9352734 Shor An industrial-standard control laboratory with reconfigurable real-time VME-bus-based architecture is being established for undergraduate control engineering instruction.The motivation for this novel proposed laboratory setup is to make the setting both flexible for individual project design and accessible from remote sites. The flexibility of the architecture permits multiple projects to be developed and tested concurrently without interfering with each other. The VME-bus architecture allows the projects to share VME-bus devices such as data- acquisition boards and real-time controllers. Further, since the equipment is accessible from the network, students may develop their software and algorithms from remote sites and take advantage of available network resources. This also makes the proposed laboratory accessible to persons who are disabled. The extensive video network together with the network accessibility of the laboratory, provides interactive demonstration capabilities for laboratory-classroom instruction. This contributes to the effort to develop decentralized classroom technology.The laboratory provides reliable, modern, industrial-quality equipment to familiarize the student with the current industrial standards. This quality setup enables the students to focus on the challenges of controlling non-ideal dynamical systems and to experiment with innovative ideas. A sequence of experiments is designed to improve student understanding of the basic principles and challenges of digital control. ***
