Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
51 Triangle Sign Deployer Car
 Harry Shi
Yuanfeng Niu
 Douglas Yu design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
final_paper3.pdf
proposal2.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Triangle Sign Deployer Car

Team members:
Yuanfeng Niu(yn6)
Yue Shi(yueshi6)
Chaoyang Yin(cyin9)

Problem:
When a traffic emergency occurs, it is of utmost importance to take all measures to warn the oncoming traffic of its existence. One such measure involves placing a warning sign 50~200m away from the emergency site, per the traffic laws in many countries. But walking against the incoming traffic is an extremely risky act, especially at times of high volume.

Solution:
It is thus safer to carry out this sign-placing task with a remotely controlled carrier, possibly a repurposed toy car. It is cheaper to manufacture and less power-hungry than drones, can traverse terrain faster than humans, and is easy to store in automobiles.
We intend to develop a small electric car that holds the aforementioned warning sign and can travel enough distance(30-100m depending on local regulations) and place the sign at the designated place.

Solution Components:
Subsystem#1: Control Unit
This subsystem serves as the vehicle's central command, utilizing a processor to run algorithms, interpret user and sensor inputs, and control motor actions. It incorporates a state machine to ensure that the vehicle responds appropriately to commands and environmental conditions, avoiding unnecessary movements. This setup ensures precise and reliable operation, managing all aspects of vehicle movement and functionality efficiently.

Subsystem#2: Car frame, battery & instruments
Our system should have the features of a small, four-wheeled electric vehicle. Using the PWM method from ECE110 to control the wheels should suffice. A battery will be attached somewhere inside the car frame, serving as the power supply to the entire circuitry. Voltage regulators will be added to deliver power to respective components.
To fulfill the task of wireless communication and auto navigation, corresponding Bluetooth modules and sensors/cameras should be mounted on board. The vehicle also needs a bright indicator light on its body to warn vehicles coming from behind about an emergency ahead.

Subsystem#3: Bluetooth Communication
Typical remote controls at ~30-100m distances require wifi or Bluetooth band signals. Alternative protocols can be considered, but in this instance, this is the most extensively developed type of wireless comm.
Controlling the unmanned vehicle over long distances requires solving image transmission problems. In addition to receiving controls, it should send status info and camera feed fluently at target distances.

Subsystem#4: Auto Navigation
When operating on highways with clear lane markings, the vehicle utilizes input from onboard cameras and distance sensors to identify and follow a secure trajectory within the present lane, aiming to arrive at the designated sign installation location.

If there should be a disruption in Bluetooth communication, the vehicle will depend on this subsystem as an alternative strategy to revert to a secure state.

The vehicle requires a remote-controlled angle closed-loop control system, enabling it to automatically adjust its course and maintain its trajectory in the predetermined direction.

Subsystem#5: Mechanicals
Driving with the sign facing front will experience significant wind resistance, such that it might stop the car from moving, perhaps even pushing it back. To minimize the impact of wind on our system, we decided to initially mount the sign facing up and use a lever to rotate it to face front once it reached its destination.
Simultaneously, structural support would be set up to prevent uncertain weather conditions(rain/wind) from displacing it. We have yet to decide whether it is more practical to apply brakes to wheels or have additional retractable props. We will go with the solution that has better performance in actual trials, or that is preferred by the machine shop.

Software Subsystem#6: Phone App Controller
In circumstances where automated navigation may not successfully complete its task, such as poorly marked lanes and snow-covered pavements, or where manual remote control provides a greater sense of assurance, this subsystem becomes critical. It represents the most practical and universally applicable user interface option, as an independent controller for the unmanned vehicle implies extra cost and storage.
The app should contain all the necessary control buttons (move forward/backward, turn left/right, raise/retract sign). Additionally, integrating a live camera feed from the unmanned vehicle will further enhance the user experience by allowing for real-time monitoring and precise maneuvering of the unmanned vehicle, ensuring both safety and accuracy in its operations.
Development of this system should be a minor focus of this project, as it is mostly coding work and has little to do with circuit design.


Criterion for Success:
The car can travel up to 100 meters from the user.

The phone controller can deliver instructions within the operational range and maintain a consistent camera feed.

After receiving the instruction from the user or the Auto-Navigation System, The car must automatically raise the sign and deploy props.

The Auto-Navigation System can operate correctly when traffic conditions are not complex and road markings are clear. It should also be able to handle the situation of connection loss.

Musical Hand

Ramsey Foote, Thomas MacDonald, Michelle Zhang

Musical Hand

Featured Project

# Musical Hand

Team Members:

- Ramesey Foote (rgfoote2)

- Michelle Zhang (mz32)

- Thomas MacDonald (tcm5)

# Problem

Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes; however, transporting instruments often involves bulky and heavy cases. Not only can transporting instruments be a hassle, but the initial purchase and maintenance of an instrument can be very expensive. We would like to solve this problem by creating an instrument that is lightweight, compact, and low maintenance.

# Solution

Our project involves a wearable system on the chest and both hands. The left hand will be used to dictate the pitches of three “strings” using relative angles between the palm and fingers. For example, from a flat horizontal hand a small dip in one finger is associated with a low frequency. A greater dip corresponds to a higher frequency pitch. The right hand will modulate the generated sound by adding effects such as vibrato through lateral motion. Finally, the brains of the project will be the central unit, a wearable, chest-mounted subsystem responsible for the audio synthesis and output.

Our solution would provide an instrument that is lightweight and easy to transport. We will be utilizing accelerometers instead of flex sensors to limit wear and tear, which would solve the issue of expensive maintenance typical of more physical synthesis methods.

# Solution Components

The overall solution has three subsystems; a right hand, left hand, and a central unit.

## Subsystem 1 - Left Hand

The left hand subsystem will use four digital accelerometers total: three on the fingers and one on the back of the hand. These sensors will be used to determine the angle between the back of the hand and each of the three fingers (ring, middle, and index) being used for synthesis. Each angle will correspond to an analog signal for pitch with a low frequency corresponding to a completely straight finger and a high frequency corresponding to a completely bent finger. To filter out AC noise, bypass capacitors and possibly resistors will be used when sending the accelerometer signals to the central unit.

## Subsystem 2 - Right Hand

The right subsystem will use one accelerometer to determine the broad movement of the hand. This information will be used to determine how much of a vibrato there is in the output sound. This system will need the accelerometer, bypass capacitors (.1uF), and possibly some resistors if they are needed for the communication scheme used (SPI or I2C).

## Subsystem 3 - Central Unit

The central subsystem utilizes data from the gloves to determine and generate the correct audio. To do this, two microcontrollers from the STM32F3 series will be used. The left and right hand subunits will be connected to the central unit through cabling. One of the microcontrollers will receive information from the sensors on both gloves and use it to calculate the correct frequencies. The other microcontroller uses these frequencies to generate the actual audio. The use of two separate microcontrollers allows for the logic to take longer, accounting for slower human response time, while meeting needs for quicker audio updates. At the output, there will be a second order multiple feedback filter. This will get rid of any switching noise while also allowing us to set a gain. This will be done using an LM358 Op amp along with the necessary resistors and capacitors to generate the filter and gain. This output will then go to an audio jack that will go to a speaker. In addition, bypass capacitors, pull up resistors, pull down resistors, and the necessary programming circuits will be implemented on this board.

# Criterion For Success

The minimum viable product will consist of two wearable gloves and a central unit that will be connected together via cords. The user will be able to adjust three separate notes that will be played simultaneously using the left hand, and will be able to apply a sound effect using the right hand. The output audio should be able to be heard audibly from a speaker.

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