Teaching Embedded Systems and Internet of Things Supported by Multi-Purpose Multi-Objective Remote Laboratories

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is a collection of technologies to bring the Internet to physically embedded devices and to embed them deeply into human activities to aid in a variety of activities. IoT gained traction with developers and consumers in recent years, driven by low-cost open-source hardware that enables easy prototyping and testing. IoT must be a part of the educational curriculum in higher education and follow a project-based learning pedagogy. This article describes a teaching framework for embedded systems and IoT, supported by a remote laboratory (RL) to allow students to work on project-based learning. RLs are online environments that let remote users access physical hardware. The hardware is designed as multipurpose multiobjective (MPMO), that is, the hardware components can be reconfigured to suit many different and unrelated learning objectives. RL for IoT benefits from certain advantages. First, IoT activities relating to communication often involve devices set apart geographically; running them as part of a single activity in a Web platform is the most efficient way. Second, some IoT activities require an enormous amount of time before conclusions can be made, and such activities are best carried out through an online environment. Using RL to teach students about embedded systems and IoT allows them to access equipment and IoT scenarios beyond their personal space. It is shown that students have been able to undertake the activities using RL successfully.