Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
4 Champaign MTD Bus Tracker Map
 Amber Wilt
Daniel Vlassov
Ziad AlDohaim
# Champaign MTD Bus Tracker Map
# Team Members:
- Amber Wilt (anwilt2)
- Daniel Vlassov (dvlas2)
- Ziad Aldohaim (ziada2)
# Problem
Champaign has a very large and complex bus system through the MTD. It can be hard for students to know when the buses are coming when they are in buildings such as the ECEB, since the bus times are only displayed at the stops. Furthermore, these buses can be late or early, causing students to miss their bus or not arrive at their destination on time.
# Solution
To fix this, we will come up with the design for a large display that shows real-time locations of all buses (color-coded using RGB) in the surrounding campus area. This can be used by students in buildings to easily visualize where the bus they want to take is currently located, making it easier for students to time when to leave classrooms and when to expect their ride. The display will update the locations approximately every 30 seconds and will light up every LED along a bus route every few minutes to make it easier for students to visualize which bus route they need to take. Furthermore, the system will include various light settings (theme/brightness).
# Solution Components
This system will mainly include the subsystems of the LED matrix, the controller, and the power supply.
## Subsystem 1 - LED Matrix
The LED matrix will be located on a large PCB or 3D printed map of the city (cost dependent). This subsystem will be made of addressable LEDs, photoresistors to automatically modify the intensity of LEDs, and will be controlled by the microcontroller (to indicate positions).
## Subsystem 2 - Microcontroller
The microcontroller will utilize wifi to access the MTD API to gather real-time bus data as well as provide control to individually address each LED within the matrix. Furthermore, it will control/communicate with other modules/displays in the system, such as a real-time clock or menu. The microcontroller will be an ESP32
## Subsystem 3 - Power Supply
The power supply will provide ample power to a large number of LEDs (and the entire system). We will need to include a buck converter to step down the power supply to be usable by the LEDs.
# Criterion for Success
To demonstrate the success of our project, we will need to prove the accuracy of the data we are displaying (how accurate are bus timings/locations). Additionally, we will need to show that the data is easy to interpret for a user and can be utilized for easier bus system use.

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.