Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
56 Smart AC Units
Kevin Zhang
Vineeth Kalister
Xavier Oliva
 Douglas Yu design_document1.docx
design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
proposal1.pdf
# TEAM MEMBERS:

Kevin Zhang - kevinhz2
Vineeth Kalister - vkalis2
Xavier Oliva - xoliva2

# **PROBLEM:**
In the United States, about a third of homes lack a central air conditioning system. While some homes are in climates where they do not need an air conditioning solution, the vast majority of other homes rely on window units for their air conditioning. This is especially true in communities with older homes, such as New York City and Boston. Many older homes use “dumb” wall-mounted AC units that are inefficient and manually set. We want to target these homes and make them more efficient through “smart” AC control units. Although there exist “smart” wall-mounted units, these are often equipped with proprietary solutions that work with few systems, or are expensive devices to modulate the voltage going inside the AC unit without changing the settings of the unit. With our Smart AC Unit system, we believe that we can accomplish a more efficient and equitable experience for those with window unit ACs and ensure optimal ease of access as well as a lower power bill. As the central air conditioning market advances in the technology available to make the air conditioning experience easier, such advances and improvements are lacking in homes that do not have central air conditioning. While there are systems in the market that allow you to have your central air conditioning system interact with voice assistants or other AI services, window unit users are stuck with simple knobs and switches. The few smart devices that do interface with window units are typically proprietary designs that work with specific higher priced designs or are devices that simply modulate voltage going into the AC system.


# SOLUTION:
Our proposal is a multi-part system combining temperature sensors, servo motors, and central control units to allow for wall-mount ACs to be automatically controlled through an application on one’s smart device. The device will be able to latch on top of the knobs of a window unit AC and, with the help of the User Application available on their mobile device, be able to adjust the knobs remotely to the settings of the user’s choosing.
The main system relies on sensor units, control units, and mobile devices. The prototype device will be tested on a 5000 BTU Arctic King window air conditioner.

# SOLUTION COMPONENTS:
Air Conditioner System (Smart AC device)
## Power Unit
The Smart AC itself will need to be powered with enough voltage to be able to power the two motors responsible for turning the knobs on an 5,000 BTU Arctic King window air conditioner as well the temperature and air quality sensors.

## Sensor Unit

The Smart AC device will be equipped with a temperature sensor in order to read the temperature of the room, and thus, regulate the temperature to the temperature selected by the User Application. The Smart AC device will also be equipped with an air quality sensor which enables the air quality of the room to be read and communicated to the user through the User Application.

## Control Unit

The control unit of the Smart AC device system will be capable of changing the settings of both the temperature and cooling knobs of the Arctic King window air conditioner. If the temperature set by the User Application is higher or lower than that measured by the Sensor Unit, the Control Unit is responsible for adjusting the air conditioner settings to ensure that the room temperature stays constant.

** Mobile Device System (User Application)**
## UI Unit
The user applications contain all the necessary features to read the current room temperature, turn on/off the AC system, change and schedule temperatures, change fan speeds, etc.
## Control Unit
The user application will be able to communicate with the Smart AC device via bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi.

CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS:
- The AC Unit can be controlled and changed
- The sensor unit can accurately read the current room temperature
- Mobile Devices able to communicate with the AC System
- Change AC temperature whenever and wherever via one’s smart device
- Automatically set time ranges for AC use to increase the efficiency of the unit

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.