Merging physical experiments back into the learning arena

Proposes to improve access to laboratory experiments in control education, by making remote experimentation accessible through the use of the Internet. It is proposed to form a network of providers of remotely operable laboratory experiments, and to delegate many of the technical, managerial and financial tasks involved in operating such a network to a commercial organizing company. Further, the paper discusses the motivation for running remotely operated experiments as a part of an engineering education, and describes some typical control experiments which can be made available over the Web. Issues related to the technical implementation and quality assurance of experiments are also addressed