() Project No. Last, First Name Project Title 1001X12 Cain, Carolyn Beehive Management Utilizing a Remote Monitoring Platform 1002X12 Cerne, Christopher The Smartphone of the Future 1003X12 Haran, Jordan Left and Right Channel Audio In a Compact,High Quality, and Fully Wireless Form 1004X12 Kidwell, Lydia A Morse Code Arm Band for the Hearing and Seeing Impaired 1005T11 Kudum, Rasvik Wong, Sophie Investigating the Application of Physarum polycephalum and Nanoparticles in Making Biological Circuits
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1001X12 Beehive Management Utilizing a Remote Monitoring Platform Carolyn Cain Honey bees (Apis) are coming close to extinction. The device created allows early detection of hive failure due to temperature and possibly sound. Constructed using off-the-shelf hardware components consisting of a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, DS18B20 digital temperature sensors, a microphone and a cellular modem. These parts are easily purchased via the internet. Software was written on the Raspberry Pi to read the sensors and then report the information to a beekeeper via email. The Internet of Things technology has been applied to a beehive and demonstrates the ability of remote monitoring hives for use in the early detection of hive wellness issues. With the chosen sensors, temperature and sound, it may be possible to detect a hive which has reached a dangerous temperature condition, below 85 F. Field tests will show that the system can remotely monitor temperature and sound data and relay this information to the beekeeper. When the weather drops to 55 F, the bees stop production and cluster together. Hive temperatures remain above 90 F for a healthy colony. A hive that falls below 85 F could indicate a condition whereby the bees are no longer traveling from the cluster to their food source or a possibly an indicator of a food shortage. The device will read internal hive temperature, external hive temperature, sound frequency, and sound magnitude every fifteen minutes. If the internal hive temperature reads below 85 F, then an alert email will be sent to the beekeeper every five minutes until the temperature returns to normal. The winter cluster of honey bees. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://westmtnapiary.com/winter_cluster.html Morgan, J. (2013, May 13). Simple Explanation on the Internet of Things that anyone can understand. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/site/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-experiment-internetthingsthat-anyone-can-understand/#8e344e468284
1002X12 The Smartphone of the Future Christopher Cerne According to the United Nations, the United States generated 9.4 million tons of electronicwaste in 2012 alone. According to the U.S. National Center for Electronics Recycling, cell phones accounted for most of the United States used electronics. One of the main contributors to the growing waste is due to one s desire to have the latest and greatest technology. Another is the simple fact that smartphones break easily. But what if instead of replacing the whole device when a smartphone screen breaks, one can simply swap it out for another screen? What if when a phone gets slow, one can simply switch out the CPU for another one without shelling out another $600 for the next iphone upgrade? The problem of electronic waste can be resolved by investigating a simple idea: modular smartphones; the idea that smartphones can be built and customized using custom modules (or widgets) that can be easily exchanged for other modules as they become available. The primary goal for this engineering project is achieving a level of smartphone modularity, meaning that there may be an accessary, called a backbone, that interfaces with a microcontroller. The prototype presented at science fair will consist of many custom-etched circuits with 3D printed parts. This prototype will prove that modular smartphones are in our future. As an extension to this project, GSM I2C modules will be introduced to provide the basic phone networking capabilities. A touchscreen and an independent battery will also be embedded into the devices. "Raspberry Pi SPI and I2C Tutorial." Raspberry Pi SPI and I2C Tutorial. SparkFun, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/raspberry-pi-spi-and-i2c-tutorial>. "StEP Launches Interactive World E-Waste Map." United Nations University. United Nations University, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <https://unu.edu/media-relations/releases/steplaunches-interactive-world-e-waste-map.html#info>.
1003X12 Left and Right Channel Audio In a Compact, High Quality, and Fully Wireless Form Jordan Haran Sound is simply the detection of vibrations when air reaches the ears. Not all sound reproduction devices are equal. There is a multitude of ways to increase the quality and make audio as close to the real, live unrecorded sound as possible. Frequency range is one way to add depth to the sound of a speaker system. Using a three-way driver system including a high frequency and low frequency driver paired with a passive radiator to increase bass response. In order to have true immersion when consuming sound is to utilize a multichannel surround sound design. In order to maintain a portable rugged form factor and still have multi channel, high quality audio requires a new system for a wireless Bluetooth speaker. Current Bluetooth devices can only pair to one unit to transfer information, which means that multi channel Bluetooth is not possible without another form of wireless transmitting technology for the two speakers to communicate. Small, efficient, short-range radio transmitters and receivers solve the problem by sending the full range audio signal from one speaker to the other completely wirelessly. The unit being developed in this project combines high quality audio components with the immersive advantage of multi channel surround audio all in a completely self contained, battery powered, and completely wireless audio reproduction device. Beyond this there are many ways to implement this system into more complex systems made up of four or more portable speaker surround sound systems, in a very compact, wireless and high quality package. Tool, Floyd E. "Sound Reproduction Science in the Service of Art." Sound Reproduction Science in the Service of Art Templeton, Duncan, and David Saunders. "Properties of Sound." Acoustic Design (1987): 13-48. Web DDAudio. "DD Box Design." DD Audio. Resonance, Inc, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
1004X12 A Morse Code Arm Band for the Hearing and Seeing Impaired Lydia Kidwell For those with severe impairments in both hearing and seeing, communication with those who are not deaf-blind is an everyday challenge. While most use audio and visual cues to communicate, the deaf-blind rely on tactile information. For this reason, the deaf-blind need assistive technology to translate auditory and visual information into something physical. One solution would be a smart armband that utilizes speech-to-text and text-to- Morse-code software on a Raspberry Pi that vibrates the output in Morse code so that the user can understand the world around them. The device will be tested by having three different test subjects wear the armband while the experiment proctor speaks various words and phrases to the armband. Each subject will wear the device and noise cancelling headphones in areas with three different levels of background noise; 0 db, no background noise; 50 db, the level of average conversations; and 70 db, the level of a noisy restaurant. Testing the different levels of background noise will ensure that the armband can be utilized in all day-to-day activities. The subjects will then record what the device translates to them, and the percentage of correct characters will be calculated for each level of background noise. Results are pending. Future research would include a way to communicate from Morse code to speech. This would be done by having the user tap the display in Morse code, then utilize Morse-codeto-test and text-to-speech software. This armband helps the user, whether blind, deaf, or both, with everyday tasks such as ordering at restaurants, understanding teacher's instructions, or listening to the radio. Correa-Torres, S. (2008). The nature of the social experiences of students with deaf-blindness who are educated in enclusive settings. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, Vol 102 issue 5. https://www.afb.org/jvib/jvibabstractnew.asp?articleid=jvib020503 Miles, B. Overview on deaf-blindness. (October 2008). Retrieved from http://documents.nationaldb.org/products/overview.pdf How do deaf-blind people communicate? (2009). Retrieved from http://www.aadb.org/factsheets/db_communications.html
1005T11 Investigating the Application of Physarum polycephalum and Nanoparticles in Making Biological Circuits Rasvik Kudum, Sophie Wong P. polycephalum, a slime mold, is a unicellular organism which has a variety of potential applications in computing. This slime mold is renowned for its efficient network of growthtubes. This research investigates if the evolutionarily derived connectivity optimization of slime mold can be used to optimize circuit designs. The slime mold grows and transports nutrients by voltage oscillations in the cytoplasm through the organism s growth-tubes. P. polycephalum can also intake tungsten (VI) oxide nanoparticles and transport them throughout the entirety of the mold. Since these metallic nanoparticles are semiconductors, they will change the inherent conductivity of the slime mold wire. Data collection of the natural electrical properties of the slime with and without nanoparticles has been conducted. The results suggest that the addition of nanoparticles increases the mean voltage and decreases the amplitude of the slime mold s oscillations to a statistically significant degree (p<0.1). The maximum tolerated applied voltages of the slime mold with and without nanoparticles are also being measured. The goal of these measurements is to use the slime mold to create a more efficient circuit design. If slime mold can be used to grow efficient, programmable wires, it could potentially be used in electronics and could create a biocomputer. Mayne, R., & Adamatzky, A. (2014). Toward Hybrid Nanostructure- Slime Mould Devices. World Scientific Publishing Company, 4. Retrieved from http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/s179398441450007x. Tero, A., Kobayashi, R., & Nakagaki, T. (2007). A mathematical model for adaptive transport network in path finding by true slime mold. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 244(4), 553-564. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.07.015 Adamatzky, A. (2013). Physarum wires: Self-growing self-repairing smart wires made from slime mould. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.3583.
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