2014-2015 TEI3M Engineering Tasks

 

Part 2. For Part 2 of this project, we're going to design a custom circuit board to replace the general purpose prototype board of Part 1 and outsource its fabrication.

Robert Saunders will consult with you in the development of a common board with a view to having a combination of both through hole, and surface mount components.

 

Role Details ACE
Media, Communications
(Mr. Christie's team)
Web, Photos, Video
Ross, Jamie
Production
Assembly, Soldering, Code, Inventory
Jackson, Justin, Ryan
Business
(Mr. Kotecha's team)
Design, Packaging, Pricing, Marketing
Adam, John
Writing
Web Copy, Tutorial
Ryan, John

I2C Data Wall, Part 1. The goal of this project is to create an I2C bus-based data wall that includes time, date, and temperature features displayed on a 7-segment display bank, mounted on a perma-proto 1/2 size breadboard and housed in a simple enclosure. The photo to the right, taken from the internet, gives you a rough idea of how you might begin to assemble an embedded ATmega328P-based platform as a foundation for your I2C components.

Task.

  1. You have been provided with three I2C components, Follow the online tutorials for each of these components to develop an onboard, Arduino-based rotating display of time, date and temperature data on the display bank.
  2. Once the onboard system is function, you are to move the circuit off-board, onto a standalone breadboard, with ISP capability.
  3. Finally, using the perma-proto half-size board you have been provided with, assemble the ATmega328P-based platform.
DC Fan Control and Monitoring. Using an offboard ATmega328 configuration, complete the following,

Part 1. Reading RPM. Confirm Manufacturer's Claim to the Serial Monitor.

Part 2. LCD Display. Provide meaningful reporting.

Part 3. Switching On/Off. Demonstrate 5V/12V switching using an IRF520 N-Channel MOSFET

Part 4. Temperature Monitoring. Using either the LM35DZ or TMP36 temperature sensor devise a temperature range that is easy to demonstrate (efficient) switching of the fan on and off under control of your off-board setup.

You are encouraged and capable of designing the structure of the experiments and the contents and presentation of your ER submission. Don't underplay this opportunity. Plan and take calculated risk.

 

 

I have a bold academic vision for RSGC based on a circular instruction model in which senior students provide both products and services to junior students. We're going to field test this model, this year, in our area of electronics. The physical product is a compact breadboard-based kit with any number of swappable boards to enable efficient prototyping of circuits. The services include mentoring, tutoring, teaching, curriculum development, partnerships, marketing, and promotion to name a few.

breadboard-compatible Variable Power Supply: Prototype.
It's an appropriate time to put your nascent EAGLE skills to important use on a project of our own design and implementation, aimed at serving the needs of a target demographic: Grade 6 and 9 RSGC students of introductory electronics.

Electronics projects and components require a variety of voltage and amperage conditions. An adapter board that fits securely onto a breadboard and delivers both the raw voltage on one rail, user-adjustable power on another rail, with common ground rails, would be a instructive component for efficient prototyping for both the beginner and the more experienced developer.

Task.

  1. Sparkfun offers something similar to what I have in mind. Review all the images the page offers to fully understand what their design provides. Kindly, Sparkfun offers the EAGLE files for most of it's boards enabling an even closer look at the designs.
  2. Sketch out a design on a piece of paper. In addition to delivering the input and output supply points and connector types, consider switches, momentary PBs, led indicators, thermal protection, stability points, etc.
  3. Assemble a working prototype of the board to confirm your design.
  4. Using EAGLE, create the schematic. In the board view, consult the breadboard metrics page.
  5. Obtain strategic photos and images and embed them with your text into a preliminary writeup that includes Purpose, Reference, Parts List, Schematic, Procedure, and Media (Photos and Video).

breadboard-compatible Variable Power Supply: Fabrication.

Task.

  1. Convert your schematic to a board and measure the size of the breadboard to assist with determining the size of the adapter board.
  2. Place the parts and complete the traces.
  3. Print out a layout and place it over your breadboard (á la the supplied layout sheets provided in your kit) to confirm the fit.
  4. Make the board.
  5. Connect to breadboard and confirm 12V in one rail and 5V in the other.
  6. Take lots of photos and embed them with your text into a comprehensive writeup that includes Purpose, Reference, Parts List, EAGLE, Procedure, and Media (Photos and Video).

breadboard-compatible Variable Power Supply: Deployment

Task.

  1. TBA.

Surprise Me 1. We have spent the first two months exploring the capabilities of the Arduino and a dozen or so interfacing components from the ARD-100 manual. For your first ER submission of the year, you are asked to imagine, design, and implement an Arduino-based project that you find inspiring. The best projects will combine an elevated degree of risk, components from your kit, one or more additional components that you have sourced, and additional web research. Furthermore, the best projects will leave viewers wondering how you ever even came up with the idea for such a project.

ACE New Image Link Description Reference Risk Factor
(out of 10)
AD LCD
Temperature data presented on an LCD Screen
The objective of our primary “Your Choice Project” was to create an un-curated assignment. Up until now in the 11th grade, all of our learning has been very closely monitored and set by a curriculum or by our teachers. This is the first real opportunity we have to choose our own learning path and follow through with it until we see fit that works to our expectations.
The project I have chosen was to display environmental temperature readings upon a LCD display. It takes the analog reading from the temperature sensor and after converting it to Celsius, pushes it to LCD. We were challenged to use a part that we have never used or seen before. For my project that was the LCD display with an LED backlight. Having never seen / used the part before, the difficulty level is increased.
The overall objective of the project is for the student to take control of his own learning and curate his own enthusiasm and passion.
LCD 5
JD Four 7-Seg
Kitchen Timer
My first project in TEI3M will be a Digital Kitchen Timer. I have a 7 segment led display matrix arranged with a premade backpack which converts the data on the input pin into numbers. These numbers will be set by a potentiometer using the analogRead function of the arduino. Once set, the numbers will count down to zero and then trigger some kind of audio cue to let the user know that their time is up. Parts included in the project are wires, resistors, the 7 segment displays and their backpack, a potentiometer, my arduino, and a piezo disc. What I hope to accomplish with this assignment is attaining a better knowledge of analog inputs and work towards building a Data Wall to use as my ISP.
   5
RH RTC1307

Clock
My project is to make a digital clock using an Adafruit Neopixel 12-pixel Ring, an Adafruit RTC DS1307, and an analog potentiometer. These parts will work together to make a digital clock in the shape of a ring whose colors can be adjusted by the analog potentiometer. The Real Time Clock (RTC) will be synced with the users computer upon upload of the program to the Arduino. The Neopixel ring will then display the time given by the RTC on its pixels, with “hands” (simply pixels that are on) for seconds, minutes, and hours. The colors of these pixels will be set by the analog value given by the potentiometer. This project will combine the various skills I have learned so far this year, including: interpreting analogue input, and using the Neopixel library. This project will also foster the new skill of using an RTC to output an accurate time reading to an output device.

Resubmission: November 4
My project is to make a digital clock using an Adafruit Neopixel 12-pixel Ring, an Adafruit RTC DS1307, an analog potentiometer, a buzzer, a switch, and a button. These parts will work together to make a digital clock in the shape of a ring whose alarm can be set using the potentiometer, switch, and button. The Real Time Clock (RTC) will be synced with the users computer upon upload of the program to the Arduino. The Neopixel ring will then display the time given by the RTC on its pixels, with “hands” (simply pixels that are on) for seconds, minutes, and hours. The alarm will be set based on the position of the potentiometer when the button is pressed. This project will combine the various skills I have learned so far this year, including: interpreting analogue input, and using the Neopixel library. This project will also foster the new skill of using an RTC to output an accurate time reading to an output device.

   5
JL (Prox/US) Sens.

Theremin
For my first TEI3M project I will be creating a Theremin using an ultrasonic sensor, a proximity sensor and a Piezo speaker. The end goal of the project will be to be able to play happy birthday on this electronic instrument. The Theremin will work by having the user move his or her hands up and down over both of the sensor simultaneously to control pitch and volume. The Ultrasonic sensor will be used to control the pitch of the tone being played. This sensor is more precise than the proximity sensor and should therefore provide a more consistent tone when the hand is held still. The proximity sensor will be used to control the volume of the speaker by changing the pulse width. The output of this project will be a small but powerful Piezo speaker, which will play tones based on the two analog inputs.
Resubmission: November 6
For my first TEI3M project I will be creating a Theremin using an ultrasonic sensor, a proximity sensor and a Piezo speaker. The end goal of the project will be to be able to play happy birthday on this electronic instrument. The Theremin will work by having the user move his or her hands up and down over both of the sensor simultaneously to control pitch and frequency of the tone being played on the speaker. The Ultrasonic sensor will be used to control the pitch of the tone being played. This sensor is more precise than the proximity sensor and should therefore provide a more consistent tone when the hand is held still. The proximity sensor will be used to control the frequency or tempo of the tone by changing duration in the playNote function. The output of this project will be a small but powerful Piezo speaker, which will play tones based on the two analog inputs.

   3-?
RP MSGEQ7

Equalizer Part 1. Processing Visualization
My project, the Equalizer, is based on the 2013/2014 TEI3M Final Exam. In the exam, students were given the MSGEQ7 8-Pin chip, which is used to create data based on audio input. Unlike the exam, which had the students use 74HC595 Shift Registers and an LED Matrix to visualize the audio data, I will be using Processing to create a graph that does the same thing. With this project, I hope to be able to input audio into an audio jack, which would be hooked up to a breakout board, and see an Equalizer react with the data in Processing. This project would mimic the outcome of the exam and its LED Matrix with a graph in Processing.

  6.5
JR MUX
Universal Sensor Shield (USS) Russett
Right now I'm working on creating a 4-bit computer. For this computer design I need to understand how each individual part works. One of these parts is a multiplexor. A multiplexor is like a siphon in the sense that it takes multiple lines or buses of data and directs them to a smaller bus than before. For example, a certain type of multiplexor can take two 4-bit lines and direct one or the other onto single 4-bit output bus. The multiplexor for this project will take 16 different analog inputs and direct them, one at a time, to a single input pin on an arduino. This project will have many applications, like the 4-bit computer, and it can be applied to any project with more than the standard number of sensors on an arduino uno board. One such project may be the ACES Datawall.
 Mux Shield 6
JY Microphone
Audio Capture. Processing Visualization
An overview of the task that I will be undertaking would be researching and implementing the Electret Microphone Ampleifier-Max9814 with a Processing visualization. The first step will be researching the aforementioned part by finding and reading Datasheets and using Adafruitís, the supplier, information and libraries. The second step will be creating the code in Arduino to read the information, sound levels from the room, given from the part. The final step will be creating the code in Processing to interpret the information given from the Arduino and displaying that information visually with a bar, which display the current audio level, and a graph, which will display the recorded audio levels from the past ~100 seconds.
  5

Projects

  1. Adam:
  2. John: Temperature to 7-Segment with Shift Register(s)
  3. Ross: RTC/Neopixel Clock
  4. Jamie: Theremin (Volume/Pitch: Happy Birthday?)
  5. Ryan:
  6. Jackson: EMF (Ectoplasm) Detector
  7. Justin: Electret Microphone with Processing Visualization