The laboratories' development, operation, and maintenance become more fragmented as a result of these many possibilities. In this study, we propose " ReImagine Lab" as a framework for leveraging digital twins and extended reality technologies to streamline the development and operation of hands-on, virtual, and remote laboratories. By increasing the level of interaction, immersion, and collaboration in technology-enabled laboratory forms, this framework intends to boost student engagement. The benefits of this framework are demonstrated by examining several use cases, and a 37-person "system usability study" is conducted to assess the usability of virtual laboratories employing desktop computers and immersive virtual reality.
ABSTRACT
The widespread and sudden outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019, known as COVID-19, caused almost all countries in the world to face many problems. Over time, with the rapid spread of the virus, COVID-19 became a serious concern to people all over the world. The outbreak of the virus prompted many cities and countries to enact lockdown laws to try to control the epidemic. These global lockdowns have done a lot of damage to the world economy. For this reason, different countries of the world have tried to use various technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), drones, etc., to reduce the prevalence of COVID-19 and minimise the damage to the economy by telecommuting methods. In this paper, we briefly review the impact of using these technologies during the outbreak of epidemics such as COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
The glove manufacturing industry has seen tremendous growth recently, spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic. A long-standing shortage of supply of disposable medical gloves has highlighted an urgent need to increase production capacity. This requires glove manufacturers to be quick in adopting best practices, in line with Industry 4.0, in order to optimize various aspects of the industry. Unfortunately, information available in the existing literature is, however, limited due to the confidential nature of the majority of research in this area. This article discusses some opportunities and challenges related to this important chemical industry, from the perspective of control engineering. These insights can point to some interesting directions of future work. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors.
ABSTRACT
Control courses are important parts of the curricula of Control & Automation Engineering and Electrical Engineering. In this area, as in Engineering curricula in general, experimentation is of paramount importance. Engineering curricula have always had many lab classes for students to perform experiments - lab classes were hosted in traditional brick and mortar environments. The current status of technology allows for experiments to remotely be performed. Remote Labs are used in many institutions over the world as well as Virtual Labs. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, these solutions have gained greater importance. This work addresses the use of an Electric and Electronic Circuit Lab in a Control Course to perform Analog Simulations. It introduces the characteristics of the Remote Lab as well as the way it was used to enhance the learning of systems of different natures. This Remote Lab had been in use at the institution since the second semester of 2016 but in Electric Circuits and General Electricity courses. The Institution has been implementing other Remote Labs too. This work focuses the school years of 2020 and 2021, and addresses the plans for the near future. The main topics to be discussed are: the context at the University, the Control Course, the technological tools that have been in use for many years and how Remote Labs in general have been used. VISIR - Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality, the Remote Lab for Electric and Electronic Circuits is briefly described. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
While living in a digital era, both teachers and students of Engineering Courses were not ready for the drastic change associated with the Covid-19 first confinement (March 2020). This forced change from a presential mode to a fully online mode provided teaching/leaning difficulties as well as new opportunities. Moreover, as most engineering courses require laboratory practice, on-line teaching raised additional challenges. This paper reports two different experiences in two different Control Engineering university courses in the North of Portugal. The goal is to share some learning tools that are particularly relevant in the pandemic time we are living: pocket-sized laboratory kits that students can easily take home and experience real-world control contents;an open Mural that can serve as an exchange of knowledge. Perceptions received both from students and lecturers regarding these two experiments are presented. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The year 2020 was an unprecedented time for the entire engineering workforce. Many companies were forced to transition to a strictly telecommuting environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, engineering organizations and teams needed to quickly assess how they could continue their mission and achieve their goals with minimal disruption to their existing workflow. For some, the transition was far easier than others due to the established processes, procedures, and information systems already in place. This paper explores the structure of a Digitally Integrated Systems Engineering (DISE) team, their framework (process, procedures, methods, tools, and environment), the transition to remote work, the successes and challenges of that transition, and potential implications for the future. © American Society for Engineering Management, 2021
ABSTRACT
Measles virus (MV) is a highly contagious respiratory morbillivirus that results in many disabilities and deaths. A crucial challenge in studying MV infection is to understand the so-called 'measles paradox'-the progression of the infection to severe immunosuppression before clearance of acute viremia, which is also observed in canine distemper virus (CDV) infection. However, a lack of models that match in vivo data has restricted our understanding of this complex and counter-intuitive phenomenon. Recently, progress was made in the development of a model that fits data from acute measles infection in rhesus macaques. This progress motivates our investigations to gain additional insights from this model into the control mechanisms underlying the paradox. In this paper, we investigated analytical conditions determining the control and robustness of viral clearance for MV and CDV, to untangle complex feedback mechanisms underlying the dynamics of acute infections in their natural hosts. We applied control theory to this model to help resolve the measles paradox. We showed that immunosuppression is important to control and clear the virus. We also showed under which conditions T-cell killing becomes the primary mechanism for immunosuppression and viral clearance. Furthermore, we characterized robustness properties of T-cell immunity to explain similarities and differences in the control of MV and CDV. Together, our results are consistent with experimental data, advance understanding of control mechanisms of viral clearance across morbilliviruses, and will help inform the development of effective treatments. Further the analysis methods and results have the potential to advance understanding of immune system responses to a range of viral infections such as COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
In the last years, low pressure ozone UVC mercury germicidal lamps have been widely used to decontaminate air, surfaces, and water. This technology is mature, and it has been widely used during the pandemic as a measure against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19; because the exposure of this virus to the wavelength wave of 254 nm has been proven to be an effective way to eliminate it. However, the Minamata Convention in 2013 decided to limit mercury lamps by 2020; therefore, the development of new technology devices based on UVC-LEDs (short-wave ultraviolet, light-emitting diodes) are receiving a lot of attention. Today, this technology is commercially available from 265 to 300 nm peak wavelengths, and recently up to 254 nm. Notwithstanding, due to the characteristics of these LEDs, arrangements with a precisely dosed power supply are regularly required to provide effective decontamination. Thus, this article reports the design and implementation of a power electronic converter for an array of 254 nm UVC-LEDs, which can be used to decontaminate from SARS-CoV-2 in a safe way.