VASILIS N. TSOULKAS et al: AN INTEGRATED E-LEARNING SOLUTION FOR CONTROL SYSTEMS . . . DOI 10.5013/IJSSST.a.12.01.02 ISSN: 1473-804x online, 1473-8031 print 10 An Integrated e-Learning Solution for Control Systems Education and Future Perspectives Vasilis N. Tsoulkas 1,2 , Athanasios A. Pantelous 3 , Leonidas Dritsas 4 , and Christos Papachristos 5 1 Center for Security Studies (KEMEA)/Ministry of Citizen Protection (KEMEA), Athens, GR 2 National Delegate to the European Space Agency (JCB/ESA) 3 Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, U.K. 4 Hellenic Air Force Academy, Division of Automatic Control, Athens, GR 5 Division of Information and Transmission Systems and Materials Technology, Department of Electrical and Computer En- gineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GR tsoulkas.kemea@gmail.com , A.Pantelous@liverpool.ac.uk , ldri@otenet.gr , and c.papachristos@hellas-sat.net Abstract - Technical characteristics of an innovative prototype e-learning platform using satellite communications for control the- ory courses are exposed. A detailed account of all necessary tools and mechanisms is presented enabling real time text, and au- dio/video based communication between tutors and learners. The provided end-user driven services include: a virtual classroom, offline operation, sharing of applications, private/public chatting, audio/video streaming. In addition a concise description of the pilot network architecture depending on the DVB-RCS standard is presented justifying further the choice of the communications platform. Simulation results concerning the teaching of fundamental issues in Networked Control Theory within the proposed ar- chitecture are provided. Connections with hybrid configurations such as wireless terrestrial broadband technologies (DVB-RCS/ WiMAX, DVB-RCS/Wi-Fi) are further analyzed and justified. Finally some conclusive anticipated directions related to the future of modern control courses education in connection with state of art technological advances are explored. AMS (classification): 97U50, 97U70, 97U80, 97D99 Keywords - Control Education, e-Learning Platform, Satellite Hybrid Architectures, DVB-RCS, Networked Control Systems. I. INTRODUCTION Over the last few decades, in many educational institutions around the world, e-learning techniques and collaborative methods have emerged as key sources of expansion and competition within the stages of the education process. With the advent and proper use of new multi-media tools and fa- cilities, such as the internet and html-platforms, there is a constant and increasing contribution to the educational and learning processes, since information now becomes highly distributed as well as more comprehensive and integrated. Inevitably, under some performance limiting technology constraints, teaching and learning can now happen anytime and anywhere. The technological innovations provide to both teachers and learners a variety of new interactional situations in which all have their own particular characteristics. Some courses are using e-learning which are predominantly face- to-face with some online interaction; some are blended with online interaction supplemented by face-to-face interaction in a more balanced fashion, while other courses take place primarily online, see for further details [20]. In this work, we provide the technical specifications for the conceptual design of an integrated e-learning solution using satellite communications for control systems courses. In the sequel a detailed account of all the necessary tools and mechanisms is provided while simulation results and con- cepts for an end-to-end distant teaching solution of a basic Networked Control Systems course are introduced. Further- more new hybrid architectures integrating advanced commu- nication concepts with terrestrial networks towards a wire- less e-learning Classroom for control education purposes are proposed. However, in order to describe the pilot platform, it is appropriate to briefly review and identify the basic con- cepts of control theory such as: dynamical system, stability, feedback and dynamic compensation. These concepts should be understood by all mathematics and engineering tutors forming the common foundation of any control curriculum; see also [16], [24] and [25]. Practically speaking, the e-learning platform should pro- vide to both tutors and learners with several realistic and integrated applications coming from different fields of sci- ence and engineering (circuit networks, robotics, finan- cial/actuarial problems, biological systems etc), where mathematical equations have specific physical meaning and merit. For practical and pedagogical reasons, the e-learning plat- form may contain all the necessary tools and state of the art infrastructure so that educators and learners are provided with the appropriate computational environment for in depth qualitative and computational investigations of the above- mentioned techniques aided with figures, schematics and colourful diagrams. In addition, since in control and system