Designing and Implementing a Virtual 3D Microcontroller Laboratory Environment

Laboratory instruction is a major component of undergraduate curriculums throughout the United States. The laboratory experiences represent fundamental instructions for all technology students. Traditional laboratory instruction is hampered by several factors including limited access to resources by students, high laboratory maintenance cost and the inability to delivery the laboratory content of a course at distance. This paper describes the development of an interactive, photorealistic 3D computer-simulated laboratory for undergraduate instruction in microcontroller technology. The virtual lab operates and produces results equal to the physical laboratory. In addition, it includes an extremely realistic representation of devices and components, thus providing the students with the mental engagement necessary to successfully complete the experiments outside the confines of a traditional laboratory. The 3D virtual lab can solve the majority of the problems associated with traditional laboratory instruction, and can provide students with the same level of understanding of the experiments as a real laboratory environment