Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
23 Autonomous Motorized Mount for PATHS Sensor
Area Award: Research
 Brandon Bogue
Marvin Hernandez
Quoc Pham
 Yamuna Phal design_document0.pdf
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proposal0.pdf
PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS:
Quoc Pham - qpham2
Alexander Hernandez - maherna4
Brandon Bogue - bbogue2

PREFACE:
This project was proposed and is sponsored by Professor Waldrop.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
One of the current challenges in atmospheric research has been the ability to study the density, spatial distribution, and temporal variability. Therefore, the PATHS project has been proposed to implement remote sensing and controls theory to capture the “airglow” emission of Hydrogen for computing its density. This project will allow to overcome single-line-of-sight viewing geometry by allowing multi-angle viewing through a common volume to enable tomographic formulation for solving an inverse problem which will yield accurate H density.

The PATHS instrument used in this project is a novel ground-based photometer that will capture the brightness of H airglow along multiple lines-of-sight in an array configuration. The sensors used in the array are ~20x40 cm binocular optical assemblies, one of which must move over the course of the night.

The PATHS sensor needs to be pointed very precisely, within a fraction of a degree. It also needs to act semi-autonomously given a set of spherical coordinates, as it is grossly impractical to have a human attempt to directly control it.

PROPOSED PROJECT/SOLUTION:
We aim to achieve control by creating an automatable pointing mount for a mass model replica of the PATHS ground-based photometer array, as well as the software to steer it. This will be accomplished through modification of an existing commercial motorized pointing mount. This modification will largely consist of the integration of a PID-based control system, as well as allowing external communication.

The system will have control of two angles, the altitude and the azimuth, allowing the system to traverse the entire upper half sphere, autonomously identify an approximate system rotation to allow for precise calibration, be able to move smoothly between two spherical points, and have any other modes deemed necessary for proper functionality.

This system will communicate with an external device to receive commands and log exact position. For instance, the external device could supply two sets of spherical coordinates and a duration, causing the system to smoothly travel between those coordinates in the specified duration.


SUMMARY OF COMPONENTS:
- Commercial Pointing Mount
- Microcontroller
- Two motors
- 3D printed mass model of sensor
- Various parts for the assembly
- Possibly diagnostics (temperature sensor) for equipment protection and calibration

Recovery-Monitoring Knee Brace

Dong Hyun Lee, Jong Yoon Lee, Dennis Ryu

Featured Project

Problem:

Thanks to modern technology, it is easy to encounter a wide variety of wearable fitness devices such as Fitbit and Apple Watch in the market. Such devices are designed for average consumers who wish to track their lifestyle by counting steps or measuring heartbeats. However, it is rare to find a product for the actual patients who require both the real-time monitoring of a wearable device and the hard protection of a brace.

Personally, one of our teammates ruptured his front knee ACL and received reconstruction surgery a few years ago. After ACL surgery, it is common to wear a knee brace for about two to three months for protection from outside impacts, fast recovery, and restriction of movement. For a patient who is situated in rehabilitation after surgery, knee protection is an imperative recovery stage, but is often overlooked. One cannot deny that such a brace is also cumbersome to put on in the first place.

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Solution:

Our group aims to make a wearable device for people who require a knee brace by adding a health monitoring system onto an existing knee brace. The fundamental purpose is to protect the knee, but by adding a monitoring system we want to provide data and a platform for both doctor and patients so they can easily check the current status/progress of the injury.

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Audience:

1) Average person with leg problems

2) Athletes with leg injuries

3) Elderly people with discomforts

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Equipment:

Temperature sensors : perhaps in the form of electrodes, they will be used to measure the temperature of the swelling of the knee, which will indicate if recovery is going smoothly.

Pressure sensors : they will be calibrated such that a certain threshold of force must be applied by the brace to the leg. A snug fit is required for the brace to fulfill its job.

EMG circuit : we plan on constructing an EMG circuit based on op-amps, resistors, and capacitors. This will be the circuit that is intended for doctors, as it will detect muscle movement.

Development board: our main board will transmit the data from each of the sensors to a mobile interface via. Bluetooth. The user will be notified when the pressure sensors are not tight enough. For our purposes, the battery on the development will suffice, and we will not need additional dry cells.

The data will be transmitted to a mobile system, where it would also remind the user to wear the brace if taken off. To make sure the brace has a secure enough fit, pressure sensors will be calibrated to determine accordingly. We want to emphasize the hardware circuits that will be supplemented onto the leg brace.

We want to emphasize on the hardware circuit portion this brace contains. We have tested the temperature and pressure resistors on a breadboard by soldering them to resistors, and confirmed they work as intended by checking with a multimeter.

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