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\begin{document}
\mainmatter              % start of a contribution
%
\title{Free software and free hardware to teach science: expEYES}
%
\titlerunning{Teach Science and Freedom}  % abbreviated title (for running head)
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%                                     \toctitle is used
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\author{Georges Khaznadar}
%
\authorrunning{Georges Khaznadar} % abbreviated author list (for running head)
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%%%% list of authors for the TOC (use if author list has to be modified)
%\tocauthor{Ivar Ekeland, Roger Temam, Jeffrey Dean, David Grove,
%Craig Chambers, Kim B. Bruce, and Elisa Bertino}
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\institute{Lycée Jean Bart, Dunkerque, France,\\
\email{georges.khaznadar@ac-lille.fr}%,\\ WWW home page:
%\texttt{http://users/\homedir iekeland/web/welcome.html}
%\and
%Universit\'{e} de Paris-Sud,
%Laboratoire d'Analyse Num\'{e}rique, B\^{a}timent 425,\\
%F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France
}

\maketitle              % typeset the title of the contribution

\begin{abstract}
  Teaching science should always imply running experiments and give to
  the reality a chance to disapprove. If students do not run experiments,
  how can they know that it is science?

  Unfortunately, experiments can be expensive. A school can lend
  books, but experimental hardware most often exists only in its
  laboratory. Hence, for some students, science applies only inside the
  classroom.

  ExpEYES is a system based on FLOSS and Open Hardware, which is affordable
  enough to be lent to students, not unlike school books. It opens the way
  to learn science at a big scale, and also learn freedom.
% We would like to encourage you to list your keywords within
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\keywords{floss, open hardware, education, science, affordable}
\end{abstract}
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\section{How can students know that they are learning science?}
%
Let us dismiss the lazy answer: ``because they are taught by their
science teacher''. My students know me as teacher of physics and
chemistry. If their knowledge is based only on my course, they should
definitely prefer famous authors.

For example, on the subject of the \emph{rainbow}, they can get access for
free to writings of Aristotle, Seneca the Younger, Alhazen, Averroes,
Avicenna, \dots, Snell, Descartes, Airy, Mie. They just need to know one
single keyword, \emph{Wikipedia}, and click away reasonably.

However, during my course, they are given an opportunity to measure
directly refraction angles, and all of them can compare theoretical
predictions of Kepler, versus predictions of Snell and Descartes. There
is a difference, and they can touch it. My wisest students can even
conclude that the theories were not contradictory, but are making a
trade-off between simplicity and accuracy.

The only way to know that we are learning science is to give to the
reality a chance to disapprove our theories.
\subsection{One example, from ``big science''}
The theory known as the ``Standard Model''%
\cite{sutton:courier94}, aims to describe all the matter in the Universe at microscopic
scale. The budget of the CERN (more than $10^9$ US dollars per year%
\cite{cern:courier0694}%
) can be
considered as a measure of the scientific community's effort
to \emph{let the reality disapprove the Standard Model}.

The experimental evidence
of the boson of Higgs confirmed this Model in year 2012%
\cite{cern:higgs2012a,cern:higgs2012}%
, which brought a final point to a decades-long scientific quest;
however some scientists feel disappointed \cite{Moyer:nature2012}.

%
\subsection{Experiments are mandatory}
%
If we want our students to understand what science is, they must not only
learn their lessons; they must also give to the reality a chance to
refute their knowledge. If they don't, they can be learning scientism,
which is a kind of religion.

Even if performing experiments is more expensive than just learning
lessons, it is mandatory. Not all countries can afford equipment to
allow most of the students to make experiments.

\subsection{ExpEYES}
ExpEYES is a box to make physic measurements, providing a solution
to that issue.

Dr Ajith Kumar B.P, a
scientist at Inter University Accelerator Centre, has been winner of
Kenneth Gonsalves Award 2016 at Pycon India recently%
\cite{pyconIndia:award2016}%
. He deserved this award after a long-lasting effort, known as
``project PHOENIX \emph{(Physics with Home-made Equipment and
  Innovative Experiments)}''.

This short talk and demonstration is
about the measurement box expEYES %
\cite{expeyes:website}
which he created, as a free/libre open hardware%
\footnote{ExpEYES is released under the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL)\cite{expeyes:ohl}}%
,
which enables an increasing number of students in India to run
scientific experiments as an important part of their curriculum.

As a Debian Developer, I maintain the package \texttt{expeyes} for six
years, and a live USB stick based on Knoppix\footnote{Knoppix is a GNU/Linux
distribution authored by Klaus Knopper (\url{http://knopper.net}); the live
USB stick to facilitate the use of expEYES is known as Freeduc (\url{http://usb.freeduc.org})} to facilitate its use.
%
\section{Kits to teach science}
All school laboratories are storing collections of hardware to enable
teachers to make their job.

Some pieces in the collections are self-explanatory:
for example, the main tool which I use to test theories about refraction is
a half-cylinder of organic glass, correctly polished on the flat and curved
faces which are crossed by ray beams. Nothing is hidden inside!

However, when we come to measurements implying voltages, this transparency
is no longer the rule. Vendors of educational laboratory equipments
have developped ``black boxes'',
painted with shiny colors, to perform such measurements. As nobody can
sense directly a voltage, \emph{who cares} about the lack of transparency?

In the annex documents below, there are examples of such black
boxes, sold by companies National Instruments, Jeulin, Eurosmart.
They are compared to expEYES whose design is free-libre. Suppliers of
expEYES are not linked to a company: they can have the box built by any
general electronics manufacture.

\subsection{The need for transparency}
When measurements are made under conditions close to the limits of
expEYES' hardware, \emph{artifacts} begin to appear, and the openness of
expEYES' design lets experienced people know whether they are
observing an artifact or something useful.

The same should apply to every other measurement box. When an experiment
brings strange results, it can be exciting for the students who ran it:
maybe something new for science? When the box is black, neither students nor
teachers can know directly whether there is an \emph{artifact}. 
\textbf{Why must the hardware and software
  design of scientific equipments remain secret?}

One angular stone of science is that experiments must be reproducible by
anyone. How can we consider experiments making use of \emph{black boxes}?
When somebody wants to reproduce an experiment, must she buy the same
\emph{black box}?

\subsection{Freedom entails new possibilities}
Given the \emph{same budget}, a school which has to buy measurement boxes for
its science labs has two options: buy closed proprietary hardware and software,
for teacher's use, or buy free-libre hardware to be used by all the students.

How is it possible? Companies selling educational hardware can keep
their customers by many means: non-standard plugs, series of mono-compatible
peripherals. The cost of migration is high, so competition is low.
Free-libre designs are based on widely used and documented standards.

Here is a caricatural example: an ``extension'' to measure electric
current. With Jeulin Tooxy (see below), one will buy the ``current sensor''%
\footnote{Jeulin Tooxy's current sensor: \url{http://www.jeulin.fr/capteur-amperemetre-0-1-a-1-a-482202.html}},
which costs 60 \euro{} (and bargain to get a discount). With expEYES,
one will buy a shunt resistor, which costs 1 \euro{} or less. The
proprietary plugs of Tooxy prevent using such a simple solution.

\subsection{ExpEYES + Freeduc = a complete free/libre tool for teaching science}
The measurement box expEYES contains a free-libre firmware which allows the
embedded microcontroller to perform measurements in real time. The main program
used by end users is written in Python; so, its source is rather lightweight
and can be understood by students.

Additionally, students can be assigned new rewarding tasks, like writing a
program to monitor their experiment. Three or ten lines of source code are
often enough to make a good job. See the examples below.

Freeduc is a GNU/Linux distribution available as a live USB stick. To boot
Freeduc, all you need is a computer with an Intel-compatible CPU, and choosing
the USB stick as an optional boot medium. Nothing is touched on the hard disk,
and you are provided a fast and efficient desktop environment, with a rich
set of applications for scientific students. All necessary software drivers,
documentation, fifty examples, data processing programs, are provided.

Last but not least advantage: when a student knows how to boot Freeduc, she
can have exactly the same scientific desktop wherever she boots that stick, 
in the school, at home, or in any computer room. A course about using expEYES
and Freeduc\cite{khaznadar:affordable} is available inline under free license.

\section{Appendix}
\subsection{Comparing measurement boxes}

{\small
\begin{tabular}{|*6{p{0.15\textwidth}|}}
\hline
%\multicolumn{1}{l}{\rule{0pt}{12pt}
%                   Year}&\multicolumn{2}{l}{World population}\\[2pt]
\textbf{Vendor}&
  National\par Instruments\footnote{National Instruments, \url{http://www.ni.com}}&
  National\par Instruments&
  Jeulin\footnote{Jeulin, \url{http://www.jeulin.fr}}&
  Eurosmart\footnote{Eurosmart, \url{http://eurosmart.biz}}&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}various\footnote{How to buy expEYES, \url{http://expeyes.in/hardware.html}}\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Product}&
  USB-600\footnote{NI USB-600: \url{http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/211872}}&
  USB-6003\footnote{NI USB-6003: \url{http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/212385}}&
  Tooxy\footnote{Jeulin Tooxy: \url{http://en.jeulin.fr/tooxy-interface-standalone-480003.html}}&
  SYSAM-V6B\footnote{Eurosmart SYSAM-V6B: \url{eurosmart.biz/en/interfaces/20-centrale-d-acquisition-sysam-v6b.html}}&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}expEYES\footnote{expEYES Junior: \url{http://expeyes.in/hardware.html}}\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Analog}\par \textbf{inputs}&
  8&
  8&
  2\par ``sensors''&
  2\par ``sensors''&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}5\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Analog}\par \textbf{outputs}&
  n/a&
  2&
  n/a&
  1&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}1\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Accuracy,}\par \textbf{speed}&
  12 bits,\par 10 kS/s&
  16 bits,\par 100 kS/s&
  nc,\par 10 kS/s&
  nc,\par 500 kS/s&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}12 bits,\par 100 kS/s\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Digital i/o}&
  4 +\par 1 counter&
  13 +\par 1 counter&
  n/a&
  n/a&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}6 +\par other signals\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Price of}\par \textbf{hardware}&
  \hfill\$ 149&
  \hfill\$ 499&
  \hfill\$ 260&
  \hfill\$ 429&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}\hfill\$ 40\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Control}\par \textbf{program}&
  Labview\footnote{Labview is not mandatory, but customers are strongly encouraged to use it}&
  Labview&
  Atelier\par Scientifique&
  (included)&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}free-libre,\par CRO+\\
\hline\rule{0pt}{12pt}
\textbf{Price of}\par \textbf{software}&
  \hfill\$ 999&
  \hfill\$ 999&
  \hfill\$ 68&
  \hfill\$ 0&
  \cellcolor{blue!5}\hfill\$ 0\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
}

%\pagebreak[4]
\subsection{Python programs to drive expEYES}
Here is the simplest program usable to drive expEYES, with comments:
\vspace{1em}
\hrule
\lstinputlisting[language=Python]{ejMinimal.py}
%\hrule
%\vspace{1em}

If one wants to plot an electric signal measured on input entry A1,
with 1000 voltage values, sampled every 2 millisecond, the code can be:
\vspace{1em}
\hrule
\lstinputlisting[language=Python]{ejOther.py}
\hrule
\vspace{1em}


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