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Description
The increasing presence and affordability of sensors provides the opportunity to make novel and creative designs for underserved markets like the legally blind. Here we explore how mathematical methods and device coordination can be utilized to improve the functionality of inexpensive proximity sensing electronics in order to create designs that are versatile, durable, low cost, and simple. Devices utilizing various acoustic and electromagnetic wave frequencies like ultrasonic rangefinders, radars, Lidar rangefinders, webcams, and infrared rangefinders and the concepts of Sensor Fusion, Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar, and Phased Arrays were explored. The effects of various factors on the propagation of different wave signals was also investigated. The devices selected to be incorporated into designs were the HB100 DRO Radar Doppler Sensor (as an FMCW radar), HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor, and Maxbotix Ultrasonic Rangefinder \u2014 EZ3. Three designs were ultimately developed and dubbed the "Rad-Son Fusion", the "Tri-Beam Scanner", and the "Dual-Receiver Ranger". The "Rad-Son Fusion" employs the Sensor Fusion of an FMCW radar and Ultrasonic sensor through a weighted average of the distance reading from the two sensors. The "Tri-Beam Scanner" utilizes a beam-forming Digital Phased Array of ultrasonic sensors to scan its surroundings. The "Dual-Receiver Ranger" uses the convolved result from to two modified HC-SR04 sensors to determine the time of flight and ultimately an object's distance. After conducting hardware experiments to determine the feasibility of each design, the "Dual-Receiver Ranger" was prototyped and tested to demonstrate the potential of the concept. The designs were later compared based on proposed requirements and possible improvements and challenges associated with the designs are discussed.
ContributorsFeinglass, Joshua Forster (Author) / Goryll, Michael (Thesis director) / Reisslein, Martin (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Active sensing is a sensory phenomenon in which organisms use self-generated energy to examine their surroundings. This experiment strives to better understand active sensing in honeybees, predicting that active sensing may display itself primarily through antennae movement and that preventing antennae movement may result in differences in electroantennogram dose-response curves and associative learning plasticity. This will be done by examining changes in amplitude in electroantennogram response in both fixed-antenna and free-antenna bees over the course of a differential training protocol that establishes learned behavior discrimination.
ContributorsLei, Harry (Author) / Smith, Brian (Thesis director) / Albin-Brooks, Christopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2023-05