Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
28 1D LiDAR TOF Rangefinder
 Chee Loh
Ping-Wen Wang
Xingliang Wu
 Mustafa Mir design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
presentation0.pdf
proposal0.pdf
The goal of the project is to begin the first phase of the design of a LiDAR system: the time-of-flight rangefinder. This system will consist of a laser emitting source, a photo-detector, and the appropriate control to calculate the distance of stationary objects as well as the speed of moving objects. The system will be accurate for objects located at short distances and small error.
In terms of originality, complete LiDAR systems already exist. However, those systems are quite expensive to maintain and run. This project aims to be more accurate for smaller scale regions while maintaining a relatively low cost.

Wireless IntraNetwork

Daniel Gardner, Jeeth Suresh

Wireless IntraNetwork

Featured Project

There is a drastic lack of networking infrastructure in unstable or remote areas, where businesses don’t think they can reliably recoup the large initial cost of construction. Our goal is to bring the internet to these areas. We will use a network of extremely affordable (<$20, made possible by IoT technology) solar-powered nodes that communicate via Wi-Fi with one another and personal devices, donated through organizations such as OLPC, creating an intranet. Each node covers an area approximately 600-800ft in every direction with 4MB/s access and 16GB of cached data, saving valuable bandwidth. Internal communication applications will be provided, minimizing expensive and slow global internet connections. Several solutions exist, but all have failed due to costs of over $200/node or the lack of networking capability.

To connect to the internet at large, a more powerful “server” may be added. This server hooks into the network like other nodes, but contains a cellular connection to connect to the global internet. Any device on the network will be able to access the web via the server’s connection, effectively spreading the cost of a single cellular data plan (which is too expensive for individuals in rural areas). The server also contains a continually-updated several-terabyte cache of educational data and programs, such as Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg. This data gives students and educators high-speed access to resources. Working in harmony, these two components foster economic growth and education, while significantly reducing the costs of adding future infrastructure.