Winter 2011 Projects

The last half of Microcontroller Systems, five weeks, is devoted to an individual project of the student's choosing and design. The only requirements are that it be stand-alone (code in EEPROM), have both an input and output device, and involve hardware beyond that which is on the Dragon12-Plus board used in the class.

Other year's projects for Winter 2014 are here, Winter 2013 are here, Winter 2012 are here, Winter 2010 are here, for Spring 2009 are here, Spring 2008 are here, Spring 2007 are here, Spring 2006 are here, Spring 2005 are here, and those for Spring 2004 are here.

Here are the projects in the (arbitrary) order they were presented. Click on any image for an enlarged view.

An Automated Pet Door by Jack Zeiszler

An IR detector triggers a stepper motor to open the pet door, wait a short period of time and then close the door. Stepper motor gives precise control of door position.

Apparatus for Fluid Rotation and Status Illumination by Tim Beach

A level sensing strip in the fluid signals the current level. The microcontroller controls a pump which will fill the container to the set level and then drain the container using a solenoid operated valve. Status of the system is indicated on a row of LEDs.

Labyrinth: Using an Accelerometer to Servo Interface by Brian Ludwig

A hand held accelerometer is used to control a labyrinth game via microcontroller controlled servo motors. The batteries supply the servo motor power.

RPM Fan Monitor Using the Motorola 68HCS12 by Robert Bentley

The microcontroller measures the fan RPM. It signals a warning if the speed goes too low or too high.

Digital Display and LED Illumination for Wideband Oxygen Sensors by Drew Styduhar

An oxygen sensor interfaced to the microcontroller measures the exhaust of an automobile (video of operation can be seen in computer monitor). A row of LEDs indicates measured oxygen content.

Electronic Bagpipe Practice Chanter by Nathan Rogers

The chanter is mimicked using push buttons along a custom printed circuit board. Button presses as transferred via an SPI interface to the microcontroller which generates the appropriate output frequency using the DAC.

Gar Tuner by Marlon Gonzalez

The user sets the string to tune using the keypad. A strobe light (or speaker) is used to provide the tone the string should match.

Digital Clock by Sonali Fernando

An IR detector is used to synchronize the microcontroller with the position of the spinning disk. The microcontroller strobes the disk with red, green, and blue LEDs at the apropriate rotation to indicate the time (which is read off of a clock chip).

Heart Rate Monitor by Steven Bellock

A pacemaker is used to simulate the heart. The microcontroller measures the rate and indicates the range with a multi-color LED. A speaker alarm goes off if the rate gets too high.

pH Sensor by Seth Holbert

An analog amplifier was designed and built to amplify the signal from a pH probe. The analog to digital converter in the microcontroller digitizes the value, the pH is calculated and displayed on the LCD.

ECG Monitoring Using the 68HCS12 Microcontroller by Yogendra Singh and Ali Marafi

An analog amplifier conditions the signal from the electrodes (on the heart), which is then converted to digital in the microcontroller. The microcontroller uses a speaker and light to indicate signal not present, and converts back to analog for display on an oscilloscope.

Pump Controller by Chris Gardella

Control panel for operating pumps. The control panel allows maintaining the level of water either manually or automatically, with the level sensor either being a level transmitter or a set of float switches. The project centers on the control panel and not the water tank and pump hardware.

Digital Multimeter by Martin Franke

Using some additional analog circuitry, implemented a digital volt ohm meter. Readout is on the LCD display.

IR Object Sensor by Robert Brown

A servo motor does a 180 degree sweep of the surrounding area with an infrared range finder. Found objects are indicated by the RGB led on the board.

10-Meter Propagation Beacon by Caleb Mathisen

The microcontroller generates a morse code message and controls the output signal strength of the transmitter inside the box. (The paint can contains output load resistors for the transmitter.)