Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
17 Habit Forming Key Station
Ali Husain
Cedric Mathew
Yuxuan Ma
Abhisheka Mathur Sekar design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
photo1.png
photo2.jpeg
presentation1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
video
# Team Members:
- Ali Husain (alijh2)
- Cedric Mathew (cmathe26)
- Marsh Ma (yuxuanm4)

# Problem

People have a difficult time building habits. Specifically, a common issue that many have is losing or misplacing their keys/wallet whenever they enter their place of residence. If they were accustomed to placing and grabbing their keys from a specific designated location, then the likelihood of losing their keys and wallet would be significantly low.

# Solution

Our solution utilizes negative reinforcement to build positive habits for its users. We will build a designated station for placing one’s keys, or any small item of their choosing, when entering or leaving their home. It will begin detecting the proximity of the keys a few minutes after the keys have initially been removed from the dish, indicating the resident is not home. Once the resident returns home with the keys, a sensor should detect its presence with an RFID tag and continue ringing an alarm through a speaker until the keys are placed correctly. There will be a pressure sensor at the bottom of the dish that will indicate whether the keys have been put into the device. Our solution will have 5 subsystems: proximity detection, control and processing, alarm, confirmation, and power.

# Solution Components
## Subsystem 1: Proximity Detection Subsystem
This subsystem is responsible for detecting the presence of the keys when they are in close proximity to the station. It will use an RFID system comprising an RFID reader inside of the dish and an RFID tag attached to a keychain that the user will carry. When the RFID reader senses the tag, it triggers the alarm system. We will use the MFRC522 RFID Reader (Part No: MFRC522) and compatible RFID tags.

## Subsystem 2: Control and Processing Subsystem
The core of our project, this subsystem processes inputs from the Proximity Detection Subsystem and controls the Alarm Subsystem and Confirmation Subsystem. With the input from these three subsystems, we can compute whether the alarm needs to ring or not. When the user leaves with the keys, it will wait a few minutes before activating the proximity subsystem. This will await the RFID tag to come within proximity. Once detected, it will prompt the alarm subsystem to ring. Once it receives notification from the confirmation subsystem that the keys have been placed in the dish, the alarm will turn off. We will use ATmega2560 (https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/atmega2560# ) as our microcontroller chip.

## Subsystem 3: Alarm Subsystem
Activated by the Control and Processing Subsystem, this subsystem emits an audible alarm when the keys are detected but not yet placed in the station. It consists of a small alarm or speaker, like the Piezo Buzzer (Part No: PSE-2907), that generates a distinct sound, prompting the user to place the keys in the designated spot. When the user places their keys in the dish, it will promptly turn off.

## Subsystem 4: Confirmation Subsystem
This subsystem confirms the placement of the keys in the station. It uses a pressure sensor/button at the bottom of the station, which, when pressed by the weight of the keys, signals the Control and Processing Subsystem to deactivate the alarm.
We plan to use the Thin Film Pressure Sensor (Part No: SEN-09376).

## Subsystem 5: Power Subsystem
This subsystem provides power to the device. We plan on using a 9V battery to power the device, as we need a power source that can last for several weeks at a time while also maintaining lightweight portability.

# Criterion For Success

1. The proximity detection subsystem can reliability detect keys within 15 feet of the dish
2. The alarm subsystem projects within 80-90dB (the standard level of an alarm clock) so it may be heard outside the room
3. The confirmation subsystem can detect a change in the weight of at least 20 grams which is the expected weight of 1 key and our keychain
4. The microcontroller accurately sends and receives signals from the subsystems 100% of the time
5. The power subsystem provides adequate power to the device with a multi-week battery life

Master Bus Processor

Clay Kaiser, Philip Macias, Richard Mannion

Master Bus Processor

Featured Project

General Description

We will design a Master Bus Processor (MBP) for music production in home studios. The MBP will use a hybrid analog/digital approach to provide both the desirable non-linearities of analog processing and the flexibility of digital control. Our design will be less costly than other audio bus processors so that it is more accessible to our target market of home studio owners. The MBP will be unique in its low cost as well as in its incorporation of a digital hardware control system. This allows for more flexibility and more intuitive controls when compared to other products on the market.

Design Proposal

Our design would contain a core functionality with scalability in added functionality. It would be designed to fit in a 2U rack mount enclosure with distinct boards for digital and analog circuits to allow for easier unit testings and account for digital/analog interference.

The audio processing signal chain would be composed of analog processing 'blocks’--like steps in the signal chain.

The basic analog blocks we would integrate are:

Compressor/limiter modes

EQ with shelf/bell modes

Saturation with symmetrical/asymmetrical modes

Each block’s multiple modes would be controlled by a digital circuit to allow for intuitive mode selection.

The digital circuit will be responsible for:

Mode selection

Analog block sequence

DSP feedback and monitoring of each analog block (REACH GOAL)

The digital circuit will entail a series of buttons to allow the user to easily select which analog block to control and another button to allow the user to scroll between different modes and presets. Another button will allow the user to control sequence of the analog blocks. An LCD display will be used to give the user feedback of the current state of the system when scrolling and selecting particular modes.

Reach Goals

added DSP functionality such as monitoring of the analog functions

Replace Arduino boards for DSP with custom digital control boards using ATmega328 microcontrollers (same as arduino board)

Rack mounted enclosure/marketable design

System Verification

We will qualify the success of the project by how closely its processing performance matches the design intent. Since audio 'quality’ can be highly subjective, we will rely on objective metrics such as Gain Reduction (GR [dB]), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD [%]), and Noise [V] to qualify the analog processing blocks. The digital controls will be qualified by their ability to actuate the correct analog blocks consistently without causing disruptions to the signal chain or interference. Additionally, the hardware user interface will be qualified by ease of use and intuitiveness.

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