Received: 29 November 2017

DOI: 10.1002/cae.21922
| Accepted: 26 January 2018

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Combining local and remote laboratories for the interactive

learning of industrial automation

Armando Cordeiro1 | Vitor Fernão Pires2,3 | Daniel Foito2

1 ISEL, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa,

Lisboa, Portugal Abstract
2 ESTSetúbal-Instituto Politécnico Setúbal/ This study presents an educational project for the interactive learning of Industrial
DEE, Setúbal, Portugal
Automation. The objective of this project is to allow Bachelor's and Master's students
3 INESC-ID Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
of Electrical Engineering of the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL-
Correspondence IPL) to learn theoretical and practical fundamentals of Industrial Automation through
Armando Cordeiro, Electrical Engineering local and remote laboratory experiments. The proposed pedagogical activities,
Department, Energy and Automation, ISEL
− Instituto Superior de Engenharia de
together with the flexibility of the solution adopted for the laboratory experiments,
Lisboa − IPL, Rua Conselheiro Emídio allow students to acquire advanced knowledge regarding Programmable Logic
Navarro 1, 1959–007 Lisboa, Portugal. Controller (PLC) programming languages, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisi-
Email: [email protected]
tion (SCADA) applications and industrial communication networks, among other
Funding information aspects. The main benefits of this educational project are the motivation to engage in
FCT − Fundação para a Ciência e a
problem solving, developing mental strategies based on new hypotheses, step-by-step
Tecnologia, Grant number: UID/CEC/
50021/2013 knowledge construction, and the possibility to interact and change, locally or
remotely, the developed programs. Additionally, the adopted laboratory architecture
is based on industrial hardware and software, like those found in real applications.

KEYWORDS
educational project, fieldbus devices, industrial automation, remote laboratories, SCADA applications

1 | INTRODUCTION In terms of educational purposes, these technologies have

brought new opportunities and challenges for school
In recent decades, new technological advances have intro- communities mainly related to engineering. The main
duced major changes in modern society. These advances are challenge for schools and professors is to introduce courses
often the result of a joint effort between multidisciplinary in innovative areas with updated content and modern
research teams, companies and academia. Frequently, such laboratories without losing the basic mathematical and
advances are experimentally introduced in some industrial physical concepts that support knowledge. For students, it
processes and progressively extended to other areas of is an excellent opportunity to access theoretical content and
activity when improved results are achieved. The main laboratory experiments inside and outside campus. Several
objective is normally to produce better products at lower studies dedicated to remote laboratories and web-based
costs, increase company profits, and therefore economic educational tools have been presented in recent years to
benefits for society. Alternatively, these products, especially support this concept [5,9,10,12,14,16,19,20]. In general, such
programmable electronic devices, are currently responsible tools and solutions promote new teaching methodologies for
for new business opportunities, improved entertainment, and enhancing the experience of learning, as well as expanding
communication between people, travel convenience, educational opportunities for a larger number of students.
improved access to information at anytime and anywhere, Another advantage over traditional laboratories are the safety
new educational solutions, and so on [13,15]. measures, maintenance problems (e.g., concerning dangerous
Comput Appl Eng Educ. 2018;26:675–687. wileyonlinelibrary.com/cae © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 675
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voltages/currents or mechanical parts in rotation), and time/ must learn to program in other languages that are not
space constraints. compatible with PLCs.
It is unquestionable that the availability of didactic remote This study presents an educational project centered on the
experimental laboratories with interactive equipment is very design of appealing and modern laboratory experiments for
convenient for technical schools, especially in engineering the interactive learning of Industrial Automation. This project
schools, such as electrical and mechanical engineering. was developed in the Electrical Engineering Department at
Nevertheless, regardless of the aforementioned advantages, the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL) within
these tools and solutions cannot replace completely tradi- the framework of the importance that Industrial Automation
tional laboratories and classrooms. It is necessary to plays in today's world and of their responsibility to train
understand that certain personal experiences shared in the students in this area. It is important to remark that this
classroom or laboratory are also important to consolidate educational project was designed for students pursuing their
knowledge regarding certain subjects. For example, the bachelor's or master's degrees and for industry professionals
experience of handling and commissioning didactic (and attending continuous formation or specialization courses.
sometimes industrial) equipment in laboratories is an This educational project takes into account the simultaneous
important training aspect for engineers and cannot be involvement of bachelor's and master's students, promoting
acquired remotely. collaboration and healthy competition between them. This
One of the areas that is considered very important for interaction between students tends to increase creativity,
future professionals in Electrical Engineering is Industrial responsibility, and friendship, which are excellent reasons to
Automation. However, in order to learn this specialization, develop excellent work. This is also part of a strategy adopted
essential laboratory practice is required. Due to this, to prevent dropping out of the courses, since students feel
several laboratory tools have been proposed in the more support from colleagues.
literature. Examples, associated with PLC (Programmable The organization of this study is given as follows.
Logic Controller) programming and SCADA (Supervisory Section 2 describes the educational project. Section 3
Control and Data Acquisition) can be found in refer- presents the infrastructure concerning the local and remote
ences [1–4,6–8,11,17,18,21,22]. Through the implementa- access to the automation laboratory. An example of an
tion of these educational tools, the importance of the educational experiment developed in the laboratory is
development of laboratories for Industrial Automation in presented in section 4. Section 5 is dedicated to a brief
the student learning process was established. evaluation of the achieved results. The conclusions are
It is noteworthy that several companies, such as presented in section 6.
Siemens, ABB, and Omron, also have didactic tools that
are highly useful for teaching Industrial Automation (and
other areas). Such tools are normally used in their training 2 | EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
centers around the world to promote products and train DESCRIPTION
employees and partners. Those tools allow the simulation of
a PLC and a SCADA system connected to a specific This educational project was designed for 3rd-year bachelor's
process, which is normally composed of a specific data students of Electrical Engineering (courses of Automation)
acquisition board connected to a computer running a and 2nd-year master's students of Electrical Engineering
simulation program [23,24]. Although very valuable, those (course of industrial communication networks and SCADA).
tools present some disadvantages from the point of view of Despite different educational goals set for bachelor's and
educational institutions. One usual disadvantage is the master's students, this project was designed to achieve several
relation between cost and benefit. They are normally quite common purposes, namely:
expensive and can only be used to simulate a very limited
number of processes. Additional simulation processes 1. Motivate students for the area of Industrial Automation,
require more financial resources, which are severely limited improving the ability to solve Automation problems;
in most institutions. This is important for educational 2. Modernize the Automation laboratory with some of the
purposes since students tend to copy projects and programs most up-to-date equipment and software;
from other students. This does not happen when simulation 3. Create new interactive laboratory experiments that can be
processes are different in every semester. Another disad- executed locally or remotely by students, allowing them to
vantage is the imposed limitation to operate with a finish and test them after classes;
simulation process based on a computer program that 4. Validate the theoretical knowledge acquired in the
uses different languages from those referred in the classroom when applied to real problems and situations;
IEC61131-3. In this situation, students tend to lose the 5. Promote the interaction between students of different
focus in the practice of programming PLCs because they courses to share experiences and knowledge.
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This project allows us to take advantage of the experience Activity 1: Preparation—Theoretical classes with exercises
acquired by master's students in order to motivate bachelor's and queries (duration: 20 hr). Some theoretical classes are
students to solve automation problems using interactive tools held in the laboratory to have contact with some devices.
and experiments. The goal is to create common laboratory Summary:
experiments to test the knowledge acquired by each course.
For bachelor's students, these interactive experiments are  Basic concepts of industrial automation, namely, schematic
dedicated to: rules and graphic symbols for control and power diagrams
using electrical wires;
1. Improving the learning of abstract concepts involving the  Basic concepts of I/O interfaces and programming PLCs
operation of electrical, electronic, and programmable according with the IEC61131-3 languages;
electronic devices, such as sensors and actuators, through  Theoretical exercises;
new experiments;  Presentation of the PLC programming software to be used
2. Understanding the operation of a PLC and I/O digital and in the laboratory classes and perform some application
analogue interfaces; examples;
3. Improve the students’ programming skills concerning the  Presentation of a process simulator as example of the
IEC61131-3 languages. experiments that bachelor's students must control. The
professor demonstrates how to communicate remotely with
For master's students, these experiments are dedicated to: a PLC and the results in a SCADA layout. A full
description of all details is provided in proper documents,
1. Understanding the operation of some of the most common including images of the SCADA layouts. All the docu-
industrial communication networks; ments are available in Moodle.
2. Understand the structure of SCADA systems and the high-
level languages normally adopted. Activity 2: Execution—Practical experiments in the labora-
tory (duration: 20 h). Summary:
The idea behind these experiments is based on a dual
concept: use a PLC to control a specific process, while  Team creation (two students per group);
simultaneously using another to implement the simulation of  Assign one workstation per group. Each workstation has
the process. In this context, master's students develop available two PLCs and a computer with the PLC
“process simulators” based on PLC programming and programming software. In one PLC will be developed the
SCADA systems. These process simulators must simulate a process controller and the other will run the process simulator;
real-time application in a specific PLC. SCADA application  Creation of the first PLC program in the controller;
will help to confirm the desired operation, first by master's  Distribution of a working document for each group. This
students and later by bachelor's students. Bachelor's students document guides the students during the experiment and
must program another PLC (different PLC model) to act as a has details of a specific process simulator (previously
controller for such process simulators, called the “process created by master's students), which must be controlled
controllers.” To ensure the operation of these two systems following some criteria defined by professors. Other
together, bachelor's students must also connect their I/O aspects of control are chosen arbitrarily by students,
interfaces as part of their training. These experiments allow providing creative freedom. This document includes a list
master's students to apply their theoretical knowledge in of input and output variables used in the simulator;
advanced PLC programming, communication networks, and  Establish the I/O connections between both PLCs (the
SCADA systems. The developed systems must be as process simulator and controller). This task is also made by
interactive as possible. Alternatively, these experiments students as part of training;
also motivate bachelor's students to create programs for  Development of programs for the controllers according to
specific processes, which they can interact and modify at the desired operability. Professors play the role of
school or at home. mediators in this learning process, supervising the effective
This educational project requires effective planning of collaborative work during this experiment;
all the pedagogical activities to be undertaken for both  Almost at the end of this activity, a runtime version of the
bachelor's and master's courses from professors. In the SCADA programs (developed previously by master's
proposed project, interactive learning is achieved through students) is also provided to bachelor's students. These
some activities that include developing mental strategies programs are in accordance with the process simulator
based on new hypotheses, step-by-step knowledge con- distributed for each group and allow students to test the
struction, and experimentation. The following pedagogical operability of the developed programs for the process
activities are developed for bachelor's students: controllers. Usually, several corrections are necessary;
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 Taking advantage of the installed equipment in the Activity 2: Execution—Practical experiments in the labora-
laboratory, students can interact and modify the programs tory (duration: 15 hr). Summary:
remotely. Professors encourage students to complete some
parts of the program at home and report the results in the  Team creation (two students per group);
next class;  Assign one workstation per group. Each workstation has
 During the laboratory classes the professor records the available one PLC and a computer with several software
behavior, conflicts, events, doubts, and suggestions programs: The PLC programming software, the SCADA
expressed by students. This record will help to improve software and the OPC software;
future experiments.  Introduction to the SCADA software. Creation of the first
SCADA layout connected to the PLC through the OPC
Activity 3: Discussion—Presentation and analysis of the server software;
developed PLC programs (duration: 4 hr). Summary:  Distribution of a working document for each group. This
document guides the master's students during the develop-
 Each group must present the developed solution for the ment of the process simulator;
class, explaining details, and results achieved;  Development of programs for the process simulators
 Brief discussion of the obtained results. This discussion according to the desired operability. Students must define
involves professors and students from all groups. Master's the necessary I/O variables;
students involved in this process are encouraged to  Development of the SCADA layouts and establish
participate; connection with the PLC where the process simulator is
 Proposals to improve the developed solutions can be running. This connection must be done according to the
presented. defined I/O variables;
 All the experiments must be tested remotely to assure the
Activity 4: Evaluation—Analysis and evaluation of the desired operability;
results (duration: 4 hr). Summary:  During the laboratory classes, the professor records the
behavior, conflicts, events, doubts, and suggestions
 A survey of this educational project is performed at the end expressed by students. This record will help to improve
of the semester before the evaluation of students. The future experiments.
results obtained so far are presented in Section 5;
 Each group must generate a final report based on the For master's students, the methods for discussion and
achieved results. evaluation are quite similar to those proposed for bachelor's
students and are not described here. Professors must ensure
The following pedagogical activities are proposed for that master's students produce good reports because they will
master's students to achieve different educational goals: be used as a reference by bachelor's students to create their
Activity 1: Preparation—Theoretical classes for the theory of own PLC programs.
fieldbus and SCADA systems with exercises and queries It is also necessary to provide VPN software and
(duration: 15 hr). Summary: temporary passwords to the students, allowing for remote
access via the Internet (or Ethernet inside the campus) to
 Principles of communication theory (communication PLCs and the OPC server. Programming the PLCs remotely
techniques, codification, modulations, topologies, data creates some security issues that can be solved with the use of
rates, media access methods, and so on); firewall devices and additional security passwords. More
 Commonly used fieldbus standards (physical layer details of these devices will be given in the next sections.
standard, media supported, maximum nodes, determin- This interaction between bachelor's and master's students
istic, intrinsically safe, maximum segment length, and aims to increase the motivation to learn more about Industrial
so on); Automation and develop good projects and reports. On this
 Describe the network processes that use protocols and how basis, master's students feel motivated to develop creative
they utilize them; simulators without errors, since they know that their
 Identify the functions of protocols and protocol stacks; colleagues will test them in the near future. In addition,
 Map specific protocols to the appropriate OSI layer; there is always a certain pride in the use of a product or system
 Introduction to SCADA systems, namely, software and developed by them (and that is being used by someone),
hardware resources, such as databases, alarms, networking, instead of just being stored somewhere without any use.
OPC (OLE for Process Control) client and server, and Alternatively, bachelor's students usually like to demonstrate
layout design, among other aspects; to professors and colleagues that they have the skills to deal
 Theoretical exercises. with the proposed simulation process successfully. Because
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all bachelor's student groups have different simulation This type of structure allows us to change anytime the
processes, it is excellent to see the interest and curiosity simulation process due to the capability to modify the PLC
they demonstrate by the simulation processes of other programs. To implement a process simulator in a PLC, there
bachelor's student groups. It is common during the practical are two possibilities: programming directly the PLC or
classes to observe students from different groups discussing through a remote connection. Figure 1 shows the adopted
and suggesting modifications in the work of their colleagues. architecture to program a process simulator in the automation
From the pedagogical point of view, this could be very laboratory. Using the presented architecture, master's students
interesting. can program the PLCs running the process simulators and
then the SCADA layouts that will provide supervisory
functions for such simulators. Master's students program
3 | PROPOSED LABORATORY these PLCs (TSX 57302 CPUs [25]) according with the
INFRASTRUCTURE desired operability using the PL7 Junior software [26]
(Schneider-Electric). After this programming activity, mas-
This section presents the solutions designed for both local and ter's students create specific layouts for each process
remote access to the automation laboratory. As mentioned simulator (which will be controlled by bachelor students)
before, this educational project covers master's and bachelor's and connect them with the respective PLC using the SCADA
courses. Although the project is common, it was necessary to solution proposed. These layouts help to visualize the
create an architecture to accommodate different solutions behavior of the process simulator. The SCADA solution is
since the goals are not the same. The master's course is more based on two different software applications, the Proficy
oriented to the development of SCADA systems and the iFix32 operating as the OPC client and the TopServer
bachelor's course is more oriented to programming PLCs. Toolbox operating as the OPC server.
In order to implement the proposed strategy, it was The iFix32 software is used to design the layouts and
required to develop a remote and local access to the laboratory work as a HMI (Human Machine Interface), managing
through the use of different PLCs with communication database variables, reporting and managing alarms, recording
interfaces. Each process is composed by a PLC running as a historic data, and so on. The TopServer Toolbox software
simulator and another PLC running as a controller (as provides communication drivers for several devices and is
described in the previous section). This approach is different very useful for academic purposes, allowing to communicate
from the classical solution where a PLC is connected to an with different devices at the same time. In this software, the IP
embedded simulator running a specific process in a computer addresses of all PLCs (operating as simulators) and the I/O
program. This PLC to PLC approach avoids the acquisition of variables that users want to read or write must be defined. All
extra equipment, which is generally quite expensive. the PLCs used as process simulators have an ETY110
Alternatively, this strategy maintains the focus of students interface module available [27], allowing access over the
in the PLCs, their interfaces, physical connections, and Ethernet. This software is run on a single computer of the
programming languages. automation laboratory and is responsible for collecting data

FIGURE 1 Solution to programming PLCs (running the process simulators) and connect applications to the SCADA in the laboratory
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from all TSX CPUs (using the Modbus TCP protocol), perfectly for this educational project. In this type of solution,
making it available to all OPC clients. even for academic purposes, it should be considered that
SCADA systems are widely used in industry and there are connecting devices to an open network (via Ethernet in this
many publications available on this subject, for example, case) always entails the risk of unauthorized access to the
references [3,8,17]. Figure 2 illustrates details of the network or devices. It is usually necessary to deactivate
connection between the SCADA solution (using two software unused communication channels (e.g., SNMP, FTP, BootP,
applications) and one PLC running the process simulator #1. and so on) and setting passwords and allowed IP addresses to
To operate correctly, master's students must first create all the prevent third parties from unauthorized access to controllers.
tags with the respective PLCs in the Topserver software. All It is also recommended not to use the controllers in safety
the connections can be tested immediately to identify critical applications unless using additional security devices.
problems in the communication drivers or misconnections. These additional protective measures must be done according
Master's students must then create a database with all the I/O to the IT security requirements.
variables for each individual layout in the iFix32 software. Figures 3 and 4 shows the adopted solutions to program
The final step in this process is to connect the database (of the the process controllers. This task is achieved by bachelor's
iFix32 software) with existing tags in the Topserver software students. The I/O connection between process controllers and
using a remote LAN connection. All these connections (PLCs simulators can be seen in these figures. There are two
and PCs) require fixed IP addresses. Both software possibilities for bachelor's students to program the con-
applications (iFix32 [28] and Topserver [29]) could have trollers: by direct connection in the laboratory (Figure 3) or
be installed on same machine, but that solution would make through remote connection where they can download and test
remote access more difficult. the PLC programs without a direct connection to the PLC
This architecture uses the Ethernet network of the campus (Figure 4). Note that the solution presented in Figure 4 can be
as a way to access to the devices locally or remotely. Although used to program the PLC inside or outside the laboratory. The
this network does not have the same characteristics as a software to program the controllers (ILC 131 ETH CPU [30])
dedicated Industrial Ethernet fieldbus network (e.g., Profinet, is the PC Worx [31] (from Phoenix Contact), which uses the
EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT, and so on), it serves the purpose TCP/IP protocol via the Ethernet interface of the PC.

FIGURE 2 Details of SCADA applications used in the automation laboratory by master's students for local access
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The connection over the Ethernet is protected through a

bidirectional firewall/NAT (Network Address Translation)
Router from Phoenix Contact (mGuard device [32]). In this
firewall router, the allowed IP addresses that can remotely
access the controllers must be defined. This device is
connected to a switch device in order to have all devices
available in the network. To increase safety, the PC Worx
software allows us to create an additional password for each
PLC, thereby avoiding unauthorized access.
Bachelor's students can also access the OPC server
software (Topserver) via the supervisory software (iFix32)
FIGURE 4 Solution to program the PLC (process controller)
inside or outside the laboratory. As mentioned previously,
outside the automation laboratory. This task is completed by
these two applications are the SCADA solution. The
bachelor's students
SCADA helps students to understand the real effect on the
process simulators due to the modifications implemented software will be used by master's students to create a complete
in the process controllers. Figure 5 illustrates the access to process simulator, as earlier described. Figure 7 presents a print
the OPC server using the iFix32 software, which must be screen of the supervisory software (Proficy Ifix32) during the
installed on students’ PCs, as described earlier in Figure 1. design of layouts of a process simulator. In this example, it is
Note that the OPC server communicates only with process possible to see a water treatment system composed of tanks,
simulators although using the same network infrastructure. valves, sensors, mixers, and pumps used to administrate the
One of the advantages of using this architecture is that it dosage of aluminium sulfate. This is a typical layout example
can also be used outside the campus, which is very useful for that master's students develop along with the PLC program for
educational purposes. Thus, through the VPN software (and the process simulator. Note that these layouts (a run-time
respective temporary keys) provided to students, it is also version) will be used by bachelor's students to test the correct
possible to access from home, allowing students to download, operation of the process controllers. Master's students must
modify, and debug online using the PC Worx software. The create these layouts to be as interactive as possible, allowing
SCADA solution is in this case is also very useful for access to configuration screens to adjust process variables, such
interaction, otherwise it would be very difficult to confirm the as mixing times, tank volume, tank levels, and other variables.
results. An overview of this architecture can be seen in Figure 8 shows the OPC server software (TopServer
Figure 6, where students with an access point to the internet Toolbox) where master's students must first select the devices
can communicate with the OPC server and PLCs. In this case, (in this case, the PLC where the process simulator is running)
each group only has access to the specific process controller and the communication drivers. Next, each group must create
used in the automation laboratory. their own tag variables according with the specific memory
map used in the PLC of the process simulator. All connections
4 | LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS can be tested in a quick client window. Because the devices

This section presents a general description of one example

created in the laboratory for the interactive learning of industrial
automation. The OPC client and server are first described, which
are the base of the SCADA solution. The PLC and its
programming software are then discussed. This hardware and

FIGURE 3 Solution to program the PLC (process controller)

directly in the automation laboratory. This task is completed by FIGURE 5 Solution to program the process controller and access
bachelor's students the OPC server remotely
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FIGURE 6 General overview of the architecture adopted to access the experiments of the Automation Laboratory outside the campus

are identical, the master's students must be sure that data the starterkit ILC131ETH PLC (4) from Phoenix Contact,
comes from the intended device. which operates as the process controller, and finally, the
Figure 9 shows a photograph of a PLC (TSX 57302) and programming software for the PLC of Phoenix Contact (5)
the respective software (PL7 Junior) (see Figure 10) from running on the student PC. The I/O connections between the
Schneider Electric used by master's students to program the TSX PLC and the ILC PLC can also be seen in this figure.
process simulators. The PLCs used for this purpose are placed
inside an electric panel that can be moved inside the laboratory 5 | EVALUATION OF THIS
for different experiments (see Figures 13 (2) and (3)). EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
The next description of hardware and software is related to
the design of the process controller. These elements are used by This educational project started in 2014, covering the
bachelor's students in laboratory experiments. Figure 11 shows automation courses of the bachelor's degree and the industrial
the starter kit ILC 131 ETH from Phoenix Contact used by communication networks and SCADA courses of the master's
bachelor's students. This ILC PLC will control the process that degree in Electrical Engineering. These courses are composed
is simulated in the TSX PLC presented in Figure 9. To program of theoretical and laboratorial experiments, which can be
such ILC PLCs, PC Worx software is used. A print screen of combined with remote access. Between the summer semesters
this software is presented in Figure 12. Because the adopted of 2014 and 2016 (six semesters), a total of 42 master's students
process controllers have Ethernet interfaces and can be and 68 bachelor's students have been involved in this
accessed remotely, bachelor's students must learn how to educational project. At the end of each semester, the professors
configure such devices (e.g., DNS Name, IP address, Subnet make a satisfaction survey with students regarding several
Mask, Gateway, and so on). All these activities should be scientific/technical and pedagogical aspects. The obtained
supervised by professors during the classes. results covering these six semesters, based on the student
A photograph showing the equipment used in this example surveys and regarding the interest of these experiments and the
can be seen in Figure 13. In this figure, it is possible to see the advantages of remote access are:
iFix32 software (1), the PLC where the process simulator (2)
from Schneider-Electric is implemented, one of the mobile  83% of bachelor's students recognized that such experi-
electric panels used in the laboratory for several experiments ments are important for the learning process. The main
(3), which have inside the PLC running the process simulator, reasons invoked are the motivation to learn automation
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FIGURE 7 Proficy IFix32 as supervisory software (OPC client)

using new devices that allow remote interaction using used the remote connection to program the PLCs. In
PCs or tablets and the increased autonomy to work accordance with this survey, 74% of the students tried to
outside the laboratory class. Although they recognize program the controllers remotely. The remaining 36%
the importance of these experiments, not all the students mentioned they have established the remote connection

FIGURE 8 OPC server (TopServer Toolbox software)

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FIGURE 9 PLC used as process simulator (TSX 57302) from FIGURE 11 Starter kit used as process controller (ILC 131 ETH
Schneider Electric PLC) from Phoenix Contact

with PLC and SCADA at least once or twice just for Based on the results achieved so far, it seems that most
curiosity or to show parents or friends and they have students are pleased with the experiments conducted in the
never intended to program the controller remotely. The automation laboratory as a complement to theoretical classes.
main reason pointed out is the lack of time to It seems that this project increased the autonomous work
accomplish these tasks because they have other subjects abilities and motivation regarding automation. The evaluation
to study; results show that most students think that remote laboratories
 6% of bachelor's students said that they tried but could not are important as a complement to laboratory classes.
be able to access from home for unknown reasons; Nevertheless, the survey revealed that a significant number
 7% of bachelor's students said they never tried because they of students do not have time to access remotely to complete
prefer to do everything directly in the laboratory with the tasks or just do it for curiosity since they prefer to work
colleagues and professors help; with colleagues in the laboratory.
 4% of Bachelor's students did not answer or did not want to To evaluate this educational project, the results,
participate in this survey; obtained after and prior to the implementation of this
 92% of Master's students also recognize that this is a good project, more specifically from 2014 to 2016 (six semesters)
educational project to test the knowledge acquired in the and from 2011 to 2013, are presented in Table 1. From this
courses. The main reasons pointed out were the motivation table, it is possible to see the values (X/Y), where X is the
to create process simulators that will be used by other number of students that completed the course successfully
students and the possibility to learn how to configure in percentage and Y is the average grade of students that
software and hardware in order to obtain a remote completed the course successfully in percentage. The results
connection; indicate an improvement in both of the sets of evaluation
 8% of Master's students did not answer or did not want to results (bachelor's and master's degree) after the implemen-
participate in this survey. tation of the project. Alternatively, in accordance with the
opinion of the students, the number of working hours that
they spent in programming the PLCs increased due to their
increased motivation in developing a work with high
quality.

6 | CONCLUSIONS

An educational project for the interactive learning of

industrial automation has been presented in this work. The
main objective is to motivate students for industrial
automation and improve their ability to solve problems in
FIGURE 10 Programming software for TSX CPUs (PL7 Junior) this engineering area. New technological advances have
from Schneider Electric undoubtedly promoted the development of new teaching and
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FIGURE 12 Software used to program the process controllers (PC Worx) from Phoenix Contact

learning methodologies and the combination of local a better perception of the problems related with the processes
and remote classes is probably one of the most promising that will be controlled by the PLCs. The results achieved in
and valuable scientific and pedagogical strategy in education this educational project seems to indicate that experiments
today. Under this context, a new laboratory that allows conducted in real laboratories are the crucial learning
students to program PLCs through local or remote connection experience in engineering schools and provide the excep-
was implemented. This laboratory was also developed in tional opportunity to deal with didactic and real industrial
order to allow students to program two PLCs, in which one of equipment. It also seems that most students are pleased with
them is implemented in the simulation of the process and in this project and think that the access to the laboratory at
the other controls the same process. Finally, since they will nonworking hours create conditions to improve or finish
develop the simulator of the system process they will acquire experiments that could not be completed in the class period.

FIGURE 13 Photograph of selected equipment used in the proposed educational experiment

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TABLE 1 Results of the evaluation during the last 6 years 2011– 9. V. Fernão Pires et al., Distance learning power system protection
2016 (2011 until 2013 are prior to this educational project) based on testing protective relays, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electr. 55
(2008), 2433–2438.
Year Bachelor (X/Y) Master (X/Y)
10. D. Hercog et al., A DSP-based remote control laboratory, IEEE
2011 79.3%/69.1% 91.7%/72% Trans. Ind. Electr. 54 (2007), 3057–3068.
2012 88.8%/72.4% 96%/79.7% 11. S-J. Hsieh and P. Hsieh, Web-based modules for programmable
2013 100%/74.2% 81.3%/77.5% logic controller education, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 13 (2005),
266–279.
↑Average 89.4%/71.9% 89.7%/76.4%
12. C. C. Ko et al., Development of a web-based laboratory for control
2014 94.7%/78.8% 100%/81% experiments on a coupled tank apparatus, IEEE Trans. Educ. 44
2015 100%/79.6% 92.9%/83.3% (2001), 76–86.
2016 92.9%/86.3% 88.9%/87.8% 13. M. Mirzakhani, H. Ashrafzadeh, A. Ashrafzadeh, The virtual
university: Advantages and disadvantages, 4th Int. Conf. on
↑Average 95.9%/81.6% 93.9%/84%
Distance Learning and Education − ICDLE, 32–36 (2010).
14. H. Mostefaoui, A. Benachenhou, and A. A. Benattia, Design of
a low cost remote electronic laboratory suitable for low
This interactive learning methodology assumes more and bandwidth connection, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 25 (2017),
more importance in engineering institutions, since the number 480–488.
of industrial and domestic equipment with remote interfaces 15. M. Prasanna Kumar, Information Technology: Roles, Advantages
is growing rapidly. and Disadvantages, Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Sci. Softw. Eng. 4
(2014), 1020–1024.
16. M. Rampazzo, A. Cervato, and A. Beghi, Remote refrigeration
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS system experiments for control engineering education, Comput.
Appl. Eng. Educ. 25 (2017), 430–440.
The authors would like to thank Phoenix Contact for
17. S. Reynard et al., Flexible manufacturing cell SCADA system
providing industrial equipment under the EDUNET protocol
for educational purpose, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 16 (2008),
established between this worldwide company and ISEL and 21–30.
by the support of national funds through FCT − Fundação 18. F. Rodríguez et al., Architecture to develop semi-virtual industrial
para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under project UID/CEC/ laboratories for the interactive learning of process automation,
50021/2013. Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 24 (2016), 335–346.
19. A. Rojko, D. Hercog, and K. Jezernik, Power engineering and
motion control web laboratory: Design, implementation, and
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A. CORDEIRO was born in Portugal in D. FOITO received the Dipl. Ing. and
1976, received his BS degree in Elec- MS degrees in Electrical Engineering
trical Engineering from Instituto Supe- from Instituto Superior Técnico,
rior de Engenharia de Lisboa in 1999. Technical University of Lisbon,
He received the MSc and PhD degrees Lisbon, Portugal in 1993 and 2002,
in Electrical Engineering from IST, respectively. He received PhD degree
Technical University of Lisbon, in in Electrical Engineering from Faculty
2004 and 2015, respectively. His res- of Sciences and Technology, Univer-
earch interests include power electronics, variable speed sidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal in
drives, automation systems, and electrical vehicles. He is 2015. Since 1997 he is a member of the teaching staff at
also professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering Electrical Engineering Department of Superior Technical
and Automation of Instituto Superior de Engenharia de School of Setúbal – Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal.
Lisboa for the area of Automation since 2006. His present Presently he is a adjoint professor, teaching Power
research interests include the areas of power-electronic Electronics and Electric Drives. His research interests
converters, industrial automation, and robotics. include renewable energy generation, electrical machines,
electric drives, electric vehicle, fault diagnosis, and fault
V. FERNÃO PIRES (M’96–SM’09) tolerant operation.
received the BS degree in Electrical
Engineering from Institute Superior of
Engineering of Lisbon, Portugal, in How to cite this article: Cordeiro A, Fernão Pires
1988 and the MS and PhD degrees in V, Foito D. Combining local and remote laboratories
Electrical and Computer Engineering for the interactive learning of industrial automation.
from Technical University of Lisbon, Comput Appl Eng Educ. 2018;26:675–687.
Portugal, in 1995 and 2000, respec- https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.21922
tively. Since 1991 he is a member of the teaching staff at
Electrical Engineering Department of Superior Technical
School of Setúbal – Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal.
Presently he is a professor, teaching Power Electronics
and Control of Power Converters. He is also researcher at
Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores,
Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC-ID).
His work has resulted in more than 150 publications. His
present research interests include the areas of power-
electronic converters, fault diagnosis and fault tolerant
operation, renewable energy, electrical drives, and power
quality.