Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
16 A Modernized Analog Video Distortion Device
 Adarsh Payyavula
Jun Hayakawa
Matt Streicher
 Jason Jung other1.pdf
# A Modernized Analog Video Distortion Device

Team Members:
- Jun Hayakawa (jundh2)
- Matthew Streicher (mps11)
- Adarsh Payyavula (adarshp3)


# Problem

In recent years, the force of nostalgia has made the aesthetic of analog glitches increasingly popular, and they have found wide use in mediums such as music videos, live concert visuals, video editing, and even film. However, authentic analog glitch devices are made only by a small number of artisans who alter (or "bend") the circuitry of vintage video hardware to introduce these visual artifacts, making them inaccessible to general hobbyist visual artists, such as the VJs who make visuals for house shows on campus.

The cost of a unit generally ranges from $300 to $700, with resold units sometimes reaching over $1,000. This is due both to the increasing rarity of the hardware they’re built from and the small number of people who hand-make these devices. Even after placing an order, the turnaround time can be upwards of 6 months. Additionally, controls on these devices are abstruse, typically consisting of unlabeled switches and potentiometers. This makes operating them confusing and requires the user to carefully experiment with the controls in order to figure out how to dial in a visually appealing setting.

The niche nature of this field makes it ripe for innovation, most importantly in the way of making them more accessible to the general artistic community.

# Solution

We propose a device which aims to solve these challenges. Using a custom PCB design, we aim to replicate the functionality of both a normal and bent video enhancer. Additionally, this analog circuitry will be controlled digitally using a microprocessor to adjust various amplifier gains and reroute signal flow. This way, the device can be interfaced with a user-friendly controller, making it easier and more fun to play with video distortion. Our proposed design separates itself from existing glitch devices in three key ways:

1) *Fully custom circuitry*: Almost all analog glitch devices are constructed from vintage video hardware which has been bent to introduce artistic visual artifacts. This reliance on discontinued hardware contributes to the cost and scarcity of devices, and by designing all hardware from the ground up we sidestep this bottleneck.
2) *Remote control*: Rather than being controlled with knobs and switches attached to the circuitry, our device will be controlled remotely using a microcontroller, which will allow parameters to be modified using something akin to a video game controller. There is no device on the market currently which has this functionality, and its inclusion will make operation of the device feel intuitive and immediate, decreasing the learning curve for new users.
3) *Auxiliary distortion circuitry*: Our analog circuit will be able to act both as a video enhancement circuit **and** video distortion circuit. When video enhancement circuits are bent, they lose their original functionality and become pure distortion circuits. We aim to have both by isolating feedback distortion lines using digital switches, which will preserve the original enhancement functionality as long as the switches are closed. This will allow the user to use the enhancement circuit for subtle adjustments to the image, or engage the distortion elements to make more radical modifications.

A block diagram of our high-level design is provided in the album of images at the end of the proposal. The overall goal of this project is to make a robust and easily manufacturable analog glitch device that can be externally controlled, with an aim towards making them more accessible to hobbyists and people who are interested in analog video.


# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1: Power Management

A 5 volt switching regulator circuit which will control the power supplied by a 9V battery to the microprocessor and the enhancement/distortion circuit. Our controller will be low power enough to be powered via the same USB port that it uses to interface with the microprocessor.

Components:
- LMR33630 (3.8V to 36V, 3A Synchronous Buck Converter With Ultra-Low EMI)
- 9V battery

## Subsystem 2: Video Enhancer

In the US and Japan, composite analog video signals are encoded using the NTSC format. This encoding scheme divides image information into luminance (a 15.7 kHz square wave whose amplitude encodes the brightness of a pixel) and chrominance (a 3.2 MHz sine wave whose amplitude and phase encodes the color of a pixel).

Our enhancement circuit will use wideband voltage controlled amplifiers (VCAs) to boost or attenuate the luma and chroma signals in order to control the image. It will control the following parameters:
1) *Contrast*: Boosts/attenuates luma signal from a factor of -2 to 2, negative values resulting in inverted brightness.
2) *Brightness*: Applies a DC shift to the signal to adjust the black/white balance. Ranges from pure black (-768 mV) to pure white (714 mV).
3) *Saturation*: Boosts/attenuates chroma subcarrier signal from a factor of 0 to 2, with 0 corresponding to a grayscale image and 2 corresponding with blown-out oversaturated colors.
4) *Hue shift*: Uses all-pass phase-shifting filters to shift the color content of the image along the color wheel (0 to 360 degrees).

Components:
- 2 to 4 LMH6505 ICs (Wideband, Low Power, Linear-in-dB, Variable Gain Amplifier)
- Numerous resistors
- Numerous capacitors
- LTC1562 IC (Very Low Noise, Low Distortion Active RC Quad Universal Filter) for allpass filtering
- 2 RCA I/O ports

## Subsystem 3: Video Distortion

Circuit benders alter the circuitry of existing video hardware by feeding the outputs of amplifiers back into themselves at various points, creating resonant feedback loops which interfere with the enhancement circuitry and introduce various analog glitches in the image. We aim to accomplish this by building these "bends" into the circuit pcb and isolating them using digital switches, which will protect the main enhancement circuit. By creating these feedback loops in various amplifier stages, we aim to achieve the following visual artifacts:

1) *Ringing feedback*: vertical stripes which follow the contours of edges in the image.
2) *Rainbowing*: Cyclic rainbow patterns which appear on bright portions of the image.
3) *Horizontal tearing*: Misalignment of rows of image data on the display, giving the impression of the image being “torn”.
4) *Ghosting*: High frequency elements of the image persisting for too long on the electron beam, smearing the image to the right.

The strength of these effects will also be able to be adjusted using digital VCAs. Examples of each of these types of artifacts are provided in a google doc linked at the end of this proposal, in order to better visualize the effects we aim to achieve. In order to prevent damaging the signal to the point of image dropout, we will use sync separator ICs which protect the horizontal and vertical sync portions of the signal so that the corrupted image is still able to be displayed on a CRT.

Components:
- 2 to 4 LMH6505 ICs (Wideband, Low Power, Linear-in-dB, Variable Gain Amplifier)
- Numerous resistors
- Numerous capacitors
- 1 or 2 DG408 ICs (8-Ch/Dual 4-Ch High-Performance CMOS Analog Multiplexers)
- LM1881 Video Sync Separator

## Subsystem 4: Interface / Housing

Our circuit will be housed within a compact and durable laser cut plastic casing, which will have the RCA I/O and USB port to program the microcontroller and connect the external controller, such as a video game console controller. The MCU will read inputs from the controller and translate them into analog voltages which drive our circuit components on the analog processing circuit.

Components:
- Laser-cut plastic housing
- USB host shield
- STM32 Microcontroller
- External controller

# Criterion For Success
- Our enhancement circuit can control image aspects such as contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue (tested using CRT test pattern).
- Our distortion circuit can produce the characteristic analog glitches described in subsystem 3.
- Our circuit can be interfaced with digitally using an external controller

## Figures
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jqR8Q9gRmVlFIulvmhQkPYblD1XzxrDst6jpfQKjtfA/edit?usp=sharing

Logic Circuit Teaching Board

Younas Abdul Salam, Andrzej Borzecki, David Lee

Featured Project

Partners: Younas Abdul Salam, Andrzej Borzecki, David Lee

The proposal our group has is of creating a board that will be able to teach students about logic circuits hands on. The project will consist of a board and different pieces that represent gates. The board will be used to plug in the pieces and provide power to the internal circuitry of the pieces. The pieces will have a gate and LEDs inside, which will be used to represent the logic at the different terminals.

By plugging in and combining gates, students will be able to see the actual effect on logic from the different combinations that they make. To add to it, we will add a truth table that can be used to represent inputs and outputs required, for example, for a class project or challenge. The board will be able to read the truth table and determine whether the logic the student has created is correct.

This board can act as a great learning source for students to understand the working of logic circuits. It can be helpful in teaching logic design to students in high schools who are interested in pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Please comment on whether the project is good enough to be approved, and if there are any suggestions.

Thank you