Hardware

Hardware Resources

The Srivastava Senior Design Lab has a wide variety of hardware available for use in projects, including microcontrollers, DSP boards, LINX RF transmitters and receivers, GPS units, webcams and more. These things can all be checked out from you TA for use on your project. See below for more details, and check out the links above.

Development Boards

Intel Galileo Development Boards

The lab has 25 Intel Galileo Development Boards available for checkout. The following links are useful resources for working with these boards:

Microcontrollers

PIC Microcontrollers

The lab has a number of PIC16F877A microcontrollers available for use in projects. It is understandable that wiring errors might happen, so each student is allowed to burn out a maximum of two PICs. They are programmed in a simplified C instruction set and are used to simplify design and perform IO with ease. Check the PIC Tutorial for more information.

BASIC Stamp Microcontrollers

The BASIC Stamp is a simple, tiny microcontroller with serial communications abilities, programmed in BASIC. This makes it ideal for simple applications where I/O speed is not critical, and the complexity of the HC12 is not needed.

DSPs

TI TMS320C54x DSPs

We have several C54x DSPs available for checkout (if demand is high, sharing a DSP with another group may be needed). Check out these resources for more information:

TI TMS320C6713 DSP

We have one TMS320C6713 (16 Mb) Floating Point DSP that was graciously donated by TI. The board is in the TA cabinet and is available for checkout.

LINX RF modules

We have a number of LINX transmitters and receivers available in the lab for RF projects, with a choice of the LC Series (315 or 418 MHz) or the HP series (902-928 MHz band).

GPS kits

We have 2-3 Garmin 12 XL GPS receivers. The Garmin units are equipped with a serial communication port and can be interfaced with microcontrollers or computers to provide information on position (lat, long, altitude, time) and velocity (differentiation of position). We also have one equivalent Motorola kit, and another kit by Ashtech (Eval and development kit, 990285). There are antennas on the roof of EL with wires into the lab so that data can be acquired while in the building (for testing purposes). The antennas can be accessed through connectors in the back left corner of the lab, by the far computer.

Automatic Water Bottle Filler

Priyank Jain, Jakub Migus, Abby Mohan

Automatic Water Bottle Filler

Featured Project

# Automatic Water Bottle Filler

Team Members:

- Priyank Jain (priyank3)

- Abby Mohan (ammohan2)

- Jakub Migus (jmigus2)

# Problem

In normal liquid dispensing and water bottle filling systems, the process requires the user’s attention and constant manual activation of the device. This may require the holding of a button, the action of pushing the bottle against a sensor for a specific amount of time, or holding the bottle in front of a sensor until it is full. If the user gets distracted or is unable to provide that attention (blindness or lack of motor function), liquid may spill or the bottle may not be filled enough.

# Solution

Our goal with this project is to make an automatic water bottle filling station. Our device senses when a water bottle is placed underneath it, begins filling the bottle with water once a start button is pressed, determines when the bottle is full and shuts off automatically. After placing the bottle on a platform and pressing a button, the user can walk away knowing their bottle will be filled accurately.

# Solution Components

## Sensing Component

This subsystem utilizes multiple sensors including an ultrasonic sensor to measure the water level and a light-based sensor to determine the height of the bottle.

## Control

This subsystem connects the sensors to the water system. It receives data from the sensors, compares the water level height to the height of the water bottle, then decides to either begin, continue, or stop dispensing water.

## Display/Interface System

An LCD display will show instructions for the user and will display simple messages. A few push buttons will be included for manual filling and selection of desired amount of liquid (ex. Half bottle, full bottle)

## Water System

This subsystem utilizes a water tank attached to a pump and tubing, which transport water to the dispenser.

# Criterion for Success

The device…

- detects a water bottle and accurately measures the height

- monitors the water level in the bottle

- stops filling when a desired water level is reached

If there is no bottle/ the bottle is removed, the device stops filling water.

Project Videos