Written Resources

Design Methods Reference Books

"Electronics, Project Management and Design", by D. Joseph Stadtmiller, published by Prentice Hall, 2001.
(Paperback w/ CD-ROM: ISBN 0-13-012729-9)

"Engineering Design Methods", by Nigel Cross, published by Wiley
(ISBN 0-471-94228-6)

"Engineering Design for Electrical Engineers" by Alan D. Wilcox, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-278136-0)

"Strategies for Creative Problem Solving" by H. Scott Fogler and Steven E. LeBlanc, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-179318-7)

Sensors and Instrumentation Reference Books

"Measurement, Instrumentation and Sensors Handbook", ed. John Webster, published by CRC Press and IEEE Press, 1999.
(ISBN 0-8493-8347-1)

"Electronic Instrument Handbook", by Clyde Coombs, published by McGraw Hill, 1999.
(Hardcover: ISBN 0071350160, Paperback: ISBN 007026186)

"Capacitive Sensors", by L. Baxter, IEEE Series on Electronic Technology, 1997.
(ISBN 0-7803-1130-2)

High Speed Design Issues

High Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic by Howard W. Johnson & Martin Graham, published by Prentice Hall
(ISBN 0-13-395724-1)

Drum Tutor Lite

Zhen Qin, Yuanheng Yan, Xun Yu

Drum Tutor Lite

Featured Project

Team: Yuanheng Yan, Zhen Qin, Xun Yu

Vision: Rhythm games such as guitar hero are much easier than playing the actual drums. We want to make a drum tutor that makes playing drums as easy as guitar hero. The player is not required to read a sheet music.

Description: We will build a drum add-on that will tutor people how to play the drums. We will make a panel for visual queue of the drum and beats in a form similar to guitar hero game. The panel can be a N*10 (N varying with the drum kit) led bar array. Each horizontal bar will be a beat and each horizontal line above the bottom line will represent the upcoming beats.

There will be sensors on each drum that will fire when the drum heads is hit. The drums will be affixed with ring of light that provides the timing and accuracy of the player according to the sensors.

Of course with a flip of a switch, the drum could be a simple light up drum: when the player hits the drum, that particular drum will light up giving cool effects.

The system will be on a microprocessor. Or for more versatile uses, it could be connected to the computer. And a app will be written for the tutor.

Project Videos