Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
3 Automated Sound Panel Modification for Audio Lab
Rajat Vora
Rishi Dutt Kalluri
Zach Bryl
Shaoyu Meng design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
# Problem
The Illinois Augmented Listening Laboratory is currently planning on building a fully automated audio lab. This lab could autonomously reorganize the lab space (speakers, mics, etc.) and modify the room acoustics to run different experiments, via a remotely submitted configuration. The acoustics of the room are controlled by sound panels, which absorb sound and are set to bounce sound around the room in different ways. Currently, there isn’t a way to adjust these panels autonomously. While mics and speakers can move around on pulleys, sound paneling is wall mounted and isn’t possible to adjust in the same way.

Note: Acoustic sound panels are wall mounted panels, typically made of soft foam or composite material. The panels typically have triangular pyramids, pointing in the direction of incoming sound. The panels work by receiving incoming sound, and trapping the sound between these pyramids. The sounds bounces around between the pyramids until it dissipates, and never gets reflected back into the room.

# Solution Overview
Our solution for modifying these acoustic panels is to allow each sound panel to be independently enabled/disabled. We plan to control this with a shutter over each panel, where every panel’s shutter can be modified through a single interface. Controlling the panels is equivalent to allowing sound to come in contact with them. If the shutter is closed, sound wont reach the panels and will bounce off, like a wall. However, when open, sound can reach the panel and will be absorbed.

# Solution Components

## Shutter Subsystem
-Can be quickly opened or closed depending on interface control
-No sound is allowed to reach the panel when closed
-Should not reflect any sound waves back when opened
-Should close flat to mimic a wall
-Can be motorized or pneumatic

## Interface Subsystem
-Connects to all the panel shutters
-Allows for submission of a configuration file to configure all the panel shutters in parallel
-Able to connect to the internet for remotely submitted configurations

# Criterion for success
Our solution will be successful if it significantly changes the acoustics of the room, as measured by e.g. the T60 reverberation time or C50 direct-to-reverberant ratio, and is remotely controllable with little or no human intervention. The interface should be able to accept locally or remotely submitted configurations.

Recovery-Monitoring Knee Brace

Dong Hyun Lee, Jong Yoon Lee, Dennis Ryu

Featured Project

Problem:

Thanks to modern technology, it is easy to encounter a wide variety of wearable fitness devices such as Fitbit and Apple Watch in the market. Such devices are designed for average consumers who wish to track their lifestyle by counting steps or measuring heartbeats. However, it is rare to find a product for the actual patients who require both the real-time monitoring of a wearable device and the hard protection of a brace.

Personally, one of our teammates ruptured his front knee ACL and received reconstruction surgery a few years ago. After ACL surgery, it is common to wear a knee brace for about two to three months for protection from outside impacts, fast recovery, and restriction of movement. For a patient who is situated in rehabilitation after surgery, knee protection is an imperative recovery stage, but is often overlooked. One cannot deny that such a brace is also cumbersome to put on in the first place.

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Solution:

Our group aims to make a wearable device for people who require a knee brace by adding a health monitoring system onto an existing knee brace. The fundamental purpose is to protect the knee, but by adding a monitoring system we want to provide data and a platform for both doctor and patients so they can easily check the current status/progress of the injury.

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Audience:

1) Average person with leg problems

2) Athletes with leg injuries

3) Elderly people with discomforts

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Equipment:

Temperature sensors : perhaps in the form of electrodes, they will be used to measure the temperature of the swelling of the knee, which will indicate if recovery is going smoothly.

Pressure sensors : they will be calibrated such that a certain threshold of force must be applied by the brace to the leg. A snug fit is required for the brace to fulfill its job.

EMG circuit : we plan on constructing an EMG circuit based on op-amps, resistors, and capacitors. This will be the circuit that is intended for doctors, as it will detect muscle movement.

Development board: our main board will transmit the data from each of the sensors to a mobile interface via. Bluetooth. The user will be notified when the pressure sensors are not tight enough. For our purposes, the battery on the development will suffice, and we will not need additional dry cells.

The data will be transmitted to a mobile system, where it would also remind the user to wear the brace if taken off. To make sure the brace has a secure enough fit, pressure sensors will be calibrated to determine accordingly. We want to emphasize the hardware circuits that will be supplemented onto the leg brace.

We want to emphasize on the hardware circuit portion this brace contains. We have tested the temperature and pressure resistors on a breadboard by soldering them to resistors, and confirmed they work as intended by checking with a multimeter.

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