iLabs fills a niche between simulation and laboratory projects. It can capture several limitations not found in simulation:

  • In real devices, some parameters are well-controlled, while others are not. In EE, for example, students can get begin to see that between two transistors, V_BE will match to within a few percent, while beta will match to within a factor of 2, while the current for a given V_BE may be off by an order of magnitude.
  • Devices do not always accurately match models. Simulators use models that, while more detailed than those taught to students, do not capture the complete behavior of the device. Students can begin to get a feeling for how well models match the real world.
  • Not all experiments can be done in simulation. In particular, many experiments in fluid dynamics or quantum mechanics are not computationally feasible. For many other experiments, simulators simply do not exist.
  • Students can begin to understand real-world constraints caused by parasitics and noise. Especially due to lack of noise, results from simulators are often far easier to analyze than those from real experiments.

In addition, it has several advantages over laboratory experiments:

  • Students can perform the experiments much more quickly and comfortably, since they do not need to come into lab. As a result, students can be assigned many more experiments. E.g. for virtually any circuit a student analyzes in a problem set, they can also get experimental data to confirm symbolic results, and to get a feel for how accurate those results are.
  • Equipment is shared, so costs are reduced. This is especially important in the developing world, but even in the developed world, it can give students access to expensive equipment where it would otherwise be impossible.
  • Instructors can restrict the experiments for either pedagogical or safety purposes. Beginning EE students can begin to perform experiments before they understand triggering on an oscilloscope. The experiment configurations can also be restricted so students cannot damage devices.
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