Design Document

Description

The design document communicates the complete and detailed design of your project. It is substantially more detailed than the proposal and prepares you for the assembly phase of the semester. A quality design document is the key to a successful project (sample document). Use the following format:

  1. Introduction

    • Problem and Solution:

      One to two paragraphs explaining the context of the problem to be solved by your project, including any relevant references to justify the existence and/or importance of the problem (i.e., the need or want for a solution). Justify the novelty of your solution or explain the expected improvements of your solution over previous results.

    • Visual Aid

      A pictorial representation of your project that puts your solution in context. Not necessarily restricted to your design. Include other external systems relevant to your project (e.g. if your solution connects to a phone via Bluetooth, draw a dotted line between your device and the phone). Note that this is not a block diagram and should explain how the solution is used, not a breakdown of inner components.

    • High-level requirements list:

      A list of three to four objective characteristics that this project must exhibit in order to solve the problem. These should be selected such that if any of these requirements were not met, the project would fail to solve the problem. Avoid vague requirements that can be interpreted a number of ways (e.g. "The radio subsystem should work reliably."). Each high-level requirement must be stated in complete sentences and displayed as a bulleted list.

  2. Design

    • Block Diagram:

      A general block diagram of the design of your solution. Each block should be as modular as possible and represent a subsystem of your design. In other words, they can be implemented independently and re-assembled later. The block diagram should be accompanied by a brief (1 paragraph) description of the critical subsystems and what they do.

    • Physical Design (if applicable):

      A physical diagram of the project indicating things such as mechanical dimensions or placement of sensors and actuators. The physical diagram should also be accompanied by a brief one paragraph description.

    • [Subsystem X]

      For each subsystem in your block diagram, you should include a highly detailed and quantitative block description. Each description must include a statement indicating how the block contributes to the overall design dictated by the high-level requirements. Any and all design decisions must be clearly justified. Any interfaces with other blocks must be defined clearly and quantitatively.

      Include any relevant supporting figures and data in order to clearly illustrate and justify the design. Typically a well justified block design will include some or all of the following items: Circuit schematics, simulations, calculations, measurements, flow charts, mechanical diagrams (e.g. CAD drawings, only necessary for mechanical components).

      You must include a Requirements and Verifications table. Please see the R&V page for guidance on writing requirements and verification procedures.

    • [Subsystem Y]

      ...

    • [Subsystem Z]

      ...

    • Tolerance Analysis: Through discussions with your TA, identify the block or interface critical to the success of your project that poses the most challenging requirement. Analyze it mathematically and show that it can be feasibly implemented and meet its requirements. See the Tolerance Analysis guide for further guidance.
  3. Cost and Schedule

    1. Cost Analysis: Include a cost analysis of the project by following the outline below. Include a list of any non-standard parts, lab equipment, shop services, etc., which will be needed with an estimated cost for each.
      • Labor: (For each partner in the project)
        Assume a reasonable salary 
        ($/hour) x 2.5 x hours to complete = TOTAL
        Then total labor for all partners. It's a good idea to do some research into what a graduate from ECE at Illinois might typically make.
      • Parts: Include a table listing all parts (description, manufacturer, part #, quantity and cost) and quoted machine shop labor hours that will be needed to complete the project.
      • Sum of costs into a grand total
    2. Schedule:

      Include a time-table showing when each step in the expected sequence of design and construction work will be completed (general, by week), and how the tasks will be shared between the team members. (i.e. Select architecture, Design this, Design that, Buy parts, Assemble this, Assemble that, Prepare mock-up, Integrate prototype, Refine prototype, Test integrated system).

  4. Discussion of Ethics and Safety:

    1. Expand upon the ethical and safety issues raised in your proposal to ensure they are comprehensive. Add any ethical and safety concerns that arose since your proposal.
    2. Document procedures to mitigate the safety concerns of your project. For example, include a lab safety document for batteries, human/animal interfaces, aerial devices, high-power, chemicals, etc. Justify that your design decisions sufficiently protect both users and developers from unsafe conditions caused by your project.
      Projects dealing with flying vehicles, high voltage, or other high risk factors, will be required to produce a Safety Manual and demonstrate compliance with the safety manual at the time of demo.
  5. Citations:

    Any material obtained from websites, books, journal articles, or other sources not originally generated by the project team must be appropriately attributed with properly cited sources in a standardized style such as IEEE, ACM, APA, or MLA.

Submission and Deadlines

Your design review document should be uploaded to PACE in PDF format by the deadline shown on the course calendar . If you have uploaded a mock DR document to PACE, please make sure that it has been removed before DR.

Musical Hand

Ramsey Foote, Thomas MacDonald, Michelle Zhang

Musical Hand

Featured Project

# Musical Hand

Team Members:

- Ramesey Foote (rgfoote2)

- Michelle Zhang (mz32)

- Thomas MacDonald (tcm5)

# Problem

Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes; however, transporting instruments often involves bulky and heavy cases. Not only can transporting instruments be a hassle, but the initial purchase and maintenance of an instrument can be very expensive. We would like to solve this problem by creating an instrument that is lightweight, compact, and low maintenance.

# Solution

Our project involves a wearable system on the chest and both hands. The left hand will be used to dictate the pitches of three “strings” using relative angles between the palm and fingers. For example, from a flat horizontal hand a small dip in one finger is associated with a low frequency. A greater dip corresponds to a higher frequency pitch. The right hand will modulate the generated sound by adding effects such as vibrato through lateral motion. Finally, the brains of the project will be the central unit, a wearable, chest-mounted subsystem responsible for the audio synthesis and output.

Our solution would provide an instrument that is lightweight and easy to transport. We will be utilizing accelerometers instead of flex sensors to limit wear and tear, which would solve the issue of expensive maintenance typical of more physical synthesis methods.

# Solution Components

The overall solution has three subsystems; a right hand, left hand, and a central unit.

## Subsystem 1 - Left Hand

The left hand subsystem will use four digital accelerometers total: three on the fingers and one on the back of the hand. These sensors will be used to determine the angle between the back of the hand and each of the three fingers (ring, middle, and index) being used for synthesis. Each angle will correspond to an analog signal for pitch with a low frequency corresponding to a completely straight finger and a high frequency corresponding to a completely bent finger. To filter out AC noise, bypass capacitors and possibly resistors will be used when sending the accelerometer signals to the central unit.

## Subsystem 2 - Right Hand

The right subsystem will use one accelerometer to determine the broad movement of the hand. This information will be used to determine how much of a vibrato there is in the output sound. This system will need the accelerometer, bypass capacitors (.1uF), and possibly some resistors if they are needed for the communication scheme used (SPI or I2C).

## Subsystem 3 - Central Unit

The central subsystem utilizes data from the gloves to determine and generate the correct audio. To do this, two microcontrollers from the STM32F3 series will be used. The left and right hand subunits will be connected to the central unit through cabling. One of the microcontrollers will receive information from the sensors on both gloves and use it to calculate the correct frequencies. The other microcontroller uses these frequencies to generate the actual audio. The use of two separate microcontrollers allows for the logic to take longer, accounting for slower human response time, while meeting needs for quicker audio updates. At the output, there will be a second order multiple feedback filter. This will get rid of any switching noise while also allowing us to set a gain. This will be done using an LM358 Op amp along with the necessary resistors and capacitors to generate the filter and gain. This output will then go to an audio jack that will go to a speaker. In addition, bypass capacitors, pull up resistors, pull down resistors, and the necessary programming circuits will be implemented on this board.

# Criterion For Success

The minimum viable product will consist of two wearable gloves and a central unit that will be connected together via cords. The user will be able to adjust three separate notes that will be played simultaneously using the left hand, and will be able to apply a sound effect using the right hand. The output audio should be able to be heard audibly from a speaker.

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