Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
5 Efficient Light Control system for Plant Growth
 Christelle Seri
Heonjang Lee
Sungjoo Chung
 Zhicong Fan design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
photo1.jpg
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
video
Efficient Light Control System for Plant Growth

Team Members:
- SungJoo Chung (sungjoo2)
- Christelle Seri (seri2)
- Heonjang Lee (hl8)

# Problem

Controlling the light intensity into a room can be important to plant growth. Artificial UVA lights have proven to be an effective solution to growing plants indoors. However, over time, the electricity costs will begin to add up.

# Solution

We propose an energy efficient blind system with UVA lights as a solution. A sensor would be placed on the plant vase to measure the amount of light received. The blinds would adjust so as to optimize the amount of light to the plant. The UVA lights will turn on when the maximum sunlight from the blinds is insufficient.
Thus the UVA lights would only be used when strictly necessary, cutting down on electricity costs as a result. Additionally, the blind system could be scheduled and adjusted to user needs as well.
This system will be easily controlled by a user using a mobile application, and also statistics will be provided on the application.


# Solution Components

Blinds with motors
UVA Lights
Photosensors
App

## Blinds with Motors
We have decided to use the servo motor for our project because of its precision and feedback capabilities. A crucial part of our project is to adjust the angles of the blinds based on its current position and the amount of lights the plants are receiving. In order to do so, it needs a closed-loop feedback system, which the servo motor has. Currently, we are considering using the MG995 RC Servo Motor. This motor will be powered by the microcontroller that we will be implementing for the solution. Using these motors, the blinds will be either tilted or raised/lowered.

## UVA Lights
The UVA lights will be connected to and controlled by a ESP32­-WROOM­-32E microcontroller. The microcontroller will communicate with the photosensor subsystem and adjust the UVA lights accordingly. The microcontroller we plan to use will have bluetooth and wifi capabilities. As the main purpose of this system is to conserve energy by controlling the brightness of the UVA light in conjunction with sunlight, we will be using a dimmable black-bulb from Green Creative, which works by emitting UV lights, as a source of UVA lights for the plants.

## Photosensors
We plan to use photo sensors to sense the amount of incoming ambient light. The photosensors will be connected to another ESP3 which will read and transmit the light intensity data. Multiple photosensors should be well positioned in the vase to minimize the discrepancy of the data. We will be using the TSL2561 Luminosity Sensor for the project as it is precise, small in size and compatible with microcontrollers.

## App
User has to set the intensity and duration of light using this app.
It will also continuously collect the light intensity information from the photosensors and save in the database.
Using the user-defined configuration and collected illumination data, the app will apply an algorithm to control the blind adjustment system and UVA lights.
The application will also aggregate the log daily and provide the statistics about the system including how much of power was saved from the system.
App will be built using React Native and the backend server will run in the AWS.

# Criterion For Success
Regardless of the weather conditions, the system should be offering a constant amount of light for a requested amount of time.
The photosensors on the vase should correctly calculate the illumination on the plant to minimize the discrepancy between the actual illumination on the plant and the collected data
The application should have a enough number of modes to cover various types of plants including cactus, tropical plants, conifers, etc

Covert Communication Device

Ahmad Abuisneineh, Srivardhan Sajja, Braeden Smith

Covert Communication Device

Featured Project

**Partners (seeking one additional partner)**: Braeden Smith (braeden2), Srivardhan Sajja (sajja3)

**Problem**: We imagine this product would have a primary use in military/law enforcement application -- especially in dangerous, high risk missions. During a house raid or other sensitive mission, maintaining a quiet profile and also having good situational awareness is essential. That mean's that normal two way radios can't work. And alternatives, like in-ear radios act as outside->in communication only and also reduce the ability to hear your surroundings.

**Solution**: We would provide a series of small pocketable devices with long battery that would use LoRa radios to provide a range of 1-5 miles. They would be rechargeable and have a single recessed soft-touch button that would allow someone to find it inside of pockets and tap it easily. The taps would be sent in real-time to all other devices, where they would be translated into silent but noticeable vibrations. (Every device can obviously TX/RX).

Essentially a team could use a set of predetermined signals or even morse code, to quickly and without loss of situational awareness communicate movements/instructions to others who are not within line-of-sight.

The following we would not consider part of the basic requirements for success, but additional goals if we are ahead of schedule:

We could also imagine a base-station which would allow someone using a computer to type simple text that would be sent out as morse code or other predetermined patterns. Additionally this base station would be able to record and monitor the traffic over the LoRa channels (including sender).

**Solutions Components**:

- **Charging and power systems**: the device would have a single USB-C/Microusb port that would connect to charging circuitry for the small Lithium-ion battery (150-500mAh). This USB port would also connect to the MCU. The subsystem would also be responsible to dropping the lion (3.7-4.2V to a stable 3.3V logic level). and providing power to the vibration motor.

- **RF Communications**: we would rely on externally produced RF transceivers that we would integrate into our PCB -- DLP-RFS1280, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16871, https://www.adafruit.com/product/3073, .

-**Vibration**: We would have to research and source durable quiet, vibration motors that might even be adjustable in intensity

- **MCU**: We are likely to use the STM32 series of MCU's. We need it to communicate with the transceiver (probably SPI) and also control the vibration motor (by driving some transistor). The packets that we send would need to be encrypted (probably with AES). We would also need it to communicate to a host computer for programming via the same port.

- **Structural**: For this prototype, we'd imagine that a simple 3d printed case would be appropriate. We'd have to design something small and relatively ergonomic. We would have a single recessed location for the soft-touch button, that'd be easy to find by feel.

**Basic criterion for success:** We have at least two wireless devices that can reliably and quickly transfer button-presses to vibrations on the other device. It should operate at at *least* 1km LOS. It should be programmable + chargeable via USB. It should also be relatively compact in size and quiet to use.

**Additional Success Criterion:** we would have a separate, 3rd device that can stay permanently connected to a computer. It would provide some software that would be able to send and receive from the LoRa radio, especially ASCII -> morse code.