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1. Sample of Viewer for Java LiveApplet image Sire Small Large Figure 30 A open web browser showing a live video of the lab with a student measuring the thickness of iron shield 42 aun hsinotzwu S Skype Conversation cal view Tools Hep a hsingtzuwu Display di Put this c Share You Call from hsingtzuwu 3 Sound Set Video Sett v amp Shares Q Extrasy Type a message here Figure 31 A Skype window showing a student is placing one more polyethylene block Under the polyethylene blocks is a gamma source The G M counter above the blocks detects the dose rate The Instant Message underneath the video is used to send experimental data 43 Chapter 4 Virtual Nuclear Engineering Laboratory While Internet nuclear engineering leb provides an alternative way for students to participate in an experiment and get experimental data outside the laboratory the virtual nuclear engineering lab gives the students an interactive tour to the lab facility Though not essential the virtual and interactive model of the lab can enhance the lab experience of the remote students They can walk around in the virtual model before the Internet lab and gain a level of familiarity with the lab This chapter details the development of a virtual lab using a game engine called Unreal Engine II Game engine technology can be used to model and simulate 3D interactive educational games with the help of custom made packages Specifica
2. One of the most useful features of Unreal Editor 2004 is the ability that several players can play in any given map at one time Currently the game engine can support up to 16 players on a single map at the same time This feature is valuable because it allows players to practice teamwork virtually Static Meshes Other then basic geometry meshes being used to create the levels foundation layer and several other types of meshes can be used as well One of these is the static mesh This is a prebuilt form available in the editors preloaded archive of meshes or created by a third party outside of the game in a 3D modeling software such as Maya 19 Figure 33 shows a 3D model of a stool built in Maya 2008 and the same model after it is imported in Unreal Editor 2004 These meshes commonly have a material already applied to them when they are placed in the level However the designers can change this texture manually to fit their need 46 Be Autodesk Maya 2008 Desktop Hsingtzu 3D model maya table cofe table mb File Edit Modify Create Display Window Select Mesh EditMesh Proxy Normals Color CreateUVs s SW R Bd Static Meshes 2K4Chargers ChargerTextures graywhite soz ie If Popgons v 8 aa H Ra A z zenro aign File Edit View Collision Tools General Curves Surfaces Polygons Subdivs Deformation Animation Dynamics Rendering Paint tfects To 4 SOLEY IITTI E Textures Actor Classes Meshes Anima
3. The windowless flow proportional counter is called windowless as compared to other proportional counters consisting of a gas filled chamber because it does not have a window A proportional counter has two electrodes an anode and a cathode These two electrodes when applied a high bias voltage accelerate collision rates between neutral gas molecules and primary electrons beta particles These collisions increase the kinetic energy of the electrons significantly When this energy is greater than the ionization energy of the neutral gas molecule an additional electron ion pair may be created The higher the applied electronic field the more electron ion pairs are created Electron ion pairs are generated between the two electrodes until the initial charge is multiplied by a factor M which is called the multiplication However M is sensitive to the bias voltage applied to the proportional counter and a small change in the bias voltage can significantly alter M Only within a certain range of the bias voltage does M remain unchanged In this range the amount of charges produced by primary electrons is 31 proportional to the charge deposited in the counter These charge signals are then converted by a preamplifier to voltage step signals and the radiation dose is determined by counting these voltage step signals More counts mean more radiation reaction took place In addition students learn about different distributions such
4. 4 61755 mDtk la Edge triggering parameters error out 2 status j 4 0 A code Fo 45 4 34 210u source HAm 88 16 Click the box under Scalar Measurement within Waveform Measurement block A list of available scalar measurements will pop up Table 1 in Chapter 2 page 22 contains a list of all available Scalar Measurements Note that you need to have more than two wave signals shown on the right hand side plot to do frequency related measurement EF niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel ko l File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help Ea D I 15pt Application Font f 3ov star to Q Verse 1 DAQ 1 X Resource Name z aaaea STOP a3 Timing min sample rate 9 25 7 Input Channel o m Waveform Measurement min record length oT 4 Scalar Measurement actual record length y Frequency Enforce Realtime V Measurements None Scalal Average Frequency FFT Frequency Period Average Period s s _ Rise Time Fall Time numi Rising Slew Rate Falling Slew Rate Overshoot error out Preshoot pem T VoltageRMS a 8 Voltage Cycle RMS source AC Estimate FFTAmplitude Voltage Average 45 34 210u Voltage Cycle Average H Pow DC Estimate 89
5. 61755 a eel Trigger Level 0 00 1 error out J status ig code Fo source 45 7 34 210u HAR gt AI 15pt Application Font fox Tie D 9 Resource Name aieri reka a mam STOP 7 DAQ 1 xi Figure 12 Front panel of the digitizer NPRE 451 LabVIEW A student in a remote location would see the same data in real time via the Internet 20 File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help mae eTa trigger type input channel Acquisition Graph Clear Stats voltage range j en min sample rate DBn eran end agih Update Error Out scalar measurement to show warnings E p actual record length A f 4132 20 pal 7 Saz DOH stop FEED Figure 13 Part of the block diagram of a LabVIEW application for the digitizer 21 Table 1 List of available Scalars that can be measured by the digitizer NPRE451 application 27 RMS Voltage Measurements Two Channel Measurements AC Estimate Phase Delay Voltage Cycle RMS Time Delay FFT Amplitude Period and Frequency Measurements Voltage RMS Average Frequency DC Voltage Measurements FFT Frequency Voltage
6. Average Average Period Voltage Cycle Average Frequency DC Estimate Period Area Measurements Time Histogram Measurements Area Time Hist Hits Integral Time Hist Mean 3 Stdev Cycle Area Time Hist Max Voltage Extrema Measurements Time Hist Median Voltage Min Time Hist Mean Voltage Low Time Hist Min Voltage Max Time Hist Peak to Peak Voltage High Time Hist Mode Voltage Peak to Peak Time Hist Mean Stdev Voltage Amplitude Time Hist New Hits Voltage Base Time Hist Mean 2 Stdev Voltage Top Time Hist Stdev Voltage Base to Top Voltage Histogram Measurements Overshoot Volt Hist Hits Pre shoot Volt Hist Median Reference Levels Volt Hist Max Low Ref Volts Volt Hist Min Mid Ref Volts Volt Hist Mean High Ref Volts Volt Hist Mode Time Measurements Volt Hist Mean Stdev Fall Time Volt Hist New Hits Positive Duty Cycle Volt Hist Mean 2 Stdev Falling Slew Rate Volt Hist Peak to Peak Rise Time Volt Hist Mean 3 Stdev Negative Width Volt Hist Stdev Rising Slew Rate Positive Width Timer Counter The timer counter LabVIEW application is developed for experiments named nuclear instruments Radiation detection and counting Gamma ray attenuation Geiger Miieller counter operation and Alpha particle spectroscopy These experiments introduce the students to different radiation detectors Additional information about these detectors is given in Chapter 3 To understand this timer counter application it is sufficient to 22 know that the analog
7. G j Frequency leasurements scalar result 2 85778 mean 343785 stdev J0785048 min 269202 max 461755 numin stats 820 Scalar Measurement M Timing min sample rate f7 f min record length 1 999 JA actual record length Enforce Realtime Vertical Vertical Range 110 00 j r Triggering Trigger Type Immediate Edge triggering parameters Trigger Level fo 00 error out status i source 7 1 1 J HAR Visible Items Find Terminal Change to Control Description and Tip Fit Control to Pane Scale Object with Pane Export Simplified Image Create gt Replace d SEL Reinitialize to Default Value Advanced d Make Current Value Default File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help ral gt 11 15pt Application Font ge Resource Name go STOP DAQ 1 Copy Data X Scale gt Clear Graph Y Scale d Create Annotation Properties a 91 20 Here is another way to save a plot Right click on the plot choose Export Simplified Image in the pop up menu see a below Another pop up menu will show up see b below Pick a format to save the plot Table 3 in Appendix C1 contains a list of all available formats EF niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel oe eee File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help
8. Google Sites Google sites zoogle com access June 27 2010 NI USB 5132 National Instruments sine ni com nips cds view p lang en nid 203719 accessed January 2 2010 Top 10 Things to Consider When Selecting a Digitizer Oscilloscope NI Developer Zone zone ni com devzone cda tut p id 4333 accessed January 3 2010 NI SCOPE driver software for high speed digitizers National Instruments sine ni com nips cds view p lang en nid 12638 accessed January 16 2010 MAESTRO 32 MCA Emulator ORTEC www ortec online com maest htm accessed January 10 2010 James F Ziegler The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matters http www srim org accessed July 5 2010 Unreal Technology Epic Games www unrealtechnology com case studies php ref magnacarta2 accessed March 13 2010 54 31 Unreal Technology Epic Games www unrealtechnology com case studies php ref ao2 accessed March 13 2010 32 C Xi Computer Game Based Education and Training Tools for Nuclear Engineering MS thesis University of Illinois 2009 55 Appendix A User Manual for Web Camera 1 Open a web browser and go to http 128 174 163 11 sample lvahuge htm1 TNR 2 Click at the bottom of the window to get control the web camera 3 See the image below for control instruction Downloa S P1Gmail L ey 5 LiveAppl lt C f nhttp 128 174 163 11 sam gt Gr Fr Getting Started Other bookmarks Pull down to
9. a switching center for detector signal and bias voltages An amplifier measures the amplitude of the signal from the pre amp and generates an amplified signal This signal has a new waveform with larger amplitude The NIM Bin acts as a power supply for most of the components described above A MCA is used to record the pulse height distribution produced by a radiation detector The data is used to deduce the properties of the incident radiation from the position of peaks in the distribution and from the area under selected regions of the distribution Signals from MCA are displayed by a software package called MAESTRO 28 A computer with appropriate interface boards and software links all equipments and records all data The goal of this experiment as mentioned above is to familiarize the students with the functions of the above instruments Hence the students are expected to carry out a series of tests using the equipments The signal they measure is generated by the pulser which in latter experiments is replaced by the signal from radiation detectors Figure 16 shows the block diagrams to observe the pulse signal preamplifier signal and amplifier signal respectively Error estimation is carried out in every measurement Students in the laboratory connect the devices using cables and a student at a remote location can watch the process via webcams Onsite and remote students can talk via Skype All signals are shown via LabVIEW application
10. a modification of an example called niScope EX Measurement Library The digitizer is a plug and play device when plugged into a computer installed with LabVIEW The input voltage is digitized by the digitizer and can be analyzed and displayed locally as well as at remote sites Table 1 lists all the variables that can be measured The operator can change the scale of the horizontal and vertical axes The background noise can be filtered by setting a trigger to record voltage levels only above a certain voltage With a few clicks a picture of the signal can be saved in several picture formats The data of the digitizer can also be saved with a few clicks Figure 12 shows the front panel of the application and Figure 13 shows its block diagram Table 1 lists all available scalars that can be measured by the application The user manuals are in Appendix C3 and C4 for students in the lab and at a remote site respectively 19 Eby niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel Te File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help MEAS LIBRAR al m Timing p rari M min samplerate 2 7 m Waveform Measurement min record length Org sae H Scalar Measurement actual record length f i Frequency Enforce Realtime Y gg tte Vertical scalar result 2 85778 mean 343785 stdev 10 785048 r Triggering min 2 69292 Trigger Type immediate max 4
11. as Poisson distribution Gaussian distribution and Binomial distribution in the lab Instruments used in the lab are a pre amplifier an amplifier a pulser a digitizer the windowless flow proportional counter and a high power supply The first three have been introduced in section 3 1 the digitizer has been introduced in section 2 2 and the windowless flow proportional counter is described above The high voltage supply outputs a large direct current voltage that is used to create the electric fields to activate the two electrodes in the proportional counter The experimental procedure is similar to that described in the lab manual 20 but simpler and accessible to students at the remote sites The digitizer and a computer replace the oscilloscope Three LabVIEW applications developed to webcast the pulse signal and tabulated data for the local lab as well as for students at remote sites are used Additional details about the digitizer and the LabVIEW applications can be found in sections 2 2 and 2 3 Figure 21 is the schematic diagram of this experiment The lab can be divided into three steps The first step of this experiment is to find the background noise using the digitizer and a digitizer NPRE 451 LabVIEW application This is done in two sub steps 1 Detecting the radiation from a radioactive source and measuring the signal using the LabVIEW application 2 Measuring the signal often removing the radioactive source to determine the
12. background noise The second step is to filter the noise out by manually setting a lower threshold in the timer counter LabVIEW application which has been mentioned in section 2 3 The user manuals for digitizer NPRE 451 and timer counter LabVIEW applications for students in the lab and for students at a remote site can be found in Appendix C The third step is to find the bias voltage plateau of a beta or an alpha source A bias voltage plateau means that the counts of the pulses from the detector are fairly constant over a certain range of the bias voltage Students test several different voltages and plot the corresponding count rate as a function of voltage The test voltage range for a beta source is between 1500 volts and 2300 volt which avoids 32 amplifier saturation because amplifier saturation distorts the output signal To find the plateau of an alpha source voltage supply is started around 1000 volts and should not go above 1600 volts to avoid amplifier saturation The adjustment of high voltage is to be made by students in the lab for safety reasons and live video of the adjustment is available to students at remote sites via a web camera A plateau plotting LabVIEW application is designed to help plot and see the trend of the plot and to determine the next test voltage Figure 22 shows an example of what is sent to the remote sites live lab video and LabVIEW plateau plotting application The user manual fo
13. be characterized The energy 39 loss is quantified by linear energy transfer to the medium However the energy loss process is not always linear The fluctuation of the energy loss called energy straggling is also introduced in this lab Finally the results from this lab are compared to a numerical simulation from software called The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter SRIM 29 The experimental procedure is similar to that described in the lab manual 20 but simpler and accessible to students at the remote sites The digitizer and a computer replace the oscilloscope Three LabVIEW applications developed to webcast the pulse signal and tabulated data for the local lab as well as for student at remote sites are used Additional details about the digitizer and the LabVIEW applications can be found in sections 2 2 and 2 3 In the lab instruments are connected as shown in Figure 28 A pre amplifier is used to change detector signals to bias voltages An amplifier is used to enhance the bias voltages A pulser is used to test the connection between instruments before applying high bias voltage The digitizer is used to trace if the connections between the instruments are properly made The digitizer is driven by digitizer NPRE451 LabVIEW application A high voltage biases an alpha particle detector to its operating voltage of 100V The detector is inside the chamber To measure the range of alpha particles in air an Am source is pu
14. ca gt II 15pt Application Font 3o tar Ed gea Resource Name mamamana STOP men sed E p M Timing Input Channel 10 lt min sample rate 26 7 7 Waveform Measurement _ min record length 411000 Scalar Measurement actual record length p rJ Frequency Enforce Realti 7 ludn se p Vertical J scalar result 12 85778 Vertical Range 2110 00 mean 13 43785 Visible Items stdev 0 785048 Triggering Find Terminal 1 prana Change to Control i min 2 69292 Trigger Type y immediate max 461755 Description and Tip num in stats a20 rare E SE il Create Trigger Level Joo Replace i Data Operations vwvy error out Advanced status Fit Control to Pane Fil code fo Scale Object with Pane source Export Simplified Image X Scale e Sale 4 Properties T YG 4s 12 13PM 92 EF niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel E ile Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help gt In 15pt Application Font n AAS m Waveform Measurement Input Channel fo Scalar Measurement Frequency scalar result 12 85778 mean 13 43785 stdev 0 785048 min 269202 max 461755 num in stats
15. digitizer NPRE 451 or via MAESTRO The student at a remote site can use the LabVIEW remote front panel to control the digitizer NPRE 451 and have live access to data in several formats Digitizer NPRE 451 user manuals for students in the lab and for a remote student are available in Appendix C MAESTRO display can be transmitted to the remote student through the screen sharing feature of Skype Note that LabVIEW and MAESTRO would not be used at the same time so the student at a remote site only needs to use up to two programs at one time a web browser 27 for the live video and the LabVIEW remote panel or a web browser the live video and the Skype screen sharing window to see the MAESTRO display Hence in general a 12 display screen at the remote site is sufficient though a larger monitor will enhance the lab experience Figure 17 shows an open web browser with live lab video and a Skype window with live MCA image in a screen While Figure 18 shows the same live lab video and the LabVIEW remote panel of digitizer NPRE451 Figure 19 shows that two large monitors can significantly enhance the view ability at the remote site especially if there are several students at the remote site Pulser Pre amplifier amplifier Webcast Neer Computer The digitizer LabVIEW and MCA Figure 16 a A block diagram showing the digitizer that digitizes the signals of a pulser Pre amplifier amplifier The
16. gt H 15pt Applic Measurement amp Automation Explorer Instrumentation gt z Resource Name MathScript Window 40 Pe O Ja DAQ 1 j Compare d Input Channel o Merge gt Profile b m Waveform Measurement Security gt Scalar Measurement V Name Frequency Convert Build Script M a Source Control gt dar ss VI Analyzer d scalar result 12 85778 ILE Mansoor J mean 3 43785 Import gt stdev 10 785048 Shared Variable gt 057 min 12 69292 Distributed System Manager 10 max 1461755 Find Vis on Disk 15 j instat Jeo Prepare Example VIs for NI Example Finder 2 0 Remote Panel Connection Manager 25 error out Control Design and Simulation d 30 T status a SignalExpress gt 3 5 1 c 1 i fo Advanced b 42 source 4 2 Sees 51 120u z Haw gt 12 16 PM 77 4 In the Web Publishing Tool window select digitizer NPRE 451 vi under the draw down menu VI name Click on Next gt N 12110 vi Fre el File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help gt 1 25pt Application Font Borl iE Select VI and Viewing Options VI name Preview Title of Web Page Text that is going to be displayed before the Displays a static image of the front panel in a browser test Monitor Text that is going to be displayed after the VI Displays a snapshot that updates continuously 0 Seconds between updates
17. ion for the Web Title of Web Page Text that is going to be displayed before the _ Local Directory to save the Web page C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 8 6 www Text that is going to be displayed after the VI Filename niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 shtml lt Back SavetoDisk Cancel Help 80 7 Go to Skype and paste the URL into the Instant Messaging field at the bottom ga Skype wuhsingtzu Skype Contacts Conversation Call View Tools Help Q7 Hsingtzu 2 hsingtzuwu Add people Bi New Search Contacts Groups and Conversation Topics 8 Skype Add a telephone number Contacts Conversations bA a A echo123 21 731 233 people online 1 B call phones O Dsendfle Q Extras Type a message to hsingtzuwu here Q Directory Shop 5 Ure 230 Ps E Micro Skype Skype CH e aum wo 1 42 PM 81 8 When the application is controlled by a remote front panel there is a message on the server showing which IP is using the remote front panel EDI niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Remotely Controlled e File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 5 ea Resource Name B 40 Be DAQ 1 xl M Timing Input Channel 0 P 0 min sample rate 21 2 7 Waveform Measurement min reco
18. live plateau data Second as students input an experimental result to this application it would show immediately an updated experimental plot This helps students decide the next test voltage if the slope of the plot is getting flat the next test voltage should be a similar one if the slope is steep the next test voltage should be rather different than the previous test voltage The user manuals for the plateau plotting application for the students in the lab and for the students at the remote location are in Appendies C1 and C2 respectively 17 File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help Lle a n 9 25 baT 15et Appication Font fzor fi Sea File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 21 tn spt Application Font xd orli e Figure 11 Front panel of the plateau plotting LabVIEW application 18 Digitizer NPRE 451 LabVIEW is chosen to display and analyze the signal from the digitizer because it allows operators to control and monitor signals of the digitizer locally as well as remotely National Instruments provides a series of digitizer drivers called NI SCOPE 27 Several sample applications are also available at National Instruments website When these sample applications do not satisfy a programmer s need an example can be modified or a new application can be developed The application digitizer NPRE 451 used in the Internet lab is
19. new picture and then choosing Exportsimplified Image in the pop up menu one can save the image in one of the formats given in Table 3 File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help DIELO i Se Aopen or eE Reinitialize to Default Value Make Current Value Default Table 3 Options available when saving a picture using the dialog box Export Simplified image Bitmap bmp Encapsulated Postscript eps Enhanced Metafile emf Mac PICT pict This does not show in this picture because that is Windows system Export to clipboard Save to file 73 C 2 User Manual for Plateau Plotting for a Remote Student This manual provides information about system and software requirements to run a LabVIEW remote front panel and to provide access to a remote front panel How to save data in different formats is also explained 1 Connect to the Internet 2 Download LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 for your operating system and follow the instructions on the webpage to install the Run Time Engine Table 4 consists of download links and system requirements to run the LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 on Windows Linux and Mac OS X Table 4 System requirements to run the LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 For All platforms the LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 requires a minimum of 64 MB of RAM and a screen resolution of 800 x
20. to participate in an ongoing experiment and get the data from a remote location The students can even control the device in the actual lab The virtual lab gives the students a feel of the actual lab However as mentioned in Chapter 1 the Internet lab and the virtual lab can not 50 replace hands on laboratory experience These alternatives can only be the next best thing to an actual lab experience and are only recommended if a real lab experience is not possible Future work The next step of the Internet lab is to make it available at all times Currently the Internet lab requires personnel in the lab to manipulate the system of hardware such as high voltage power supplies pre amplifiers amplifiers radiation detectors and gas supply This limitation could be overcome by incorporating appropriately designed robotic mechanisms to operate the hardware Regarding virtual lab it is necessary to switch the model to the newest Unreal Engine version Unreal Engine III which has additional desirable features such as embedded video It can be used as a teaching assistant to explain the experimental procedure The video can thus enhance the students understanding of the labs 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 REFERENCES Wu M J H She G X Zeng and Y Ohyama 2008 Internet based teaching and experiment system for control engineering course IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 55 6 2386 2396 www sco
21. 17 Here is another way to change signal size Click the icon in the bottom left corner of the graph Six options will pop up They provide different ways to zoom the graph in or out 18 You can also click the icon Wl next to to grab the plot and move it around EF niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel koke File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help Ea D I 15pt Application Font 30v Tri to Q e Resource Name eaten ent STOP DAQ 1 xl atte M Timing Input Channel 0 min sample rate 25 7 m Waveform Measurement min record length oo Scalar Measurement actual record length Enforce Realtime Pina eden ami aiamiainninntan aaan Vertical scalar result 28578 stdev 0 785048 _ Triggering min 269292 Trigger Type timmediate max 4 61755 num in stats 820 rel tle tal Trigger Level o oo Vertical Range 10 00 m 90 19 To save the data right click on the plot or Measurements choose Data Operations in the pop up menu and then choose Copy Data Paste this plot into a word processor g niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel b i Input Channel 0 m Waveform Measurement
22. 1820 M Timing min sample rate 9 2E 7 J min record length Tio00 actual record lengthp Enforce Realtime Y STOP Vertical Vertical r Triggering Trigger i Z code fo source 4 Export Simplified Image Bitmap bmp Encapsulated Postscript eps Enhanced Metafile emf Export to clipboard Save to file Hide Grid Export Cancel Help 4 5 1 34 210u HAN m 93 C 4 User Manual for Digitizer NPRE 451 for a Remote Student This manual provides step by step instruction on how to get access to a LabVIEW remote front panel and save data in different data formats In the manual the web browser is Google Chrome Instructions on system and software requirements to run a LabVIEW remote front panel can be found in table 4 in Appendix C2 1 Connect to the Internet t9 Download LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 based on your operation system and follow the instructions from the National Instruments webpage 14 Table 4 in Appendix C2 contains download links and system requirements to run the LabVIEW Run Time Engine 8 6 on Windows Linux and Mac OS X 3 Go to Skype log in to your account and contact the personnel in the lab to get the address to LabVIEW remote front panel webpage The easiest way is to ask the personnel in the lab to copy the address and paste it into the Instant Me
23. 3 1 Nuclear Instrumentations Nuclear Instrumentations is the first experiment conducted in NPRE 451 This experiment has three objectives The first objective is to help students become familiar with the operation of the instrumentation required for measuring nuclear radiation Radiation measurement usually relies on measuring the charges which are produced by radiation as it interacts with its surroundings The measured charge signal is used to infer the strength of the radiation The second objective is to introduce students to weighted least squares fitting data analysis and graphic programs Weighted least squares fitting analyzes the statistically scattered experimental results with best fit curve The third objective is to help students become familiar with the operation and features of the Multi Channel Analyzer MCA MCA is an important instrument for radiation measurement It 26 is used to identify the unknown material and radiation sources by recording a pulse height distribution produced by a radiation detector In the experiment seven instruments are used for radiation measurement and pulse height spectroscopy a digitizer a pulser a pre amplifier an amplifier a nuclear instrumentation module NIM bin a MCA and a computer The digitizer was described in detail in section 2 2 Others are briefly introduced below A pulser generates voltage signals that are used to test equipment and connections A pre amplifier or pre amp is
24. 3 Block Diagram amp amp Figure 8 A connector pane made of addition vi in a LabVIEW block diagram 15 o l mes SO m rer tare The output x1 3 Figure 9 The front panel of a LabVIEW application The dial control is used to set the input parameter value One feature of LabVIEW called remote front panel is key to the Internet laboratory This feature allows users to view and control the VI front panels remotely using a standard web browser The host computer becomes a server and an IP address is generated for the remote users to access the front panel In addition multiple users at different locations can access the VI simultaneously and see live updates to the VI front panel However only one client can control the front panel at a time 2 3 Three LabVIEW Applications for Internet Experiments This section introduces three LabVIEW applications developed for the Internet lab These applications are developed to help students in the lab and at remote locations by simplifying the lab procedures and simultaneously allowing the remote students to perform the lab measurements The first LabVIEW application called plateau plotting 16 has been developed to help students find a suitable voltage to operate proportional and Geiger Miieller G M counters These two counters are different kinds of radiation detectors and details about them can be found in sections 3 2 and 3 4 respecti
25. 4 15 16 17 Jing G D J Kettler and M Al Dahhan 2007 An internet based distributed laboratory for interactive ChE education Chemical Engineering Education 41 1 24 30 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 Lee H S T Park K C Yuk and H Lee 2002 Remote control laboratory for physics experiments via the internet Journal of the Korean Physical Society 41 5 638 642 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 The Chemistry Collective Virtual Lab simulator www chemcollective org vlab vlab php accessed March 14 2009 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Learning technologies Virtual Lab learn arc nasa gov vlab index html accessed March 14 2009 Johns Hopkins University Virtual Laboratory www jhu edu virtlab virtlab html accessed March 14 2009 Gu Y and Rizwan Uddin 2005 Real time distance lab via labview and webcam Transactions of the American Nuclear Society 92 789 790 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 Jain P J Stubbins and R Uddin 2006 Broadcasting nuclear engineering laboratories video and data in real time over the internet ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 LabVIEW 8 6 National Instruments www ni com accessed January 2 2009 Dixon J S Markidis C Luo J Reynolds and Rizwan uddin 2007 Three dimensional virtual game like environments for education
26. 51 file Ctrl N Licensed for Professional Version New Project Open Project Se ox Recent Projects gt we Ss Recent Files gt New To LabVIEW Getting Started with LabVIEW asyet flo Bases gt Exit Ctrl Q LabVIEW Fundamentals V1 from Template Guide to LabVIEW Documentation al xs LabVIEW Help tal Upgrading LabVIEW Automatic Block Diagram Clean Up E Access Scope lvproj pe lvproj plateau plotting vi Quick Drop mi RD data to fig to file vi Counter_Timer Table_NoWriteToFile_010 Counter_Timer Table_usb9215_010310 vi w Counter_Timer Table_NoWriteToFile_010 Counter_Timer Table_010810 vi Counter_Timer Table vi niScope EX Configured Acquisition vi e Counter_Timer Table_usb9215 vi Browse Properties of Multiple Objects List of All New Features Web Resources Discussion Forums Training Courses LabVIEW Zone Examples Q Find Examples Ty plateau manual loca Se 2 ty New Tab Google C Getting Started Ces lt P He 12 25 PM 76 3 You will see the Digitizer NPRE 451 window Go to Tools and click on Web Publishing tool g niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel S File Edit View Project Operate BESS Window Help MEAS Leran
27. 600 pixels However 256 MB of RAM or higher and a screen resolution of 1 024 x 768 pixels or higher are recommended 33 Windows 2000 Vista x64 Vista XP 1 Go to http joule ni com nidu cds view p id 1101 lang en 2 Download LVRTE86std exe 108 MB System requirement 1 A minimum of a Pentium 200 MHz or equivalent processor but a Pentium III or higher or Celeron 600 MHz or equivalent processor is recommended 2 Atleast 191 MB of disk space Notes 1 LabVIEW does not support Windows NT Me 98 95 any of the Windows Server editions Windows XP x64 or Windows Vista x64 2 To use the LabVIEW Run Time Engine with Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later is required 3 When using Internet Explorer National Instruments recommends Internet Explorer 5 5 Service Pack 2 or later Linux 1 Go to http joule ni com nidu cds view p id 1103 lang en 2 Download labview86 rte 8 6 0 1 1386 rpm 20 MB Mac OS X 1 Go to http joule ni com nidu cds view p id 1 104 lang en 2 Download LabVIEW86RuntimeEngine dmg 22 MB 74 3 Go to Skype log in to your account and contact the personnel in the lab to get the address for the LabVIEW remote front panel webpage The easiest way is to ask the personnel in the lab to copy the address and paste it into the Instant Messaging window You can then copy the address and paste it into the address line of your web browser 4 The web browser will show exactly the
28. ERENCES Sescsccsscsscncrs ccvcenccscltan acess cn aueaanien aceclas oa adeustoadieuntaadseuieecdveuceoadeutecus 52 APPENDIX A USER MANUAL FOR WEB CAMERA cccccseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 56 APPENDIX B USER MANUAL FOR SKYPE cccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeees 57 B 1 User Manual for Skype for Students in the Lab ccccsecsseeeeseeeeeseeeeeeeeseeeeeseeeeeeeeeneas 57 B 2 User Manual for Skype for a student at a remote Sit cssecceseeeseseeeseeeeeseeeeeeeeenee 58 APPENDIX C MANUAL FOR LABVIEW APPLICATIONS cccceeseeeeeees 59 C 1 User Manual for Plateau Plotting in the Lab ccsecceseeesseeceseeeeeseeeeeeeeesneseseeeeneeeeeeas 60 C 2 User Manual for Plateau Plotting for a Remote Student csseceesecesseeeseeeeeseeeeees 74 C 3 User Manual for Digitizer NPRE 451 for a User in the Lab ccesseeeeeeseeeeeeeeses 76 C 4 User Manual for Digitizer NPRE 451 for a Remote Student ccsssseceeesseeeeeeees 94 C 5 User Manual for Timer COunter ccccceecceeeseeeceeeseeeeeeesneeeesesneeseseseaeseeeseaeseeesnaeseeeenes 95 AUTHOR S BIOGRAPHY catsciscsctssscccctvsncsscassssccctecntsccaussacsctcctecstausnasscsveuccsctsstaers 97 vi Chapter1 Introduction Lab courses are essential to all engineering curricula Traditionally students must be present in the laboratory to do experiments Although nothing can replace hands on laboratory experience a carefully designe
29. INTERNET AND VIRTUAL NUCLEAR ENGINEERING LABORATORY BY HSINGTZU WU THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 2011 Urbana Illinois Master s Committee Professor Rizwan uddin Director of Research Professor Barclay G Jones ABSTRACT This thesis has two parts First part reports the development of an Internet laboratory Development of a virtual model of the laboratory is reported in the second part The difference between an Internet laboratory and a virtual laboratory is that the former involves live webcasting of a real world laboratory while the latter is simply like a 3D computer game that students can play The game can be used to familiarize the students with the setup of the lab The Internet and virtual labs are developed for the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory a lab course offered by the Department of Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering NPRE at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign UIUC Six out of eight labs offered in the course are modified and upgraded for the Internet lab two were modified earlier The Internet lab provides live two way audio and video link between the students in the remote locations and the local laboratory The experiments conducted in the local lab can be webcasted In addition data acquisition processes are digitiz
30. LiveApplet image Sue Smeal Miem Large Figure 26 A computer monitor showing the G M counter through the web camera on the left hand side and the LabVIEW digitizer NPRE 451 application on the right hand side Instruments used in this experiment are a G M counter a high voltage supply a preamplifier a digitizer and a computer The digitizer was introduced in section 2 2 and the high voltage supply and the pre amp were discussed in section 3 2 and section 3 1 A G M counter is similar to a proportional counter so reliable data should be gathered over a plateau in signal vs voltage space This plateau should be between 700 volts and 1200 volts However in a G M counter the charge available for collection is large and has a constant value independent of the magnitude and location of the initial ionization To prevent the re initiation of the discharge by ions created by the G M counter a quenching gas is added to the counter The quenching gas also suppresses the avalanche discharge Once a discharge has been initiated the G M counter will not register another pulse until the first discharge has extinguished itself This phenomenon can be traced by a digitizer The experimental procedure is similar to that described in the lab manual 20 but simpler and accessible to students at the remote sites The digitizer and a computer 38 replace the oscilloscope Three LabVIEW applications developed to webcast the pulse signal and ta
31. Preview in Browser Start Web Server 78 You may edit Document title Header and Footer but this is not required You can always hit Preview in Browser to see a preview of the webpage When you are done click on Next gt g niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel ohe a File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help ral gt IB 15pt Application Font Tar amp 2 EAS Resource Name STOP pa soe HLE Input Channel o JES 3 Web Publishing Tool m Waveform Measurement Salo Mea z Frequency Select HTML Output Preview Enter the document title and HTML content for the Web page Title of Web Page Me ents ex ing to be displayed before the Document title Title of Web Page Header Text that is going to be displayed before the VI panel image Text that is going to be displayed after the VI Footer m Text that is going to be displayed after the VI panel image Preview in Browser Cancel Help om wl 12 16PM 79 6 Toward the bottom there is a URL which is the address to the webpage you are publishing Copy this URL Click Save to Disk on the bottom right of the window Save the New Web Page Preview Select a destination directory and filename excluding the html
32. ame data in real time 24 smekke eta R trigger type resource name 5 pezza 7 HO 8 43PM Figure 15 Block diagram of the LabVIEW timer counter application 25 File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 1 m Chapter 3 Internet Nuclear Engineering Labs This chapter describes six nuclear engineering labs that have been modified utilizing the tools described in Chapter 2 so that these labs can be webcasted live for remote students These six nuclear engineering labs are 1 Nuclear Instruments 2 Radiation Detection and Counting 3 Gamma Ray Attenuation 4 Geiger Miieller Counter Operation 5 Alpha Particle Spectroscopy and 6 Neutron and Gamma Ray Shielding The chapter is therefore divided into six sections Each section introduces one of the six nuclear engineering labs It details how the tools described or developed in the previous chapter are employed to webcast the labs and the data The objective and principle of each lab are briefly explained first Additional details can be found in NPRE 451 manual 20 and in Knoll 21 The procedure of each lab is also included Note that Skype is used in all labs for audio and video communication between the lab and the remote site The user manual for Skype can be found in Appendix B A stand alone web camera is also used in all labs for live streaming of the lab The user manual for the web camera can be found in Appendix A
33. and training Transactions of the American Nuclear Society 97 915 917 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 C Xi H Wu A Joher L Kirsch C Luo M Khasawneh and Rizwan uddin 2009 3D Virtual Reality for Education Training and Improved Human Performance in Nuclear Engineering ANS NPIC HMIT 2009 Topical Meeting Nuclear Plant Instrumentation Controls and Human Machine Interface Technology Conference Proceedings Z Kriz R Prochaska C A Morrow C Vasquez H Wu Rizwan uddin 2010 UT 3 Based 3 D Virtual Models for Training at Nuclear Power Plants the 1 53 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 International Nuclear and Renewable Energy Conference INREC10 Conference Proceedings Unreal Tournament 2004 Epic Games www ut2004 com accessed March 14 2009 Maya 2008 Autodesk Maya usa autodesk com adsk servlet index id 7635018 amp site D 123112 accessed January 15 2009 Department of Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering NPRE 45 Lab Manual University of Illinois USA 2010 Glenn F Knoll Radiation Detection and Measurement 3 New York Wiley 2000 VB C50i VB CS50iR Canon Wwww usa canon com consumer controller act ModelInfoAct amp fcategoryid 160 amp modelid 11847 access January 12 2010 QuickCam E 2500 Logitech www logitech com index cfm 435 4266 amp hub 1 amp cl au en accessed January 12 2010
34. boratory overcomes spatial limitations that inhibit one s ability to conduct experiments If a student can not be in the laboratory at a specific time it is almost impossible to reschedule the missed experiment in an intensive semester In this case the student will entirely lose one lab experience However this situation can be ameliorated by a web based laboratory This technology allows students to participate in an experiment remotely as long as they have access to high speed Internet Some Internet electronic engineering laboratories even break the limitation of time by using robotics to conduct experiments These labs do not need a human presence in the lab to be conducted This kind of lab can be conducted at any time 1 3 Second several universities can share costly equipment through the use of an Internet laboratory system For example a reactor is important for nuclear engineering but its purchase and maintenance are very expensive Different institutions can share one reactor by turning the reactor lab to an Internet laboratory The partnership of North Carolina State University and the University of Tennessee is such an example the former owns a reactor and offers a distance reactor laboratory course to the latter 4 The system of sharing equipment also takes place in Central South University in Changsah China the Beijing Institute of Technology in Geijing China and the Tokyo University of Technology in Tokyo Japan These
35. bulated data for the local lab as well as for student at remote sites are used Additional details about the digitizer and the LabVIEW applications can be found in sections 2 2 and 2 3 A schematic diagram is given in Figure 27 Plateau plotting LabVIEW application is used to find the appropriate operation voltage for the G M counter a timer counter LabVIEW application is used to determine the dead time the stopping range and half life of an isotope a digitizer NPRE 451 LabVIEW application is used to observe the signal character of the G M counter The user manuals for these LabVIEW applications for students in the lab and at a remote site are in Appendix C High voltage supply G M counter Pre amplifier Digitizer Webcast Computer LabVIEW Figure 27 Schematic diagram for the G M experiment 3 5 Alpha Particle Spectroscopy and Range Measurement The range of alpha particle and its energy loss is investigated in this lab First the range of alpha particles decayed from Americium 241 Am in three media is computed These three media are aluminum Mylar and air Charged particles lose energy as they travel in a medium The range of charged particles is defined as the average depth of penetration into a medium before stopping The range depends strongly on the energy of the particles and on the electron and nuclear densities of the medium Second an energy loss process of the alpha particles will
36. cedure of the labs as well Another example of simplification introduced by digitization of data and the associated LabVIEW software is the elimination of the Dual Counter and Timer used to record nuclear reaction rates in Nuclear Instruments Radiation Detection and Counting Geiger Miieller counter operation and Alpha particle spectroscopy labs The digitizer and a LabVIEW application called timer counter replace the counter timer device In addition the LabVIEW application can repeat a measurement several times automatically thus avoiding tedious repetitious operations to get multiple data The LabVIEW applications specifically developed for these labs are described in the next section 13 LabVIEW LabVIEW Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench is a dataflow programming language 14 It can be used to develop sophisticated measurement and control instruments using intuitive graphical icons and connecting wires that resemble a flowchart LabVIEW also offers powerful integration with hardware devices for analysis and data visualization LabVIEW runs on Microsoft Windows UNIX Linux or Mac OS Applications developed for this thesis used LabVIEW 8 6 which was released in 2008 A LabVIEW application is called a virtual instrument vi which has three components a block diagram a front panel and connector panes A block diagram is where a programmer makes a application structure by connecting various function nodes
37. d Internet based laboratory and a virtual laboratory can provide experiential knowledge to a student at a remote location who might otherwise miss the lab experience entirely 1 1 Internet Lab and Virtual Lab An Internet based laboratory allows the students to follow an ongoing experiment and further to control equipment in a real world lab from a remote location and the students also get the data via high speed Internet For example a student can vary a parameter on a webpage according to the lab instructions The parameter value will be transmitted to the instruments in a real world laboratory via the Internet The experiment is then conducted based on the provided parameter and the results are webcasted back to the student through the Internet in real time Such a system is known by various names including a distance lab an i lab an e lab or a web lab The difference between an Internet laboratory and a virtual laboratory is that the former requires a physical laboratory while the latter is simply a model similar to a video game with real world physics models Students play the game which is based on real world data And gain some familiarity with the system Note that these alternatives can only be the next best thing to an actual lab experience and are only recommended if a real lab experience is not possible 1 2 Previous Work Internet Labs There are two advantages of an Internet laboratory First an Internet based la
38. day Enforce Realtime Y Lesha amema et atn enememn Vertical scalar result 12 85778 mean 3 43785 stdev 10 785048 0 5 min f2 69292 1 max 14 61755 num in stats 820 error out 2 aera erenerearanrs a e eer errr iw code fo 4 0 source pT f 34 210u HAN 87 15 If you do not want to use the triggering function choose Immediate in Trigger Type within the Triggering block You can set voltage threshold in Trigger Level when your Trigger Type is Edge For example if your Trigger Level is 1 it means that signal less than 1 Volt will be filtered This function is used to filter out background noise The trigger slope and trigger coupling are defaulted positive and DC respectively g niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help D I 15pt Application Font 8o Tor H to Resource Name 48 gomennasai STOP ome sed iamhasinnisan rpo a i Input Channel 0 E eee J min sample rate oy 2E 7 Waveform Measurement _ min record length fio Scalar Measurement actual record length p HST Enforce Realtime HuMausies GON IOSC IN Vertical scalar result 12 85778 mean 3 43785 stdev 10 785048 r Triggering min 2 69292 Trigger Type immediate max
39. dices C3 and C4 for the lab and for a remote site respectively Copy the 99 66 min sample rate min record length and trigger level into the timer counter LabVIEW application File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 95 Click the icon on the upper left side of the window to get the signal from the digitizer in the lab A window called prompt user for input will pop up Input time the signal should be measured in seconds and the number of times the measurement should be repeated Click OK You can see the frequency of the radiation on the right hand side of the window The number of frequencies shown in the table is the number you entered in the Timer of prompt User for Input The frequency talbe is to let the user know that this application is running 5 The final result would be tabulated in the left hand side Table If something is wrong error message will be shown in the error out window at the bottom 96 Author s Biography Hsingtzu Wu did not choose Nuclear Engineering at college She picked the department of Nuclear Science because it offered a program consisting of mathematic physics chemistry and biology She was led to studying abroad and the field of nuclear engineering by two turning points in her college life The first was the opportunity to visit Harbin Institute of Technology in Chi
40. digitizer Webcast Computer LabVIEW and MCA Figure 16 b A block diagram showing the digitizer that digitizes the signals of a pre amplifier 28 The digitizer Webcast Computer LabVIEW and MCA Figure 16 c A block diagram showing the digitizer that digitizes the signals of an amplifier Sample of Viewer for Java LiveApplet Figure 17 A computer monitor showing a web browser with live video of the lab and a Skype window showing a live MCA image 29 128 174 163 11 gt Or Sample of Viewer for Java LiveApplet image Sue Small Large Figure 18 A 12 computer monitor with two web open browsers showing a webcam video and the LabVIEW remote panel of the digitizer NPRE 451 Figure 19 Two large monitors showing a clear webcam video and a LabVIEW remote panel at a remote site 13 30 3 2 Radiation Detection and Counting The objective of this experiment is to familiarize the students with the operation of a windowless flow proportional counter to measure alpha and beta radiations The windowless flow proportional counter needs a gas to flow continuously through it to sweep out impurities Gas used in this lab is Helium Figure 20 shows a schematic diagram of the counter Radiation source places here Gas Gas inlet outlet Figure 20 A schematic diagram of a windowless flow proportional counter 20 Gas flows continuously through it to sweep out impurities
41. digitizer Figure 25 is the block diagram of this lab The introduction to the digitizer can be found in section 2 2 its LabVIEW application can be found in section 2 3 the introduction to a high voltage power supply can be found in section 3 2 and the introduction to other instruments can be found in section 3 1 The principle of a Nal T1 scintillation detector is explained below 35 Xp Gongs eae mrep Skype Conversation Cal View Toos Help cA nr 128 174 163 11 gt D Fe Oting Getting Rares CO Other boctmarks y Sample of Viewer for Java LiveApplet Figure 24 A computer monitor showing the live lab video in the left window and the MCA through Skype in the right window A Nal TI scintillation detector is used to detect gamma rays in the experiment The Nal TI scintillation detector consists of a fluorescent substance coupled to a photo multiplier tube The fluorescent substance which is also called a scintillator converts gamma rays to a voltage signal Components of the scintillator are sodium iodide Nal and thallium T1 Nal interacts with gamma rays to produce electrons heat and vibrations Heat and vibrations cause TI to emit light Energy of the electrons is assumed to be directly proportional to the incident gamma ray energy When this light reaches a photo multiplier tube it produces a detector signal The amplitude called a peak is proportional to the energy of the gamma radiation The breadth of thi
42. e developed by Jain Gu and Rizwan uddin 12 13 This thesis extends their work to the other six experiments using two webcams Skype a digitizer and three specially developed LabVIEW 14 applications Development of the webcasting capability involves a live two way audio and video link between a remote student and the local laboratory It also allows the remote student to have access to live data in several formats Two webcams are used to stream live video of experiments conducted in the lab Skype is used for communication between the lab and the remote sites for live webcam video and for some data transmission Note that Skype can be replaced with any communication software packages or a smart phone In addition three LabVIEW applications allow a student at a remote location to fully participate in the experiments conducted in the lab LabVIEW is a graphic programming language developed by National Instruments to acquire data display signals control devices and automate instruments In our work LabVIEW is used to analyze and display live data in the local lab as well as at the remote locations The three LabVIEW applications developed specifically for this work are described in detail in section 2 3 As part of this thesis a lab website was also created to provide additional resources for local and remote students such as the lectures on each experiment and radiation safety information The Internet lab works well as long as the student a
43. ed using three LabVIEW applications They can be controlled from the lab as well as from the remote sites Local as well as remote students view and record all the experimental data in identical forms Furthermore the digitizer and the associated LabVIEW applications simplify the experimental procedures and reduce tedious manual recording tasks The lab experience for the remote students though not the same as that for the students in the lab is fairly realistic Finally a lab website is developed to provide lab relevant information In the second part of this thesis a 3D and interactive virtual model of the laboratory is developed Students at remote sites can play and make themselves familiar with the laboratory setup before the labs are conducted The virtual model is built using a software package called Unreal Engine II Existing features in Unreal Engine II are manipulated to enhance interactivity 3D models in the virtual lab are made using a software package called Maya 2008 The Internet and virtual labs have not yet been tested with actual students at remote sites However it is hoped that features made available for student at remote sites ii will make it easier to offer the lab course to them Digitization of the entire lab is however very useful for students conducting the lab on site iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to acknowledge my dear family I know I have given up time I could have been spend
44. eesneeas 10 2 3 Three LabVIEW Applications for Internet Experiment c sccccsseeeeeeeseeeeeesseeeeeenseeeeeenes 16 CHAPTER3 INTERNET NUCLEAR ENGINEERING LABS 26 3 1 Nuclear Instrumentation ccc ces esscteessneeeeseeeseaeseseeesesneeseeessaaesesneessaneeseaeseseaeensneeeeseanas 26 3 2 Radiation Detection and Counting ccsecceseeeeeeesesteeeeeeeeeeeeeeseaeseseeeeneneeseeesesnaeenseeneneeeeas 31 3 3 Gamma Ray Attenuation Coefficient cccccccescesteeceseeeeeseeeeeeeseneeeeeeeeseeesesnaesnseeeeeeeeeas 34 3 4 Geiger MUueller Counter Operation ccsseccesceesseeeesseeeeseeeeeeeeessaeseseeeeeeeeeseeeseseaeenseeeeseeeeas 37 3 5 Alpha Particle Spectroscopy and Range Measurement cs ccccsssssceeeseseeeeeseeeeenes 39 3 6 Neutron and Gamma ray Shielding cc ccccecceseseeeseeeenseeeeeeeeesnaeseseeeeeeeeeseeseseaeenseeeeeeeeess 42 CHAPTER 4 VIRTUAL NUCLEAR ENGINEERING LABORATORY 44 4 1 Developmental Platform csseeccceseeeeeenseeeeeenseeeeenseeeeeensneeeeensneeeeensneeeeenseeeeeenseeeeeenseeeeeess 44 425 FCAUUICS sscnccacintiscciavendesanctavaewsvstassucuaduactvbenieadancdacausschds iv snstaaauavendeasuntiasasedendeaacutiuesds eadsadansadeds 46 4 3 Model of the Laboratory cccsceecccsseeeceeeseeeeeeeseeeeeenseeeseenseeeeeensneeseensneeeeenseeeseenseeeeeenseeeeeenss 47 CHAPTER5 SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK 50 REF
45. el File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help D I 15pt Application Font 307 Tri to Resource Name Timing min sample rate A 2E 7 J Input Channel D m Waveform Measurement min record len gth ro Scalar Measurement actual record length iss an Enforce Realtime Measurements scalar result 12 85778 mean 3 43785 stdev 10 785048 min 2 69292 max 4 61755 num in stats 820 1 error out 2 ES SE ae Fil code Fo 4 0 source Eos 34 210u HAm 86 14 To change the height of the input signal adjust the parameter in Voltage range in the Vertical block A voltage range of 10 means the digitizer can measure a signal between 5 V and 5 V Choose the smallest voltage range that contains the entire range of the input signal for optimum resolution cb niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel ka er File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help DA 11 15pt Application Font v 3o tar Ed D Ea Resource Name 48 eee er STOP _ sed a Input Channel o ws J min sample rate eA 2E 7 Waveform Measurement _ min record length foo Scalar Measurement actual record length
46. eral tools used in all NPRE 451 experiments webcams Skype and the lab website The second part introduces LabVIEW and the digitizer The third part details the three LabVIEW applications used in the Internet lab These three applications also simplify the experimental procedures and reduce tedious recording work Chapter 3 describes deployment of the Internet lab for the six NPRE 451 experiments This chapter therefore consists of six sections Each section briefly describes the deployment of the Internet lab the objective of the lab and the lab procedure More details about each experiment can be found in the NPRE 451 lab manual 20 and Knoll 21 Chapter 4 covers the development of the virtual lab for NPRE 451 Chapter 5 is summary conclusions and future work The appendixes contain the manuals for the web camera Skype and the three LabVIEW applications Skype and the web camera Note that there are separate manuals for the LabVIEW applications for students in the lab and for students in remote locations Chapter 2 Components of the Internet Lab An Internet lab requires two way audio video link as well as at least one way from the lab to the remote site data link Data link from the remote site to the lab can be rather rudimentary as it may be needed to transfer only few parameter values The Internet lab consists of two webcams a lab website a digitizer and three LabVIEW applications Internet based communication tool Skype is used
47. for audio communication though it can be easily replaced by any other appropriate software The first section of the chapter introduces the hardware and software used in the lab Skype two webcams and the lab website The second section is a brief introduction to the relevant features of LabVIEW and the digitizer The third section details three LabVIEW applications developed for the Internet lab These three applications are named plateau plotting digitizer NPRE 451 and timer counter Note that the hardware and software described here are only the add ons necessary to extend the NPRE 451 labs to remote audience with access to the Internet 2 1 General Hardware and Software for the Internet Lab Skype two webcams and a newly developed laboratory website are used for all of the Internet labs Skype allows audio as well as video communication between a student at a remote site and personnel in the lab In addition personnel in the lab can share the desktop screen in real time via Skype with students at a remote place The two webcams used in the Internet lab and the laboratory website are also introduced Skype While some early Internet labs developed their own programs for communication between remote students and the local lab 1 off the shelf free and user friendly software such as Skype are now easily available Four features of Skype are used in this Internet lab 1 Caller identification feature of Skype
48. from the digitizer M EF niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Panel Stee File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help OPE i tt 15pt Application Font v 3o tar Ed Resource Name 48 gaaman STOP om se aa fo Input Channel 0 we min sample rate 26 7 Waveform Measurement _ min record length az J Scalar Measurement actual record length SS SNCS Enforce Realtime y Measurements Vertical scalar result 2 85778 Vertical Range 10 00 mean 3 43785 stdev 0 785048 p Triggering __ _____ 05 min 2 69292 Trigger Type timmediate max 14 61755 a EES Trigger Level Jo 00 3 1 30 7 error out i Ba El A HAt ol Ui iw code fo 40 45 4 source i 34 210u HAm 85 13 To change the width of the input signal shown on your right hand side adjust the parameters in the timing block The min sample rate is the frequency at which digitized samples are stored per second The min record length is the minimum number of samples stored in each acquisition The total acquisition time is the minimum record length divided by the sample rate For faster signals you will need a lower sample rate in order to see a clear image g niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Front Pan
49. he level to reside within Then he or she can move onto the creation of the static elements of the map This involves the addition of brushes to the level which are geometric shapes The designer molds these shapes to his or her desired shape and then places them in the level These brushes can be assigned different materials to give them the desired appearance When all of the static objects are in place the base of the level is completed Active and dynamic aspects can then be added to create the desired interactivity File Edit View Brush Build Tools Help KA gt H Figure 32 Unreal Editor with four windows showing the top front side and 3D views of the map of the lab 45 4 2 Features Compared to other commonly used 3D model development software Unreal Engine IT has several advantages in showing active scenarios The engine is capable of mixing sound graphics and dynamics all under one platform to create a realistic feeling and an interactive environment In addition features of this engine can be manipulated to develop hypothetical scenarios to simulate an event such as a lab Some of these features come with the game while other features involve the manipulation of the game elements by the designer and still other features that can be created by the designers through the use of Unreal Script Features used in the development of the virtual model of the lab are described below Multiplayer Options
50. he size of the output of the analog signal CH 0 and CH 1 independently with an adjustable factor The horizontal controls govern how an input signal is sampled in time The digitizer also uses a trigger system to decide if an input signal is sampled This trigger means the arrival of a voltage signal of sufficient amplitude in the input channel The digitizer outputs a voltage signal as a function of time 11 Figure 5 The digitizer NI USB 5132 Three front panel connectors are CH0 CH1 and PFI 1 25 The digitizer sends signals to a computer via the USB and a software package such as Visual Basic 6 Visual C NET Framework LabVIEW or Measurement Studio In this thesis LabVIEW is picked as the software of choice because of its remote control feature This feature allows the students to control the digitizer as well as get data from it remotely via a LabVIEW remote panel LabVIEW will be introduced in the next section Another advantage of using a digitizer and a LabVIEW application is that the operators can save the data and graphs in different digital formats rather than recording the data and plotting signals by hand as students currently do when using an oscilloscope Resolution of the digitizer is 8 bits That is for a given input range the number of possible discrete levels used to represent the signal digitally is 2 which is 256 levels in a given input range Accuracy is related to bandwidth and Real Time Sample Rate Bandwidth
51. hows a picture of the Logitech QuickCam Connect E2500 series QuickCam has two functions in the Internet lab First it has an embedded microphone which provides an alternative to the microphone links of Canon Network Camera Second QuickCam can be placed anywhere to complement the range of the Canon Network Camera Video of QuickCam is streamed using video call feature of Skype Figure 1 Canon VB C50i PTZ Network Camera 22 Figure 2 Logitech QuickCam Connect E2500 series 23 The Laboratory Website A lab website is developed using Google Sites 24 for local as well as remote students General lab safety and radiation safety information is made available Instructions to use Skype and the web cameras are also on the lab website In addition the website includes separate links for all of the experiments in NPRE 451 and provides references and links of relevant information about each experiment The course outline and the handout for each experiment are also available Video recording of the lecture for each experiment can also be made available A frequently asked questions FAQs section is continuously 8 being developed for each experiment Figures 3 and 4 are screenshots of the lab webpages Figure 3 shows the homepage of the lab website The column on the left hand side contains hyperlinks to general information for all experiments and the column on the right hand side contains hyperlinks to the webpage of each experi
52. ing with them I truly appreciate their respect and support It is a pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible I would like to thank Prashant Jain for his work and papers on webcasting heat transfer lab He left me useful resources to continue the Internet lab project I would also like to thank Mike Source from whom I certainly gained tons of lab knowledge and with whom I always enjoyed working Then I would like to acknowledge the contribution of lab assistants Russell Prochaska Jose Roberto Rico and Cesar Vasquez for their help with recording lab videos and Dana Miranda and Nabeel Rizwan for their help with the virtual lab model In addition I would like to thank Laura Chandler who helped with the evaluation of the internet lab and provided insights into it She is also a supportive friend I would also like to extend my thanks to Melissa Logsdon Steve Logsdon Jeannette Elliott Xi Chen Yang Xiaoling Ye Bei and Rachel Buller for their friendship and encouragement Furthermore I am grateful for the help from the NI Discussion Forums and the Writers Workshop the writing center at the University of Illinois The former aided in the LabVIEW programming and the latter helped with the presentation of this thesis I owe my deepest gratitude to my advisor Professor Rizwan who guided me patiently and gently He went through the whole thesis word for word and provided insightful advice I would also like to show my gratitude to Profes
53. interface GUI on computer monitors Specifically webcam focused on oscilloscopes and other data display devices are to be avoided This would then allow the remote students to also experience the same data acquisition process by either screen sharing or other means Since some of the experiments in the lab still measure and display analog signal a digitizer is necessary to 10 convert the analog signal to digital In addition to a digitizer a platform is needed to display and record the data for easy sharing between the lab and the remote sites Details of applications of the two tools are in the next two sections The digitizer NI USB 5132 The NI USB 5132 is an eight bit digitizer oscilloscope 25 Figure 5 shows a picture of the digitizer The input port of this digitizer is a Bayonet Neill Concelman BNC connector CH1 and CH2 which is the same as that of the traditional oscilloscope Hence the pulser detectors and other equipment that in the currently configured labs are connected to the oscilloscope can be easily connected to the digitizer Input signal can be alternating current AC or direct current DC The third input connection is PFI 1 which is not used in this work The digitizer is connected to the computer using a Universal Serial Bus USB Basic operation of this digitizer includes three major components vertical amplifier horizontal control or time base and triggering system The vertical amplifier controls t
54. is specified as the frequency at which a sinusoidal input signal is attenuated to 70 7 percents of its original amplitude The minimum bandwidth of NI USB 5132 is 35 Mega Hertz MHz when the difference of voltage peaks is 40 milli Volts mV and 50 MHz for all other ranges Sample rate is the rate at which the analog to digital converter ADC in the digitizer is clocked to digitize the incoming signal See Figure 6 for a schematic explanation of sample rate Real time sample rate of this digitizer is up to 50 Mega Samples per second MS s which is more than sufficient for all experiments of NPRE 451 26 12 Figure 6 The figure on the left hand side shows the result of digitizing a signal with a low sample rate to reconstruct the signal the dash line The figure on the right hand side shows the result of digitizing a signal with a high sample rate 26 The digitizer can replace some of the instruments in some of the labs and may even simplify the lab procedure For example a Single Channel Analyzer SCA is used to filter the background noise in four of the labs These labs are Nuclear Instruments Radiation Detection and Counting Geiger Miieller counter operation and Alpha particle spectroscopy When using the digitizer the SCA is omitted because the digitizer when combined with a LabVIEW application called digitizer NPRE 451 can trigger filter as well as display the signal The SCA calibration is omitted from the pro
55. is used to identify a student at a remote place 2 Skype video call feature is used to establish video and audio links between the lab and the remote student Even if a remote client has no webcam he can still watch live video from the lab 3 Skype s chat feature is used to send short text messages This is convenient when communicating numerical values 4 Screen sharing feature allows personnel in the lab to share part or whole of the desktop with a remote student Two Webcams Two webcams are used in this Internet lab The first is a Canon VB C50i PTZ Network Camera 22 and the second is a Logitech QuickCam Connect E2500 series 23 Both can transmit video at up to 30 frames per second and the maximum image resolution is 640 x 480 pixels Canon Network Camera has built in web and FTP server Up to 50 people can connect using the IP address and view streamed video simultaneously In addition it has 26x optical and 12x digital zoom in 200 panning and 120 tilting and backlight control which can be used to increase the brightness of the video Remote clients can take control one remote site at a time of these zoom pan tilt features of the webcam This camera also provides two way audio links when combined with VB EX50 Multi Terminal Module a microphone and a speaker The user manual of the Canon VB C50i PTZ Network Camera can be found in Appendix A Figure 1 shows a picture of the Canon VB C50i PTZ Network Camera and Figure 2 s
56. ite a message here for your hsingtzunu gt friends to see p E ee aaa fi New Search Contacts Groups and Conversation Topics Skype Contacts Conversations 21 731 233 people online v ODSendfile lt GExtras Type a message to hsingtzuwu here 65 8 When the application is controlled by a remote front panel there is a message on the server showing which IP is using the remote front panel File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help SO ale Control transferred to Hsingtzu PC hsd1 il comcast net lt C gt Server Hsi il comcast net 4 a 66 9 If you would like to get control of this application away from a remote user right click your mouse on the LabVIEW window and choose Regain Control File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help sel oi x y Switch Controller Show Last Message lt C gt Server Hsi il comcast net 4 el 67 10 Server has control will pop up and now you can run the application Keep in mind that only one user at a time can control the application 68 11 Click the icon amp run continuously on the upper left side of the application Input the data into Table Control You can keep entering new data in Table Control and the trend of this data will update automatically in the window on the right Then one can decide what bias voltage to test next This table and plo
57. j pe lvproj plateau plotting vi Quick Drop mi RD data to fig to file vi fm Counter_Timer Table_NoWriteT oFile_010 mi Counter_Timer Table_usb9215_010310 vi mi Counter_Timer Table_NoWriteToFile_010 fm Counter_Timer Table_010810 vi a Counter_Timer Table vi fm niScope EX Configured Acquisition vi mei Counter_Timer Table_usb9215 vi Browse Properties of Multiple Objects List of All New Features Web Resources Discussion Forums Training Courses LabVIEW Zone Examples Q Find Examples a Ta yond daaa Ga plateau manual loca Wen Tab Google C Getting Started Ces lt We amp 12 25 PM 60 3 You will see the LabVIEW plateau plotting window Go to Tools and click on Web Publishing tool 61 4 The Web Publishing Tool window will appear Under the draw down menu VI name select plateau plotting vi then click on Next gt File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help LLE an 15pt Application Font Ixfire Title of Web Page Text that is going to be displayed before the Displays a static image of the front panel in a browser test Monitor Text that is going to be displayed after the VI_ Displays a snapshot that updates continuously 0 H Seconds between updates 62 5 You may edit Document title Header and Footer bu
58. lly some of the built in features of the game engine are exploited to enhance interactivity 4 1 Developmental Platform The developmental platform for the virtual lab is Unreal Tournament engine It has two components Unreal Engine II and Unreal Editor 2004 Unreal Engine II comes with a commercial PC game Unreal Tournament 2004 which was released in 2004 by Epic Games 18 The gaming platform which utilizes Unreal Engine is Unreal Editor 2004 Many immersive 3 D games are developed and run upon the Unreal Engine such as Magnacarta 2 30 and Army of Two 31 The developmental platform and features are briefly described in this chapter Additional details can be found in reference 32 Unreal Engine Il Unreal Tournament 2004 runs on Unreal Engine II which is the second generation of Unreal Engine Unreal Engine II consists of sound graphics and physics 44 engine constructs such as map input texture input and music input Unreal Engine II also controls every scene and action in the game The source code for Unreal engine is an open source called UnrealScript which provides an opportunity to modify the engine as needed Unreal Editor 2004 Unreal Editor 2004 is a powerful tool which a designer can use to create and model almost any environment and objects within Figure 32 shows a screenshot of Unreal Editor 2004 To construct a model the designer carves interior areas of a large mass to create an expansive cave for t
59. lo source Hao Regain Control Switch Controller Show Last Message lt C gt Server Hsingtzu PC hsd1 il comcast net 83 10 Server has control will pop up and now you can control the application Keep in mind that only one user at a time can control this application Eb niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi a fen File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help D T Q EA Resource Name 40 i a STOP 4 DAQ 1 p _ roof Input Channel P 0 min sample rate 26 7 Waveform Measurement _ min record length Vino SS Scalar Measurement actual record length j yJ Frequency Enforce Realtime 7 Measurements g Es Vetia scalar result 285773 Vertical Range 10 00 E mean 343785 stdev 0 785048 Triggering me min 2 69292 Trigger Type cjimmediate max 4 61755 m 2 ka Edge triggering aee Server has control Trigger Level 0 00 Z5 5 3 0 error out status 25 a code flo 1 source ARa n 51 120u Hao lt V gt Server Hsingtzu PC hsd1 il comcast net 84 11 Open the draw down menu under Resource Name and choose Dev 4 It is DAQ 1 in the picture below but in the lab you should choose Dev 4 12 Click the gt icon to get a signal
60. mber of the absorbing medium Collimators are placed between the 34 source and the shielding material to minimize buildingup Figure 23 is a schematic diagram of the setup Students measure and compare the full energy peaks of a gamma ray before and after it is attenuated to calculate a linear attenuation coefficient A full energy peak represents the energy of a gamma ray Spectrums of MCA before and after the shielding between collimators are used to determine the number of counts in the full energy peak The MCA spectrums can be transmitted to a remote student via the screen sharing feature of Skype See Figure 25 for live lab video and MCA image transmitted to the remote sites The detector and the collimators are clearly seen in the live video Five different thicknesses of each material are required The thickness of all of the shielding blocks is measured using a micrometer by students in the lab The information can be typed in Skype chat space to the remote students After calculations students can get the linear attenuation coefficient of each material and compare it with published data yU U Xi Source J E Detector mE p Collimators Shielding Material Figure 23 Schematic diagram of the attenuation coefficient measurement experiment 20 Instruments used are a thallium activated sodium iodide Nal T1 scintillation detector MCA a high voltage power supply a preamplifier an amplifier a pulser and a
61. ment which has the objective of the experiment the handout and the links to relevant information Figure 4 shows the webpage of Nuclear Instruments experiment linking to the first experiment on the homepage This website will be accessible from the webpage of the Department of Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois www ne illinois edu J tA hope EGS UM Gmail MSthesisPI Google Sites J home 4911730 Y Distance Education f gt Ee C fi ah https sites google com site u91 X FaporatoryiNeRe 451 Contact us E General links Experiments Welcome to NPRE 451 Nuclear Instruments NI Beginning of Course n 5 Radiation Detection and Counting RD iatio b Distance labs Geiger Mueller Counter Operation GM mma Ra ttenuahon FAQs Ga Ray A ion GAT Site development Gamma Ray Spectroscopy GS m Heat transfer HT Neutron and Gamma Ray Shielding SH Alpha Particle Spectroscopy APS Recent Site Activitv Revision History Terms Report Abuse Printpage Remove Access Powered by Google Sites w Hsingtzu s schedul doc 7 Go Show all downloads 4 30 PM 4 4 2011 CH wil Figure 3 The homepage of NPRE451 website S hope 8 3 SES Gmail MS thesis P1 T Google Sites J Nuclear Instruments E Distance Education f Ae Gi e C fi 8 https sites google com site u911730 nuclearinst
62. na in 2005 She enjoyed the visit and she would like more eye opening experience The second turning point was that she saw the need of nuclear engineering in Taiwan She believed that was her call to study nuclear power even though she knew little about nuclear energy at that time After being conferred a degree of Bachelor of Science from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan in 2006 she started to work on applications to graduate schools in the United States She was accepted in the graduate program in the Department of Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign UIUC in fall 2007 At UIUC she works on 3D model and simulation for training and education with Professor Rizwan She therefore refuses to see 3D movies which make her feel like working In addition to nuclear engineering relevant classes she also has taken several classes in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Her interests include neutronics and thermal hydraulics However her dream is to contribute to reactor designing 97
63. nce allows students at remote sites to fully participate in experiments conducted in the lab Webcasting of the lab is accomplished using two webcams three LabVIEW applications a digitizer Skype software and a lab website Two webcams are used to stream live video of the experiments conducted in the lab The digitizer and a PC with LabVIEW replace the oscilloscope The three LabVIEW applications allow the local and remote students to control the digitizer in the lab and to have full access to data in several formats in real time Implementing the LabVIEW applications and the digitizer also simplifies some lab procedures Skype is used for communication for live video for screen sharing and for data transmission between the lab and the remote site However Skype can be replaced with any software that has the above features When the audio quality of Skype is not satisfactory students at both sites may use cell phones instead A lab website is also developed to provide lab relevant information Integration of these five components works well as long as remote students have access to high speed and stable Internet On the other hand a fairly realistic virtual lab is built using a software package called Unreal Engine II Existing features in Unreal Engine II are manipulated to enhance interactivity Realistic 3D models in this virtual lab are made using a software package called Maya 2008 To sum up the Internet lab gives the students an opportunity
64. ns These virtual devices include a Scanning Electron Microscope SEM Light Microscope Atomic Force Microscope and an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer for the SEM 9 The National Science Digital Library NSDA also provides college and high school students around the world with a virtual lab simulator to explore and reinforce fundamental concepts of introductory chemistry 10 A virtual laboratory has been involved in an introductory engineering course at Johns Hopkins University 11 1 4 Outline of the Internet Lab Nuclear Engineering Laboratory NPRE 451 is a lab course offered by the Department of Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering NPRE at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign UIUC This thesis reports the development of an Internet laboratory and a virtual laboratory for the course The first part of this thesis reports the development of an Internet laboratory for this course The practical laboratory experience provided by NPRE 451 is aimed at helping students understand radiation interactions with matter and the ionization of matter by charged particles Eight experiments are conducted during a semester long lab course These are 1 Heat transfer Gamma ray spectroscopy Nuclear instruments Radiation detection and counting Gamma ray attenuation Geiger Miieller counter operation Alpha particle spectroscopy i ON Re iS Neutron and gamma ray shielding Webcasting modules for the first two experiments wer
65. on lab a player uses a 47 trigger to place a virtual G M counter at a desired position Then he uses another trigger to have a virtual radioactive source placed in the right orientation and appropriate position to be detected Figure 34 shows two views of this model The virtual lab is reasonably realistic compared to Figure 35 which is a picture of the actual laboratory Figure 34 Two views of the virtual lab Figure 35 A picture of the laboratory 48 In addition all static meshes in the virtual lab are created in Maya 2008 and imported to Unreal Editor 2004 Theses meshes range from simple tables to intricately shaped things such as instruments and a bottled gas with gauges Figures 36 and 37 show the virtual equipment Figure 36 Some equipments in the virtual lab a high voltage power supply an amplifier and a pulser Figure 37 A gas bottle in the virtual lab This is used in the experiment titled Radiation Detection and Counting 49 Chapter5 Summary Conclusions and Future Work This thesis reports the development of an Internet laboratory and a virtual laboratory for a nuclear engineering curriculum It is specifically focused on the lab and associated experiments conducted in the course titled Nuclear Engineering Laboratory NPRE451 offered at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign The Internet lab webcasts the operations as well as all data acquisition of all experiments and he
66. or LabVIEW Applications Appendix C is a collection of user manuals for the LabVIEW applications mentioned in this thesis It is divided into five parts Appendix C1 is the user manual for plateau plotting with LabVIEW Appendix C2 is for plateau plotting at a remote site Appendix C3 is the user manual to control the digitizer with LabVIEW in the lab Appendix C4 is for controlling of the digitizer from a remote site Appendix C5 is the user manual to use the timer counter application for the digitizer in the lab or from a remote site 59 C 1 User Manual for Plateau Plotting in the Lab This manual provides step by step instructions to run the LabVIEW plateau plotting application and to save data in different formats 1 Turn on the computer and double click the LabVIEW icon on the desktop Go to Skype and log in to your account Contact the personnel at the remote site 2 In the getting started window go to File and Open to open the plateau plotting file on LabVIEW jperate Tools Help Vl Ctrl N Licensed for Professional Version New Project Open Project SS aoe 3 a F Recent Projects gt New To LabVIEW a Recent Files Getting Started with LabVIEW LabVIEW Fundamentals Exit Ctrl Q VI from Template Guide to LabVIEW Documentation LabVIEW Help Upgrading LabVIEW Automatic Block Diagram Clean Up Access Scope lvpro
67. pus com accessed June 28 2010 Casini M D Prattichizzo and A Vicino 2003 The automatic control telelab A user friendly interface for distance learning IEEE Transactions on Education 46 2 252 257 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 Marin R P J Sanz P Nebot and R Wirz 2005 A multimodal interface to control a robot arm via the web A case study on remote programming JEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 52 6 1506 1520 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 Miller L R Pevey W Hines L Townsend B Upadhyaya P Groer M Grossbeck and H Dodds 2006 Innovations in nuclear engineering distance education at the University of Tennessee PHYSOR 2006 American Nuclear Society s Topical Meeting on Reactor Physics 2006 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 Bauer P V Fedak and O Rompelman 2008 PEMCWebLab distance and virtual laboratories in electrical engineering Development and trends 2008 13th International Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference EPE PEMC 2008 2354 2359 www scopus com accessed June 28 2010 C Thomsen H Scheel and S Morgner 2005 Remote Experiments in Experimental Physics International Society Of Photogrammetry And Remote Sensing Conference Proceedings www igg tu berlin de ConfMan ISPRS proceedings Paper eLearnWS_Potsdam2005_Thomse n pdf accessed June 21 2010 52 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1
68. r plateau plotting application can be found in Appendix C High voltage supply Pre amplifier Webcast Amplifier Computer proportional counter LabVIEW Figure 21 The set up for the lab titled Radiation Detection and Counting 33 v wew ppi son Sy Tithe of Web Pa gt C Hy ty128174 163 1 gt t 100 1 1972 C Getting Started Sample of Viewer for Java LiveApplet Figure 22 A computer monitor showing data sending to the remote sites On the left hand side is live video of adjusting the voltage and the right hand side is the LabVIEW remote panel of plateau plotting application To get data of a beta source the voltage supply is set in the middle of the plateau of the beta source Then the timer counter LabVIEW application is used to gather count rates of this source See section 2 3 for additional details about this LabVIEW application Alpha source data are collected in the same way as that for the beta source 3 3 Gamma Ray Attenuation Coefficients Gamma ray attenuation coefficients of five materials are measured in this lab These five materials are iron copper aluminum lead and Plexiglas A linear attenuation coefficient of a material is a measure of the average number of primary gamma particles that would be absorbed per unit thickness of this medium The linear attenuation coefficient depends sensitively on the energy of the incoming gamma ray and on the mean atomic nu
69. rd length Vio SS Scalar Measurement actual record length yJ Frequency Enforce Rae Measurements g Es Veia scalar result 2 85778 Vertical Range 1000 mean 13 43785 05 stdev 10 785048 r Triggering __________ A 10 min 12 69292 Trigger Type J Immediate max 4 61755 adhi f2 Edge trigd Control transferred to Hsingtzu PC hsd1 il comcast net Trigger Lh 77 i E error out p m 1 35 7 code 9 source S251 n 51 120u Hao lt C gt Server Hsingtzu PC hsd1 il comcast net 82 9 If you would like to get control of this application away from a remote user right click your mouse on the LabVIEW window and choose Regain Control cD niScope digitizer NPRE451 012110 vi Remotely Controlled EP E File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 5 ea Resource Name 77 ae STOP om gt sed M Timin Input Channel 0 rA 7 min sample rate ey 2E 7 Waveform Measurement Scalar Measurement J Frequency Measurements scalar result 12 85778 mean 13 43785 stdev 0 785048 min 2 69292 max 1 4 61755 min record length 4 tooo actualrecordlengthQ Enforce Realtime M Vertical Vertical Range 10 00 J r Triggering Trigger Type Hfimmediate Edgetrigd Control transferred a m Trigger t e
70. ros castors Est Operate amp Hingu mo A I Figure 29 A computer monitor showing the MCA live image on the left hand side and the LabVIEW counter timer application on the right hand side 41 3 6 Neutron and Gamma ray Shielding The objective of this lab is to study the shielding characteristics of two different kinds of radiation in three different materials The two kinds of radiation are neutron and gamma rays Three shielding materials used in this lab are iron concrete and polyethylene The lab is split into two parts because the detectors and the theories behind the experiment are different Each part is about three hour long In the lab the students measure the thickness of blocks shielding of each material and place it around the source to observe the change in the dose rate Around 12 dose rates for various thicknesses are collected for each material The students outside the lab can see the lab process and get data through webcams and Skype Figure 30 shows live lab video of a student measuring the thickness of a block of iron Figure 31 shows the live video streams via video call of Skype This shot shows the structure of the experiment A stick is placed upon two chairs and at the center of the stick a G M counter is hanged The G M counter detects the gamma ray comes from the source under the white polyethylene blocks porey aaa cf w 128 174 163 11 Getting Started gt O gt C Other bookmarks
71. ruments 28ni 29 w Nuclear Instruments NI Part I Objective The objective of this laboratory exercise is to gain familiarity with the operation of an oscilloscope and the instrumentation required for counting nuclear radiation Part II Objective The objectives of this laboratory are 1 to observe the statistical nature of the data you take and to gain experience using weighted least squares fitting 2 to learn how to use a data analysis and graphic program and 3 to become familiar with the operation and features of the Maestro II Multi Channel Analyzer MCA i General Links E About this Lab 2 Welcome to NPRE 451 Handout Beginning of Course J Reading material Knoll 1 amp 2 II III Radiation and Lab safety Distance labs Knoll 4 I IV Back to Home Page Distanee Tabs FAQs for NI 4 31 PM 4 4 2011 CH a gt ull Figure 4 The webpage of Nuclear Instruments experiment of NPRE 451 2 2 Experiment Specific Developments While Skype webcams and the lab website are tools generic to all experiments developed for audio and video exchange between the lab and a remote site webcasting of data requires additional sometime experiment specific tools To provide the students at the remote sites the same experience as that experienced by the on site students it was decided that all specified and measured data must be in digital form and should be displayed in user friendly graphical user
72. s peak is related to the resolution of the detector Higher resolution means a narrower breadth 36 High voltage supply Scintillation detector preamplifier Computer MCA and LabVIEW Figure 25 Setup of the experiment titled Gamma Ray Attenuation Coefficients Amplifier The digitizer Webcast 3 4 Geiger Mueller Counter Operation The objective of this lab is to investigate the operation of a Geiger Miiller G M counter The operation of a G M counter is investigated in three ways First the G M counter is used to determine the two source method of dead time Two source method of dead time determination uses a non paralyzable detector model which assumes the G M counter is dead for a constant period of time after each initiation The counts of each of two sources and the two sources together are measured to calculate the dead time Second the stopping range of beta rays which is the minimum thickness of aluminum so that no electrons are able to reach the G M counter is measured Third the G M counter is used to determine half life of an isotope In the lab half life of indium is determined by recording the number of radiation counts from an irradiated indium foil in one minute every 90 seconds for at least 45 minutes See Figure 26 for an example of live lab video streamed and the LabVIEW application broadcasted to the remote sites 37 C f 0tty 12817416311 0 C Getting Started Sample of Viewer for Java
73. same window in real time as is displayed on the computer in the lab The table entries and the plot will be updated in real time as new data is entered in the computer in the lab 5 Incase there is a need to transfer control the the remote site for example to give an opportunity to the remote students to enter the data it can be accomplished by right clicking in the web browser window A menu will pop up Left click request Control of VI to get control of this VI X lt A 5 http 64 198 240 87 81 plateau html x A Most Visited gt Getting Started a Latest Headlines G Googie Ji lt E Plateau Release Control of VI Show Last Message Show Control Time Remaining Close Panel 6 Once the students at the remote side have taken control of the application they can essentially do everything that on side students are able to do This includes all the operations described in Appendix C1 item 11 15 75 C 3 User Manual for Digitizer NPRE 451 for a User in the Lab This manual provides step by step instructions for using the LabVIEW digitizer application and saving data in different data formats 1 Turn on the computer and double click the LabVIEW icon on the desktop Go to Skype and log in to your account Contact the personnel at the remote site 2 In the LabVIEW getting started window go to File and Open to open digitizer NPRE 4
74. signal which is proportional to the strength of the radiation is the input to the digitizer It converts the analog signal to digital filters the background noise based on an operator specified setting and determines the frequency of the filtered signal The frequency which is the number of counts of the digital signal per second is transmitted to the LabVIEW timer counter application The number of frequencies the timer counter application receives is the period in seconds the measurement is to be counted All received frequencies are added together as a count rate for that period For example to determine a three second count rate the timer counter application gets the sum of three frequencies from the digitizer When running the application first a window pops up and the user is to enter the period in seconds to count and the number of trials See Figure 14 Then the application follows the command and tabulates the result in the table on the left hand side Figure 14 is the front panel of the LabVIEW timer counter application Figure 15 is its block diagram The user manual for the timer counter application is in Appendix C5 After introducing the components of the Internet lab their applications to six nuclear engineering labs are discussed in the next chapter 23 os eee Figure 14 Front panel of timer counter LabVIEW application A student in a remote location also sees exactly the s
75. sor Jones for his support and comments on this thesis I am grateful to Becky Meline for her understanding and practical advice I also have to thank Gail Krueger for purchasing the equipment Finally thanks to Professor Stubbins for reviewing this thesis fast and the positive feedback iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Siisisssstisssassisstaxsinatarhirasars instar dnetaseanhaneGaaaees 1 1 1 Internet Lab and Virtual Lab uu ee etne ee seeeeeseeesnnesesneessseeeseaesesnneessneeseeseseoesnsneeessnanas 1 1 2 Previous Work Internet LabS ccc cet ee snes eesceessseeesneesesneeseseeessaeseseeeessneeseaesessaesnsneeeesnenas 1 1 3 Previous Work Virtual Labs ccc cscs sees eeseeseseeesenesesneessseeeseaeseseeesesneesseseseaesnsneeesenanas 3 1 4 Outline of the Internet Lab csesscsseeeseeesscessceseee sees eee sneesseeesseesseenseeeseeseeesooeseneseueenenenes 3 1 5 Outline of the Virtual Lab cc scesseesseeeseeesteesseesceeeee eee seeeseenseenessneeseeesneesenessoeseueeeeeeeeneees 4 1 6 Structure of this Thesis cssc see seesseeeseeesseesscesene eens enae ence seeeesseeeseadseeeseeeseoesooeseeseueenenenes 5 CHAPTER 2 COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET LAB 00008 6 2 1 General Hardware and Software for the Internet Lab ccsceseseseseesseeesseenseensneessensnens 6 2 2 Experiment Specific Developments cccscceceseeseeeeeseeeeeeeeeseaesesneeeeeeeeseeeseseaesnseee
76. ssaging of Skype You can then copy the address from your Instant Messaging box of Skype and paste it into the address line of your web browser 4 The web browser will show exactly the same window in real time as is displayed on the computer in the lab The table entries and the plot will be updated in real time as new data is entered in the computer in the lab 5 In case there is a need to transfer control the the remote site for example to give an opportunity to the remote students to enter the data it can be accomplished by right clicking in the web browser window A menu will pop up Left click request Control of VI to get control of this VI 6 Once the students at the remote side have taken control of the application they can essentially do everything that on side students are able to do This includes all the operations described in Appendix C3 item 11 20 94 C 5 User Manual for Timer counter This manual provides step by step instruction on how to run the timer counter LabVIEW application Instructions on how to publish a LabVIEW application and save data in different data formats in the lab and at a remote site can be found in Appendix C3 and C4 respectively 1 Open digitizer NPRE 451 and timer counter LabVIEW application 2 Run digitizer NPRE 451 LabVIEW application and make sure you have at least two wave signals on the plot User manual of digitizer NPRE 451 can be found in Appen
77. t are published on the webpage in real time File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help 69 12 If you would like to change the color of the plot line left click the yellow bar on the left hand a ES and pick a color for the plot line You can even create your own color with the color mapping tool File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help JOO User DOO EEEEEBOoRO History System BEBOSB8BO880 OMO R255 6 234 B 0 70 13 Left click connected points to select the plot style Table 2 is a list of XY plot types File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help JOO Table 2 The list of XY plot types for the plateau plotting application 27 o points squares 2 eircles i 3 connected points Default 4 connected squares connected circles comb plot sized colored scatter plot min max lines 71 14 Click the icon abort execution it is next to 2 when you want to stop the application File Edit View Project Operate Tools Window Help aef 72 15 There are two ways to save data 1 Right click your mouse on the Table Control or on the new picture and choose Data Operation and then Copy Data in the pop up menu Then you may paste the table or pictures into any word processing document 2 Click on
78. t into the detector and the distance between the source and the detector is adjusted by students in the lab The MCA displays the energy spectrum of the alpha particles and the LabVIEW counter timer application and the digitizer is used to obtain a nuclear reaction rate See Figure 29 for an example of live MCA image and the LabVIEW application sent to the students at remote sites This is to be repeated several times using different distances between the source and the detector To measure the alpha range in Mylar and aluminum layers of Mylar and aluminum is placed upon the source The detector is then vacuumed The MCA displays the energy spectrum of the alpha particles Counter timer LabVIEW application works with the digitizer to collect and display nuclear reaction rates The LabVIEW counter timer application can be controlled by local or remote students This is repeated several times using different thickness sheets of each material The energy spectrums can be webcasted to students at a remote site in real time via Skype Screen shots of the spectrums can be taken at anytime 40 Webcast High voltage Computer MCA and LabVIEW supply Figure 28 The schematic diagram of the experiment on alpha particle spectroscopy and range Pre amplifier Amplifier Digitizer measurement UE Hsingtru Gi 181 Soot Gweu Cal lew Teds Het Tate of No meictoptone Setectes x Cg 10 0 1 197 gt D Oed you ve sugged n
79. t the remote location has access to high speed Internet 1 5 Outline of the Virtual Lab Department of NPRE has also been working on the use of virtual reality in training and education since 2003 15 17 In the most recent developments a software package called Unreal Engine is used as a tool to develop three dimensional 3D virtual models and simulations A 3D virtual interactive model of the lab is developed in the second part of this thesis The virtual lab is built using Unreal Engine II which comes with a computer game called Unreal Tournament 2004 co developed by Epic Game and Digital Extremes 18 This game engine provides an environment to construct 3D maps models and scenarios It also provides a multi player option Up to 16 players around the world can play the virtual lab simultaneously UT 2004 comes with a library of ready made objects However some complicated 3D models may need to be made using 3D computer graphics and modeling software such as Autodesk Maya 2008 19 and imported to Unreal Engine Though not essential the virtual and interactive model of the lab will enhance the lab experience of the remote students They can walk around in the virtual model before the internet lab thus gaining a level of familiarity with the lab 1 6 Structure of this Thesis Chapters 2 and 3 are about the Internet lab Chapter 2 introduces tools used in the Internet lab It has three parts The first part introduces the gen
80. t this is not required You can always hit Preview in Browser to see a preview of the webpage When you are done click on Next gt DIE M raei roe For ae B gt Select HTML Output Preview Title of Web Page Text that is going to be displayed before the Enter the document title and HTML content for the Web page Document title Title of Web Page Header Text that is going to be displayed before the VI panel image Text that is going to be displayed after the VI_ Footer Text that is going to be displayed after the VI panel image Bak _ Net gt Cancel Help 63 6 Toward the bottom there is a URL which is the address to the webpage you are publishing Copy this URL Click Save to Disk on the bottom right of the window Save the New Web Page Select a destination directory and filename excluding the html ion for the Web Title of Web Page z Text that is going to be displayed before the Local Directory to save the Web page C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 8 6 www Text that is going to be displayed after the VI Filename plateau plotting html lt Back SavetoDisk Cancel J _ Hep 64 7 Go to Skype and paste the URL into the Instant Messaging field at the bottom Q7 Hsingtzu hsingtzuwu Add video or wr
81. three schools offer joint control engineering courses using Internet based lectures and labs 1 There are examples of Internet laboratories in other branches of engineering around the world In Italy the University of Siena has developed the Automatic Control Telelab ACT for automatic control courses The ACT is a remote laboratory which allows students to operate a dc motor a tank a magnetic levitation system a two degree of freedom helicopter and a Lego Mindstorms mobile robot experiment via the Internet 2 More than eighteen organizations around the world were reported in 2007 to have developed Internet and virtual laboratories in the field of power electronics and electrical drives 5 In physics a group at the Technical University of Berlin demonstrated two remotely controlled experiments one to test the efficiency of a solar cell and another to determine the hysteresis of a Ferro magnet 6 In chemical engineering a tracer experiment can be conducted remotely via a system developed by a group at Washington University in St Louis 7 Finally in nuclear engineering a group in Korea has developed a system to conduct remote radiation measurement 8 1 3 Previous Work Virtual Labs Several virtual laboratories have also been developed and are available on the web The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Learning Technologies Project LTP offers free virtual operation of on line devices to examine real specime
82. time Any change on your screen will transmit to a remote site in real time To text message 1 Click at the lower right side of the image Then message bar would appear 57 B 2 User Manual for Skype for a student at a remote site This manual shows step by step instruction on how to connect with the lab using Skype how to use web camera and Skype at the same time in a compact screen how to take a snapshot of the video how to see a full screen video and how to text message 1 Download Skype at http www skype com download skype windows 2 Follow the instruction on the website to install Skype and get a Skype account 3 Let the lab know your Skype account You may email your Skype account to a TA or a student in the lab 4 Answer the call from the lab You will see live video from the lab To use Skype and Web camera in a compact screen 1 Click View gt Compact View in the top tool bar 2 Minimize the contacts bar This will not affect other Skype feature 3 Open a web browser and go to the web camera webpage Adjust the sizes of Skype video and web camera webpage to your satisfaction To take a snapshot or see a full screen video 1 Move your cursor on the video and two options would appear on the top of the video take a snapshot and full screen Click on the one you desire To text message 1 Click at the lower right side of the video Then message bar would appear 58 Appendix C Manual f
83. tions Static Meshes Prefabs Groups Sounds Music z z 000 ra ra a gt PI Pa res 24 00 4800 ww NoChsacterSet e0 E Ss ee E Figure 33 The static mesh converting process The window in the background is Unreal Editor 2004 The left window shows the model of a stool in Maya 2008 The right window shows the model after it has been imported into the static mesh browser in Unreal Editor 2004 32 Trigger Triggers are essentially items which are placed inside the Editor at desired locations where the player needs to initiate a sequence of events Triggers can be visible and invisible Every trigger has a certain valid range in which the player is allowed to interact with the trigger and enact the predetermined sequence of actions that the trigger is tied to In the virtual lab interacting with the triggers is by pressing E on the keyboard 4 3 Model of the Laboratory A detailed model of the laboratory has been developed using Unreal Editor 2004 Some of the surface textures in this model are based on pictures of the lab taken using a digital camera These surfaces include the floor and the walls These pictures can be pasted on the surface of the 3D models to give these objects the same appearance as that of the actual objects The trigger feature has been exploited to make the facility realistic and interactive For example in Geiger Miieller counter operati
84. using links called wires A block diagram consists of functions input output and wires In LabVIEW all functions have inputs and outputs connections Inputs can be strings numbers or signals from devices and outputs can be strings numbers or figures Wires are used to connect different functions Several functions come with LabVIEW Any LabVIEW application can be set as a connector pane which can be used as a function in other LabVIEW applications A connector pane is also called a subVI A function is executed once all inputs are available Figure 7 shows an example of a block diagram The function the input the output and the wire are indicated in this figure This simple application adds three to the input and sends the result to the output This application can also be set as a connector pane which can be used in another LabVIEW application somewhat like a function or a subroutine as shown in Figure 8 Figure 9 shows its front panel A front panel is a user interface on which controls buttons windows and other icons allow an operator to view data as well as to enter data into or extract data from a running virtual instrument 14 3 addition vi Block Diagram D LON EX File Seis View Project Operate Tools Window Help eer 0 9 5 al P p Apptcaton Fort fE A Figure 7 The block diagram of addition vi with icons of its four components the function the wire the inputs and the output Untitled
85. vely The second LabVIEW application called digitizer NPRE 451 drives the digitizer that converts analog signals to digital signals and is used to perform several different measurements over the Internet The third LabVIEW application called timer counter works with the digitizer to measure and record nuclear reaction rates The timer counter application collects and tabulates data automatically so students do not have to operate the counter device manually and record each count rate by hand These three LabVIEW applications are described in detail in the next three sub sections Note that these applications are experiment specific and if unfamiliar with these experiments the reader should first read the relevant sections in Chapter 3 Plateau Plotting This LabVIEW application is designed for two radiation detectors used in the labs proportional counter and Geiger Mueller counter These two counters operate stably with certain bias voltage To find the appropriate bias voltage the students try different voltages and record the corresponding counts Their relationship can be clearly seen by plotting counts vs the voltage When the plot shows a plateau the center of the plateau is the desired voltage to use for the counter Figure 10 shows the block diagram of the LabVIEW plateau plotting application and Figure 11 shows its front panel There are two purposes behind this application First it allows the students at a remote site get
86. zoom out and pull up to zoom in Camera Draw for vertical pan Click to add flash Click to take a snapshot 56 Appendix B User Manual for Skype This Appendix provides step by step instructions on using the Skype features used in the Internet lab Note that only some Skype features are introduced here More exploration of Skype can be found in its website at www skype com This appendix has two parts B1 is for students in the lab and B2 is for students at a remote site B 1 User Manual for Skype for Students in the Lab This manual shows step by step instruction for personnel in the lab on how to make a video call to a student at remote sites how to share screen and how to send text message using Skype Note that these are simple and intuitively obvious ssteps even for those who may not have used such an application Those who have used Skype or another similar application can easily skip this appendix To make a video call using Skype 1 Log in to your Skype account and video call the personnel at the remote site To share your screen 1 Click call gt Share Your Screen in the top tool bar You can choose to share full screen or part of your screen The video shown at the remote site would be your screen and the video from the webcam will not be transmitted This is due to the limitation that only the webcam connected to the Skype application or the screen share feature can be sued at a

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