Leveraging web services and FPGA dynamic partial reconfiguration in a virtual hardware design lab

• Autores: Octavian M. Machidon, Alina L. Machidon, Petru A. Cotfas, Daniel T. Cotfas
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 33, no. Extra 2 (Parte B), 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Engineering Behind Technology-Based Educational Innovations), págs. 865-876
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The recent rise and development of a variety of virtual and distance learning platforms in the field of engineering hasbrought on common downsides for most of these solutions. Among them, the difficulty in offering access to physicalequipment in fields where a practical, hands-on approach is mandatory and also a low effectiveness in resource sharing, dueto the fact that traditionally, one hardware equipment can be used by only one student at a given moment. This paperdescribes the design and implementation of a digital hardware design remote virtual laboratory that provides solutions tothese issues. Reconfigurable hardware development platforms are made available online using Web services, thusproviding easy access for student practice by the means of an intuitive Web interface that offers the user the possibilityto remotely configure and communicate with its designated hardware resource. Another particular feature of thisimplementation is that the same development board can be shared simultaneously by several users by using dynamicpartial reconfiguration, thus achieving an improved resource sharing effectiveness. The developed laboratory works areoriented on digital hardware design but also on using the digital hardware for running the mathematical models ofrenewable energy sources. In order to evaluate the system, an analysis is being presented showing the technical and learningbenefits brought by using this virtual platform.