Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
52 Heated Bridge System + Seeking one partner
 Adriel Taparra
James Raue
Kahmil Hamzat
 Jiankun Yang proposal1.pdf
# Heated Bridge Safety System

**Team Members:**
- Kahmil Hamzat (khamza2)
- Adriel Taparra (taparra2)
- James Raue (jdraue2)

## Problem

During winter, bridges freeze faster than regular roads due to their exposure to cold air from all sides, making them hazardous for drivers. Existing solutions rely on passive warnings such as "Bridge Ices Before Road" signs, which do not actively prevent ice formation. Our goal is to create an active heating system that prevents ice and snow buildup on bridges, improving safety and reducing accidents caused by icy road conditions.


## Solution

Our project will implement a heated bridge system using an array of nichrome heating wires embedded in a simulated bridge surface. The simulated bridge will be a plywood model, with a metal sheet simulating the road surface and nichrome wires beneath the sheet for heat generation. The system will be controlled by a microcontroller that monitors real-time weather conditions via **temperature, moisture, and precipitation sensors**. If freezing conditions and moisture are detected, the system will activate the heating elements to prevent ice formation. A MOSFET-based power switching circuit will be used to regulate power delivery to the heating wires efficiently. When the microcontroller outputs HIGH, the MOSFET allows current to flow, heating the wire.


## Solution Components

### **Heating Subsystem**
- Nichrome wire heating elements embedded in a plywood bridge surface to simulate real-world conditions.
- MOSFET switching circuit to control power delivery based on microcontroller input.
- 12V/24V DC power source, either from a wall adapter or a rechargeable battery with a DC-DC converter.

### **Sensing and Control Subsystem**
- **Temperature sensor** to monitor surface temperatures.
- **Moisture sensor** to detect the presence of water on the surface.
- **Precipitation sensor** to determine if snow or rain is present.
- **Microcontroller** to process sensor data and activate the heating system accordingly.

### **Power and PCB Subsystem**
- **Custom PCB** designed to integrate the microcontroller, MOSFET power control circuit, and sensor connections.


## Criteria for Success

1. **Accurate sensing** – The system must reliably detect temperature, moisture, and precipitation to determine when heating is necessary.
2. **Effective heating** – The nichrome wire should generate enough heat to prevent ice formation on the bridge surface.
3. **Power efficiency** – The heating system should activate only when necessary to conserve power.
4. **Demonstrable functionality** – The prototype should successfully operate in a simulated environment (e.g., an ice box) and respond appropriately to changing conditions.

Smart Frisbee

Ryan Moser, Blake Yerkes, James Younce

Smart Frisbee

Featured Project

The idea of this project would be to improve upon the 395 project ‘Smart Frisbee’ done by a group that included James Younce. The improvements would be to create a wristband with low power / short range RF capabilities that would be able to transmit a user ID to the frisbee, allowing the frisbee to know what player is holding it. Furthermore, the PCB from the 395 course would be used as a point of reference, but significantly redesigned in order to introduce the transceiver, a high accuracy GPS module, and any other parts that could be modified to decrease power consumption. The frisbee’s current sensors are a GPS module, and an MPU 6050, which houses an accelerometer and gyroscope.

The software of the system on the frisbee would be redesigned and optimized to record various statistics as well as improve gameplay tracking features for teams and individual players. These statistics could be player specific events such as the number of throws, number of catches, longest throw, fastest throw, most goals, etc.

The new hardware would improve the frisbee’s ability to properly moderate gameplay and improve “housekeeping”, such as ensuring that an interception by the other team in the end zone would not be counted as a score. Further improvements would be seen on the software side, as the frisbee in it’s current iteration will score as long as the frisbee was thrown over the endzone, and the only way to eliminate false goals is to press a button within a 10 second window after the goal.