Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
46 COVID Convenience locker
 Chenghao Lu
Junsheng Liu
Yimeng Qin
 William Zhang design_document1.pdf
design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
other1.JPG
other2.JPG
other3.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Problem Description:
COVID has affected students' lives for around a year and has caused tremendous inconvenience to us. It is likely that the COVID pandemic will continue for a long time. Here at U of I, we are required to take saliva tests day by day at specific locations. This will make our life inconvenient since we need to move to the Illini Union and somewhere else to take tests. Some students may live far away from these test locations and it is difficult for them to go to these test locations day by day. On the other hand, too many students presenting at the test locations at the same time may also cause potential infections. While we think it is feasible to arrange some lockers around student’s apartments which will make it easier to access the testing tube and then store them.

Solution overview:
We propose a locker with testing tubes inside locating at each large student apartment. The students are required to access the testing tube every other day and then store it inside the locker before a specific time. The testing staff should pick up the tubes each day. Our objective is to design a machine that can use mechanical structure to distribute and store the testing tubes. To identify the tester information, we would try qr-code verification or facial recognition to print identity labels. A mechanical component should be designed for each user to pick up and store exactly one testing cube, for example, mechanical FIFO or rotation distribution design. There could be an interface with safer illinois app which could record the testing times and locations. This would be considered for the extra point sections. We also expect there is an energy saver module which could let the whole locker in sleep mode when there is no person accessing the locker.

Solution components
[Microcontroller, PCB] We would use Arduino or Raspberry Pi for main control. It should operate the physical machine and control every operation for the prototype.
[Battery] A battery will be needed to provide energy. It is optional to use solar panels for recharging the battery. This will also be considered as extra point sections.
[Mechanical component] There should be some physical components to distribute the testing tubes and then store them. The mechanical distribution system could be designed and assembled using 3D printing. To power this mechanical system, several servo motors with gear transmission boxes are necessary to functionalize the system.
[Camera or qr-code identification]: We would choose one way to identify who the person is and then give the information to the printer to print a label. The camera could be used for facial recognition or there could also be an qr-code identification machine which requires the students to scan their qr-code.
[Sensors]: To store testing tubes in a safe environment, temperature and humidity sensors are required to detect the environment factors. In addition, an IR sensor can be used to detect whether there is a tester in front of the locker. If no one is around the locker, the machine will automatically go to sleep mode to save power.

[Safer-illinois interface]: We could design a system which will automatically record the test locations and time and then update it into the safer illinois app. This is certainly an extra point section. We do not expect enough time to do it.

Criteria for success
The success of our solution is based on the functionality of the testing tube distribution system and coordination of microcontrollers. We can foresee the potential difficulties of this distribution system, such as jamming of testing tubes. Therefore, a well designed mechanical structure (for example, mechanical FIFO system) guarantees the basic function of this project. Besides, due to the nature of highly automation, the microcontroller should control the behavior of electronic components and power systems under the desired procedure. Furthermore, we should have enough on board memory or wifi-chip to store all the student information for label identification purposes. Thus, a reasonable data-transmission algorithm is key to the success of identification function.

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Sungmin Jang, Anita Jung, Zheng Liu

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Featured Project

Team Members:

Anita Jung (anitaj2)

Sungmin Jang (sjang27)

Zheng Liu (zliu93)

Link to the idea: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=27710

Problem:

The Donor Wall on the southwest side of first floor in ECEB is to celebrate and appreciate everyone who helped and donated for ECEB.

However, because of poor lighting and color contrast between the copper and the wall behind, donor names are not noticed as much as they should, especially after sunset.

Solution Overview:

Here is the image of the Donor Wall:

http://buildingcampaign.ece.illinois.edu/files/2014/10/touched-up-Donor-wall-by-kurt-bielema.jpg

We are going to design and implement a dynamic and interactive illuminating system for the Donor Wall by installing LEDs on the background. LEDs can be placed behind the names to softly illuminate each name. LEDs can also fill in the transparent gaps in the “circuit board” to allow for interaction and dynamic animation.

And our project’s system would contain 2 basic modes:

Default mode: When there is nobody near the Donor Wall, the names are softly illuminated from the back of each name block.

Moving mode: When sensors detect any stimulation such as a person walking nearby, the LEDs are controlled to animate “current” or “pulses” flowing through the “circuit board” into name boards.

Depending on the progress of our project, we have some additional modes:

Pressing mode: When someone is physically pressing on a name block, detected by pressure sensors, the LEDs are controlled to

animate scattering of outgoing light, just as if a wave or light is emitted from that name block.

Solution Components:

Sensor Subsystem:

IR sensors (PIR modules or IR LEDs with phototransistor) or ultrasonic sensors to detect presence and proximity of people in front of the Donor Wall.

Pressure sensors to detect if someone is pressing on a block.

Lighting Subsystem:

A lot of LEDs is needed to be installed on the PCBs to be our lighting subsystem. These are hidden as much as possible so that people focus on the names instead of the LEDs.

Controlling Subsystem:

The main part of the system is the controlling unit. We plan to use a microprocessor to process the signal from those sensors and send signal to LEDs. And because the system has different modes, switching between them correctly is also important for the project.

Power Subsystem:

AC (Wall outlet; 120V, 60Hz) to DC (acceptable DC voltage and current applicable for our circuit design) power adapter or possible AC-DC converter circuit

Criterion for success:

Whole system should work correctly in each mode and switch between different modes correctly. The names should be highlighted in a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing way. Our project is acceptable for senior design because it contains both hardware and software parts dealing with signal processing, power, control, and circuit design with sensors.

Project Videos