PROGRESS LOG
5/3/20
Week 1
Deniz and Evan began brainstorming ideas and basic overview of the projects for the three to 6 ideas for the Senior Design Proposal. Some ideas Deniz Brainstormed was a GPS based sticker that can track any item, an All-in-One setup for livestreamers and finally the Modular Mechanical Keyboard. The item tracking sticker would simply be pasted on an item and will be connected to the GPS or Bluetooth automatically. The All-in-One setup for livestreamers included a 720p 60fps webcam, audio pre-amp with a connected USB microphone, and customizable features such as color-grading, exposure or video processing options.
5/10/20
Week 2
Proposed our three ideas to professor Notash via a Zoom call with the rest of the class. First Evan proposed the Dual-Axis Solar Panel, which tracks the Sun to keep orientation perpendicular which maximizes efficiency of energy generation. Usage for standalone system on or off grid even as a method to reduce overall power costs of a given system. The system would display I/O voltage & current, and charge and discharge time. When not receiving IR radiation to charge the battery, the panel would return to standard orientation or south facing 30 degrees above horizon.
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Then Deniz proposed the Modular Mechanical Keyboard which is a mechanical modular keyboard with attachable/detachable num pad, touch pad, and macro keys with potentially unlimited added accessories such as MIDI keyboards, pen-pads, and stationary mouse tracks. The accessories could work through direct connection or Bluetooth.
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Finally, the Touchless Door was presented to the class and Professor Notash. The ultimate objective of the project is to create a fully functional door without the need of any human contact with the door. Methods of opening the door includes via Voice Recognition and Application.
5/17/20
Week 3
Professor Notash approved the Touchless Door Project with some modifications such as the addition of a keyless card, stronger security authorizations, implementing an App and incorporating a home alarm system. With these new additions, further research was conducted.
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Such research included door opening mechanisms, power consumptions and methods of voice recognition. Regarding door opening mechanisms, research has led to the possibilities of using a door motor and a lock motor with a servo. Power consumption has been a concern for the team since a DC door motor requires significant power and through research it seems that a DC motor may not be the most efficient method with respect to power consumption and finances.
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The team started working on creating the website, familiarized with how Wix operates, and created the general structure of the site. Deniz researched the Raspberry Pi and determined that the "3b" model. This model was decided for its bluetooth capability and 1GB RAM for potential storage of voice recognition library. Evan consulted with a computer science major working in his respective industry about app utilization and they recommended to use a website based platform initially and then eventually make it available through an application.
Door Motor
Bluetooth Lock Mechanism
5/24/20
Week 4
Deniz began working on finding components for the microphone, keyless card, proximity reader and bluetooth transmitter & receiver. Through research the best component for a microphone would simply be a USB microphone that is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3b, which was easy to find. A basic research was done on potential keyless cards and proximity readers. With this research, the main concern of a keyless card is the lack of security as it seems relatively susceptible to being corrupted and hacked into.
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Evan began working on finding components for door position sensor, door motor, lock position sensor and lock motor. The suggested components for the project include the Minutemen SSL-DOOR as the door position sensor, a Tactile switch for the lock position sensor and a custom made lock motor with a servo.
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Since the original idea of a bar pulling the door open and closed required a door motor that is above the team's budget, the idea of using a wheel at the bottom of the door was pitched as it would require a smaller motor and a weaker torque force. Evan consulted a construction expert in terms of door actuation involving mechanical components and high cost associated with AC & DC motors for movement. After the consultation, the expert suggested using a pneumatic system. A pneumatic door system is a door opening system that is operated by air or gas under pressure. The benefits of a pneumatic system includes easy operation, low power consumption, and effective safety regulations in case of a possible power outage.
Pneumatic Door System
5/31/20
Week 5
Deniz consulted an individual that recommended linear actuators to open and close the door. A linear actuator works rather well.
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Evan's research confirmed lower cost and functionality are more in line with electrical engineering as to mechanical engineering. The noted issues include if there is a power failure the door will be locked in place which creates a fire hazard. Working with electromagnets for at a single mounting point is in the event of a loss of power the door can be operated manually. Requiring research into an electromagnet implementation, as well as power consumption.
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Door Mechanism using Linear Actuator
Linear Actuator
Linear Actuator with component names
6/07/20
Week 6
6/14/20
Week 7
The team is pressing more towards a standard DC motor from a surplus supplier. The linear actuator isn't off the table but strong considerations to go back to the original format are on the table. Large concerns are held with power loss scenarios and the potential hazards of added resistance to door movement. Back up batteries are being considered for emergency use but if a magnetic door lock is involved the backup power supply will be out of the team's budget.
Major concerns with an Arduino having the capability process all the peripherals, most importantly handling tasks of comparing the recorded speech waves. It may be possible to have the servers do the heavy lifting in terms of processing instead of the Arduino. Worst case a raspberry pi will be utilized. Though python is considered to be a fairly easy coding language there is a high likelihood that two to three languages will be used to implement all these features. Both team members have experience with C/C++. If Deniz had already taken a Python course it might be more of a possibility but as things stand this project is digging fairly deep into all sectors.
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The team had a private Zoom meeting with Professor Notash. In this meeting the team asked certain questions such as 'Would the Raspberry Pi 3b or the Arduino DUE be more suitable for this project?" Professor Notash acknowledged the strengths of each but so far, the team has decided to use the Arduino DUE since it has a simple architecture and easy-to-use IDE. The Arduino is designed to perform the task that it is programmed to do while a Raspberry Pi 3b is in the likes of a small computer that executes multiple programs at the same time.
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During this meeting, professor Notash also went over out website and told the team to update the engineering specifications and the progress log. The team's engineering specifications lacked proper voltage and current intake values. Professor Notash also suggested the team to include a power budget on our website to show the power consumption of each device, component and project as a whole.
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More research was done on the electromagnetic door locks. Using these instead of a conventional door lock with a servo requires moving parts and a decently powered motor. The electromagnetic door lock would be practical since it unlocks and locks with a HIGH signal at their respective times.
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6/21/20
Week 8
The week started with the weekly Zoom meeting with the details of that meeting discussed in the "Minutes with Advisor" section. The team began working on his feedbacks such as updating the engineering requirements, the proposal report, and the restructuring the power budget. The team began contacting Actuator Manufacturing Companies for advice of proper actuator products for the team's needs. More research was done on the Amazon Website Services and the team decided to go ahead with general purpose services due to not needing a specific optimization.The research included determining between choosing the General Purpose, Compute Optimized, Memory Optimized, and Storage Optimized. The team decided to go further with the General Purpose since it is the cheapest option and is sufficient for the team's needs of up to 10 Gbps for Network Performances.
More research was done on Non-Locking or Non-Blocking Linear Actuators with a static load and after contacting Actuonix, an actuator manufacturing company, they stated that their actuators are Non-Locking. The team is looking into a 12 inch stroke for their linear actuator as it would be sufficient for providing enough torque for the door.
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Evan was able to find a door which would save the team roughly $120 so this finding was very beneficial to the team. The amount saved could possibly be allocated to help provide better services such as a silent linear actuator.
Non-Locking Linear Actuator with Static Load
6/28/20
Week 9
Evan researched into the utilization of diodes to stop electrical feedback in the even of a power outage and stated that the team might need to implement a diode set to allow freewheeling/proper discharge for switches. The team decided to change the linear actuator from the PA-16P by Progressive Automations to the L16-R by Actuonix. The change was done due to its Non-Locking capabilities, better capability with the Arduino lineup while being significantly cheaper than the PA-16P. The team is deciding to go with the 500 mm stroke length to make it enable door operation with the least amount of torque required. The force needed to open the door is 35.5 N with the datasheet for the linear actuator stating it can handle well above that.
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Deniz mostly worked on updating the Proposal Report, finalizing Chapter 2 & 3 and documenting data.
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L16-R Linear Actuator
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7/5/20
Week 10
The team began finalizing the Proposal Report with the addition of Chapters 3 & 4. Soon after, the team submitted a rough draft to Professor Notash where he would provide feedback. His feedback included fixing the references and making sure the formatting of it is consistent with another feedback including fixing the numbering in the document. At the same night, the team addressed and fixed all the points Professor Notash stated.
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The team also finalized the power budget for the voltage, current, and power consumption of each component based on minimum, nominal, and maximum values. The power budget was added to the Proposal Report. The tentative timeline for the Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 semester was updated.
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The team also decided to get rid of the playback speaker and the lock position sensor. These parts seemed to be redundant or not the best option. An LED would replace the playback speaker in giving the user feedback of their actions and the lock position sensor was determined to be redundant in the sense that the microcontroller can obtain the status of the lock without the need of an external component. This could be done through a "digitalRead" command where the Arduino DUE could determine the status of the lock depending on if it got a HIGH or LOW value.
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Finally, after analyzing the power budget for the project, the team decided to include 5 Step-Down Buck convertors to allow correct voltage levels for each component.
