Abstract:
In computer science and engineering education, teaching PC interfacing
courses and laboratory experiments are strongly required. PC interfacing is the
field of developing or simulating real/virtual solutions for exchanging data/
commands between PC and the outer world of sensors and actuators.
Recently, virtual experiments and Labs have been adopted by engineering
educators to preclude the physical presence of students and tutors and to
provide effective skills acquisition and hands‐on experience in a virtual
manner. High‐cost LabVIEW from National Instruments company is the
dominant platform to develop, execute, and animate virtual PC interfacing
experiments similar to real ones. This paper presents a toolchain, the course
contents, and virtual experiments that cover many different PC interfacing
technologies such as UART, SPI, RS232, USB, SD card interfacing, and
wireless GSM/GPRS. The virtual nature of VFST toolchain refers to enabling
the students to design, animate, and run their prototypes or solutions inside
only PC programs without the need to build physical or real ones until making
sure of their prototypes' functionality. The main aim of the VFST platform is to
make students able to develop C# based applications and to implement
solutions with an aesthetic similar to LabVIEW capabilities to become a low‐
cost alternative of it. VFST consists of a group of free‐of‐charge and third‐party
software programs such as VSPD, Virtual USB driver, WinImage, and Real‐
Term alongside with Proteus simulator and C# programming language. This
paper presents qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the benefits and
effectiveness of VFST. Findings are collected via feedback responses using an
online questionnaire survey. These findings clarify that the student cohort is,
in general, supportive that VFST Lab's content and virtual experiments have a
considerable effect on their career after and before their graduation.