Course Overview

Welcome to ECE 445/ME470 Senior Design ZJUI Spring 2022!

Welcome to the class! If you've looked at the course Calendar, you've probably already noticed that this class is quite different from most other classes in the department. The class only meets as a whole for the first four weeks of the semester. During these lectures you will meet the Course Staff, learn about specific requirements, resources, and project choices for the course, and have a chance to meet other students. These are some of the most important weeks for the class since the decisions you make during this time will determine what you'll get out of this class and, in many ways, how much you'll enjoy it.

In this course, you will form teams and propose projects that solve an engineering problem in a unique way. The projects generally involve a device that you will design, build, and demonstrate. We are excited to see what projects you create with this semester! In the midst of an ever changing learning environment, we want to encourage you to think, create, design, and build exemplary projects. We want to ensure that your experience in 445 demonstrates your potential as an engineer graduating from the University of Illinois.

This course is taught hybridly for ME and ECE students, and some projects are mentored by ZJUI faculty. Here are a few items that you will need to consider as we enter into this semester.

Augmenting AR/VR with Smell

Baoyi He, Yingying Liu, Kaiyuan Tan, Xiao Wang

Featured Project

# TEAM MEMBERS

- **Kaiyuan Tan** (kt19)

- **Baoyi He** (baoyihe2)

- **Xiao Wang** (xiaow4)

- **Yingying Liu** (yl73)

# TITLE OF THE PROJECT

Augmenting AR/VR with Smell

# PROBLEM

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are rapidly growing and becoming more prevalent in our daily lives. However, these technologies have not yet fully addressed the sense of smell, which is a critical aspect of human experience. The absence of scent in AR/VR experiences limits the immersive potential of these technologies, preventing users from experiencing a full sensory experience.

# SOLUTION OVERVIEW

The solution is to augment AR/VR experiences with smell, enabling users to experience a full sensory experience. This will be achieved by incorporating hardware and software components that can simulate various scents in real-time, in response to events in the AR/VR environment. The solution will consist of a scent-emitting device and software that can track and simulate scents based on the user's location and orientation in the AR/VR environment.

# SOLUTION COMPONENTS

The solution will consist of the following components:

- **Scent-emitting device**: This device will be designed to emit various scents in real-time. It will be portable and lightweight, making it easy for users to carry around during AR/VR experiences.

- **Scent simulation software**: This software will be designed to track the user's location and orientation in the AR/VR environment and simulate scents accordingly. The software will use various algorithms to determine the intensity and duration of scent emissions.

- **AR/VR hardware**: The solution will require AR/VR hardware to create the immersive environment. This hardware will include AR/VR headsets, controllers, and other peripherals necessary to interact with the AR/VR environment.

# CRITERION OF SUCCESS

The success of the project will be determined by the following criteria:

- **Immersive Experience**: The solution must provide an immersive AR/VR experience that incorporates smell as a key sensory input.

- **User Acceptance**: The solution must be accepted by users, who should be able to appreciate and enjoy the experience.

- **Technical Feasibility**: The solution must be technically feasible and reliable, with a low latency and high accuracy in scent simulation.

- **Scalability**: The solution should be scalable and adaptable to different AR/VR environments and hardware configurations.

- **Safety**: The solution must be safe for users and the environment, with proper ventilation and control mechanisms to prevent any harm or discomfort caused by excessive or inappropriate scent emissions.

# DISTRIBUTION OF WORK

- Model various scenerios based on AR/VR hardware. *(Tan)*

- Design algorithms which output the intensity and duration of scents based on the constructed scenerios. *(He & Liu)*

- Merge the scene with scents smoothly. *(He & Wang & Liu)*

- Design a protable scent-emitting device. *(Wang)*

- Test using real scents, invite people to experience and adjust based on feedback. *(All)*