Every semester, a new batch of Purdue electrical and computer engineers work their way through ECE477, a project-based senior design course. As the NBitWonder staff are Purdue ECE alums ourselves, we have a strong connection to Purdue and its ECE program. Without further ado, here are the senior design projects from ECE477 this semester.

Quick links:
Team1 Team2 Team3 Team4 Team5 Team6 Team7 Team8 Team9 Team10 Team11 Team12 Team13 Team14 Team15

Team 1: GHUD

The first project this semester was called GHUD. It’s a dashboard-mounted heads up display which projects information onto the windshield of a car so that the driver doesn’t have to take his/her eyes off of the road. It utilizes a GSM modem chip, enabling to access Google maps and toggle map overlays. The final demonstration video for the project can be found here, and all videos associated with the project can be found here. For all other information about the project, consult the team’s project webpage, which can be found here.

Team 2: HOARD (Horde Of Autonomous Robotics Devices)

Team 2 developed a swarm of robots this semester. The swarm consists of 8 robots, each possessing IR leds, photodetectors, and wireless transceivers. The team developed a youtube page, featuring several videos of their robot swarm, which can be found here. The final demonstration video for the team is shown below.

For more information about the project, consult the team’s project webpage.

Team 3: ATV (Autonomous Targeting Vehicle)

Team 3′s project was an autonomous rover, capable of autonomous navigation via GPS as well as object identification and tracking. The team set up a youtube page, which can be found here. Featured below is the final demonstration video for the project (is it just me, or do the robot wheels look like ice cream sandwiches?).

For more information on the project, consult the team’s project webpage.

Team 4: 3MS (Mobile MultiPoint Monitoring System)

Team 4′s project, 3MS, is an electronic “leash” of sorts, triggering an alarm when one or more slave nodes gets beyond a user-programmable range of the host controller. Wireless communication is done using Zigbee modules, and distance is measured using the Zigbee received signal strength indicator (RSSI) feature. Videos of the project are featured on a youtube channel, and the team’s final presentation video is shown below:

For more information about the project, consult the team’s project webpage.

Team 5: WaWA (We are Wireless Audio)

Team 5 developed a digital wireless audio system, capable to accepting music via a standard audio jack at a host station and then transmitting the audio wirelessly to remote nodes. The team’s final presentation video is shown below.

For more information about this project, see the project webpage.

Team 6: Defender

Team 6′s project, the Defender, is an automated turret with computer vision and tracking capabilities. The turret uses a coil and some power electronics to fire projectiles (as opposed to paintball guns and other gas guns, which are popular in many internet turret builds). The team’s final video is embedded below, and for more information consult the team’s website.

Team 7: DHS (Digijock Home Security)

Team 7′s project is a wireless web-connected home security system, consisting of a main control station and a number of sensor slave nodes. In the project, smoke, temperature, noise, and motion sensor nodes were demonstrated. For more information about the project, see the project webpage.

Team 8: Recon Robot

Team 8 developed a 4-wheel-drive autonomous rover for recon and surveillance purposes. The rover features a GPS transceiver for navigation and a video camera and transceiver for wireless video transmission. For more information about the project, see the project webpage.

Team 9: MRAV (Multi-Rover Autonomous Vehicle)

Team 9′s project, MRAV, is a autonomous quadrotor UAV. The project uses an Ardupilot Mega board from DIY Drones, but the Arduino IDE and it’s limitations are gutted in favor of embedded C. The 8-bit ATMega microcontroller runs an autonomous stabilization algorithm, which includes real-time adjustment of PID control parameters. More information about the project can be found on the project webpage.

Team 10: Freed of Feedback

Team 10′s project is a feedback suppression device, designed to eliminate feedback in audio waveforms for sound reproduction. It accomplishes this through the use of a real time analyzer (RTA). For more information about the project, consult the project webpage.

Team 11: KartSense

Team 11′s project, KartSense, is an onboard data-logging and telemetry system for use on an electric go-kart. The system was designed for use in this year’s Electric Vehicle Grand Prix. The system features GPS tracking, lap counting, and battery/engine temperature measurement, and includes a wireless link to transmit this information back to the pit crew. The demonstration video for the team is shown below, and for more information, consult the team’s project website.

Team 12: 2D-MPR

Team 12′s 2D-MPR was a mobile robot that was designed to navigate a room and generate two dimensional maps of the room. Our very own Sam Mussmann was a member of the team working on this project. The design utilized a number of off-the-shelf components, including an iRobot Create as the robotics platform and a Microsoft Kinect for the acquisition of mapping data. More information about the project is available at the team’s project webpage.

Team 13: VPV (Virtual Presence Vehicle)

Team 13′s VPV was a 4WD rover with a twist. The rover had a pair of onboard cameras with a wireless link. The user of the rover would then have a pair of googles with 2 LCD screens, each screen corresponding to one of the cameras. In this way, the user would be able to view the areas explored by the rover in a more realistic way. Information about the project is available on the team’s project webpage.

Team 14: Self-Balancing Biped Robot

Team 14′s project was a self-balancing bipedal robot. This project is somewhat unique in that, instead of using a sophisticated (and expensive) control system, it achieves walking by stepping through a set of known, preprogrammed balanced states. The team’s final demonstration video is available here, and for more information about the project consult the team’s project webpage.

Team 15: Skinny Dippers

Team 15′s project was an automatic pool chemical regulation system for a pool owner. The system is able to monitor pH and chlorine levels in the pool, and add additional chemicals as needed to keep the pool clean and safe. One of the cool things about this project is that the team chose to forego commercial sensors in favor of constructing their own sensors for measuring chlorine and pH levels. Information about the project can be found on the team’s project webpage.