Online 24 hour hardware lab backend server configuration

• Main Author: Heng, Edward Aik Hwang
• Other Authors: Oh Hong Lye
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62665
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Implementing distance learning where education is delivered to students who are not physically present in a conventional setting has always been an obstacle to many institutions. However with the advancement of Internet, the widespread use of computer and the web have made distance learning faster and easier. The introduction of remote laboratory has brought greater flexibility to students who are working on experiments. This is especially so for the students taking courses in Engineering and Science faculties which focus on hands-on experiments. The aim of this project is to build on the existing prototype of a remote lab by enhancing several features to improve the performance and efficiency of the system. The final product of the project should consist of the full implementation of 6 cores sub-components: Cloud Service, Raspberry Pi Service, Live Video Streaming Service, Backend and Frontend Configuration, C Programming Lab Module and lastly Microscopic Lab Module. The focus of this dissertation will be improving the backend and frontend configuration of the platform which includes developing a scheduling algorithm, developing a file structure and optimizing the server space usage. There will also be description on the integration process with other sub-components, the system architecture, and analysis on the performance of server. Evaluation and comparison of feedback against 2014 were also done. From the results obtained from the survey and feedback, it had reflected that the enhanced version of the system had gained excellent acknowledgement (89% of the students felt that the lab was interesting) from the users and there was a significant reduction in average waiting time to access the board as compared to last year (In 2014, 43% of the total feedback received stated they have less than 5 minutes waiting time while in 2015 the value increased to 86%).