Virtual Laboratory for Simulation and Control Engineering- A Design Perspective

A virtual laboratory for Automatics and Control Engineering can provide university students with easy access to engineering applications at anytime and from any computing environment. This interactive learning environment, consisting of simulations, demonstrations and exercises, can fulfill the role of a bridge from passive learning to active engagement and thus stimulate deeper thinking; grounding a problem based-learning environment. The applications are also very important for relating theory to practice, so that the students can develop engineering judgment and understand how process behavior can be captured using mathematical models. This chapter tackles the available methodologies that enable to create a virtual learning environment for electrical engineering; it discusses their advantages and drawbacks, and presents the solution chosen for the project "Development of a Simulation and Control Environment in Internet" at the University of Gent, Belgium.