On-line Active filter experiment combining theory, simulation and measurement

Theory, simulation and experimental verification are key issues for successful research and development. Therefore basic experiments are available at each university to train students. For specialization, however, only few experiments will be available, limiting the choice for the students. Also, life-long learning becomes more and more important for engineers to keep up to date. Modern communication and control technology opens a way to cope with these problems: On-line experiments featuring learning material and control of the experiment by means of usual internet browsers and including simulation. Three main aspects require special attention: The verification of the learning outcome concerning theory and simulation, the ldquoreal-liferdquo-feeling of the experiment itself and a simple-to-use method to integrate results from simulation and experiment into a written report. This paper describes an on-line experiment realized within a project (www.pemcweblab.com) funded by the European Community. It includes automatic verification of the learning outcome concerning theory and simulation, allows simple control of the experimental set-up and returns results as readily formatted bitmap images. Under this guidance and control, students and engineers effectively perform simulation and experiment largely on their own and create a report describing the results obtained.