A fully simulated laboratory for instrumentation and electronic measurements

An educational laboratory, SWILAB (software instrument manager library), useful for developing and carrying out fully simulated experiences on instrumentation and electronic measurements by using instrumentation simulators is proposed. SWILAB includes several instruments like waveform generators, analog and digital oscilloscopes, analog and digital voltmeters and a device under test (circuit simulator), all designed in C++ language. The interfaces between the instruments and the user are like the actual ones and the control panels were designed with a real look (containing all the instrument displays, connectors and control knobs). Particular care was devoted to make actual the action-effect relationship between the knob setting and the command execution. The connections between the electronic instruments and between the instruments and the device under test is realized by a SW communication channel and is completely transparent to the user. The connection is performed simply by drag and drop techniques between the connectors to be linked. The virtual laboratory is now used by students of regular courses in several Italian universities and in distance learning courses, with a high satisfaction level and didactic effectiveness.