Integrating the Emona FOTEx interface into the batched iLabs client

The use of Internet Laboratories (iLabs) at Makerere University has gained momentum, enabling students to conduct remote experiments on physical equipment. iLabs are based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) iLabs Shared Architecture (ISA) which consists of three tiers: labserver onto which the hardware is connected; the client which is an interface that a user interacts with; and the service broker which provides communication between lab server and client. The majority of the iLabs used are based on the Batched Architecture. The current batched client is a java applet that presents a block diagram of a basic circuit at the labserver and dialog boxes for a user to configure hardware components. This usually leaves the user uninformed of the physical connections made on the physical equipment. Presented in this paper is the work undertaken to introduce augmented reality into the communications batched iLab client, thus improving user experience. The lab, which addresses the fundamentals of fiber optic communications, is based on the EMONA Fiber Optics Telecommunications Experimenter (FOTEx) add-on Board for the National Instruments Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS II) Platform. A soft interface of the add-on board was incorporated into the lab to enable users to wire the experiment setups virtually before the lab is run, as would be done on the physical board. The processes involved in development of the interface as well as test runs are here-after presented.