Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
103 Adaptive Solar Panel Canopy for Vineyard Microclimate Control
 Titouan Louis Matthieu Morel
Zikora Okonkwo
 Zhuchen Shao design_document1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
# Problem :
Climate change is increasingly threatening vineyards by exposing plants to heat stress and water scarcity. During hot, sunny periods, leaves can overheat, soil moisture evaporates rapidly, and crop yield and quality can decline. Growers currently lack a localized, automated system to manage sunlight and humidity at the plant level without frequent manual intervention or excessive irrigation.


# Solution
We propose an adaptive shading and microclimate control system that combines a motorized solar-panel canopy with a moisture-capture foam layer beneath it. By using environmental sensors such as soil moisture, air temperature, humidity, and light intensity we can continuously monitor the conditions around the plants. The system will automatically adjust the title and height of the panels to regulate sunlight exposure and local humidity. The foam layer captures and retains ambient moisture to further mitigate heat stress. By using real time data, the system can optimize plant protection and water conservation which will provide precise and low maintenance solution for growers.

# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1: Environmental Sensing
### Function:
Monitor the microclimate around plants to inform adaptive responses.
### Components:
Moisture sensor for soil → Capacitive sensor (DFROBOT SEN0193)

Air temperature & humidity sensor → DHT22

Light intensity sensor → BH1750

Microcontroller → Arduino Uno

# #Subsystem 2: Moving Canopy
### Function :
Thermal Protection : Orient the panels to cast shade over the plants

Humidity Management : Adjust the height and tilt to trap or release humidity of the air generated by water capturing layer
### Components :
Linear Actuators → Progressive Automations PA-14

Distance/Height Feedback → Ultrasonic distance sensor HC-SR04

Tilt Control → Stepper Motor NEMA 23 + IMU BNO055

Orientation Feedback → IMU Sensor (BNO055)


# #Subsystem 3: Water capturing Layer
### Function :
Absorption : Capture the humidity of the air when it’s high

Release : Release the water when it’s needed
### Components :
Hydrophilic medium → Polyurethane Foam

Moisture absorbing material → Calcium Chloride CaCl2


# Criterion For Success

Soil moisture retention is improved about 10-15% compared to uncovered soil during test periods

System operates autonomously for about 24hrs without manual intervention

Canopy height responds to local humidity levels where height adjusts within 60 seconds to increase or decrease humidity

Canopy tilt responds to changes in light intensity where the panel tilts within 30 seconds of sensor threshold breach

The air temperature at the plant canopy reduced by at least 3 degrees celsius under high solar exposure

# Demonstration :
For the demonstration, we propose building a microsystem that simulates an environment with a bell jar, a lamp, a hair dryer, and a humidity diffuser. The demonstration will focus on showing the system’s response to an increase in temperature as well as on measuring and capturing humidity. We also propose adding a display to check the sensor readings and lowering the thresholds for the demo.

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.