ECE 480 Project Descriptions
Spring, 2012
Team 1: Tanzania Humanitarian Project: GSM data link for monitoring and control of solar satellite access in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania
Sponsor: MSU Study Abroad Program
MSU students and faculty have installed different types of computer labs in 4 schools near Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania over the last 4 years. All of these schools have wireless access to the internet via a solar powered remote satellite uplink. To conserve energy and thus decrease system cost and increase lifespan, it is desirable for the system to power itself down when no schools are using the Internet.
Each school that accesses the network needs to be able to ask the solar system to turn on from a remote location. The team is to use some sort of GSM (cellular) transmitter/receiver at each remote school to “call” the solar-powered Internet access system at the base school and ask for access (i.e., the power to that system must be turned on). Thus, when the system is off, the only power drain will be that necessary to keep the GSM receiver available to receive the call and turn on the power. If the GSM transceiver is mounted adjacent to the satellite router and solar power system, it will require an external antenna, as the router/battery/inverter system is entirely contained in a steel box.
Further, the satellite system should monitor itself, especially battery state of charge, and prohibit turn on when conditions warrant it. Since GSM capabilities will already be built in, the system should be able to “text” our local solar technicians in case of certain fault conditions. This will dramatically reduce downtime, because it is common for dirt storms to cake the solar panels, or a mouse to chew through a wire. In addition, in the “base” school with the Internet antenna and in one or two other schools where the computer systems served are also solar powered, the monitoring system should also report on the state of the solar system’s battery charge and, when charging, the charging rate, logging these data and reporting major deviations to the local solar tech.
The team will have available as a resource person a grad student with previous experience on the project to help with the difficulties of designing for an existing system and withstanding the harsh environments the final product must withstand.
Students are encouraged to look into the Arduino as a possible project platform; it is low cost and has “shields” available that allow a GSM module to plug in directly.
At least one or two students on the team should be computer engineers interested in working with microprocessors.
The system is to be designed and built and tested in East Lansing, and demonstrated at Design Day. It will then be taken to Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania, in May, 2012, and installed in the schools there. Preference for membership on this design team will be given to students who WILL GO on the Study Abroad trip to Tanzania, May, 2012. The team will leave shortly after graduation in May, and return about 3-1/2 weeks later, in early June. The first week is spent at a training center, where students learn about Tanzanian customs and a little Swahili, the national language. The remainder of the trip is spent living in cabins in Mto wa Mbu and going daily by Land Rover to the village schools. There will also be three Sunday safaris in three different national parks. The Study Abroad program will be open both to students graduating next fall/spring and to students, who will graduate in May, 2012. Scholarship funds will be available to reduce the cost of participation. The 3-credit tuition cost will be entirely paid for students who are graduating in May, 2012, since they will not be using the credits, and partial support for other costs will also be available. For those graduating in May, signing up for the credits will mean that the final transcript will not be released until the Study Abroad grade is turned in early in June, 2012, but at that point, the university will be able to certify that all requirements for graduation have been met.
Contact: Prof. Erik Goodman, goodman@egr.msu.edu
Prof. Lalita Udpa, udpal@egr.msu.edu
Possible resources:
Arduino: http://www.arduino.cc/
GSM interface shield: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9607
GSM module: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9533
Team 2: Wireless Sensing System for Intelligent Concrete Curing
Sponsor: Texas Instruments-Precision Analog
The purpose of this project is to complete the design, fabrication, testing, and demonstration of a TI-based wireless sensing system for immersion in concrete structures (e.g. driveways, sidewalks, etc.). Individuals with a passion for any or all of the following are desirable: analog circuitry, PCB layout & fabrication, hardware debugging, and C programming/debugging.
The sensor modules based on TI’s uMAVRK module (http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/UMAVRK_Remote_Monitoring_System_Introduction) are intended to wirelessly report metrics to a centralized unit. The centralized unit (based on TI’s MAVRK module http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MAVRK_Introduction) will display the metrics. Metrics that will be useful include temperature and moisture.
This project will utilize a variety of components from Texas Instruments’ broad portfolio. This will qualify the project for participation in Texas Instruments' Analog Design Contest. More information about the contest can be found here: http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/landing/universityprogram/index.htm.
The final deliverable for this project is a demonstration fixture that remotely displays the temperature and moisture of a material that represents curing concrete (e.g. sand, crushed limestone, etc.). The reported temperature should increase when heat is applied to the demonstration fixture and the reported moisture should increase when water is added.
Intermediate deliverables include:
- Modification of an existing PCB (developed by an ECE480 team during Fall 2011 semester) that plugs into the uMAVRK module
- This includes at a minimum: correcting known errors, porting the design to Eagle PCB software, and making the board larger for demonstration/debug purposes
- Verifying functionality of the modified PCB
- Development of C code to sample data from sensors (e.g. thermocouple/RTD for temperature and Vegetronix’s VG400 for moisture) and transmission of data to MAVRK module
- Development of a demonstration fixture (e.g. enclosure for electronics, fishbowl filled with sand/limestone/etc. to simulate curing concrete, heat lamp to simulate temperature changes, etc.)
- Thorough documentation of the design process (including accuracy calculations)
The experience will prepare group members well for post-graduation positions such as applications & design engineering.
Contact: Pete Semig
Analog Applications Engineer
214-567-3462
Team 3: Android Enabled Programmable Camera Positioning System
Sponsor: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Military utility studies of new infrared imaging technology and processing algorithms often require extensive field testing. These tests generally include the coordination of many sensing systems for day/night operation over long durations in stressing environments. Clearly, automation of these systems is desirable in order to reduce the physical and mental demands on the test team and to ensure measurement repeatability.
For this project, AFRL/RYMT requires an automated infrared camera positioning system. This system will be capable of automatically slewing between target points defined by GPS coordinates at various times according to a preprogrammed test script. To execute this mission, the positioning system must be capable of sensing its own position and orientation in order to calculate the required target acquisition geometry. The positioning system must also be capable of generating an image acquisition command signal to the attached infrared camera (i.e. an electronic trigger to begin and end image collection). Positioning systems such as this exist already but we believe that this work may be done at a significantly reduced price per system by exploiting the sensors and computing power available in commercial Android smart phones.
In considering options to optimize cost versus performance, the student team is free to investigate and propose an alternate solution to this problem.
The students will be responsible for developing hardware for: azimuth and elevation control of a 30 lb sensor; the interface between the hardware and the smart phone; a trigger for the infrared imager; and a software capability for mission scripting. The ability to capture context imagery with the smart phone’s internal camera (or to log other internal smartphone data) would also be beneficial. The hardware solution should be flexible enough so that it may mounted upright for pointing above the horizon or inverted for imaging below the horizon. Elevation pointing range should be 0 to 90 degrees and azimuthal pointing range should be 0 to 360 degrees.
Contact: Daniel A. LeMaster, Ph.D.
AFRL/RYMT
(937)528-8438
Team 4: A Minimal Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP) System for MISB Key Length Value Metadata Generation for Remotely Piloted Vehicle Sensors
Sponsor: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Motivation:
Recently, there has been a significant increase in the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UASs) for both military and civilian uses. One of the primary applications of UASs is obtaining information about an area of interest that is either too dangerous for human pilots to observe or is otherwise more cost effective to observe using unmanned aircraft. For example, when fighting forest fires, current flight rules prohibit any aerial observation of the forest fire at night due to the inherent risks of humans flight in this scenario. Unfortunately, this means that significant time is lost every morning as the current status of the forest fire has to be re-assessed before fire fighters can effectively start to fight the fire again. UASs offer the capability of observing a forest fire at night without elevated risk to human life.
To obtain the information required to track a forest fire, one of the most common sensors used is either a visual spectrum (EO) or infrared camera. Video is collected by camera(s) on-board the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and transmitted back to the user on the ground in real-time. While it is simple for a human to identify the presence of fire in the collected imagery, it is just as important for the user to be able to identify where the fire is in geo-detic coordinates. To enable the geo-location of objects observed in the imagery, the UAV also transmits back metadata containing information about the UAV location and attitude (orientation). The format of this metadata is specified by the MISB 601.4 and 902.1 standards (see here and here). These standards are based off of the KLV (key-length-value) formatting of data for transmission over serial streams. Using this metadata, software on the ground can estimate the geo-location of every point in the image, enabling improved utility of the transmitted imagery.
There are, however, multiple problems with current systems. First, the metadata transmitted back usually corresponds with the UAV location and attitude, but what is needed is the sensor location and attitude. Second, the rate at which the metadata is transmitted is typically lower than desired (ideally, each video frame would have its own metadata associated with it.) Third, the metadata and video are often not synchronized properly, leading to excessive errors in geo-location at the ground station. To overcome these problems, the goal of this project is to create a small system for generating accurate KLV metadata at a rapid rate that can be mounted directly on the camera sensors. This new system will overcome the first and second problems described above. In addition, by directly controlling when and how the metadata is generated, AFRL will have the necessary technology to solve the third problem after delivery from the performing University team. (Currently, metadata is generated by a closed system that AFRL does not have access to the hardware and software for.)
High-level System Description:
The delivered system is envisioned to involve components consisting of both hardware and software components as described in this section. The hardware will consist of two general units: (1) the IMU/GPS unit and (2) a small embedded computational platform such as a Gumstix. The IMU/GPS unit will be responsible for generating the current sensor location and attitude information at a high data rate. Commercially available IMU/GPS units typically output their data over an RS232 port in proprietary formats specific to the commercial vendor. Current AFRL systems take in standardized KLV formatted data on a RS232 serial port and merge it with collected video data according to the MISB standards (http://www.gwg.nga.mil/misb/stdpubs.html). Therefore, the primary goal of the system will be to interface with a commercially available IMU/GPS unit, collect the required data, and output corresponding data in KLV format over a RS232 serial port. This interfacing will be performed on a small computational platform. Part of the project requirements will be analyzing the different choices available for GPS/IMU units and computational platforms and finding the best units in terms of SWAP and performance. Students will also need to consider how these units will be powered and how they will physically interface with each other and external units to develop their prototype.
On the software side, software that interfaces with the GPS/IMU unit (usually consisting of both controlling the unit and reading data off of it), converts incoming data to KLV data, properly time stamps it, and writes out KLV data on a serial port will be required. The software should be modular enabling AFRL to interface with a different GPS/IMU unit if required at a future time. In addition, the control over timing (how often KLV data is written out, what information, and how often) should all be easily configured by the end-user. Documentation of the configuration process and software code will be required.
Success on this project constitutes delivery of a well-documented prototype system that generates KLV data at a rapid rate with minimal SWAP requirements. Suggested guidelines for performance metrics are provided in Table I below.
“Wild success” would also include a systematic mechanical design of a system enclosure, enabling robust handling of the system (i.e. a nice block that has a serial port output and 12V input as opposed to three electronics boards with loose wires running all over that has to be manually reconnected and checked with each usage. )
Table I – Suggested guidelines for quantitative performance metrics
|
Metric |
Unit |
Requirement |
Target |
|
Frequency of UAV data packet output (priority 1) |
Hz |
>=5 |
30 |
|
Weight (priority 2) |
Grams |
<=250 |
150 |
|
Size (priority 1) |
cm3 |
<175 |
75 |
|
Power consumption (priority 3) |
W |
<12 |
5 |
Table II – Suggested guidelines for qualitative performance metrics
|
Item to be qualified |
Requirement |
Target |
|
Test Environment |
Ability to verify: · GPS/IMU interface to read correct pose data at high rate · Ability to output KLV data in proper format (correct serial protocol and KLV formatting) · KLV and GPS/IMU data correspond · Current data rate of KLV output |
Easy for user to verify: · GPS/IMU interface to read correct pose data at high rate · Ability to output KLV data in proper format (correct serial protocol and KLV formatting) · KLV and GPS/IMU data correspond · Current data rate of KLV output |
|
Enclosure / physical interface |
Maintains functionality in medium vibration environment, dangling wire interfaces |
Robust enclosure, small packaged product, high-quality physical interfaces |
Contact: Clark Taylor, PhD
AFRL/RYARY
937-528-8184
Team 5: An interactive radar demonstrator for children
Sponsor: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Radio detection and ranging (radar) is a fascinating field of study at the intersection of physics and engineering. Unfortunately it is complicated, requiring in-depth prerequisite knowledge of numerous abstract concepts. We have shown at Lincoln Laboratory that when presented in a creative way, much of the radar concept is straight forward, especially when compared to experiences in everyday life.
Radar engineering is a dying art because students are becoming less interested in applied electromagnetics. For this reason it is important to teach today’s youth about radar to maintain our nation’s competitiveness both economically and militarily. This will be achieved by fostering involvement in radar engineering through hands-on and interactive experiments.
In this project, a team of students will improve an existing low cost radar system developed for instructional use [1] by adding a data acquisition and processing chain to provide an interactive radar demonstrator for children. The sponsor will work to aid the team in selection of components that are appropriate for a museum deployment of the radar system. The team will develop concepts and integrate the components with the existing radar system to build an operational prototype capable of producing meaningful radar displays (range vs. time intensity and Doppler vs. time intensity) to help educate tomorrows’ radar engineers.
Real-time processing of radar data will be required to provide the displays, therefore a team consisting of Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering students is desired. Interests in signal processing, electronics, and electromagnetics are important to ensure successful completion of this project.
References
[1] Charvat, Gregory L., Jonathan H. Williams, Alan J. Fenn, Steve Kogon, and Jeffrey S. Herd. RES.LL-003 Build a Small Radar System Capable of Sensing Range, Doppler, and Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging, January IAP 2011. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare),http://ocw.mit.edu
Contact: Dr. Bradley Perry
MITLL
Team 6: Building a robotic hyena
Sponsor: MSU Departments of ECE and Zoology
The purpose of this project is to develop a model spotted hyena for use in field experiments in Kenya. To date we have been using the life-size model hyena pictured below (sold as an archery target), which fools living hyenas until they get fairly close to it. However we now need to improve on this by developing a model hyena whose head, ears, and tail move in ways realistic enough to fool living hyenas. The robotic hyena will be used in field experiments that comprise part of the MSU Mara Hyena Project, described at (http://www.hyenas.zoology.msu.edu/) supported by the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Because the robot will be used under field conditions, it must be transportable from Michigan to Kenya, and it must operate there despite equatorial heat, dust, jarring, and other challenges. Therefore the simpler, lighter, and more robust it is, the better. The contact person regarding how to make the robotic hyena behave in realistic ways is Dr Kay Holekamp in the Department of Zoology at MSU (Holekamp@msu.edu).
See a pretty realistic robotic hyena head built by others at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2SLc7ve0A0
Contact: Dr. Xiaobo Tan
ECE Department
Team 7: Battery cell Testing Chamber
Sponsor: XG Sciences Inc.
Background: The need for efficient energy storage is growing for many stationary, portable, and transportation applications. XG Sciences, Inc. (XGS) is currently developing advanced electrochemical capacitor (EC) and battery electrode materials based upon exfoliated graphene nanoplatelets (xGnP®). The xGnP®graphene nanoplatelets produced by XGS are an ideal electrode material for electrochemical devices because they are highly pure with high electrical conductivity, high surface area and are more cost effective than other carbon nanomaterials.
Statement of Need: The XGS Energy Lab is currently using button/coin cells and expects to use pouch cells in the near future to develop advanced energy storage materials. Energy storage devices must be able to operate at broad temperature range, from -40oC to 85oC, with maximum efficiency. Therefore, development testing must be carried out over this same range. The current XGS testing facility is limited to operation at room temperature and is poorly controlled. Thus, XGS seeks an environmental chamber that can be used to conduct coin and pouch cell testing at controlled temperatures ranging from -40oC to 85oC. The environmental chamber should be large enough to allow multiple cells to be tested under a constant temperature condition and allow easy operator access as well as electrical connection through-holes. The chamber should allow operator visual access of the cells without opening/ disturbing the test. Chamber will operate within a laboratory with ambient temperature of 70F and can stand directly on floor or on tabletop (size and weight limitations apply). Electric utility (110V) is available; other utilities can be discussed as necessary. Enclosure should provide pressure relief in case that internal pressure exceeds 1 atmosphere and thermal control components that could produce a spark should be located outside the chamber.
Objective: The goal of this project is to modify an environmental chamber (as shown in Fig. 1) for coin and pouch cell testing. The modification include: temperature control/monitoring system, specimen holder for coin cell testing, through-holes for electrical connections. The environmental chamber should be capable of maintaining an internal temperature within +/- 1 oC of setpoint, and should be suitable for continuous 24/7 operation. Time from room temperature to 85oC should be no more than 4 hours. Battery backup for 2 hour operation should be included in case of power outage.
Deliverables:
- Modified environmental chamber and its
thermal control system for use in testing coin/pouch cells
- Demonstration of cycle tests at 0oC, 25oC, and 50oC.
- Complete bill of material
- Mechanical and electrical documentation including drawings and product
technical information for purchased items
- Periodic design reviews with XG Sciences representatives to include: (a)
design specification review, (b) safety review, (c) preliminary design review,
(d) final design review
- Final report.
Fig 1: Associated Environmental Systems model SP-1601 Environmental Chamber (120VAC, 1Ph, 60Hz, 14FLA)
Contact: Jeffri Narendra Sr. Mfg& Process Engineer XG Sciences, Inc.j.narendra@xgsciences.com
517.703.1110 815 Terminal Road Lansing, MI 48906<http://www.xgsciences.com/>
Team 8: Smart Phone Control of Advanced Sensor Systems
Sponsor: Battelle Laboratories – Sensor Systems Group
Background: Battelle develops a variety of sensor systems for Government and industrial clients. For example, we have recently developed several sensors based on optical spectroscopy, which can detect and identify various materials based on the way they interact with light. Often, a specific type of sensor may be used for many different applications, requiring significant flexibility in the user interface, data analysis, and reporting system. In addition, the user interface must generally be easy and straightforward to operate. In some cases, operation of the sensor must be from a remote setting, which requires remote sensor control, data acquisition, and analysis.
Statement of Need: Advanced sensors use an embedded microprocessor to control operations, acquire and analyze data, and report or alarm based on measurement results, requiring significant electrical and computer engineering. However, in recent years Smart Phone platforms, such as iPhone or Android, have matured such that they can provide much of the sensor control, data transfer, and analysis functions used by advanced sensor systems. As a result, the design of the embedded sensor controls can be simplified, and the user can have greater flexibility in the deployment and operation of the sensor system. In previous projects, MSU teams have demonstrated the feasibility of using a Smart Phone to transfer and process idealized “sensor” data and to control and get status from sensors using an Android-based Smart Phone. For the current project, Battelle seeks to refine and upgrade the dedicated communications module between the Smart Phone and a network of sensors. The end result should be a Smart Phone based comms system (including hardware and software) that can be generalized for any type of advanced sensor.
Objective of Project: The focus of this project will be to develop a general purpose communications module that can accept commands from the Smart Phone, control operations for a network of sensors, and transmit data and status information back to the Smart Phone. This communications module will leverage external RF circuitry that interfaces directly with the Smart Phone to mediate longer range data exchange with a simulated sensor network. The simulated network will be composed of individual electronic boards that mimic the fundamental I/O of an advance sensor. These circuits will connect to similar RF circuitry to facilitate comms with the Smart Phone. The main components of the design were selected and initiated by the Fall 2011 team, and the Spring 2012 team will be expected to expand and improve upon this design. Detailed requirements will be discussed at a face-to-face meeting early in the semester between the MSU team and the Battelle representative. The team will then design and build the communications module, test performance and operability, and conclude with a demonstration of the capability. Additional software will be developed for the Smart Phone to control individual sensors, accept status updates and sensor data, and manage operations across the sensor network. The team can use the software previously developed by the Spring and Fall 2011 teams, or they can build their own from scratch. Battelle anticipates that the MSU solution may form the core of an advanced capability to use Smart Phone infrastructure to meet a current government sensor requirement.
Contact: Christopher D. Ball, PhD
Battelle | Sensor Systems Group
505 King Avenue | Columbus, OH 43201
614.424.6502 | 614.458.6502 (fax)
ballc@battelle.org
Team 9: Blast Furnace Moisture Measurement Device
Sponsor: ArcelorMittal Corporation
This project is to develop a non-intrusive way of measuring moisture in the BFG main from the Blast Furnace header to the power house. We can calculate it to some extent by looking at the H2 and TOP GAS analysis from the Blast Furnace top, but additional condensation develops due to the length of the gas main, ambient temperature. These are some of the extraneous factors. For The Student: The blast furnace produces a byproduct gas from combustion of coke and materials in the furnace. This gas (BFG) has a BTU value that we can burn in our boiler systems at the power station. Burning BFG is inexpensive and reduces additional energy input from natural gas that is otherwise needed if we released the BFG to atmosphere. But, the high moisture content in BFG is highly corrosive and if we can determine moisture content, (high moisture)we can possibly suggest material or fuel adjustments that will lower BFG moisture at the blast furnace area and to help us extend tube life of our boilers. Specs: - Have a long pipe and inject steam with air- Non-intrusively measure water droplets for moisture content- Possibly use 2 sampling points- Output to a 1 - 5 V range- Output IP SNMP to a computer- Must be rugged for extreme conditions Contact: Thomas Whittaker | Manager, PA Central Services
ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor
Maintenance, Environmental & Utilities
250 W. U.S. Highway 12
Burns Harbor, IN 46304-9745
219 787 3046