The ULI Anywhere Project

This project is on indefinite hold!

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Who we are:

• Most of the work and technical support for this project was provided by R. Wisman in Computer Science. Forinash helped a little!

What the project was about:

This project provides access to real scientific measurement instruments using the Internet.

• The ULI is a student model analog to digital hardware device for interfacing a computer to laboratory equipment (available from Vernier Software). The ULI can take input from several probes including a microphone and a radio-active decay counter. These signals are typically fed into a computer through the serial port. The ULI can also output a digital signal to control other equipment.
• Control of the ULI, including digital output and data collection, can be easily be accomplished using a program written in Java.
• Since the ULI already is controled by and feeds data to a computer it seemed logical to put a web server on the same computer and have the control and data feedback occur through a web page which loads a Java applet.
• The techniques developed here allow users to access scientific equipment and data measurement devices located at a remote site using a web page interface.

Equipment and software we used to do this:

• ULI A/D interface.
• Mac Quadra 650 running OS 7.5 .
• Mac Httpd 2.2.2 web server software.
• Java software written by Ray Wisman.

How it worked:

• When you went to the web page for the project a Java applet was activated. The applet was programed to do three things:
• If you clicked on 'Counter', set the sampling rate and clicked 'Start' you would get back data from a radiation probe in our lab which was set up next to a low level radiation source.
• If you clicked on 'Digital' you would turn on a sound source in our lab.
• If you set the sample rate and clicked 'Start' (without first clicking 'Counter') you would get a sound sample back from the microphone in our lab (this would be the sound source if it was on or background noise if the source was not turned on).
• A picture and description of the equipment in our lab.
• A screen shot of the web page after retreving sound data.
• We will leave this set up for a while longer but, due to changes in JAVA we can't garantee it will continue to work: ULI Anywhere. (Last updated: June 4, 1998)

Status and problems:

• Obviously this is now very old and obsolete equipment.
• The solid state relay which converts the digital ULI output signal into an analog current to turn something on is not dependable and we have not found a replacement.
• The Java language and the Java engine (used by a browser to run the Java code) has changed over time. This makes it difficult to be sure that the applet will run under any verson and any platform.
• Although you can still get support for the ULI from Vernier, they are phasing it out and replacing it with the LabPro.
• Presentations and Publications:
• K. Forinash, R. Wisman, L. Blankenship; 'Remote Data Acquisition Using the Internet', contributed talk at the Annual meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, 1/9/99, Anaheim, CA.
• K. Forinash, R. Wisman; 'Local and Remote Data Collection Using Excel and the LabPro', contributed talk at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in Philadelphia, PA, January 20-23, 2002.
• K. Forinash, R. Wisman; "The Viability of Distance Education Science Laboratories" T.H.E. (Technical Horizons in Education) Journal Vol. 29 No. 3 (2001) p 380192. http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A3639.cfm
• K. Forinash, R. Wisman; "Simple Internet data collection for physics laboratories" American Journal of Physics.Vol 70 No. 4 (2002) p458.
• NOTE: We have a similar project with the LabPro. If you are interested in working on it, contact Professor Forinash or Professor Wisman. (5/7/03)