A general framework for networked multimedia applications enabling access to laboratory equipment: The LABNET project experience

The issue of accessing remote complex laboratories in a networked environment and performing experiments and measurements in which several applications and diverse devices are involved is addressed. A proposal is described for a common architecture for enhanced multimedia remote device control. The aim is to have the ability to set up a "gate" device that is the structured sum of real devices (from routers to microscopes) and virtual ones (e.g. software applications). The architecture exploits the most recent WWW "products", using the flexibility of embedding Java within a middleware framework. The authors do not claim that this will be "the" common architecture in such environment, but this exercise is useful for highlighting a number of problems through the proposal of different sets of solutions. The definition and initial implementation of this concept is part of the activities carried on within the framework of the LABNET project, at the CNIT Multimedia Communications Laboratory in Naples, Italy. The project, which started in April 2000, aims at the implementation of tools for network access to real laboratories and the management of experiments at a distance. The main structure of the project and the on-going activities are also briefly described.