Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
27 Pickleball Paddle Sensor Module
 Alex Luckett
Levente Deak
Peter Brennan
 Eric Tang
# Pickleball Paddle Sensor Module

Team Members:
- [Peter Brennan] (petersb2)
- [Teammate 2] ([netid])
- [Teammate 3] ([netid])

# Problem

Pickleball has exploded in popularity, but players at every level have no easy way to quantify their performance. Coaches and serious players in other racket sports (tennis, baseball) have long had access to swing analytics, but pickleball lags behind. Most "smart" options on the market today either require a bulky, fully sensor-laden paddle or rely on computer vision, which is impractical for casual, everyday play.

# Solution

We want to build a small PCBA-based sensor module that mounts to a standard paddle and automatically tracks meaningful in-game stats. Using an IMU, the board will detect and classify swing type (drive, dink, serve, volley, forehand, backhand) and estimate swing speed. A secondary sensing approach like a piezo or contact microphone tuned to the acoustic/vibration signature of ball-paddle contact will handle collision detection, distinguishing an actual hit from a practice swing or incidental bump.

As a stretch goal, we would like to refine the collision data further to estimate strike location on the paddle face (center vs. edge/off-center contact), giving players direct feedback on mishits and improving their awareness of the paddle's sweet spot.

This project leans harder on sensor fusion and signal processing than on component count. We expect the bill of materials to stay fairly small (IMU, piezo/vibration sensor, MCU, and a BLE module for stat offload), but getting reliable swing classification and clean contact detection out of noisy accelerometer/vibration data will take real iteration. We anticipate several PCB revisions to dial in mounting placement, sensor orientation, and noise isolation from the paddle material itself, along with meaningful firmware work to build out the classification logic.

# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1: Motion Sensing & Swing Classification

This subsystem captures raw motion data and classifies swing type and speed. It centers on an IMU (accelerometer + gyroscope) mounted rigidly to the paddle handle/frame, feeding data to the MCU for real-time processing. Given the sensor-fusion workload, we plan to use an MCU with sufficient headroom to run classification in real time, likely an STM32, though we will evaluate lower-power alternatives if battery life becomes a constraint on the wearable-scale board.

- IMU, part number TBD pending evaluation
- MCU: STM32 (family/part TBD), evaluating against lower-power alternatives

## Subsystem 2: Contact/Collision Detection

This subsystem determines whether the paddle has made genuine contact with the ball, as opposed to a practice swing or incidental bump. It uses a piezo element or contact microphone bonded to the paddle face/frame, tuned to the acoustic/vibration signature of ball-paddle impact, with supporting analog front-end circuitry (filtering/amplification) to condition the signal before it reaches the MCU.

- Piezo disc or contact microphone element, part number TBD
- Analog conditioning circuitry (amplifier/filter stage), parts TBD

## Subsystem 3: Data Offload & Power

This subsystem handles logging and wirelessly offloading swing/contact data to a phone or companion app, plus powering the whole module in a compact, low-profile form factor that can mount to an existing paddle.

- BLE module, part number TBD
- Battery and power management circuitry, parts TBD

# Criterion For Success

* The board reliably detects and classifies swing type (drive, dink, serve, volley, forehand, backhand) from IMU data with demonstrated accuracy across repeated test swings.
* The board estimates swing speed from IMU data with consistent, repeatable output across trials.
* The contact sensor reliably distinguishes an actual ball-paddle hit from a practice swing or incidental bump, verified through controlled testing.
* The PCBA is small and low-profile enough to mount to a standard paddle without interfering with normal play.
* Swing and contact data is successfully offloaded via BLE to a phone or companion app and can be logged for a full session.
* Stretch: the system estimates strike location on the paddle face (center vs. edge/off-center) with demonstrated accuracy.
* Stretch: a companion app or dashboard visualizes session stats (swing counts, types, speeds, contact accuracy).

Mushroom Growing Tent

Elizabeth Boyer, Cameron Fuller, Dylan Greenhagen

Mushroom Growing Tent

Featured Project

# Mushroom Growing Tent Project

Team Members:

- Elizabeth Boyer (eboyer2)

- Cameron Fuller (chf5)

- Dylan Greenhagen (dylancg2)

# Problem

Many people want to grow mushrooms in their own homes to experiment with safe cooking recipes, rather than relying on risky seasonal foraging, expensive trips to the store, or time and labor-intensive DIY growing methods. However, living in remote areas, specific environments, or not having the experience makes growing your own mushrooms difficult, as well as dangerous. Without proper conditions and set-up, there are fire, electrical, and health risks.

# Solution

We would like to build a mushroom tent with humidity and temperature sensors that could monitor the internal temperature and humidity, and heating, and humidity systems to match user settings continuously. There would be a visual interface to display the current temperature and humidity within the environment. It would be medium-sized (around 6 sq ft) and able to grow several batches at a time, with more success and less risk than relying on a DIY mushroom tent.

Some solutions to home-grown mushroom automation already exist. However, there is not yet a solution that encompasses all problems we have outlined. Some solutions are too small of a scale, so they don’t have the heating/cooling power for a larger scale solution. Therefore, it’s not enough to yield consistent batches. Additionally, there are solutions that give you a heater, a light set, and a humidifier, but it’s up to the user to juggle all of these modules. These can be difficult to balance and keep an eye on, but also dangerous if the user does not have experience. Spores can get released, heaters can overheat, and bacteria and mold can grow. Our solution offers an all-in-one, simple, user-friendly environment to bulk growing.

# Solution Components

## Control Unit and User Interface

The control unit and user interface are grouped together because the microcontroller is central to the design of both, and they are closely linked in function.

The user interface will involve a display that shows measured or set values for different conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) on a display, such as an LCD display, and the user will have buttons and/or knobs that allow the user to change values.

The control unit will be centered around a microcontroller on our PCB with circuitry to connect to the other subsystems.

Parts List:

1x Microcontroller

1x PCB, including small buttons and/or knobs, power circuitry

1x Display module

1x Power supply

## Temperature Sensing and Control

The temperature sensing and control components will ensure that the grow box stays at the desired temperature that promotes optimal growth. The system will include one temperature sensor that will record the current temperature of the box and feed a data output back into our PCB. From here, the microcontroller in our control unit will read the data received and send the necessary adjustments to a Peltier module. The Peltier module will be able to increase the temperature of the box according to the current temperature of the box and set temperature. Cooling will not be required, as maintaining a minimum temperature is more important than a maximum temperature for growth.

Parts List:

1x Temperature Sensor

1x Peltier module

## Humidity Sensing and Control

The humidity sensing and control system will work in a similar way to the temperature system, only with different ways to adjust the value. We will have one humidity sensor that will be continually sending data to our PCB. From here, the PCB will determine whether the current value is where it should be, or whether adjustments need to be made. If an increase in humidity is needed, the PCB will send a signal to our misting system which will activate. If a decrease is needed, a signal will be sent to our air cycling system to increase the rate of cycling, thereby decreasing the humidity within the box.

Parts List:

1x Humidity Sensor

4x Misting heads

Water tubing as needed

## Air Quality Control

The air filtration system is run constantly, as healthy mushroom growth (free of bacteria) needs clean, fresh air, and mycelium requires and uses up oxygen as it grows. Additionally, this unit is connected to the hydration sensing unit- external humidity is in most cases going to be lower than internal humidity, and cycling in new air can be used to decrease humidity. When high humidity is detected, the air filtration system will decrease the internal humidity by cycling in less humid air.

Parts List:

Flexible Air duct length as needed

1x Fan for promoting air cycling

# Criteria For Success

Our demo will show that each of our subsystems functions as expected and described below:

For the control unit and user interface, we will demonstrate that the user can change the set temperature and humidity values through buttons or knobs.

The humidity sensing and control system’s functionality will demonstrate that introducing dry air into the device activates the misting system, which requires functional sensors and a water pump.

The temperature sensing and control system demo will involve showing that the heater turns on when the measured temperature is below the set temperature.

The air quality control system’s success will be demonstrated as air movement coming from the fan enters the tent.

Project Videos