Engineering Commons^™

Wearable Device To Detect Cardiac Arrest, Jon Dyke, Majid Alashari, Ashraf Al Gumaei

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death globally and is unwitnessed in most cases. This begs the question: how can anyone know that an individual is experiencing cardiac arrest if no one is around to see it? MULT 603 has designed a cardiac arrest monitoring device that a person can wear on their wrist. This device detects the individual’s heartbeat; in the case that the person’s heartbeat drops below their normal individual threshold, their family, doctors, and friends along with emergency medical services will be notified of their location and condition. The hope is to drastically improve …

S.H.I.E.L.D Relays (Shadow-Masked Hack-Proof Ion Etched Latch Deterrence Relays), Anh Dinh, Adrienne Ilustre, Thomas Nuckols, Sean Payne

Capstone Design Expo Posters

We are presenting micro-scale logic devices using single cantilever relays fabricated in-plane from single crystal Silicon. These logic devices are designed to protect electrical systems that require a high level of security by being completely hack proof by not having the ability or need to be connected to any outside internet connection. Because these devices are fabricated from silicon, they are extremely reliable, durable and adaptable. Silicon’s high Young’s Modulus allows the cantilevers to function for an extremely long time, compared to other materials such as metal that will start to fatigue over time, producing a longer life span of …

Assistant Suite, Dale Greene, John Pham, Ritvik Nag

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This project was conducted to demonstrate a voice-to-mechanical application from one source to multiple platforms with the use of hardware-to-software technology. The main platforms that are used for implementation is an Amazon Echo Dot, which serves as the voice interceptor to transcribe speech through integrated software hosted within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud network, and a Raspberry Pi microcontroller, which serves as the device which controlled mechanical movements based on what is transcribed from the Echo. The user can speak a command into the Echo to control the movement of one of two RC cars without any physical engagement. …

Plant Process Emulator, Ben Horstmann, Krista Wood, David Adu-Mensah, Felix Baffoe-Ofori

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of this project is to provide the VCU Engineering Students with a training system to simulate the use of Industrial Automation systems. Students need a wide variety of training systems to adequately train and improve their knowledge of all the fundamentals of PLC systems. There are multiple companies that sell a very expensive training setup that can teach students about Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control systems and mechanical systems but those systems cost too much (~$20,000+) for a small university or trade school to fund. The training system that was built provides the student with real world control and monitoring …

Automatic Dispensing Pill Caddy For The Elderly, Timothy H. Bruce, William Friend, Damien Nobles, Andrew Stasi, Courtney Bailey, Damoneke Harper

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The report, Aging in the United States, finds that baby boomers who are at retirement age are in worse health compared with previous generations. More of them are living with chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease; all which require medication. The report also anticipates the number of people with dementia could nearly triple in the coming decades, resulting in senior adults requiring more assistance with daily activities.

Our product intends to enhance the quality of life of the older adult population by providing a pill dispenser that creates convenience with alerts and notifications. This …

Portable Pure-Tone Audiometer, Zachary Conner, Zachary Clute, Min Su Ju, James Le

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This project addresses the issue of making hearing tests available to more people, specifically those who live in parts of the world where audiologist are not readily available. Most countries around the world, including first-world countries, have a large gap in hearing testing when put in the perspective of the amount of hearing loss in their people. Most portable audiometers only perform air conduction hearing tests, yet physicians are in need of vital bone conduction information for proper diagnosis. To address this need, we developed an audiometer that is portable, yet also supports air and bone conduction testing. Features that …

Collaborative Collective Algorithms To Coordinate Ugvs, Kyle Archuleta, Christopher Lucas, Brian Richardson, Michael Stewart

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Sentel/Brilliant Innovations has developed autonomous UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) capable of generating a map of an unknown location through exploration using local software and the power of Google Tango technology. This project was tasked with developing an efficient and capable map-stitching solution allowing multiple UGVs to coordinate their movements and share information in order to greatly improve the speed at which these drones can be used to generate maps. The solution utilizes the processing power of a Raspberry Pi to pull maps from a Redis server and stitch them together. Once stitched, the maps are redistributed via the Redis server …

Fdp – Vcu Data Acquisition Device, Ferdinand Agyei-Yeboah, Tommy Huynh, Charles Nimo, Thomas Oakley

Capstone Design Expo Posters

There is a need to monitor critical information during brake testing to obtain feedback and, ultimately, more insight on the brake performance of a vehicle. Currently, much of the data logging equipment required for testing is very specialized and consequently expensive. Additionally, automotive test vehicles apply older technology that is often not integrated with data analytics for calibrating stopping distance, number of stops, deceleration, and brake squeal. Presently, drivers fill out forms describing issues with brakes.

Our team generated a device for FDP Brakes that monitors brake pad temperature, brake line pressure, and GPS location and speed of a test …

Low Cost And Durable Perovskite Solar Cells, Jack Carli, Kapil Marahatta, Feras Kakish, Jason Mcaleese

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Perovskite solar cells offer an alternative approach to photovoltaic solar power generation versus traditional silicon solar cells, by rivaling their efficiency at potentially less than half the cost. Perovskite’s name comes from the crystal structure that encompasses the active layer (Methylammonium Lead Iodide – CH₃NH₃PbI₃), the region that absorbs photons and generates electrical energy by creating electron hole pairs. The presence of the organic cation (methylammonium) causes degradation of the active layer under humidity, UV light, and high temperature, which lowers the effectiveness of the cells. This project investigates low-cost routes and materials for …

Optically Transparent Antennas And Filters, Ranjita Timsina, Joshua Pitchford, Michelle Guzman, Supapon Hia

Capstone Design Expo Posters

As society continues to increase its demand for wireless network access, more antennas, base stations, and network access points is a must. By integrating these antennas into existing infrastructure, such as buildings, cars, and street lights, network engineers can begin to meet these demands. In order to integrate antennas into windows, optical transparency is paramount. Optically transparent antennas are currently created through materials known as Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs). TCOs are doped metal oxides that have high optical transmittance and low electrical resistivity. TCOs are employed in flat panel displays, touch sensitive control panels, and electromagnetic shielding windows. The most …

Collision Avoidance For Quadcopters, Andrew Ward, Brad Clifford, Shane Gifford, Thomas White

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of our project is to design and implement an obstacle detection and avoidance system for use on multirotor drones. The system gathers information from two Arducam 5MP cameras, using stereoscopic vision as the primary obstacle detection source. It also uses an XL-MaxSonar-EZ3 ultrasonic sensor as a backup, in case the cameras fail to detect an obstacle. All three of these sensors will be mounted to the drone using a 3D printed mounting bracket, to ensure consistency of sensor information. The system will interface with the Naza-M v2 flight controller, overriding the user controls when the user attempts to …

Infrared Stereo-Vision Target Tracking Robot, Alex Elliott

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Computer stereo-vision consists on a system that is able to obtain, estimate, and extract distance information of a scene in space from a set of 2D images. The system can be upgraded one step further by utilizing LWIR (Long Wave Infrared) sensors, in order to potentially place the system in low-visibility scenarios where ordinary color sensors might not be the best option. The data streams via an analog signal and is converted to serial-USB to be processed. The sensors are placed parallel, mounted on a bracket and attached to a robotics platform.

In order to estimate depth, a concept called …

Real-Time Measurement Of Lung Motion For Ct Guided Lung Biopsies, A. Al Saqer, A. Cerniuk, W. Houk, D. Patel

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project is to develop a device that allows a physician to view and measure real time lung motion of a patient inside a CT scanner during lung biopsy. This will increase time efficiency and accuracy of lung tumor treatment CT procedures, as this device will enable the collection of clear and meaningful scans. With this application, size and simplicity are of the utmost importance, as the device must be as practical as possible. Given these constraints the design involves a low profile, low volume sensor to measure data while physically attached to the patient’s bed, and …

Remote Aerial Mapping Spectrometer, Kenny Parker, José Ramirez, Chris Lillard, Quan Ma

Capstone Design Expo Posters

According to the EPA, harmful algal blooms may occur more frequently in coastal areas like the Chesapeake Bay due to warming waters and increased nutrient pollution. Algal blooms cause aquatic dead zones which damage the ecosystem and can produce toxins which are dangerous to animals and humans. Continual environmental monitoring is required to research algal blooms and to prevent harm to residents and industries.

We researched technologies to locate harmful algal blooms and found spectroscopic remote surveying an effective approach. A material’s wavelength-dependent reflectance reveals its material composition. Unfortunately, existing methods which can map spectral characteristics are lacking. Field researchers …