Senior Design Project

A FEW PROJECT IDEAS

Marek Sosnowski 319 ECE DepartmentOffice hours: Tuesday 11:30 am – 12:30 p.m. or by appointmente-mail: sosnowski@njit.edu

A few project ideas

Project title Type1. Simple EKG system ECE-4172. Optimizing orientation of solar panels ECE-4173. Smart home thermostat ECE-416

4. Personal mini phone ECE-416

5. PC based hobbyist oscilloscope ECE-416

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1. Simple EKG system

• Design and build a two electrode heart signal sensing system for demonstration and education purpose

• Successful project can become a module in one of ECE student labs

• The project involves hardware development (analog) and signal analysis: select an appropriate instrumentation amplifier (operational amplifier), power supply (battery or ac with opto-coupler).

• The data can be displayer on an oscilloscope or (better) on a PC.

BACKGROUND

• Standard EKG,” generally involves the connection of between twelve and fifteen leads to a patient’s chest, arms and right leg via adhesive foam pads. The device records a short sampling of the heart’s electrical activity between various pairs of electrodes

• An experienced cardiologist can rapidly interpret a standard EKG tracing to diagnose a wide range of possible ailments.

EKG system (expanded)

• Design a compact wearable device that can over a period of many hours or even days.

• The data should be easily uploaded to a PC (USB)

• Standard software can be used to display the results.

•Some health problem can be better diagnosed by continuous monitoring.•Vital sign recording (particularly the heart rate and breathing can be of great help in sports training and endurance testing.•Vital signs of a human body vary during day and night. A standard test at doctor’s office gives only momentary values.

Need for extended monitoring

The principle

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/9639/30462/01403627.pdf?arnumber=1403627

EKG signals

2. Optimizing orientation of solar panels

• Measure energy from a solar power at different orientation to the sun

• Requires measurement of power delivered by a solar power and measurements of the panel orientation (tilt from the vertical and angle in the horizontal plane. Sensors for the above parameters will have to be incorporated in the design.

• Design a simple system of solar panels orientation for optimizing energy output

• Skills and experience:– Circuit design (basic)– Sensors, data acquisition and analysis

Solar panels (expanded)

• Design a sensing system for data gathering over extended time.

• Internet based remote data acquisition.• Long term (weeks) data analysis and

display. Standard software can be used to display the results.

SMART HOME THERMOSTAT

• Energy saving at home is of major concern of the public today.

• Heating and air conditioning is supposed to keep home environment in the “comfort zone”.

• Human experience of thermal comfort depends on both temperature and humidity but standard thermostats regulate only temperature.

3. SMART HOME THERMOSTAT

OBJECTIVE:

• Design a “smart thermostat” that uses both temperature and humidity to provide optimum comfort conditions.

• The smart thermostat should be able to learn the homeowner’s “comfort curve”. After a few weeks of “training” the device should control a heating or air conditioning system following the preferences of a particular user.

4. Personal mini phone

Design and build a two-way wireless phone for two (or more) users

Specifications:– Small size and weight (~cell phone or less)– Minimum range 50 m– Immune to interference

Advice: Explore existing technology and use standard off the shelf components

5. PC Based Oscilloscope &

Data Acquisition SystemObjective:

Design a simple inexpensive system for analog signal measurements with a PC

Can be also used as a module in other projects: EKG, solar power measurements, power line monitoring, and others

PAnalog

inputs

Digital

I/O

ETHERNET

USBA

DC

Microprocessor development board

PC/Network Data Acquisition System

Basic features

• 4 analog inputs, 12 bits minimum• 4 digital I/O• Generate files for graphic display (ASCII?) • Graphic user interface with basic functions• More sophisticated application-specific

display can be developed (JAVA, LabView?)• Inexpensive (~ $150 - $300)

Possible applications/projects

• PC digital oscilloscope • Remote monitoring and control

– Solar energy project– EKG project– Power monitoring– ………………….

• Your imagination