Coordination of Research Units and analysis of the literature and commercial solutions for distance learning and coordination
Task 1.1 Coordination (Unina)
This task deals with the coordination of the whole project, particularly by supervising the synergy between all WPs, and managing the timing and modalities of collaboration between the Research Units. In this stage, the measurement device and the practical experiment to insert in the Laboratories network will be defined. WP1 will ensure that project objectives are met on time, quality standards and budget.
Task 1.2 Study of the adopted AR, VR, XR solutions for distance learning (Unina)
The engagement of a remote laboratory in extended reality depends mainly on the quality of immersion that the laboratory user perceives during the operations he or she performs. For this reason, it is therefore essential to carry out a study of the AR, VR, and XR solutions currently available both in the literature and in the market in order to define what are their strengths and possibly identify improvements that can be made. Such improvements can be associated with two different phases of 3D object reproduction, namely scanning and reconstruction. As for the scanning stage, the most common solutions (with a specific regard to the cost effectiveness) for the acquisition of 3D shapes of objects will be taken into account, while, as for the reconstruction, approaches capable of assuring reliable models will be preferred.
Task 1.3 Study of the communications solutions for remote control of instruments and devices (Unina/Unical)
A deep study and analysis of the current state-of-the-art about communication protocols exploited for remote instruments and devices will be carried out. When considering a remote control application of actual devices, one of the main prerogatives for the engagement is the so-called responsiveness i.e. how long it takes the reconstructed device to return the information provided by th actual devices. The more similar to the real-life operation this time is, the better the immersiveness and the experience the user will have during his remote control activities. Therefore, preference will be given to all those long-range communication protocols that on the one hand guarantee interoperability with the current IoT paradigm and on the other hand are characterized by very low overhead and communication times.
Task 1.4 Study about the interfacing for the estimation of system state (Unisannio)
In this task, the technologies for the interfacing with different types of systems will be studied. Particular attention will be focused to instrumentation where the system state is not directly observed but it should be estimated from the observable quantities.
Task 1.5 Study of literature solutions for reconfigurable circuits implementation (Unina/Unical)
As stated above, remote labs will help to reduce problems associated with course overcrowding or pandemic limitations; however, one of the most obvious drawbacks is the inability to change circuit wiring. In practice, a typical remote lab experiment consists of a suitable set-up mounted locally by the instructor. By connecting to the remote lab application, students can communicate with the instruments connected to the server through a specific interface, make the desired measurements but not modify the set-up. This problem could severely limit the potential of remote labs, since each measurement station should be dedicated to a specific experiment. A deep study of the state-of-the-art of literature solutions about reconfigurable devices will be carried out; preference will be given to solutions based on microcontrollers and easily integrable in the framework exploiting IoT-based paradigm. Unical will investigate solutions for the remote change of parameters of components, such as oscillator frequencies, resistor, capacitor and inductor values.
