Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Automatic Bike Light |
Magdalene Noftz Nathanael Salazar Pesandi Gunasekera |
Chihun Song | design_document1.pdf proposal1.pdf |
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| # Automatic Bike Light Team Members: - Magdalene Noftz (noftz2) - Pesandi Gunasekera (pesandi2) - Nathanael Salazar (nsala6) # Problem Bicycles that drive on the road legally must have a light on the front allowing them to be visible for 500 feet and have a rear reflector or rear light in the state of Illinois. It is also recommended that a bike is visible for at least 100 feet for vehicles approaching from behind. Presently there are no systems in place to adjust the brightness of the headlight of a bike in the same way cars have automatically adjusting headlights. There are also no rear lights that automatically turn on or off to alert cars behind the bike of its presence. Additionally, even if cyclists have lights on their bikes, they can forget to turn them on. Similarly, cyclists can forget to turn their lights off, thus draining the battery and making the lights useless. Also, the luminosity of certain lights may not be appropriate for the light level of the environment that the cyclists are biking through. # Solution Bike lights increase visibility and reduce accident risks. Front light brightness is determined based on ambient light. The darker the surrounding the brighter the light. We would ensure this brightness is calibrated for the bike and is always visible from 500 ft ahead. The rear light turning on would be based on the bike’s distance from a car behind the bike. For additional functionality to save energy, if we had time we would like to turn the bike light off if the bike is stationary for long periods of time. # Solution Components Bike (Nathanael’s bike) Front Light - White bike light (Walmart) - Photoresistors - Microcontroller - Vibration sensor (1528-1766-ND) Back Light - Red bike light (Walmart) - Ultrasonic sensor (1738-SEN0313-ND) - Microcontroller - Vibration sensor (1528-1766-ND) ## Subsystem 1: Front light The front light would detect the ambient light of the surroundings and automatically adjust its brightness accordingly. Photoresistors would be placed on top of the light to determine the luminosity of the sunlight or streetlights nearby. In broad daylight, the photoresistors would detect the brightness from the sun. This condition could turn the lights off or set it to a flashing mode to improve the visibility of the cyclist. During night time, the lack of surrounding light would be detected by the photoresistors and set the front bike light to a constant beam that varies in intensity depending on the environment. In well-lit areas, such as cities, the microcontroller would set the light to emit an intensity of at least 150 lumens. In semi-lit areas, such as main roads, the light would emit an intensity between 150 and 400 lumens. In very dark areas, such as unlit trails, the light would emit an intensity upwards of 400 lumens. The bike light will contain a vibration sensor to detect when the bike is moving. The vibration sensor would be able to detect when the bike is in motion and turn on based on the aforementioned light level. After 5 minutes of inactivity, the light would automatically turn off. ## Subsystem 2: Rear light The rear light will use an ultrasonic sensor to detect a vehicle behind the bike within a distance of 25 feet. Although the recommended distance is 100 feet, ultrasonic sensors that can detect this range are very expensive, and so our project will use the range of 25 feet. If the project were to be expanded later on, we would switch the sensor to one that could detect farther. If the sensor detects a vehicle behind the bike, the microcontroller will turn on the rear light to make the bike visible. Once there is no longer anything detected within the range, the microcontroller will turn the light off. Additionally, the vibration sensor will detect if the bike is in motion and is being used. Once the vibration sensor detects that the bike has not been in motion for five minutes, it will turn off the light fully. # Criterion For Success - Photovoltaic sensor detects changes in ambient light - Photovoltaic sensor is used to adjust the brightness of front bike light - Ultrasonic sensor detect movement 25 feet behind bike - Rear light turns on if movement is detected - Vibration sensor correctly detects when bike is moving - Both lights turn off if the bike has not moved for over five minutes. |
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