Virtual Labs and Projects with MATLAB and Simulink

You can bring interactive labs to your online courses to enable student participation and active learning. Use MATLAB and Simulink to build engaging virtual labs by incorporating modeling and simulation.

See howMondragon Universityused MATLAB and Simulink to model a laboratory turbine and other system components.

“Simulation with Simulink is a valuable stepping stone between theory and implementation that saves considerable time and money, particularly when a project involves a turbine or other costly system hardware.”

–Carlos García, Mondragon University

Online Laboratories

Use MATLAB and Simulink to teach virtual or remote labs, or teach with hardware kits. As the format of lab activities varies between topics, MATLAB and Simulink contain tools to support your instruction by deploying apps, streaming data from yourhardware, and utilizingmobile devices.

Virtual

Simulates a process, test, apparatus, or other activity.

Examples:

Remote

校园访问硬件,或打开ated.

Examples:

Hardware at Home

Students use kits or mobile devices, or collect data.

Examples:

Simulate Laboratory Equipment and Processes with Simulink

Create a representative model of your laboratory equipment or processes in a visual environment with Simulink. Add components to your model to introduce new course concepts. Simulink can also help students derive and understand the system-level equations used in your course assignments.

运行硬件或系统的模拟演示nstrate behavior to students. Simulations can be accompanied by graphical outputs and 3D animations to help facilitate student understanding. Results can be exported to MATLAB for further analysis during lectures, homework, and future labs. Virtualizing labs also enables you to augment courses that do not have devoted laboratory space or scheduled time and avoid physical hardware limitations.

See how theUniversity of Torontoused Simulink to model reconfigurable industrial robots.

“With MATLAB and Simulink we developed a low-cost design and simulation environment that enables students to apply theoretical aspects of kinematics, dynamics, and controls of robot manipulators in a realistic way, optimize their designs, and see those designs in action.”

–Dr. Reza Emami, University of Toronto

Have you had success building virtual labs with MATLAB and Simulink?

Share your experience with ourDistance Learning Community.

Build Your Own Lab Interfaces

MATLAB and Simulink support the construction of user interfaces to customize virtualized lab environments. Use existing apps inside MATLAB and Simulink as the basis for a virtual laboratory or create your own usingApp Designer.

MATLAB apps allow your students to experiment and learn engineering concepts without focusing on the code or software-specific skills. Students interact with apps within MATLAB or MATLAB Online. Apps can be shared in a browser withMATLAB Web App Server.

Watch video: MATLAB Apps(1:45)

See how Zachary Lietzau of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University used App Designer to create an app for interactive geometry manipulation of an aircraft that includes real-time updating graphics and stability calculations.

15:58

Building Graphical Aircraft Design Tools

4:49

Getting Started with App Designer

MATLAB apps to help get you started:

Deep learning:Deep Network Designer
Machine learning and statistics:Classification Learner,Curve Fitting
Power electronics control design:System Identification,Control System Designer
Wireless communications:Sensor Array Analyzer,Wireless Waveform Generator

Find more from the MATLAB and Simulink community inFile Exchange.

Want to focus on the code and workflow?

Leverage MATLAB and Simulink examples:

See howJohns Hopkins Universityestablished a virtual lab for wireless communications.

“Simulink allows us to have a virtual laboratory with the whole gamut of what you would find in a normal communications lab, including scopes, spectrum analyzers, and sources. The students can do everything with Simulink, and they can experiment with their ideas without going to a lab. That’s one reason why the course has been so popular for so long.”

–Robbin Roddewig, Johns Hopkins University

Collaboration and Interactivity Tools

MATLAB and Simulink Projects

MATLAB and Simulink Projectsprovide opportunities to support virtual collaboration for lab activities or student design projects. Team members can set and manage project paths, create shortcuts into models, track and control changes, check file dependency, and share results. Student groups can organize into subgroups and simultaneously work on different subsystems of a model.

Keep instructors and teaching assistants updated on the latest content with MATLAB and Simulink Projects. These management tools also assist with version control in cases where a model may be used in multiple courses.

Using Live Editor

UseLive Editorto create lab activities within MATLAB code or an interactive lab manual out of live scripts. Your students can also use Live Editor to make interactive lab reports or electronic lab notebooks based in MATLAB code that document workflows, analyze data, and generate figures. For more on Live Editor and live scripts, see theInstructional Resourcespage. Also see theOnline Assessmentspage for tips on using MATLAB Grader for assessing outcomes in labs.

Online Teaching Resources

Distance Learning Community,for educators who are teaching remotely or online using MATLAB and Simulink
Videos: Online Teaching with MATLAB and Simulink
Teaching with MATLABinstructor training
MATLAB Grader problem collections
Additional teaching resources

Have questions or ideas on how to support online teaching with MATLAB and Simulink?

Contact the MathWorks online teaching team