Senior Design Project - Design Review

SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT

DESIGN REVIEW

CHILD MONITORING DEVICE

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Submitted on December 8, 1998

Project Description

Abstract

Project Plan

Problem Statement

Design Objective

Design Review

Technical Solution

Gantt Chart

Final Report

Proposed Budget

Hardware Specifications

Team Members

Task Assignments

Faculty Advisor

ABSTRACT OF THE PROJECT

The "Child Monitoring Device" (CMD) is a device specifically designed for a parent

Client

to supervise his/her child’s activities. This device is a system that includes a

Tracer/Monitor and a Communication Dummy. It will be designed for use in the

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home as well as for outside of the house. The parent will be able to monitor the

distance and position of the child within a certain radius without any direct

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supervision. The device will also have a buzzer that alerts the parent whenever the

child is in contact with water (ie. Swimming pool, bathroom) or beyond a specified

distance from the parent. Technically, this device uses radio frequency waves to

send and receive signals from the device worn by the child to the parent’s monitor.

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PROBLEM STATEMENT

Children around the age of 5 tend to be very active. They are curious about things

that take place around them and will venture off without any warning. It is not always

easy for parents of guardians to take care of their children every second.

Consequently, children may be involved in accidents that our device will help avoid.

Parents need some sort of device that would assist them in looking after their

children. Our senior design project called the "Child Monitoring Device" (CMD) is

the solution to this dilemma. By using this device, parents will be able to monitor the

location of their child and see if he/she is near water without having to accompany

them all of the time.

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DESIGN OBJECTIVE

Generally, the "Child Monitoring Device" consists of two components, a

Tracer/Monitor (used by the parents) and a Communication Dummy (attached to

the child).

In order to initiate communication, the Tracer sends out a radio signal periodically to

the Communication Dummy. As the Communication Dummy receives the signal, it

will transmit another radio signal back to the Tracer. A micro-controller is embedded

in the Tracer, which controls the signal generator and will compute the distance the

child is from the parent. The Tracer is also equipped with a position sensor that

monitors the location of the child.

In addition to just sending a signal back to the Tracer, the Communication Dummy

has a special sensor that will trigger whenever the child is in contact with water or is

not within a specified radius. When this happens. The Communication Dummy will

activate the signal generator and transmit a radio signal to the Tracer to report the

situation. Having a buzzer attached, the Tracer will assert a command that triggers a

buzzer notifying the parents that the child could be in trouble.

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TECHNICAL SOLUTION

The CMD is composed of the Tracer/Monitor and the Communication Dummy.

These two parts are described below:

Tracer/Monitor (see diagram below)

At a set time interval the micro-controller will instruct the signal generator to send out

a signal through the signal generator. Concurrently with the signal being sent a

counter is started in the micro-controller. When the signal is received back the

micro-controller is informed and the counter is stopped. The micro-controller uses

the information on the number of ticks that were counted between the time the signal

was sent and when it was received to calculate the distance of the Communication

Dummy. The signal received is also sent to the position sensor, which will calculate

the direction of the signal. Both the distance and direction of the signal are than

displayed on the LCD screen. If no signal is received or the specified signal for

water contact is received, the buzzer will sound and an appropriate message is

displayed on the screen.

parent_device.gif (8265 bytes)

Communication Dummy (see diagram below)

The Communication Dummy is a very simple device. If a signal is received by the

signal receiver the device will have the signal generator send a signal out. If the water

sensor comes in contacts with water, it instructs the signal generator to output a

signal of a specific frequency.

child_device.gif (4370 bytes)

We have decided to add a delay between the Signal Receiver and the Signal

Generator so that time differences will be more easily measured

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HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS

1. Micro-controller

- MC68HC11 (will be used for testing and prototyping)

2. Signal Receivers

- Frequency of 900 MHz, exact brand unknown

3. Signal Generators

- Frequency of 900 MHz, exact brand unknown

4. Water Sensor

- This device is currently being designed

5. Battery/Power

- Necessary voltage wll depend on signal equipment used

6. Display Screen

- LCD Display

7. Direction Sensor

- The implementation of this device is not yet known

8. Buzzer

- Standard low power speaker

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To view the Gantt Chart, press here

To view the Proposed Budget, proceed here

TASK ASSIGNMENTS

Major Task	Student in Charge
Setup Micro-controller	All team members
Main Routine	Mohd-Bakri, Izmil Hafeiz Whittle, Matthew
Setup LCD Display	Whittle, Matthew Kang, Gaik-Loong
Message Display Routine	Kang, Gaik-Loong
Interrupt Routine	Mohd-Bakri, Izmil Hafeiz Whittle, Matthew
Distance_Count Routine	Whittle, Matthew
Find_Direction Routine	Kang, Gaik-Loong
Transceiver and Micro-controller Interfacing	All team members
Transceiver and Sensors Interfacing	Mohd-Bakri, Izmil Hafeiz Kang, Gaik-Loong
Water Sensor	Mohd-Bakri, Izmil Hafeiz
Direction Sensor	Kang, Gaik-Loong
Power Low Sensor	Whittle, Matthew
Timer Chip Setup and Interfacing	Mohd-Bakri, Izmil Hafeiz

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Send your comments to cmd-team@iastate.edu