Independent Study Projects

2024-2025 ICS4U-E Independent Study Projects (ISPs)

Independent Study Projects. Please read our overview on why ACES pursue Independent Study Projects so vigorously.

Grade	Contribution to Final Mark
10	30%
11	40%
12	60%

For the bulk of your formal education you have been, and will continue to be, required to consume curriculum chosen for you by someone else. Hopefully you will put this knowledge and skill to good use in your future. However, jumping through someone else's hoops no longer secures future success. For that, you must put yourself in the driver's seat while in secondary school to both cultivate and demonstrate your own unique initiative, motivation, and passion. RSGC ACES program is explicitly built and tailored for you to foster these greater goals. Yes, there is much to learn but there are so many great projects to be undertaken and noble problems to be identified and solved that offer stimulating contexts within which to develop and refine your interests it will quickly seem more than worth the risk, effort, and cost.

To my mind, the characteristics of a great project include such aspects as imagination, creativity, a degree of risk and, sometimes, even simplicity, to name a few. Check out the flashlight circuit 'board' this guy made out of little more that a piece of paper and a pencil? Simple, but inspiring. Consider a problem that needs a solution. Boyan Slat did at age 17 when he was in high school; four years later he is

cleaning up the world's oceans. (Update: January 9, 2019) So, dig in, think, dream, research, and explore possible project pursuits. Be discerning: don't accept the first thing that comes along. You'll be expected to maintain the progress of your ISP on your web page to enable everyone to follow your efforts so have your phone handy to at all times to capture the images of your journey. Be conscious of the fact that a multi-page summary of your project will appear in your DER after Presentation Day for more permanent record of your efforts. You may wish to take into account the ISP Evaluation document that will be applied on your Presentation Day.

Also, don't underestimate the value of an enterprise/entrepreneurial aspect to your project that could see a number of units of your project in the hands of future ACES, for sale in the Dragon's Lair or beyond, reaching an even a broader audience.

2024-2025 Independent Study Projects

ACE	ISP.Long (20%) Tuesday October 15	ISP.Medium (20%) Saturday February 1	ISP.Short (20%) Saturday ???
Proposals	ISP.Long Proposal	ISP.Medium Proposal	ISP.Short Proposal
Evaluations
Nate C. (Design?)	Bluetooth Computer Mouse DESCRIPTION The mouse being designed is a custom 3d printed device that emphasizes smooth mechanical functionality and Bluetooth communication. It has a rotary encoder for the scroll wheel control and tactile feedback, along with push buttons for the left, right, and side. The mouse will be built using a flex PCB to efficiently connect all internal components, housed within a 3D-printed body for optimal fit and feel. Acrylic will be used on the bottom to ensure smooth gliding across surfaces. Bluetooth technology will enable the mouse to connect wirelessly to a computer. The design focuses on a comfortable hand grip, control mechanisms, and operation on various surfaces. MCU ESP-32 Nano DESIGN EasyEDA - for inside of the mouse I will attempt to make a flex pcb in order to fit the inside and reach all of the buttons within the mouse Fusion – to create the body and encasement for the pcb and buttons Acrylic – for the bottom of the mouse in with the correct shape and curves in order to slide easier on the mouse pad COMMUNICATION I will be using Bluetooth to communicate between a USB and the mouse in order to control it on the screen MECHANICAL I will be using PBNOs as the buttons along with a rotary encoder for the scroll wheel for the mechanical feel and scrolling.	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Harsha G. (Computer?)	Bluetooth Device Finder DESCRIPTION The Bluetooth Device Finder helps users locate their Bluetooth-enabled gadgets. Using the Arduino Nano ESP32, this tracker allows users to find up to three paired devices with a simple button interface. Each of the three buttons corresponds to a specific device for quick selection and tracking. A slide switch powers the tracker on and off, while the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries provide power and portability. An OLED display shows real-time information about the selected device, including its name and signal strength (RSSI), which is used to estimate the distance; the stronger the signal, the closer the device is. The tracker indicates how close the device is by outputting a number from 1 to 10, where 1 means closest and 10 means farthest, along with labels like "close," "somewhat far," and "far." Additionally, a buzzer will emit a sound whose frequency is controlled through the Arduino's tone function; as the user gets closer to the device, the frequency increases, providing an audible cue to locating the device. MCU ESP-32 BLE Nano DESIGN The final product will be housed inside a Fusion-built case, containing an EasyEDA made pcb. COMMUNICATION I2C communication (for OLED) and Bluetooth LE (to connect between Nano ESP32 and nearby Bluetooth devices) will both be incorporated. MECHANICAL N/A	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Chance H. (Mechanical?)	Enigma Machine Pt.1 DESCRIPTION This will be an encryption/decryption device inspired by the Enigma Machine used in World War 2. This will take the user-input and case design from the Morse Code Translator and apply it to a larger scale. The first part of this project will use a Keyboard Matrix to design the user inputs as well as the plugboard, and the LEDs. This part of the project will have one rotor configuration. MCU Raspberry Pico Wireless DESIGN Fusion360 will be used for the overall case design, if time permits I may try to create a more permanent metal case as I predict that a single 3d printed Enigma Machine case would use up a large amount of filament. The PCB will be designed through EasyEDA COMMUNICATION The device will use Serial Communication for the button inputs and the plug board. MECHANICAL N/A???	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Rohan J. (Computer?)	12-Bit Audio Player DESCRIPTION An iPod-reminiscent audio player incorporating multiple MCUs, as well as a 12-bit R2R ladder DAC. Output is a headphone jack through an op amp. The idea of the project is to avoid using a library to (directly) play the audio, instead reading data from an SD and streaming it to a DAC. MCU 328p/84 DESIGN Will be in a case designed in Fusion360. The case will (hopefully) somewhat resemble an early iPod (perhaps a little bit thicker). The whole circuit will be on 1 PCB, with as many surface mount parts as possible (to reduce their footprint) and it will be baked in the ACES reflow oven COMMUNICATION Since there are multiple MCUs, there are communication busses between them, as well as other components. Firstly, the main “control” MCU has an I2C bus that it uses to communicate with the “player” and “LCD” MCU. It uses 2 bytes to communicate with the “player” MCU (see drawing). It also has an 8-bit SPI bus to access an additional SRAM chip, and a regular SPI bus to be able to read from an SD card. The “player” MCU has an SPI bus to read from the SD card. The way that the device works: when it’s powered on, it “boots” up. During this time, the main MCU downloads the name of every track into RAM, and assigns it a number (based on location on SD). Then, it gives up control of the SD to the player MCU. At this point, the device is booted. When the user selects a track, the control MCU sends the number over I2C (along with other data) which causes the player to play back that track, streaming data from the card. Having 3 separate MCUs allows the user to scroll through the device while audio is playing. MECHANICAL N/A	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Jett K. (Mechanical?)	3D Servo Sonar Mapper DESCRIPTION This project will use a LIDAR Lite V4 Distance Measurement sensor to retrieve distance information from the point in front of it and saving the data within the Arduino. At the same time, the sensor will be rotating horizontally, then vertically via servo motors, and will map out a complete picture of a 2D window of your desired size. This 2D window will then be displayed on a 1.8" LCD tft display, where the further the distance, the darker the color will be on the screen. Before the mapping process begins, it will ask you what scale of distance you want the colour spectrum to vary to. This is done so that if you know that the objects in the frame you plan on measuring has very similar distances to one other, you might want to make the contrast higher to see distance differences better. MCU 328p DESIGN It will all be encased in a final fusion case, and will have an easy EDA PCB circuit board. COMMUNICATION SPI MECHANICAL This project will use 2 Servor Motors, a Servo - Hitec HS-425BB (Standard Size) (as they will require more torque and will also have to support a LIDAR + another servo. This brings me to the second servo motor, a Servo - Hitec HS-85MG (Micro Size).	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Triyan K. (Aerospace)	The Weather Station DESCRIPTION The Weather Station is a device that will leverage the ESP32’s WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capabilities to display the current temperature on two seven-segment displays. As I connect the ESP32 to the internet, it can update the temperature in real-time; this will be done by feeding the Nano with data from an application programming interface (API) called Free Weather API. The data will be outputted in JSON and XML and I will convert this into data that Arduino can handle. I will utilize JSON as it is a more friendly data type in Arduino, there are dedicated libraries for it while XML doesn’t. Additionally, because the API keeps track of the weather across places worldwide, I will create a library of the capitals of countries such as Canada, US, UK, France, and Spain. that the user can toggle to see the temperature. This toggling will be enabled by pressing a button. Moreover, there will be an LCD screen wired to the ESP32 to signal to the user what region’s/country’s temperature is being displayed. To shift out values from the MCU to the seven-segment display, I will use two 595 shift registers, one for each seven-segment display. The MCU’s BLE feature will allow me to broadcast the temperature of different countries in the DES to other devices. Finally, there will be a switch that convert the temperature on the seven segment displays from Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa. The final product will resemble a real-life weather station with the seven segment displays protruding from the front with an acrylic and the LCD screen with one switch (temperature) and one button (country). MCU ESP-32 Nano (BLE) DESIGN First, I will use Fusion 360 to design the case which will resemble a real-life weather station. The temperature will be displayed in a case with a long stand. Next, I will use EasyEDA to create the PCB which will be embedded in my case. Since it’s powered by 5 V, there will be an opening in the case for the power supply. A voltage regulator of 5 V will be on my PCB to facilitate this. Finally, I intend on making an acrylic (with my name and ACES logo) that’s placed on top of my seven-segment display for a cleaner presentation. COMMUNICATION I will use the ESP32’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) features for my project. By connecting to a Wi-Fi network, I can hook up my ESP32 to an online weather API such as Free Weather API which will update the temperature in real-time via an LCD screen. The BLE is an additional feature that will allow me to connect to other devices in the DES and broadcast the temperature. Additionally, the BLE system will allow the device to update settings and function properly without any human input. MECHANICAL N/A	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Lucas Q-T. (Mechatronics?)	A Helping Hand DESCRIPTION A glove to open and close your hand. It will have 4 tiny DC motors that will move 3D printed sections attached to the sides of each finger on the glove. Each joint in the finger will have a bearing so the finger can curl. This can be generalized for different sizes of gloves. There will be a touch sensor in the glove to close on objects and a current sensor that can be triggered to open the glove, amount of resistance can be fine-tuned per person. PCB will be flexible. MCU 328p DESIGN Fusion 360, EasyEDA, JLC PCB, 3D Printing COMMUNICATION None MECHANICAL 4 DC motors 1 torque sensor Touch sensor Current sensor	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Goran S. (Aerospace?)	ACEOCOPTER Pt.1 DESCRIPTION This project is part 1 of a quadcopter drone. This part goes over mainly the design and hardware aspects of the drone such as the propellers, motors, and frame. If time permits, I will start working on the avionics for the drone, however, communication with the drone will be saved for part 2. MCU 328p DESIGN I plan on using onshape for the propellers, as it is easier to make airfoils in it, and fusion for the body. The avionics will sit in a central area with the battery which will be slightly lower than the propellers (for center of gravity). COMMUNICATION None. (Part 2) MECHANICAL DC Motor × 4	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Atticus T. (Mechanical?)	AT Record Player DESCRIPTION The AT Record player is a hand created music player that allows a vinyl to be placed upon the turn table. When the vinyl is placed upon the spinning turn table and the needle is set onto one of the grooves, the circuit will be able to play the amplified sound through a speaker, allowing whatever song that has been etched within the acrylic to be outputted. MCU 328p DESIGN For design, I plan on creating a box that holds all of the wires and internal components such as the various PCBs that I will design in EasyEDA. I also plan on 3D printing quite a few components such as the parts that are attached to the turn table all created in Fusion360 COMMUNICATION Serial Communication may be used in the creation of this project – I2C can also be incorporated for things such as a motor controller as it is especially useful if I am planning on working with multiple sensors or control devices. MECHANICAL In order for the turntable to spin, the best motor that I have come across and will work the best will be a stepper motor. Although being a stepper motor, since the turntable is moving at such a fast rate, the result is going to act much like that of a sine wave therefore it will be the easiest to work with as it is also easily controllable.	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL
Max Z. (Electrical?)	Spectrum Analyzer DESCRIPTION An 8 Band-Pass Sallen Key Op-Amp filter configuration receiving an amplified sound signal from a MAX9814 audio amplifier. The frequency with range from 200Hz to 10kHz which resistor capacitor configurations controller which frequencies are let through. The amplitude of each band is sent to an amplitude comparator of 8 Op-Amps of divided voltage from resistor dividers. The Op-Amp signals are sent to a common anode to cathode configuration. MCU None DESIGNAn Easyeda designed PCB will be sent to JLCPCB for order. a 3D encasement to make the 8x8 LED configuration look visually appealing. COMMUNICATION N/A MECHANICAL N/A	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL	? DESCRIPTION MCU HARDWARE SOFTWARE DESIGN MECHANICAL