ECEN 4610 Projects
Spring 2007
Team: A-Team
Team members:Aden AbdillahiKevin Cooke Peter Larson Andreas Rugloski Ben Verstegen |
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Project Description:
Our team will design a Home Central Control Unit. The unit will be capable of many tasks which can be controlled from either computer or telephone. Each unit will have an identification number and password to ensure only an authorized user controls the appropriate unit. As a minimum, the unit will be capable of reporting the status of these items: thermostat, lights, appliance (coffee maker), infrared controlled electronics, and possibly garage doors.
Once the user knows the status of the desired item, he will have the option of changing it. For a thermostat, the user will be able to change the temperature using the number pad on the cell phone or computer. For the other items, the user will be able to turn them on or off. We may try to make certain functions available for infrared control of electronic devices such as volume control. We wish to make this unit compact so that it could potentially be used in a house and not be obvious because of its size. Possible additions to the project, if time allows, would be alerts that the system sends to the user such as flood warnings or motion detections.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (836 kB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (1.95 MB PowerPoint)
Project description filmed at expo: 3.48 MB movie
Expo Photos:
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Team: BeHav
Team members:Matthew FarganoJoshua Fedders Terrell Jones Nicholas Miller Mohamed Siddig Joseph Esler (Software Systems Development Member) |
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Project Description:
Our project is an enhancement of an existing behavioral modification system for learning disabled children. The principle behind the modification of this device is to change student behavior by providing students feedback via a remote activation signaling positive and negative behavior as observed by a remote viewer. Currently, remote activation of the unit is not possible. In addition to remote activation the device enhancement will also include the ability to record the data submitted by the remote user thus allowing for data analysis of behavior trends.
The system will consist of a key fob, a receiver, and a localized hub. The key fob will consist of two buttons that correspond to positive or negative feed back for positive or negative behavior. This will transmit wirelessly to the receiver and give vibrations to the student as feed back: 1 buzz for bad behavior and 2 buzzes for good behavior. At the end of the day a hub will be used to wirelessly take the stored data from the receiver and feed it to a computer for processing.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (808 kB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (1.84 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: Control Z
Team members:Benjamin BakerLisa Furnish Chris Klepac Benjamin Mauser Zachary Miers |
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Project Description:
Our project will be a "black-box" system for a car, utilizing four cameras to provide a view of all sides of the vehicle. In the event of an accident, a visual record of the seconds leading up to the accident will be stored, enabling the user to determine who was at fault in the accident, as well as a record of the car at fault in the event of a hit-and-run.
The four CCD cameras will be positioned on each side of the car, and will take a still picture at a specified time increment. (If possible, we would like to use video, but it may not be possible to store/process that volume of data reasonably.) The data from each camera will be stored for a specified value of time -- for example, 10 seconds. This constantly-updating data will be stored in memory for upload and analysis.
A three axis accelerometer will be used to determine if an accident occurs. When the accelerometer reaches a certain set level, the cameras will stop taking new pictures, preserving the last ten seconds of data from each camera.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (292 kB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (1.72 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: Dominate
Team members:William KeoghScott Pearse Justin O'Connell Scott Olson William Schreiner |
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Project Description:
The idea that we have for our project is a data monitoring and acquisition device for a racing motorcycle. The data will be collected from sensors attached to the cycle and sent via radio frequency between the cycle and a data acquisition box located in the racing pit area. The data to be collected will be the heat of the tires, the speed of the motorcycle tires and engine, the force that one is feeling on turns, the angle at which one is leaning while turning and suspension travel distance. A Global Positioning System (GPS) on the cycle is being considered to allow for captured data match up with position on the track. Selected pieces of captured data may also be displayed on the cycle for visibility to the cycle rider.
The absolute minimum we will accomplish in this project is the data acquisition of the heat of the tires and to transfer this data wirelessly. In order to detect the heat of the tires we will use some form of heat sensors, run this data through a micro controller, and then transmit the data wirelessly to the data acquisition box. The sensors we will initially research are optical thermometers that can acquire temperature accurately without any physical contact with the tire surface. Following this, additional sensors to be explored include accelerometers, speed (cycle and engine-RPM), bank angle, suspension movement and GPS system.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (1.9 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (4.79 MB PowerPoint)
Project description filmed at expo: 1.6 MB movie
Expo Photos:
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Team: GPS Rover
Team members:Andrew BouskyZach Hornback Baird McKevitt Dan Regelson Alex Waskiewicz |
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Project Description:
The GPS Rover will be a vehicular platform with a variety of possible applications. A user will interface with the rover using a laptop computer and an RF tranceiver. The rover will accept basic instructions such as move forward, turn left, or turn right. Additionally, the user will be able to give the rover a latitude and longitude and the rover will autonomously move to that location, using proximity sensors for obstacle avoidance. GPS and a compass will be onboard so the rover knows its present location as well as its directional orientation. The RF link will also allow the rover to update the user of its current status. The platform, which we will build ourselves, will made of aluminum and will have four wheels, two on the sides and one in the front and back.
Full remote reprogramming will be possible along with the interchangability of a variety of peripheral packages. Generally, we are taking the approach that the rover should be modular and able to use various hardware/software 'packages' that will allow it to carry out different missions. To do this we could provide some standard connection points on the rover that would allow packages to interface with the rover's on-board computer along with software reprogramming using the RF link.
One possible add-on would be a camera mounted on the rover that would allow the user to watch its progress and pan, tilt, and zoom the camera itself.
Additional options could include a mobile launch platform, search and rescue function, mobile metal detection and atmospheric data collection (temp, wind, humidity, etc.). The emphasis will be on creating a modular platform and demonstrating a fraction of the many possible applications such an automated device could have.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (932 kB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (2.59 MB PowerPoint)
Project description filmed at expo: 2.86 MB movie
Expo Photos:
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Team: GRAMM
Team members:Geoff SandersRichard Tan Ankit Tripathi Maung Myat Marc Hesse |
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Project Description:
The purpose of this project is to design and construct an electrical machine that will serve as both the starter and alternator in an automobile. The machine must be capable of delivering 30 Nm of starting torque during motoring and generating 1kW at 3000 rpm. The machine must motor from standstill to 3000 rpm in 3-5 seconds. At cruising speed (3000 rpm) the machine will charge a set of batteries. The machine will be powered by a 200 V dc supply. There will also be a user interface allowing the user to start up or shut down the system and display pertinent data about how the machine is operating. The main objectives as set forth by the International Future Energy Challenge (IFEC) are:
- $100 total cost for electric machine and controller for mass production.
- Safety and fault tolerance to cope with failures in the machine and controller.
- An efficiency of no less than 75%.
- Smooth transition from motoring to generating or vice versa.
- Power-electronic based controller (inverter/rectifier).
- NEMA frame 56C size.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (1.7 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (9.44 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: International
Team members:Marko BundaloPonphet Homchanh Jason Mucilli Ideen Taeb David Wu |
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Project Description:
Since the beginning of soccer, referees have made mistakes in declaring a close goal where the ball has not entirely passed the goal line. This created a lot of controversy during important matches. After much discussion and protests about the need to improve officiating in soccer games through the use of technology, team INTERNATIONAL decided to launch the goal-line technology that will be able to determine whether the ball has fully crossed the goal line or not.
The first part of our project will involve implementing a beside-the-goal camera that is linked to a computer. The data and pictures from this camera will upload to a computer which will then display the goal frame on the screen so the user can determine whether the ball passed the goal line or not, similar to the technology used in tennis to determine if a ball is in or out.
In the second step of our goal-line technology, we will be focusing on building a launcher device that will be able to shoot a ball anywhere at the goal using a controller. The device will be used to launch the ball moving it both vertically and horizontally. Once this is fully functional, we will create a semicircular rail on which the launcher moves, changing the position from which the ball is launched.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (1.3 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (4.32 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: Lone Rangers
Team members:Brad AlcornTim Caldwell Mitch Duggan Kai Gelatt Josh Peifer |
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Project Description:
The project we are proposing is a structured light 3 dimensional scanner. The technique will consist of a laser line projected onto an object that is sitting on a rotating platform. A camera will record images at a slightly offset angle from the laser in order to use a process called triangulation to determine how far from the camera the laser is shining. The platform will rotate by a motor that is controlled by a digital signal. The whole system will be controlled with an embedded system consisting of an FPGA to move the motor and coordinate the images taken with the position of the platform. Some data can be processed directly in the FPGA, such as determining which pixels in the RGB image are laser light and converting the image to black and white. The black would be where the laser is shining and the white where it is not. The black and white data would be sent to a computer workstation, and using algorithms we write, would be converted into three dimensional data points. This data will then be sent to a program like MATLAB and constructed into a 3D image.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (3.5 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (5.12 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: Mobile Fidelity
Team members:Souhaibe BarkatTenzin Dhongyal Michael Duckwitz Matthew Syme Patrick Wagner |
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Project Description:
With the advent of information technology revolution and convergence, people are increasingly devoid of human relations. Consumer electronics enable individuals to access any information and media on demand without any human interaction. Ironically, we are witnessing isolation of the individual in this continually shrinking global village.
Our project will be a high fidelity base-station, which will allow personal enjoyment without losing the connection to the local working network. Leveraging the popular demand for MP3 players and popular culture of listening to songs while doing daily chores, the vision is to allow broadcasting not only high definition music, but also announcements to the same members or employees. This has the added benefit of skipping cell phone carrier networks and also not being hooked to a computer with Internet access for instant messages. MP3 songs can be bought in bulk-discounted prices for consumption within the local network.
The design will consist of a base-station and some number of receivers (headphones and/or speakers) which all receive broadcasts independently. The base-station will have stereo audio inputs, a microphone input for real time MP3 encoding and removable media for previously encoded MP3 files. There will be onboard memory, which will allow for the storage of multiple songs or specific sound bytes. We will use the unregulated 2.4Ghz wireless band, which will allow for short-range, omni-directional transmission of signals.
The receivers will include the ability to select desired channels as well as volume control. The user interface will consist of a color touch screen for quick and easy user control.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (652 kB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (2.20 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: Ocho Cinco
Team members:Raymond ChenZhuo Jing Brian Pentz Kjell Peterson Steven Pham |
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Project Description:
Our project is to design a vehicle controlled remotely by a handheld touch-screen computer. The touch-screen will display a map of an area and the user will be able to draw a path on it that the vehicle will attempt to follow. If the vehicle encounters any permanent obstacles that it cannot pass along the way, it will manuever around the obstacle and update the map on the touch-screen to include the new obstacle. In addition, the touch-screen computer will display the current position of the vehicle on the path, distance traveled, distance remaining, and estimated time of arrival. The position of the vehicle will be determined by measuring the distance between two beacons at the corners of the map and the vehicle.
The touch-screen computer will be designed on a Hewlett-Packard iPaq pocket PC. It has a handheld version of windows on it, which will allow us to build a GUI in C++. The iPaq uses Bluetooth to communicate wirelessly. Bluetooth is range-limited to 30ft, but uses very little power compared to longer range wireless technologies.
The vehicle will be battery operated, so we will aim to make its power consumption as low as possible. We will need to mount radar sensors on all sides of the vehicle to give it a 360-degree sense of nearby obstacles. An onboard FPGA will control vehicle to iPaq communications, obstacle avoidance, and regional positioning.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (5.7 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (1.95 MB PowerPoint)
Expo Photos:
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Team: SimBoulder
Team members:Adam BenjaminKevin Brokish Joseph Wang Joel Wiechmann Eric Wilson |
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Project Description:
Right now about 10% of the energy our community uses is renewable energy. What if we wanted to increase this percentage to 30%? With only 10%, if there is a cloudy, not windy day the traditional power plants can make up the difference. However when relying on renewable energy to provide 30%, a cloudy, not windy day can become a big issue. So, our project is to use renewable energy sources to power a simulated city that deals with 30% of Boulder's energy consumption. Obviously we have scaled this down to actually make our working prototype. The idea is that when there is a surplus of renewable energy, we want to store that energy for the times in which there is insufficient renewable energy. We plan to store this energy one, or possibly two, ways. First is to pump water to the top of a hill. The other way is to store the energy in batteries. Our city will be made from LEDs and the buildings of the city will be made of Legos or wood. We plan to have solar panels, wind turbines, and a storage bank of energy. If possible, we would like to model other things such as an electrically powered transportation system by having a miniature car drive around the city.
The stimulus in our project is the weather, primarily sun and wind. The intelligence of our project lies in sensing the amount of power each renewable source is producing. Our response is taking the data received and deciding from what source to draw the power in order to power the city. If there is a surplus, the excess power will be sent to the appropriate device in which we have decided to store the energy.
We will display on a nearby monitor the power consumption and generation of each source as time goes on. This allows one to see specifically what is happening at each source, instead of just watching the city react to the different situations.
Preliminary Design Review presentation: (1.7 MB PowerPoint)
Critical Design Review presentation: (2.56 MB PowerPoint)
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