Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
29 Soil Analyzer
Joseph Wightman
Paul Sikora
Yangge Li design_document1.pdf
design_document2.pdf
design_document3.pdf
design_document4.pdf
final_paper1.docx
other1.docx
presentation1.pptx
proposal1.pdf
Student Names: Joseph Wightman: jww2
Paul Sikora: psikor3

Title: Soil Analyzer

Problem: With the current uncertainty of weather patterns, we would like to keep the farmers informed of the quality of their soil. It is very important that a fields soil maintain an adequate amount of moisture and nutrients for the crops to grow. Without this, the farmers crops might fail. Currently John Deere has developed a tractor attachment that can analyze the soil. We would like to instead develop a solution that can stay in the field year long.

Solution Overview: We plan to construct a small structure that can fit in a cube with sides about 8" long. This device will have a moisture sensor on the end of a probe along with two other probes responsible for testing the resistance of the soil being probed. We plan to use to any generic moisture sensor found on amazon. We have found a few possibilities on amazon that are relatively affordable. To find the resistance reading of the soil, we plan to use 2 copper sticks as the probes. Basically, it will have the form factor of an oil platform at sea. A soils resistance can indicate the presence of adequate fertilization, and the moisture of the soil can indicate proper irrigation being provided. We intend to have multiple devices distributed in an array within a field. These devices will send all their data to a computer, where the data will be collected, and then formed over a GIS map to indicate the bigger picture of soil quality in a given field. We plan to send all the information to a computer station, and then from there hope to overlay our information over a GIS map. If we cannot achieve communication to a computer, we will instead try to display the information on an LCD on the device.

We plan to use two probes inserted into the soil about 5 in. apart. With these probes we hope to measure the resistance between these two points. Soil resistance, or soil resistivity, is the measure of electrical conductivity of a sample of soil. This is often observed when considering grounding methods for bigger applications. Resistance appears from conductivity through moisture or through the raw material. A change in the composition of materials can create a different resistance. Measuring resistivity is the completed with DC circuits. Taking measurements will be taken once a day, but for presentation purposes we can adjust the timing.

Solution Component:
1. Soil Resistance Component
-Should test and report the resistance of the soil across to separate probes
2. Soil Moisture Component
-Should test and report the volumetric water content in soil and report it
3. Data Communication
-Should transfer data between the array of probes and report it to a main hub.
4. GIS display
-We will be using ArcGIS software to map out a GIS system that contains soil quality data throughout the entire plot of land,
which will be displayed onto a LCD screen
5. Power Supply
- We plan to use to a small rechargeable battery attached to a solar cell, in order to provide year long service.

Criterion for success:
To be considered a working device, the system needs to collect the resistive nature of the soil, the volumetric water content in soil, and be able to transmit that data to a hub that keeps track of the geographical location of each data point. With these geographical data points, we need to have a working GIS display of the soil quality throughout the specified plot of land.

Master Bus Processor

Clay Kaiser, Philip Macias, Richard Mannion

Master Bus Processor

Featured Project

General Description

We will design a Master Bus Processor (MBP) for music production in home studios. The MBP will use a hybrid analog/digital approach to provide both the desirable non-linearities of analog processing and the flexibility of digital control. Our design will be less costly than other audio bus processors so that it is more accessible to our target market of home studio owners. The MBP will be unique in its low cost as well as in its incorporation of a digital hardware control system. This allows for more flexibility and more intuitive controls when compared to other products on the market.

Design Proposal

Our design would contain a core functionality with scalability in added functionality. It would be designed to fit in a 2U rack mount enclosure with distinct boards for digital and analog circuits to allow for easier unit testings and account for digital/analog interference.

The audio processing signal chain would be composed of analog processing 'blocks’--like steps in the signal chain.

The basic analog blocks we would integrate are:

Compressor/limiter modes

EQ with shelf/bell modes

Saturation with symmetrical/asymmetrical modes

Each block’s multiple modes would be controlled by a digital circuit to allow for intuitive mode selection.

The digital circuit will be responsible for:

Mode selection

Analog block sequence

DSP feedback and monitoring of each analog block (REACH GOAL)

The digital circuit will entail a series of buttons to allow the user to easily select which analog block to control and another button to allow the user to scroll between different modes and presets. Another button will allow the user to control sequence of the analog blocks. An LCD display will be used to give the user feedback of the current state of the system when scrolling and selecting particular modes.

Reach Goals

added DSP functionality such as monitoring of the analog functions

Replace Arduino boards for DSP with custom digital control boards using ATmega328 microcontrollers (same as arduino board)

Rack mounted enclosure/marketable design

System Verification

We will qualify the success of the project by how closely its processing performance matches the design intent. Since audio 'quality’ can be highly subjective, we will rely on objective metrics such as Gain Reduction (GR [dB]), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD [%]), and Noise [V] to qualify the analog processing blocks. The digital controls will be qualified by their ability to actuate the correct analog blocks consistently without causing disruptions to the signal chain or interference. Additionally, the hardware user interface will be qualified by ease of use and intuitiveness.

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