Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
28 Modular Screen
 Dale Morrison
Sean Halperin
Yuzhe He
 Wesley Pang design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
video
# Team Members:
- Morrison, Dale Joseph Jr (dalejm2)
- He Yuzhe (yuzhehe2)
- Sean Halperin (seanmh3)

# Problem
Many applications (tabletop gaming groups, educators, researchers, presenters, and event organizers) require large, flexible, and reconfigurable display systems; however, existing solutions are expensive, bulky, non-modular, and difficult to customize. Users who want visual content often lack an affordable system that can be easily resized, repositioned, and updated with new content. For example, one can consider the tabletop groups that may spend close to $1000 on TV-table setups, which does not include a reconfigurable display, making immersion exceedingly difficult for these groups. This shows the need for a screen that is both customizable, modular, and affordable.
# Solution
The solution proposed is a modular digital display composed of multiple interlocking screen tiles that connect to form a larger display. Each tile contains a display and communicates with neighboring tiles through magnetic interconnects. A power or control tile will distribute power, detect the layout of the tiles, and set the visual display of each tile. The system to start will support static images and user-uploaded images. Something like this could be used in a classroom, team meetings, digital canvases, and tabletop gaming. The core idea is as described, but there are many advanced features such as audio and animation that will be implemented if time allows.
# Solution Components
## Subsystem 1, Tile Display Module (Per Tile)
This subsystem allows each tile to render its assigned portion of the full image.
The display tiles form the user experience; therefore, without high-quality visual output, the modular board would fail to justify the replacement of paper or screens. To keep immersion, the overall board needs to be seamless instead of fragmented. As such, each tile must render its assigned portion in full detail.
Each tile will contain a screen, display driver, and electrical connectors that will receive power and image data from the control tile. The tiles will have a MCU for image processing. The tile will be enclosed in a block housing, which does not separate any screens from each other and maintains alignment.
Components:
- Display : 6 inch LCD or TFT screen - CreateXplay 6.0 inch TFT Screen Module 1080*2160
- Display Controller Board : HDMI or LVDS
- Edge connectors : Magnetic Pogo Pin Connector, 12V 1A Pogopin Male Female 2.5 MM Spring Loaded Connectors
- Housing for the Screen
- Microcontroller Unit (MCU) : ESP32-C3-WROOM-02
## Subsystem 2, Tile Interconnect and Layout Detection
The key innovation of this project is modularity. Therefore, the board must work regardless of how the user arranges the tiles. This subsystem will provide that capability, allowing users to rearrange tiles freely while ensuring the correct image appears in the correct location. Each tile will include edge contacts that detect when it is connected to a neighboring tile. The power tile will scan the connections and build a grid of the size of the board. Based on the tile's position data, the power tile will assign a location of the grid the tile is on and determine the part of the image the tile should display (rerunning automatically as tiles are moved).
Implemention:
- Connection Detection
- Layout mapping algorithm on the MCU
- Coordinate assignments

## Subsystem 3, Power or Control Tile
This subsystem will serve as the control center of the board and will be responsible for ensuring all tiles receive power and image data.
The control tile will have one or two MCUs. One MCU manages system logic (layout detection, scene selection, etc), while the second handles display data. The controller will store images locally (microSD or USB), slice them into tile segments, and transmit the correct image data to each tile. It will also broadcast synchronization signals to ensure all tiles update at the same time. This tile will also include power regulation, ensuring that all connected tiles receive stable voltage and current.
Components:
- Microcontroller Unit (MCU) : ESP32-C3-WROOM-02
- microSD or flash storage
- Power distribution board with protection NCV97200
-Power On Button: PTS645SL43-2 LFS

## Subsystem 4, User Interface and Scene Control
Without an intuitive interface, changing the screen would be difficult, which would reduce usability. This subsystem ensures that the board is able to be used in all different kinds of scenarios.
Basic user controls will be integrated directly into the control tile. For advanced control, the system will provide a Wi-Fi-based web application hosted on the control tile. Users can connect from a phone or laptop to upload images, select scenes, and upload them to the board. If app development proves too complex within the semester, the board will support switching between multiple preloaded scenes as a fallback.
Components:
- Scroll Knob: A scroll wheel which will allow the switching of images if app development is too complex

# Criterion For Success
- The system supports 4 to 9 tiles.
- Pressing the power button powers the system and all connected tiles.
- The power or control tile automatically detects the board layout.
- Each tile displays the correct portion of the full image.
- The board displays at least two selectable scenes.
- Scene transitions occur without visible misalignment.
- The system remains stable under repeated reconfiguration.
- Displaying numbers of it's relative location

Iron Man Mouse

Jeff Chang, Yayati Pahuja, Zhiyuan Yang

Featured Project

# Problem:

Being an ECE student means that there is a high chance we are gonna sit in front of a computer for the majority of the day, especially during COVID times. This situation may lead to neck and lower back issues due to a long time of sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, it would be beneficial for us to get up and stretch for a while every now and then. However, exercising for a bit may distract us from working or studying and it might take some time to refocus. To control mice using our arm movements or hand gestures would be a way to enable us to get up and work at the same time. It is similar to the movie Iron Man when Tony Stark is working but without the hologram.

# Solution Overview:

The device would have a wrist band portion that acts as the tracker of the mouse pointer (implemented by accelerometer and perhaps optical sensors). A set of 3 finger cots with gyroscope or accelerometer are attached to the wrist band. These sensors as a whole would send data to a black box device (connected to the computer by USB) via bluetooth. The box would contain circuits to compute these translational/rotational data to imitate a mouse or trackpad movements with possible custom operation. Alternatively, we could have the wristband connected to a PC by bluetooth. In this case, a device driver on the OS is needed for the project to work.

# Solution Components:

Sensors (finger cots and wrist band):

1. 3-axis accelerometer attached to the wrist band portion of the device to collect translational movement (for mouse cursor tracking)

2. gyroscope attached to 3 finger cots portion to collect angular motion when user bend their fingers in different angles (for different clicking/zoom-in/etc operations)

3. (optional) optical sensors to help with accuracy if the accelerometer is not accurate enough. We could have infrared emitters set up around the screen and optical sensors on the wristband to help pinpoint cursor location.

4. (optional) flex sensors could also be used for finger cots to perform clicks in case the gyroscope proves to be inaccurate.

Power:

Lithium-ion battery with USB charging

Transmitter component:

1. A microcontroller to pre-process the data received from the 4 sensors. It can sort of integrate and synchronize the data before transmitting it.

2. A bluetooth chip that transmits the data to either the blackbox or the PC directly.

Receiver component:

1. Plan A: A box plugged into USB-A on PC. It has a bluetooth chip to receive data from the wristband, and a microcontroller to process the data into USB human interface device signals.

2. Plan B: the wristband is directly connected to the PC and we develop a device driver on the PC to process the data.

# Criterion for Success:

1. Basic Functionalities supported (left click, right click, scroll, cursor movement)

2. Advanced Functionalities supported(zoom in/out, custom operations eg. volume control)

3. Performance (accuracy & response time)

4. Physical qualities (easy to wear, durable, and battery life)