Sponsor Requirements

In order to ensure that the new design meets the needs of the customer, numerous requirements have been established and must be executed in order for the project to be considered successful. The critical requirements for the sensor reader are to communicate with the pins on the sensor to initiate sensor functions, a portable design that can easily be transported for usage at different locations, and to log and organize retrieved data into universal format for future analysis. Also, develop a plug-and-play connector that can connect the sensor pins to an interface without compromising the integrity of the I/O pins on the chip Finally, the voltage applied to sensor must be regulated between 1.8-2.5 V to prevent damage

Piezoelectric Sensor Reader

The Project was divided into four sections. These sections were the power management, the I/O connections, the GUI development, and the enclosure design.

Voltage Regulation

The first section was power management, which was the design and validation of the power supply for both the Raspberry Pi and the portable touch screen interface. The touch screen interface will be powered by the Raspberry Pi itself. This task will also require that the voltage sent to the sensor from the Raspberry Pi is regulated between 1.8-2.5 Volts. This is due to the fact that the sensor can only operate between 1.8-2.5 Volts because it amplifies the input into a high voltage which is sensed by the rest of the components. If the on-chip voltage exceeds the 2.5 V limit, damage could occur to the sensor. This voltage step down will be achieved using non-linear, DC-DC voltage regulators. Non-linear voltage regulators are more power efficient because power is only drawn when there is an input. This portion of the project will be headed by Yuval Levental, and he will develop the necessary circuitry to provide power and regulate it via the use of the voltage regulators.

Input/Output Connections

The second section is an incorporation of the Input/Output connection between the Raspberry Pi and the sensor. This section is one of the more important requirements in that the physical connection will need to be a simple plug and play (quick disconnect) connection. In this section we proposed the idea of creating a custom wire interface between the sensor and the Raspberry Pi. This portion of the project will be headed by Brett Johnson. He will fabricate a custom port for quick connect/disconnect using AutoCAD or any other computer aided fabrication program.

GUI Design

The third section is the most important in that we will need to implement a custom, programmable GUI program within the raspberry pi to read and write data to the sensor. This section requires programming of the internal General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins in the Raspberry Pi that interface with the sensor. This interface will be user friendly and will have contextual touch buttons displayed on the screen that will specify user action. In this portion of the project, there will be programming involved. As such, Ron Razalan will be the lead programmer for the device, developing and troubleshooting all software related issues.

Enclosure Development

The fourth and final section is the development of a housing/enclosure. This requirement is crucial in that the end product must be portable and all inclusive; this means that Raspberry Pi will have to be implemented in such a way that it is a standalone read/write device that will store data from the sensor, and that the screen is built within the enclosure as well. This task is a conjoined effort due to the fabrication of the housing and overseeing the overall design of the final product. As such, this will be overseen by Thamer Alshuaibi and Evan Gardetto. They are responsible for the full assembly, housing, and overall ease of use.