This document discusses IoT and practical laboratories. It begins by outlining the need for cloud computing and IoT professionals due to lack of skills in these areas. It then discusses various IoT-related projects and partnerships that aim to provide online training and qualifications to European SMEs using virtual and remote labs for hands-on learning. Finally, it presents different types of IoT demonstrators that have been developed, including a smart weather station, Raspberry Pi simulator, Raspbian virtual image, smart micro-grid lab, and others. It also discusses the instructional design approach used, which follows four stages of an inquiry learning process: contextualization, orientation, experimentation, and conclusions.

1. Sergio Martin, PhD
smartin@ieec.uned.es
Spanish University for Distance Education
q
IoT and Practical Laboratories

2. IoT and practical laboratories:
The 6 Ws

3. WHY?
Context
3

4. Lack of professionals in Cloud Computing
• 1.7 million cloud computing jobs unoccupied
• Estimation of 7 million cloud-related vacancies worldwide (IDC)

5. Internet of Things (IoT)
• European Committee estimated that the market value of the IoT in
the EU exceeded one trillion euros in 2020
• 2014: 300,000 developers / 2020: 4.5 million
– 57% compound annual growth rate and a massive market opportunity

6. Internet of Energy (IoE)
• Particular case of IoT: Energy-oriented
– Integration of energy systems, communication and electronic systems
and web services
• IoT-based smart sensors to assess performance and provide real-
time analytics
• Problems:
– lack of professionals in the sector
– low level of knowledge of the technology

7. 7

9. SME situation in EU
IoT can apply to almost all of these sectors!

10. WHAT?
Introduction to practical laboratories
10

11. 11
Practical skills acquisition is key in engineering education…

12. 12
…but… how to teach the practical competences on-line?

13. Ø Virtual labs
Ø Remote labs
Types of demonstrators
Web-based but connected to
real equipment
Purely software simulation,
web-based

14. Ø Didactic resources available on-line
Ø Allows interacting with real environments through the Internet
§ Where “real” may mean: a hardware device, a platform for IoE, the use
of IoE protocols, IoE mobile apps, etc
Introduction to Practical laboratories

15. WHO?
Partners and projects
15

16. Projects genealogy
16
¢ IN-CLOUD:
2015-2017
¢ IoT4SMES:
2016-2019
¢ IoE-EQ:
2017-2020
¢ i4EU:
2019-2022
¢ Similar structure
¢ Common partners
¢ Similar aim:
¢ Deliver on-line free professional
qualifications to increase
European SMEs
competitiveness
¢ Includes the use of on-line
virtual and remote labs for
practical skills acquisition

17. Partnership composition
Research/
academic cluster
Business
cluster
VET
experts

18. WHERE?
Remote Laboratory Management Systems
18

19. • Lab2go: a Web environment where people can share expertise and
experience in the field
• LiLa (Library of Labs): a European eContentPlus project
• iLab: an architecture that supports a fast platform-independent lab
development
• WebLab Deusto. It provides APIs and different approaches to
include new or existing remote labs
• CORE SCORM: Adds to SCORM a Web Service Runtime
Communication Profile Standard
• LTI (IMS Learning Tools Interoperability)
• IEEE Std 1876 – 2019: IEEE Standard for Networked Smart
Learning Objects for Online Laboratories
• OCELOT (Open and Collaborative Environment for the Leverage of
Online insTrumentation) is an open source and collaborative Online
Laboratory framework and middleware
• LMSs
Analyzed RLMS for IoT practical laboratories
19

20. • These traditional RLMSs (WebLab Deusto, iLab, LabShare,
Lab2Go, LiLa, …) do not work for this project
• IoTecosystems are complex
• Our laboratories may be made of a Website but also may include…
– a desktop application
– a virtual machine
– the use of a commercial website
– a simulator
– a console-only program
– a mobile app
– ….
• However, RLMS only focus on web-based labs
How to manage an heterogeneus set of virtual and
remote labs for IoT?
20

21. • Open-source platform will be considered preliminary
– free and easy-to-maintain platforms
• Reusability and standardization
– Possibility of easy integration within the project web-platform and, if
possible, any other external platforms.
– Thus, the use of educational interoperability standards such as SCORM
may play an important role.
• Open licence
– The developed contents within the project must be published under
open licence
Repository requirements
21

22. And the winner is… Vish
Ø Open repository for OERs
§ Everything published there is under an open licence (CC, …)
§ Allows searches and reusability of resouces having into account
language, difficulty, topic, ….
§ SCORM and LOM complaince
§ Also embedding through iframe
Ø HTML5 interactive on-line presentations
§ Allows aggregate third-party external on-line resource inside a slide
§ On-line Authoring tool
ü kind of MS Powerpoint
§ Video embedding
Ø Social network
http://vish.ieec.uned.es/

23. Vish authoring tool

24. WHAT?
List of IoT practical laboratories
24

25. IoT Developed demonstrators
25

26. Smart weather station demonstrator

27. Smart weather station demonstrator
Real time updating

28. UNED IoT demo app + Ubidots
1. Register in Ubidots
2. Associate Ubidots account to
app
3. Send sensor data every :me
the user shakes the phone
1
Demonstrator setup
2 Opera:on
4. Data visualiza:on in real :me
User’s
phone
User’s computer
IoT pla3orm

29. UNED IoT demo app + Ubidots
3. Check data sent in Ubidots dashboard 4 Create event to trigger alerts
Each point is a phone shake

30. Raspberry Pi simulator
1. Write python code
2. Interact with virtual Raspberry Pi
GPIOs
User’s computer
Raspberry Pi
simulator

31. UNED Raspberry Pi Simulator

32. UNED Raspberry Pi Simulator
Interactive points to open
virtual labs

33. Raspbian Virtual Image
1. Access a Raspberry Pi on students
computer
2. Interact with virtual Raspberry Pi
GPIOs and send external HTTP
request to IoT plaMorms
User’s computer
Raspbian virtual
image on VirtualBox

34. Raspbian Virtual Image

35. Ø Integration of energy systems and IoT
§ Enhance management of the network in distributed production systems
§ optimize the power flow
§ minimize the consumptions and the losses,
§ Promote the implementation of the “smart grid”.
IoE practical laboratories

36. IoE Developed demonstrators
36

37. Data Storage and User
Authentication Service
HTTP Requests
Data Acquistion
and Control
User
Didactic Demonstrator of a small micro-grid
Remote Control Scheme
Preliminary User Interface
WebCam

38. Smart micro-Grid

42. Check our practical laboratories here:

43. OTHERS
Other related practical laboratories
43

44. Autodesk circuits
Electronic design
Code to execute in the Arduino

45. Virtual labs for Digital Electronics and
Microprocessors

46. Open FPGA Remote Lab (Icezum Alhambra)

47. Remote Lab FPGA Xilinx Spartan 3AN

48. Cypress PSOC4 Remote Lab

49. Microchip PIC + Pneumatic arm

50. Remote Lab Motorola 68000

51. 3D LED Cube - Arduino Remote Lab
Web-cam

52. Arduino Sensors Lab

53. HOW?
Demonstrators Instructional Design
53

54. Ø According to the work done in the "Global Online Science
Labs for Inquiry Learning a School" (Go-Lab) project, the main
stages involved in an inquiry learning process using virtual
and remote labs may be divided in 4 stages:
Inquiry learning Methodology
Contextualization
• Provide instructions
of the context of the
demonstrator.
Orientation
• Provide clear
instructions of what
the student must do
to use the
demonstrator.
Experimentation
• Use of the virtual/
remote lab according
to the instructions
provided. It may
include the
embedding of an
iframe with the lab.
Conclusions
• Description of the
key findings that the
student should have
obtained in the
experimentation
stage. It may include
some kind of auto
evaluation test.

55. Demonstrators
development by partners
Vish as open
repository of
demonstrators
Inquiry-based
instructional
design
Inquiry learning Methodology
• Based on interactive
HTML5 powerpoint
presentations

56. Sergio Martin, PhD
smartin@ieec.uned.es
Spanish University for Distance Education
q
Thank you!!