Hardware and software platform for ADCWAN remote laboratory

In this paper an innovative hardware and software platform, called ADCWAN (Analog to Digital Converters on Wide Area Network), concerning the electronic measurement field is presented. In particular, ADCWAN is a pioneering networking cooperative environment regarding Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) testing. The hardware and software architectures of ADCWAN are described in detail and some ADC tests using the same test setup are presented. ADCWAN is distributed on a wide geographic area providing theoretical and practical tools to characterize ADCs. In particular, ADCWAN is a new approach to promote the harmonization of standards existing for ADCs, it establishes a collaborative work environment supporting the scientific research community to improve the harmonization level, allowing the scientific training of young researchers, the dissemination and the comparison of metrological information. In the paper the goals and benefits of ADCWAN toward research community are summarized. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.