UBC ENGINEERING PHYSICS PROJECT LAB

AVAILABLE PROJECTS - 2014/ 2015

d. Full Writeups

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1. Four Projects from Bernhard Zender (Zender)

A) High Power Scalable Brushless DC Motor Controller (Zender)

(electronics wizards wanted)

Build a new type of brushless DC motor controller to enable the use of multiple brushless DC motors (RC type) in series for unlimited combined power. The goal is to allow an increase in vehicle power by simply adding more motors. Using a serial motor arrangement eliminates the need to increase wire gauges allowing for higher currents. Motors of lower nominal voltage can be used in a high voltage setup.

The trade-off for this approach is a lower power-to-volume ratio for the finished vehicle drive train, when compared to a single high power high voltage motor. However, advances in RC electric motor technology already allow a very powerful drive train in a vehicle like the one in the project (Honda Ruckus 50cc with 3kW gas engine) if high power RC motors of roughly the same volume as the gas engine are used to power it. Motors are provided, as is a 60V battery for testing purposes. MOSFET types like the IRFB4110 or similar can be used.

Deliverables: Working benchtop setup with two 36V motors (1.85kW each), controlled by two serially arranged (N-channel MOSFET-only) triple half-bridge controllers, on a provided 60 V battery.

B) Scooter Drive Train Conversion Gas To Electric (Zender)

(mechanical wizards wanted)

Re-design the drive train on a Honda Ruckus scooter and convert it to electric drive. Two electric outrunner motors 1.85 kW each are used to replace the 3kW gasoline engine in a setup with belt-driven rear wheel. In this novel approach the overall power to drive the vehicle is provided by two or more brushless DC motors. Calculate necessary torque and rpm for operation of the motors and source components like belts and pulleys. Devise a layout that leaves the option to add more motors later. Ensure proper cooling of all components.  

Two brushless motors and a Honda Ruckus scooter are provided.

Deliverables: Design, simulation, and manufactured parts for mounting motors, air flow simulations for cooling and all necessary debris and splash shields. Motors are permanently connected to the rear wheel by belt drive, and a single speed reduction gear box. Battery related system parts are not included in this project.

C) Energy Pack 1kWh / 40kW for Domestic Use (Zender)

(actual wizards wanted)

Design and build the inner workings for an ice-box sized energy pack for domestic or small business use. Nominal energy: 1kWh, max power up to 40 kW, achieved by using lithium pouch cells. The unit can be charged by solar cells (charge control not part of deliverables) and backup AC charger (not part of deliverables). A control system is to be designed that can monitor battery voltage, keep a log on charge state and charge/discharge rates, with watch functions for  temperatures (cells and connectors) as well as the mechanical status of the cells. A solid state contactor is the main control element the controller uses. This contactor has to be capable of turning off under full load (800 amps).  

Given the extreme power this unit is capable of, there are many uses: Compact emergency power unit for both stationary and mobile applications. Power booster and generator replacement for working high power tools and machines for short periods of time, for example welding or wood working: Instead of two people carrying a noisy 10kW / 250 pound gasoline generator to a job site, one person can carry the quiet 40kW / 20 pound small-job battery. “Supercharging” of small electric vehicles like e-bikes or e-scooters can be done in minutes with appropriate vehicle batteries, instead of hours.

Provided: A123 Systems 20Ah lithium pouch cells totalling ~1kWh (shown above).

Deliverables: Ready-for-box bench top battery assembly with controller and contactor, including small screen user interface, main switch and contactor as well as temperature and mechanical sensors. Safe design for cell block contacting. Instruction manual and video detailing safe procedures for cell block assembly outruling the possibility of short circuiting during assembly. Design of the box enclosure is not part of the deliverables.

D) Quick-Swap High Power Connect System (Zender)

(mechanical design for electrical hardware)

Connectors are the weakest point in any system using electricity. This project is about parallel-using mass produced small connectors that are rated for 90 amps to make connections good for up to 900 amps. The design requirements are absolute user safety, and a fail safe and self-explanatory layout that can be used by anyone.

The goal can be achieved by using long lever arms and over-center amd/or snap-in mechanisms, and to make connecting easy for anyone. The connection has to be sound (never come off unintendedly), splash-and dust protected, and all contacts have to be covered when disconnected. Prototypes can be build using materials like Garolite (G10) and polycarbonate, as well as ABS, steel and aluminum.

Deliverables: Physical prototypes for: Parallel connector outlet with covers that automatically retract when plugs approach. Single plug counterpart. Multi-plug counterpart with 10 units. Holder unit for a battery pack with integrated connector unit using the same design. Fully working Solidworks model assembly of all components.  

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2. [ & ] Laser based surface diagnostic tool (Illusense / Madison)

Contact Information: Nathan Chan, nathan@illusense.com, 604-345-0825 and

Kirk Madison / madison@phas.ubc.ca / 2-6356a   [  & work by student enrolled in ENPH 480.   Scope of the project can be expanded to work with a 459 group interested in the project ]

Overview

We are developing a new laser scanning technology to inspect oil and gas transportation pipelines. The development of the technology will be incorporated onto existing PIG (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) infrastructure. The focus of the project will be to solidify preliminary design aspects.

This particular project will involve laser optics, imaging systems, image processing, and control theory. The project is ideal for self-directed and eager students that enjoy a challenge. There will be plenty of oversight from a variety of advisors to get you started, and we will be available to assist as the project progresses.

The specific goals of this project are to build a laser based measurement tool that rapidly detects the presence of surface anomalies.

The deliverables will include a prototype scanner with characterization and performance data on the speed and reliability of the measurement.

Design and Analysis

The project will encompass three phases:

0) An optical testing apparatus will be designed and built for performing imaging tests to characterize the optical signatures

1) This testing apparatus will then be used to collect data and to characterize the optical signatures of damage present in the reflected optical field.  

2) The final phase will involve quantifying the eventual speed and reliability of anomaly detection of a field-ready sensor built on available hardware.

Resources available 

All resources required (electronics and optics) will be provided by sponsor

Expected Technical Background

Experience with optics and digital signal processing is important

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group: None.

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3. Laser based distance measurement (Illusense / Madison)

Contact Information: Nathan Chan, nathan@illusense.com, 604-345-0825 and

Kirk Madison / madison@phas.ubc.ca / 2-6356

Overview

We are developing a new laser scanning technology to enter the oil and gas transportation market. The development of the technology will be incorporated onto existing PIG (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) infrastructure. The focus of the project will be to solidify preliminary design aspects.

This particular project will involve laser optics, imaging systems, image processing, and control theory. The project is ideal for self-directed and eager students that enjoy a challenge. There will be plenty of oversight from a variety of advisors to get you started, and we will be available to assist as the project progresses.

The specific goals of this project are to build a laser based measurement tool that rapidly and precisely measures distances from an emitter to a surface.

The deliverables will include a working prototype scanner with characterization and performance data on the speed and accuracy of the measurement.

Design and Analysis

The measurement tool will be based on previously patented laser ranging technologies (based on pulse duration and/or interferometry) that are now in the public domain.  See, for example, "Distance measuring apparatus based on the pulse travel time method (US 4344705 A)" at https://www.google.com/patents/US4344705 and "Distance measuring device and method (US 4403857 A)" at https://www.google.com/patents/US4403857.

Resources available

All resources required (electronics and optics) will be provided by sponsor

Expected Technical Background: Experience with analog and RF electronics is important.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group: None.

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4. Real time positioning system (Illusense)

Contact Information: Nathan Chan, nathan@illusense.com, 604-345-0825 and

Kyzyl Herzog, kyzyl@illusense.com , 604-789-0154

Overview 

We are developing a new laser scanning technology to enter the oil and gas transportation market. The development of the technology will be incorporated onto existing PIG (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) infrastructure. The focus of the project will be to solidify preliminary design aspects.

This particular project will involve electronics design, mechanical design integration, and programming. The project is ideal for self-directed and eager students that enjoy a challenge. There will be plenty of oversight from a variety of advisors to get you started and we will be available to assist as the project progresses.

The specific goals of this project are confidential, if interested please contact project sponsors for further details.

Expected Technical Background

Experience with analog and digital electronics as well as a strong coding background. Mechanical design and automation will also be an asset.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group : None.

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5. Six Projects from Zaber Technologies (Zaber)   [& 5 and 6 claimed]

Andrew Lau, Zaber Technologies   

Background on Zaber:

Zaber Technologies was founded in 1997 by a group of friends, all former UBC students. We develop and manufacture precision motion control products, many of which use open-loop microstepping drives that can achieve resolutions of 0.1 um or better with ±10 um accuracy over 50 mm of travel. Researchers, engineers, systems integrators, and OEMs from around the world use our products in a wide variety of markets including optics and photonics, lab automation, microscopy, and industrial automation.

Zaber was founded by fizzers and electro-mechs from UBC. We have a flat structure, flexible working hours, and a very friendly work environment. We are completely employee-owned with no outside funding. We are profitable and growing organically at double digits every year. Sign up for one of our projects to experience first-hand why Zaber is a different kind of company.

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6. Large-Scale Wireless System for Monitoring Equipment Integrity  (Dominion Diamond)    [ & ProjectB claimed]                            

Lachlan MacLean, Team Leader (Reliability), Ekati Mine (Maintenance), Dominion Diamond Ekati Corporation

[ & Project B claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

About the Sponsor:

Dominion Diamond Corporation (TSX: DDC, NYSE: DDC) is the largest publicly listed diamond mining pure play by market capitalization. The Company has interests in two major producing diamond mines situated approximately 200 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It supplies rough diamonds to the global market through its sorting and selling operations in Canada, Belgium and India and is the world’s fourth largest producer of rough diamonds by value.

The Ekati Diamond Mine (named after the Tlicho word meaning ‘fat lake’) is Canada’s first surface and underground diamond mine.  It officially began production in October 1998, following extensive exploration and development work dating back to 1981.  Like Diavik, the Ekati mine site is located in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories, approximately 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife.

Project Background:

There is a desire to have a system of wirelessly monitoring the thickness and wear of dozens or possibly hundreds of different mechanical elements throughout the physical plant.  The ultimate goal would be a relatively cheap, re-usable, wireless, ultra-sonic thickness tester that can be linked in a scalable network for flexible deployment in industrial applications.

Work done by researchers at Queen's University describes the use of piezoelectric elements to use acoustic waves for non-destructive testing and estimating of material thickness in industrial equipment.   The papers not only describe the transducer arrangment but also the wireless communication setup allowing users to measure the thickness of the setup.

• Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Using Wireless Sensor Networks
• WSN application in the harsh industrial environment of the oil sands
• Sprouts Sensor Platform         (spinoff company website, no recent updates)

There is a desire to replicate the core features of this system, targeting the specific environment found on equipment at the Ekati Diamond Mine, located 310 km northeast of Yellowknife, NWT.

The project breaks down into two separate parts, each to be taken on as independent projects but it is expected that the groups will work collaboratively to the final solution.

PROJECT A:   Transducer System Development.

• The papers describe a transducer system capable of measuring thickness of materials.   The transducer system uses a piezoelectric element, high-voltage drivers, signal amplfiers, filters, and a dedicated microcontroller to estimate the thickness of the material.
• The goal of the project is to replicate many of the same features of the described system, with the following specifications:
• The majority of elements to be monitored will be made of ferrous steel.  There is also interest in measuring cast iron and rubber (used as liners).
• Nominal thickness of materials in the range of 1/4 inches up to 2 inches thick.  
• Desired accuracy on the order of +/- 1mm
• There is no need to incorporate any energy-recovery or energy harvesting into the system.
• There is no need for determining thickness of laminates within the sample, only the bulk thickness of the material.
• The system must be able to withstand a physically harsh industrial environment (wet, dusty, vibration)
• Total cost of each module (wireless network + transducer) must be less than $100.
• Students working on the project would ideally have a strong background in data acquisition, experimental design, and design targeted to rugged environments.

PROJECT B:  Wireless Network Development

• The Wireless Network System requires both the development of the physical modules, as well as the software system for collecting and presenting the collected data.
• In their existing arrangement, communication is through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE/Bluetooth SMART), which requires an operator to be within bluetooth range to gather data from a single transducer.   Although this might be an acceptable solution, there is a strong desire to have all modules communicate directly with a centralized to one stationary location (e.g. As a mesh network through zigbee protocol).  This may be a trade-off with the battery power requirements (see below).
• The wireless system must be scalable to allow for 100's of individual transducers (there may be 40-50 transducers on a single piece of equipment, and several machines in a single large open facility).
• The system must allow for easy registration of each module (initialization, recording physical location).
• The system must present the data in a format which is easy to incorporate into existing inspection processes.
• It may be desirable to have several transducers connect to a single wireless node, as there may be multiple transducers which are physically close to one another.  
• Samples are to be recorded approximately once a week  (maintenance on the equipment can be scheduled once every 5 weeks).
• Total power for the system must allow for at least 6 months independent power.   Minimization of required battery pack size is highly desirable.
• The system must be able to withstand a physically harsh industrial environment (wet, dusty, vibration)
• Total cost of each module (wireless network + transducer) must be less than $100.
• Students working on the project would ideally have previous experience with GUI development and a strong background in electronics, firmware, and wireless development.

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7. [ & ] The Prusa of Robot Arms! Open source 6DOF Robot Arm  (Royer)

Dan Royer, Marginally Clever Systems 

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

The arm should be able to lift 1kg at 50cm, with the goal of repeatable accuracy of <1mm.

Must have force feedback for haptic "drive by demonstration" and safe usage near people

Further information on developments to date can be found here http://hackaday.io/project/945-6DOF-Robot-Arm  and here: http://www.reddit.com/r/osra/

Resources available

I have two 3D printers and a laser cutter for manufacturing custom parts.

I hope every part of the machine must either be off the shelf or makeable with one of these devices.

Expected Technical Background

Any of Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Java, Arduino.  Business Development and Marketing a plus.

Practical experience working with gearing, experience with slot-fit and snap-fit design.

An eye for aesthetics.

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8. [ & ] iCrow-o-matic, Part 2 (Jones)

David Jones, UBC Physics and Astronomy

[ & Project B claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

This is a follow-up to a 479 project done last year.  The report will be posted shortly.

Project Objectives

Have you ever been woken up from a deep satisfying sleep early in the morning from those squabbling crows? Wouldn’t it be nice to solve that problem? As living in Vancouver limits the use of firearms (as well as the fact this requires you to get out of bed), there needs to be other solutions. For this project you would build a pulsed, on-demand water cannon with a proximity/motion sensor that would aim and shoot pulse streams of water from a pressurized reservoir.

Design and Analysis

Commercially, there are offerings such as these ones (Jet Spray Pest Repeller) which are along the same general idea. The iCrow-o-matic would offer several advantages over the current products including:  

• On-board intelligence to aim a directed stream of water at the pest rather than just a blind sprinkle pattern. (Crows are smart)
• Sustainable use of water
• Pressurized reservoir (CO2 or ?) to make the iCrow-o-matic more portable/deployable
• Possible 360 degree coverage

Specific requirements for the iCrow-o-matic include

• adjustable sensitivity, solid angle of coverage, and range
• universal mounting jig for chimneys, roofs and trees
• self-contained
• weather/water proof

I’m open to any suggested (optional) upgrades such as a webcam to view the iCrow-o-matic in real time over WiFi and live remote control of the water cannon.

Current Status from last year

Last year's group successfully built a servo-controlled (aim-able and on demand) water cannon. However, the target acquiring algorithm (currently using a Raspberry pi and video/image analysis) needs to be improved. This year's group can start from scratch or use the existing water cannon. Possible alternate targeting protocols include using acoustic proximity sensors or acoustic triangulation.  

Resources Available

All necessary materials will be provided.

Expected Technical Background 

Nothing special

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9. Projects from Cyril Leung (Leung)

Dr. Cyril Leung, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering

NB:    Dr. Leung is on sabbatical in 2014/15, and will only be available to discuss projects by email or video conference during the year.    Students interested in these topics should be prepared to take the lead in generating the project objectives and deliverables, and in finding other local resources to help carry the project forward.

1. Experiments in social signal processing (Leung)

Imagine the vast range of interesting applications that could be developed if it was possible to accurately measure human emotions. In the past decade, there has been a great deal of research interest in the technically challenging problem of “social signal processing”, including the recognition of emotions. See A. Vinciarelli et al, "Bridging the Gap between Social Animal and Unsocial Machine: A Survey of Social Signal Processing", IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, vol. 3, No. 1, Jan-Mar 2012, pp. 69-87. The objective in this project is to select a specific small set of emotions (e.g. happy, angry, sad) to recognize and assess the effectiveness of promising approaches/algorithms which have been proposed.

Students interested in this project will take the lead in generating the project objectives and deliverables.  During the project proposal phase, students will be expected to (a) do a thorough review of the state-of-the-art in the field, both in commercial devices and items under development; (b) review previous 459/479 projects in similar fields; (c) discuss options with local experts in the field for their input and guidance; and (d) select and present their project objectives and deliverables based on their findings.   The project sponsor will be available to offer project oversight, provide financial resources where appropriate, and direct student groups to appropriate resources.

2. Methods for Monitoring of Human Movement (Leung)

The motivation for this project can be found in the paper “Sensors-based Wearable Systems for Monitoring of Human Movement and Falls” by Shany, T. Redmond, S. Narayanan, M. Lovell, N. in the IEEE Sensors Journal. The Abstract of the paper is reproduced below.

“The rapid aging of the worlds population, along with an increase in the prevalence of chronic illnesses and obesity, requires adaption and modification of current healthcare models. One such approach involves telehealthapplications, many of which are based on sensor technologies for unobtrusive monitoring. Recent technological advances, in particular involving microelectromechnical systems, have resulted in miniaturized wearable devices that can be used for a range of applications. One of the leading areas for utilization of bodyfixed sensors is the monitoring of human movement. An overview of common ambulatory sensors is presented, followed by a summary of the developments in this field, with an emphasis on the clinical applications of falls detection, falls risk assessment and energy expenditure. The importance of these applications is considerable in light of the global demographic trends and the resultant rise in the occurrence of injurious falls and the decrease of physical activity. The potential of using such monitors in an unsupervised manner for community dwelling individuals is immense, but entails an array of challenges with regards to design considerations, implementation protocols and signal analysis processes. Some limitations of the research to date and suggestions for future research are also discussed.”

The objective in this project is to select, implement and evaluate a cost-effective approach for monitoring the movement of seniors in a home environment.

Students interested in this projects will take the lead in generating the project objectives and deliverables.  During the project proposal phase, students will be expected to (a) do a thorough review of the state-of-the-art in the field, both in commercial devices and items under development; (b) review previous 459/479 projects in similar fields; (c) discuss options with local experts in the field for their input and guidance; and (d) select and present their project objectives and deliverables based on their findings.   The project sponsor will be available to offer project oversight, provide financial resources where appropriate, and direct student groups to appropriate resources.

Report from Previous Group Found Here:  Indoor Positioning with Ultrasound and Radio Frequency Waves (2012)

3. Energy conservation and management tools for the home (Leung)

It is widely recognized that the use of energy and the associated environmental impact are major global challenges. There is a great deal of interest on the part of governments as well as individual citizens in energy conservation and efficiency measures. At the home level, these include designing new home which minimize energy consumption, improving heat loss in existing homes, smart electrical metering, etc. The objective in this project is to develop specific tools to assist residents in reducing their home energy use. An example is a tool for determining areas in which the most energy savings can be obtained, and suggesting a list of cost effective measures for residents.

Students interested in this projects will take the lead in generating the project objectives and deliverables.  

During the project proposal phase, students will be expected to (a) do a thorough review of the state-of-the-art in the field, both in commercial devices and items under development; (b) review previous 459/479 projects in similar fields; (c) discuss options with local experts in the field for their input and guidance; and (d) select and present their project objectives and deliverables based on their findings.   The project sponsor will be available to offer project oversight, provide financial resources where appropriate, and direct student groups to appropriate resources.

4. An Electronic White Cane for the Visually Impaired (Leung)

Dr. Cyril Leung, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering

The objective is to design an electronic white cane to assist visually impaired individuals in everyday activities. Features which could be considered for implementation include aural feedback to the user about the condition of the pavement, surrounding obstacles, GPS capability to provide geographical location, character recognition ability for reading signs, etc. Students will be provided with information on past-year projects on this topic.

Students interested in this projects will take the lead in generating the project objectives and deliverables.  During the project proposal phase, students will be expected to (a) do a thorough review of the state-of-the-art in the field, both in commercial devices and items under development; (b) review previous 459/479 projects in similar fields; (c) discuss options with local experts in the field for their input and guidance; and (d) select and present their project objectives and deliverables based on their findings.   The project sponsor will be available to offer project oversight, provide financial resources where appropriate, and direct student groups to appropriate resources.  

Previous White Cane projects done for 459/479 projects include :

• DROPS:  Drop-Off Recognition Optical Processing System
• Electronic White Cane using RFID Tags
• Navigational Aid for the Visually Impaired

5. Error Control Coding for Flash Memory (Leung)

The popularity of NAND flash memory is growing very rapidly due to desirable characteristics such as nonvolatility, shock-resistance, light weight and energy efficiency. Applications include USB drives, digital camera storage and solid-state drives (SSDs). As the demand for higher storage capacity per unit area increases, so do the raw bit error rates. In this project, the main error mechanisms affecting NAND flash memory are to be surveyed. The use of low density parity check (LPDC) codes for error control has been proposed. An implementation of LDPC coding and a simulation study of its performance are the main tasks in the project. (Useful courses: EECE 453, EECE 454)

For reference, one good technical resource is the book "Error Control Coding, Second Edition" by S. Lin and D.J. Costello, published by Prentice-Hall. There are also many helpful papers which can also be retried from IEEE Xplore by doing a search on "LDPC, implementation, decoding, ..."

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10. Front-Wheel Removable Electric Bicycle Motor (Kotlicki)

Andrzej Kotlicki, UBC Physics and Astronomy

Attempt to build a removable all-in-one unit for a friction-drive system containing both the battery pack, motor, and motor controller for the front wheel of a bicycle.  Similar systems are being designed for the back wheel (including one that involves some significant Engphys input on a project based out of MIT, the Copenhagen Wheel Project), and a few systems have been built with front-wheel friction drive (see here and here), combining both features and designing the system for a newer generation of smaller more powerful LiPo batteries has yet to be completed.  A system attached to the front wheel fork may allow for a few improvements over existing kits, including the use of a much smaller drive motor, and the ability to swap the motor in and out the system relatively easily without having to replace the wheel or hub.

Groups last year contributed to the first iteration of the project:   Front Wheel Electric Drive Bicycle Motor (2013)   The next iteration will attempt to bring together all of the elements into a transportable self-contained unit which can be used by the Project Sponsor and others on a variety of rental bicycles in Vancouver and, ideally, throughout Europe.  The next iteration will take the components from the previous generation and focus on manufacturability, the ease of use on the most popular styles of rental bicycles, and minimal manual adjustments required to fit a variety of bicycles.

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11. Boat barnacle scraping system  (Kotlicki)

Andrzej Kotlicki, UBC Physics and Astronomy

It is difficult and expensive to remove barnacles and other buildup from the hulls of recreational boats.  Although some tools make the operation easier to perform manually (like             the Waveblade Barnacle Eater),  it is still a manually intensive process.

There are large automated systems (the US Navy BUG robot) targeted at doing large vessels, but no solution exists for smaller recreational boats, which might benefit from having a system for easy servicing of the hulls without necessarily going into drydock.   It may be that a passive system to prevent buildup might be the optimal solution (the Barnacle Guard for pontoon pylons), if a group could design such a system.

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12. Active damping of an 80T inertial mass (MacLeod)

Ben MacLeod – Laboratory for Atomic Imaging Research

The spatial resolution of an STM is on the order of femtometers (1E-15 m) , as a result these microscopes are incredibly sensitive to vibration. At the LAIR we have built one of the quietest places on earth in order to perform extremely high-resolution STM experiments. The concept of the isolation system is simple: a large inertial mass is supported by soft spring, forming a harmonic oscillator! In practice the mass is a highly engineered 80 ton concrete block and the soft springs are massive air-sprung pneumatic pistons. This combination results in a sub 1Hz resonant frequency. The commissioning of the instrument has been positive but we would like to suppress the natural amplification at resonance of our isolators. In order to do so, your task will be to implement an active damping of the mass using high sensitivity piezoelectric accelerometers and electromagnetic force actuators

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13. Automated fault detection and prediction in large electrical networks by tracking parasitic LCR values (MacLeod)

Ben MacLeod – Laboratory for Atomic Imaging Research

Complex, valuable equipment often has a large numbers of wires. The electrical integrity of these wires is typically essential for the equipment to function properly. In many applications, wires are subject to stresses such as extremely high or low temperatures, high electric fields, vibration, radiation, corrosion etc..These stresses can lead to complete failures (undesired short or open circuits) or partial failures (high resistance “hot spots” in current carrying circuits, compromised shielding for low noise circuits, reduced bandwidth in high bandwidth circuits etc…). Partial failures can often develop into complete failures if not corrected. Diagnosing and repairing these faults can be extremely time-consuming, tedious and expensive – especially when wires are messy, difficult to access, fragile etc… These problems are very common in low-temperature and ultra-high-vacuum experimental physics experiments where wiring resides inside vacuum chambers (hard to access), wires are necessarily fragile (small diameters are used to limit the thermal conductivity of wires and other constraints also result in unfortunately fragile wiring), experiments are routinely baked to above 100 C and cooled down to 4 K and high voltages or radiation environments may be present. A common practice for diagnosing complete and partial faults is to measure the resistances, capacitances and inductances between various pairs of wires in the experiment. Large changes in these values can help pinpoint total wiring failures while more subtle changes may give warnings about impending problems.

The large number of wires (easily 50 or more) present on many experiments, however, makes it impractical to perform this procedure manually on every pair of wires as the number of combinations is extremely large (50 choose 2 = 1225). The proposed project is therefore to build a generic apparatus for automating these measurements and to make the results as useful/user-friendly as possible. A rough schematic of a possible hardware implementation is shown below. This project would involve extensive circuit design and prototyping including PCB design, LabView and/or other programming, user interface design etc... Developing intelligent algorithms for tracking and extracting actionable information from the large set of measurements could also be an exciting aspect of this project. The deliverable would be a working prototype and software. This project would be used to support the operation of numerous pieces of experimental equipment in the L.A.I.R. but if successful could have very broad applicability to equipment diagnostics.

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14. Active Bio-Mechanical Feedback Device for Elite Sport Training (Marasigan)

Joel Marasigan

Background Information

In many competitive sports, the separation between good and elite athletes is often determined by his/her ability to make minute joint angle adjustments, hitting the bio-mechanical sweet-spot crucial for top performance. These crucial movements are so minute in nature, that without more tangible feedback, they continue to elude many athletes.

A device capable of providing feedback to an athlete during activity can enable the athlete to develop awareness toward achieving such crucial fine motor skills. In addition, extra recording capabilities can further allow analysis between two different performances; therefore a more tangible performance target can be better defined and achieved.

Project Main Objective(s)

To create a discreet and low impeding wearable device measuring angular changes within joints during athletic movements. As a proof of concept, a device shall be specialized to measure only shoulder and elbow joint rotations, with the following requirements:

• +/- 1 degree of resolution
• reference positions can be set
• a threshold of deviation from the reference position can be set
• an audible feedback will be given when deviation from the reference position exceeds a specified threshold
• must not rely on external cameras or sensors
• the target BOM (Bill of Materials) cost of this device covering 4 joints is under $100.00

Optional Objectives

The team can expand the scope of the project to include the additional requirements below, after the primary objectives are met:

• Real-time recording of the joint angles for post-processing/analysis

• Local recording and separate downloading
• Real-time streaming to a mobile device for monitoring

• Extending to other joints
• Expanding monitoring of angular movement from singular dimension to 3-D movement

Project Main Deliverable(s)

• Fully functional prototype as described above.
• Detailed design documentation, covering:

• Design concept and analysis
• Assembly and usage instructions
• Firmware and software designs and source codes

• Detailed test report
• Recommendation for next phase

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15. [ & ] RF Network Analyzer  (Michal)

Carl Michal, UBC Physics and Astronomy  [& claimed by 479 group, Sept 8]

Students will design and implement an rf network analyzer system to be used in the construction of rf resonant circuits for magnetic resonance in the 5-500 MHz frequency range. The hardware for this system is largely in place, and will employ a PTS-500 rf synthesizer as the signal source, and an AD8302 Gain and Phase detector to measure reflected or transmitted signals. The bulk of the project will be to design, implement and test 1) the microcontroller code to control the PTS500 and auxiliary components, and 2) a graphical user interface on a host computer. The project will require some knowledge of transmission line theory and rf electronics, as well as microcontroller and gui programming.

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16. [ & ] Design methodology for silicon photonics (Chrostowski)

Lukas Chrostowski, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering  

In collaboration with Lumerical and Mentor Graphics

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Silicon photonics technology is rapidly advancing whereby it is now possible to integrated tens to thousands of optical components in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC).   A design flow, similar to what has been done in electronics, is required for sophisticated PIC design.  In partnership with Mentor Graphics (a leading Electronic Design Automation, EDA, vendor) and Lumerical Solutions (a leading nanophotonic and PIC circuit design vendor, in Vancouver), we are developing such a design flow which includes schematic capture, compact models for photonic components, circuit modelling capability, schematic-driven mask layout and verification for manufacturability and circuit functionality.  

Students involved in this project will work closely with the two companies to improve upon the design capabilities for real-world photonic circuits.  Furthermore, students will contribute to the co-design methodology for electronic-photonic circuit co-design.

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17. [ & ] Silicon photonics component models for advanced optical communication systems (Chrostowski).

Lukas Chrostowski, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering  

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

In this project, students will conduct experiments and data analysis, perform numerical simulations using commercial photonic design tools, and build compact photonic component models.  These models will be used to used to develop large-scale silicon photonic optical communication switch systems by our industrial collaborator.  The components being pursued include suspended optical waveguides for nano-opto mechanical switches, high efficiency thermal tuners, optical interfaces between silicon photonic chips and optical fibres, and on-chip detectors.

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18. Molecular Dynamics Models for Drug resistant Superbugs (Krishnamurthy)

Vikram Krishnamurthy, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering.

This project will  utilize coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) to gain insights into how cellular membranes interact with the antimicrobial peptide PGLa. Experimental results have confirmed that PGLa can kill multiresistant pathogens (i.e. ``superbugs''), and can also be used in anticancer treatments--as such, insights into the molecular interaction of PGLa with model membranes provides valuable insight for rational drug design. Importance sampling and mean-field techniques are used to estimate continuum properties from the CGMD simulations which can be compared with experimental measurements. The CGMD simulations will be performed on the WestGrid computing cluster using the software GROMACS. As such, it would be useful for candidates to have working knowledge of C/C++ and MATLAB.

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19. Data mining and sampling of social networks (Krishnamurthy)

Vikram Krishnamurthy, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The aim of this project is to develop efficient sampling methods for estimating sentiment of people in a social network.

The project will involve collecting data from Twitter and health networks and then statistical analysis to determine events of interest.

Students who are good in mathematics and have an interest in understanding how social networks work are encouraged to apply.

To see more information about the type of research work this might involve, please see the Project Sponsor’s recent book, available online:  

Interactive Sensing and Decision Making in Social Networks (arxiv)

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20. [ & ] Novel Ultrasound Targeting Devices for Spinal Procedures (A. Hodgson)

Antony Hodgson, UBC Mechanical Engineering / Director, UBC Biomedical Engineering

Two Projects are Available for this listing.

[ & Projects claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

Some aspects of these projects are proprietary and more details will be revealed in confidence to those who express a significant interest in considering these projects.  The projects involve two related potential applications for ultrasound-based targeting in spinal surgical procedures.  The objective is to produce a proof-of-concept device that is capable of locating key anatomical structures and guiding a surgical intervention.  If successful, we plan to seek further development funding and potentially to launch a startup company to commercialize these devices.  I am a founder of a local startup company (Traumis Surgical Systems) that has successfully sold its first product, and Traumis is actively assessing follow-on opportunities.

Design and Analysis

This project involves significant design and analysis components.  On the analysis side, there will be challenging work related to analyzing raw ultrasound signals and devising processing algorithms to extract the desired anatomical information and register it with either pre-operatively-obtained reference models or, potentially, statistical shape models.  On the design side, students will have to select, acquire and implement a set of ultrasound transducers (including appropriate electronics for driving and reading the transducers and processing the resulting signals).  In one project, students will also engage in mechanical design of a technique to reversibly secure a surgical tool to a portion of the spine through a percutaneous (through the skin) incision, while in both projects, students will have to do mechanical design work to enable a surgical device to be oriented using the ultrasound transducers.

Resources available

Students will have access to a spine surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and an entrepreneurial engineer (Laurent Pelissier) who founded and ultimately sold Vancouver-based Ultrasonix Inc. and who has agreed to advise on this project.  We have lab facilities and anatomical models available at Vancouver General Hospital.

Expected Technical Background

Students should be comfortable with electronics design, assembly and testing, and with signal processing (both analog and computational).  Familiarity with medical image processing is helpful, but interest in working with 3D datasets is required.  Strong programming skills (at least in Matlab) will be necessary.  At least one member of the team should have good mechanical design and construction skills.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group - no strong preference

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21. [ & ] Two Projects from STEMCELL Technologies (STEMCELL)

Steven Poon, STEMCELL Technologies.   

[ # CROSS-POSTING    This project is being cross-posted to UBC MECH or EECE Capstone Project Courses, and may only be available after Wed Sept 10thth.  This likely limits to only the 8-month 459 students. ] The projects were not chosen by MECH or EECE Capstone Project Course and are available for 459 groups, Sept 10th

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

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22. [ & ] System for Applying Clips to Crop Seedlings For Support (Bevo Farms)

Gord Vandeburgt, Bevo Farms   [ & claimed by 479 group, Sept 10]

We are a local high tech greenhouse that has a need that is not met in our global industry, and for which an educational opportunity would benefit. I will explain what our need is, so you can determine if this fits your needs as well.

We grow millions of seedling cucumber, pepper, and tomato plants. Mechanically sown into trays, they are then manually transplanted a couple of weeks later into Rockwool blocks. As the plant matures it is further mechanically spaced on the concrete ebb/flow watering floor. During this stage the plant is supported in part with a bamboo stick and plastic clip (or elastic) prior to manual shipping. While the 12”-20” bamboo stick is easily placed manually prior to spacing, the manual applying of the plastic clip (or elastic) later is very tough on the human body. This is why we need a robo-mechanical solution. To have employees bent over to just above ankle height, applying  plastic clips as they shuffle through the crop for hours at a time, is not good.

We envision a solution where the employee still places the clip, but for which a robo-mechanical servo device rides on the grooved floor, “sees” the 4”x4” (or 4”x6”) blocks, grabs and elevates each to a human manageable height, and places it back down after the employee places the clip (or elastic).

The following pictures hopefully help provide visual context:

Ground Level View (after clip or elastic placed)

Top Down View (to show alignment [12 to the left and 12 to the right of gutter groove] )

Regarding the speed the machine needs to have  to make practical sense: Currently we clip or elastic plants at a rate of one every 8 seconds. It would be fair to say that considering the added value, the machine should be capable of traveling to, seeing, grabbing, elevate/transporting, and presenting the plant to the standing employee (and return the previous one) in 3 seconds. Currently 16 people are used in one bay at one time to do the activity.

Just for context: The ‘top down view’ picture above represents only a small percentage of one ebb/flow flood floor. One floor (bay) is about twice as wide and many times deeper. The following image shows the full size space, that could then be worked with 2 independent machines. This bay has about 14,000 plants.

Sample elastic or clip.

Other details:

• Weight of one wet plant and block: 2 lbs
• Dimensions: The rockwool blocks are 4”x4” and 4”x6” (WxL). The machine should be able to differentiate and handle either, however, they are never in a mixed size use, but in large groupings of one or the other. The width of the block facing the machine would typically be 4”, as blocks/plants are laying length wise (when 4”x6”).  They are however easily crooked/off-center/twisted as seen in the images provided in the first email. The plants can drift slightly when young (shortly after spacing) due to the ebb/flow of flood watering.
• Raised Height: 36” (not higher than 48”)
• Powered: Much of our equipment is rechargeable battery powered. Ideally this would be as well.
• Endurance: Minimum 3hrs.
• Grade: Level Flat. Other than a rubber threshold to go over from a pathway to a grow space there are no changes in grade or obstacles (Seen in cross-floor view below)
• Close up: Plant/Stick/Elastic. As seen in the one picture below (cross-floor view).
• Flood height: Maximum 3”. As seen in the one picture below (bendable rubber threshold in view that can be driven over). This robo-mechanical device is not needed to function on a flooded floor.
• Format/Timing: A multi person group over 4-8 months is fine. A placement would be difficult.

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23. Accurate drug dosing in children (Ansermino Dumont Larson)

Mark Ansermino (Director of Pediatric Anesthesia Research, British Columbia's Children's Hospital)

Charles Larson (Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UBC / Director, Centre for International Child Health)

Guy Dumont (UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering)

The Electrical & Computer Engineering for Medicine (ECEM) research cluster and the Centre for International Child Health at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital would like to partner with the UBC Engineering Physics Project Lab to develop and evaluate an innovative, low cost and robust method to guide drug dosing in children in remote locations.

The weight is currently the most widely used method to estimate drug dosing in children. In low resource settings scales to measure weight are not routinely available, are not mobile (for mobile healthcare workers), and are not robust in these environments (pilfering and damage are common).

We are looking to develop a simple, yet novel method (e.g. based on a photographic image of the subject) to estimate drug dose requirements that can be implemented on a smartphone. The challenge in this project would be to scale the image or other measurement method to accurately reflect the drug distribution and clearance. The goal would be to estimate the appropriate weight band.

The solution will be evaluated in a group of children at BC Children’s Hospital. This technology would have worldwide application for drug administration in children have a major impact on the 10 million children who die globally every year from diseases that can easily be cured with the correct dose of medication.

Figure 1: How much drug to deliver to this child?

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24. [ & ] 5G Channel Sounder  (Michelson)

David Michelson, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Background Information:

In recent months, the world’s leading telecommunications companies have each announced plans to develop and, by 2020, deploy the technologies and systems required to use the millimeter-wave frequency bands at 28, 30 and 38 GHz to provide broadband cellular access services. In response to Huawei Technologies Canada is collaborating with the UBC Radio Science Lab (RSL) to: 1) develop measurement systems or channel sounders suitable for characterizing 5G wireless channels, 2) conduct field measurement campaigns and 3) derive channel models useful in both design and simulation.

During the course of the project, UBC RSL’s Stepping Correlator Channel Sounder will be upgraded several times to add functionality and meet ever more demanding requirements. Ingenuity and cleverness will be required to determine the correct approach and realize a practical system.

Project Main Objective(s)

We propose that a group of fourth-year ENPH students act as pathfinders for the team and take the first steps towards developing practical solutions to one or more of the following design and development issues:

• Design and development of antenna-pointing assemblies suitable for use on both the transmitting and receiving side of the link with emphasis on reducing weight, minimizing cost, environmental ruggedness and providing a capability for positioning the antennas by remote control.
• Design and development of an external pseudo-random binary sequence generator that will allow the Agilent Vector Signal Generator that forms the heart of the transmitter to be clocked at a rate greater than the 50 MChip/s that the internal clock generator will allow.
• Design and development of a mm-wave scanning antenna array that will vastly speed up data collection compared to manual antenna pointing.
• Design and development of a method for calibrating the system and assessing the validity of the measurements collected by the system. (RSL’s SR5500 channel emulator supports a maximum bandwidth of 25 MHz. The 5G-channel sounder will initially support a bandwidth of 100 MHz and may ultimately need to support bandwidths of up to 1 GHz.)
• Design and development of a software tool, possibly based on NI Labview, which will automate and simplify the data collection process.
• Design and implementation of an advanced database management system that will allow easy storage and retrieval of complex measurement data.

Project Main Deliverable(s)

The main deliverables will include prototype or trial hardware and software that address one or more of the issues listed above, together with presentations slides, reports and test results. Graduate student researchers and/or Huawei research engineers will refine the ideas and prototypes for use in the research project as required.

Special considerations (equipment, location, constraints, existing material…):

• The UBC Radio Science Lab will provide the test and measurement equipment and other materials required by the student team. All expenses associated with the project will be borne by Huawei through a project grant issued to the Radio Science Lab.
• 459 group is preferred - Ideally, the team will pursue this as an eight-month project with the first term devoted to developing the instrument and the second term devoted to using it to collect field data.  8-month group but will take a 4-month group if necessary
• Students should have a sincere interest in wireless communications and a good grasp of basic MATLAB. We're prepared to teach them the rest.
• Signing up for EECE 483 - Antennas and Propagation would be favourably regarded.

Possible Equipment Configurations

Fig. 1 - Transmitter setup

Fig. 2 - Receiver setup

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25. Assistive Devices Research and Development Projects  (VCH)

Renee Lieu, VCH Community Rehab and Resource Team

A number of assistive-research devices suggested by clinicians, occupational therapists and potential users can be found at:    

www.assistive-technology.ca/solutions.html  

http://www.assistive-technology.ca/sol_idea.html

The following list was submitted by an Occupational Therapist at the Vancouver Coastal Health Community Rehabilitation and Resource Team, several of which may form the basis of a very good 4- or 8-month project.

• device that detects if power w/c or car is getting too close to an object – audible sound will alarm to alert the driver
• mirrors that pop out of the power w/c when client puts gears into reverse
• ipad retractable mount for w/c – something that is tucked away in the arm-rest – like the ‘olden-days’ school desks
• automatic shut off of stove after smoke is detected.
• Tremor detector which can be worn like a bracelet or pendant for people who have seizures – sends alarm to 911 or family
• Air bag that can be worn as a bandana around the neck which sets off to protect one’s head one a sudden drop of gravity it detected – for people who have seizures
• Automatic nail clipper – senses the extra white length and lasers it off – without damaging anything else
• Alzheimer’s tv – that can be programmed to watch old videos, play songs at certain periods of the day
• Smart shower – at the push of a button, it starts, gives an automatic cue to soap and shampoo, cues to wash head to toe, counts down to shut off.
• Medication reminder – at pre-programmed times, a light and auditory alarm will signal on a lanyard and small bottle attached will pop open for client to empty into their palm and self-administer.

These projects contains a number of opportunities for students to target ideas which do not have viable solutions for the end users, with a focus on thoughtful mechanical design.

Note that students undertaking any of these projects are highly encouraged to attend SOLUTIONS Exposition on the third Thursday in April 16, 2015 at the GF Strong Rehab Centre for demonstration of their proposed device and solution.

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26. Self-Folding  Origami products  (Olson)

James Olson, UBC Mechanical Engineering / Director, Pulp and Paper Center    

Objective:  Design inexpensive origami products using a novel patented self-folding origami paper-polymer composite material.   The self-folding origami products can be incorporated with printable electronics, sensors and smart materials to make them active / reactive.   One example would be a origami based robot that can sense and react to the environment. A simpler example would be a self-folding origami lamp shade with embedded LED lights and sensors.

Some recent press on efforts from the UBC Pulp and Paper Centre:  http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/05/ubc-student-creates-self-folding-paper-origami/

The products should have some or all of the following characteristics.  

• It needs to be made mostly of paper and will be self-folding.
• Should be highly decorative or artistic in nature.
• Include printed electronics to enable active / reactive ability.
• Be Inexpensive and have the ability to be mass produced.

Approach and techniques:  In recent years there have been a large number of low-cost, paper-based technologies that have been developed to make low-cost devices. These technologies include:

• Printable electronics directly onto paper as a substrate (examples, RFID tags,  etc.)
• Example, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925400502001703 
• Printable paper based sensors.
• Printable Li-Ion batteries that can be incorporated into paper
• Smart materials such as shape memory alloy actuators for movement (wing flapping, leg motion).
• http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=00012085 
• Or http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/robotic-venus-flytraps-could-trap-bugs-and-eat-them-fuel

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27. jOcular – Improved photon path computation including self-interference, or other enhancements (StarfishMedical).

Kenneth MacCallum, jOcular Optical Design Software

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

See jocular.sourceforge.net for background. The objective of this project is to conceptualize, code and test a new photon path computation engine to more accurately compute light intensities in simulated optical systems to include such effects as photons interfering with themselves to allow modeling of dichroic filters, double slits, etc. Any other improvements or additions are welcome too; there’s plenty of scope for work on this project.

Design and Analysis

It is expected that any enhancement will first be explored at the theoretical level, then conceptualized to a possible algorithmic solution and then prototyped to test for performance.

Resources Available

Not much required. I’ll be available for brainstorming and discussion.

Expected Technical Background – Knowledge of optics and Java programming is required.

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28. [ & ] Optimizing Readout Electronics Scheme for HyperK and PINGU Projects (TRIUMF)

Fabrice Retière, Thomas Lindner  (TRIUMF)

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

The project involves optimizing the readout electronics scheme for the future Hyper-Kamiokande and PINGU projects. Both project are very large water based neutrino detectors that use a  large number of photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs). We are investigating optimal electronics for achieving <1ns timing resolution, while keeping the power consumption and cost low. Our solution is based on commercial flash ADC but we need to determine the optimum sampling rate and number of ADC bits, which is coupled to the analog shaping electronics. The tasks for the projects are as follow:

- Simulate the PMT + analog electronics using SPICE. Investigate, pulse shape, saturation and if possible noise

- Investigate the performance of 3 different flash ADC system (that we have on hand at TRIUMF) using an arbitrary waveform generator

- Help with design and layout of test versions of the shaping electronics.

- Investigate the performance of PMT+analog electronics + ADC with a pico-second laser

- If time permits, help write a publication

- If time permits, investigate the benefit of using a FADC rather than TDC+QDC by simulations in Hyper-K and NuPrism (physics oriented simulation).

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29. [ & ] Surgical Tool Development – Depth Measurement While Drilling (Cavers)  

Andrew Cavers, MASc candidate Biomedical engineering (EnPh BASc 2013)   [ & claimed by MECH Capstone group, Sept 10 ]

[ # CROSS-POSTING    This project is being cross-posted to UBC MECH or EECE Capstone Project Courses, and may only be available after Wed Sept 10thth.  This likely limits to only the 8-month 459 students. ]

Link to Videos and Photos of Drill Stop Prototype -

Background:

Surgeons often have to measure the thickness of a bone using a depth gauge, a tool that surgeons can find difficult to use or even inaccurate depending on the application. Mandibular fracture surgeries in particular would be a lot easier if the plastic surgeons had a better depth gauge. As part of an Engineers-in-Scrubs (http://www.bme.ubc.ca/graduate-studies/engineers-in-scrubs/ ) project course, I worked on an incremental drilling device that seems like a promising alternative. Someone needs to design and test a complete prototype that surmounts the various engineering challenges that remain: the final product will have to be compact, sterilizable, easy to operate, rugged, and integrated into the surgeon’s workflow such that it can be used in concert with the many other surgical devices the surgeon uses during bone fixation surgery.

Objectives:

-Design and prototype an adjustable drill stop which prevents the drill from overshooting further than .5 mm when drilling through a bone. The goal would be a finished device that could, in theory, be used in a real surgery.

-An ideal final milestone for the project would be to test the prototype in a simulated mandibular fracture surgery, presumably with a cadaveric or animal model, with the help of the surgeons who have supported the project so far. The test would evaluate whether the surgeons can complete the surgery quicker and with greater screw selection accuracy than when using the standard depth gauge.

Resources Available:

-1-2 plastic surgeons, who can provide valuable information regarding the process of mandibular fracture surgery and the constraints this will place on the device.

-About $3000 or more in budget. The Engineers-in-Scrubs program is supported by NSERC and there is a budget allocated to this project until March 2015. Additional funding/grants may also be available.

Expected Technical Background:

-Some experience in mechanical design would be useful.

-Machining experience, and access to a student machine shop, would be very useful.

-Biosafety certification for at least one team member will be necessary for simulations and testing.

-Enthusiastic/determined teams, particularly 8-month teams who want experience in biomedical engineering, should be able to pick up whatever qualifications they need along the way.

Preference for 4/8 month group: None, although 4-month groups will probably need to have a better technical background.  

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30. Entrance Display Model for the new Quantum Matter Institute Building (UBC PHAS)

Sponsors: Doug Bonn, Sarah Burke, Andrea Damascelli, and Jeff Young, UBC Physics and Astronomy / AMPEL

A new Quantum Matter Institute building has been designed and construction should start in the fall of 2014.  There is a fairly large glass-enclosed display case at the entrance that will be visible both from the sidewalk and the entrance corridor of the new building.  We want to develop some attractive, engaging pieces to display that, together, convey the distinctive theme of research taking place in the building; “from atoms to applications”.

Part of this project will involve further development of some initial concepts for items that would address the atomic-level part of this spectrum.  The remainder of the project will involve developing a design for the final display, and demonstrating its feasibility by building and testing a model.  An example of what we have in mind for the “most atomic” scale display, is a macroscopic working model of how an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) can be used to image the arrangement of atoms on a crystalline solid’s surface.  The atoms would be represented by marbles arranged in some periodic array, perhaps with some imperfections, and a macroscopic AFM tip would be rastor-scanned across the marbles, undulating as it scanned.  The undulation may be induced by having permanent magnets located underneath the marbles, for instance, with another magnet in the AFM tip.  The model would ideally also show how the motion of the AFM tip located at the end of a cantilever (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fivhcWYEtkQ), is actually sensed using a laser beam and a quadrant detector.

We have some less thought-through ideas for the next-size-up display, which the project could also address, depending on team size and the agreed-upon scope of the AFM component.

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31. [ & ] Ocean Current Measuring Project  (Dennison)

Glen Dennison, Electronics Technologist, TRIUMF   [ & claimed by 479 group, Sept 7 ]

In addition you may be working with senior scientists from the DFO and Vancouver Aquarium.

I will be available on a regular bases for consultation and progress meetings.

Work to be completed in the 155 Hennings Engineering Physics Project Lab

Glass sponge, an ancient life form is abundant in Howe Sound. Where and how it grows is still a mystery to marine biologist. Join the team on leading edge studies and participate in the learning adventure!

Near the bottom of Howe Sound 300 meters down very little is known about the water current flow. Glass sponges thrive in the deep currents.

Your project should you accept it, will be to design and build a current flow meter to monitoring and logging current velocity and direction over a one week period. You will then field test your unit on a trip to Howe Sound. Life jackets must be worn at all times when launching and recovering the instrument on the water.

Skills needed

Basic engineering skills, Programming skills, Digital electronics, basic machining, mechanical design, Solidworks skills, pcb design skills, assemble skills.

Requirements

• all meetings, scheduled, must be attended
• if unable to attend a valid reason must be given
• punctuality counts
• all homework assignments must be completed on time (yes there will be homework)
• all physical work must be completed on time
• regular reports must be submitted
• Diligent and concentrated work is expected on this project
• All aspects of the project must be documented, including all basic laws used in the design.

Specifications

• log current velocity and direction
• Velocity 0 – 5 knots
• direction to 5 degrees magnetic
• log values for 7 days
• Depth rating 300 meters
• download able on the surface
• small size and manageable weight
• All plastic construction
• use Arduino micro computer and USB add on, interface
• use 1 gig SD micro card
• use Hall Effect sensor and rare earth magnets
• use abs or pcv pipe
• use 3D printed impellor 4.5 inch diameter and height or smaller to accommodate the 3D printers in the engphy lab
• USB downloadable to CSV file format
• write an interface program for downloading data to a PC (USB port on the logging instrument to the USB port on a PC)
• a suggested design will be provided with Soildworks files but you will be free to make changes

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32. [ & ] Personalized Tourniquet System for Surgery (WesternClinical)

Jim McEwen, OC PhD PEng, President, Western Clinical Engineering Ltd.   [ & claimed by ECE Capstone Group, Sept 10 ]

[ # CROSS-POSTING    This project is being cross-posted to UBC MECH or EECE Capstone Project Courses, and may only be available after Wed Sept 10thth.  This likely limits to only the 8-month 459 students. ]

Background Information:

This project will appeal to students interested in biomedical engineering, and especially to those interested in biomedical engineering innovations that will immediately improve the safety of surgical patients.

The project will begin with an orientation to selected surgical procedures by company-based biomedical engineers and an orthopaedic surgeon.  Students will be familiarized with a state-of-the-art microprocessor-based surgical tourniquet system commonly used in such procedures, and will be given an overview of a key outstanding need and an opportunity for improvement.  The project will involve creatively identifying possible solutions to meet the need, and then the project will involve the design and implementation of their best solution. Depending on success and timing, the students may have an opportunity to see and evaluate their project results in actual surgical procedures.

General information on surgical tourniquets can be found by visiting www.tourniquets.org, and by reading the reference publication [1].

(PDF copies of the below reference is available from the company.)

[1] Noordin S, McEwen J, Kragh J, Eisen A, Masri B. Current Concepts: Surgical tourniquets in orthopaedics. J Bone Joint Surg Am (Dec 2009); 91: 2958-2967.

Objective

The overall goal is to see whether the level of pressure in a tourniquet cuff can be adapted over a time period to maintain a pressure pulsation in the cuff near a selected constant level.   This would meet a significant unmet need having to do with changes that occur in a patient's physiology associated with medicines used to establish and maintain surgical anesthesia, and that can lead to potentially hazardous tourniquet levels.

Design and Analysis

A significant part of this project will involve analysis of a biomedical signal that is indicative of pneumatic pressure pulsations in a tourniquet cuff which are produced by cyclical penetration of arterial blood beneath the tourniquet cuff while it is applied to a patient's limb during surgery.  These signals are often small in amplitude, and must be detected reliably in the presence of pneumatic noise that is typically produced in the cuff perioperatively, and that may be much larger in magnitude than the signal.  An initial database of such pressure pulsation signals in such perioperative noise, previously collected during actual surgical procedures and synchronized with another signal showing when the pressure pulsations are occurring, is available for the project team at the outset.

The first part of the project will involve the surgical orientation outlined above, as well as an initial look at the existing surgical data.  The project team may wish to focus on approaches to eliminating the noise at source, or to increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in real time, or to a combination of both.  After a best approach is identified, the team may then wish to decide on which way to proceed subsequently, to implement and evaluate the best approach on existing data and new data from surgery: design and construct special-purpose hardware and instrumentation; or, piggyback on existing instrumentation and hardware in a commercial surgical tourniquet system

Deliverables

a) A signal processing method of reliably detecting a biomedical signal indicative of pneumatic pressure pulsations in the presence of perioperative pneumatic noise

b) Implementation and evaluation of this method on existing data and new data from surgery by either: designing and constructing special-purpose hardware and instrumentation; or, adapting existing instrumentation and hardware in a commercial surgical tourniquet system

Resources Available

The sponsoring company, Western Clinical Engineering Ltd, will cover all approved costs of materials, supplies and special equipment. Also, the company will make available to the student team key staff who have many years of extensive knowledge about, and extensive experience with, surgical tourniquet systems.

The project team will have access to the company's lab, including its exemplars of automated tourniquet systems and accessories.

Because of the surgical aspects of this project, and because of the interdisciplinary nature of this biomedical engineering project, the company reserves the right to confirm the choice of the proposed project team, to help assure a good match of capabilities and interests, and thus a good probability of successful project completion.

Project Duration

8-month group is preferred

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33. [&] An atomic reference for frequency stabilization of lasers (Madison)

Dr. Kirk Madison, UBC Physics and Astronomy

[& claimed by 479 group Sept 2]

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

The laser cooling of atoms requires the generation of laser light stabilized to the atomic resonance frequency for an atom at rest. This stabilization requires a control loop including the laser as the "plant", a controller (typical a PID servo), and a frequency reference for a stationary atom to measure deviations of the laser frequency from the resonance.  The objective of this project is to design, build and characterize an atomic frequency reference and to realize a frequency discriminator with this reference using the so-called Pound–Drever–Hall (PDH) technique (originally introduced in the context of stabilizing a laser to a cavity).

Design and Analysis

The deliverables of this project are two fully characterized and functional atomic references with laser locking performance data and a comparison with our existing system.  The project thus has three major components with associated work:

0) Benchmark measurements of existing reference : The signal-to-noise and locking performance achieved with the existing atomic frequency reference presently used in the lab will be characterized by measuring the frequency discrimination signal and extracting the slope of the corresponding error signal around the zero crossing (in Volts / MHz) and measuring the RMS electronic noise of this signal.  The frequency linewidth of the laser when locked using this reference will also be measured (using a heterodyne measurement of two lasers locked to the same type of reference).  These measurements will represent the minimum acceptable specifications for the new reference.

1) The new atomic frequency reference : must be built and characterized. This reference will be comprised of an atomic vapor cell, optics, and a photodetector.  The setup will involve using the Doppler-free saturated absorption spectra of Rb and a few embodiments will be tried and compared. The preferred embodiment will likely involve the use of the resonant Faraday effect to generate the most precise frequency discrimination.  In addition, the Pound–Drever–Hall (PDH) electro-optics and electronics will be assembled around this reference to provide the error signal.

2) Benchmark measurements of new reference : As before, the signal-to-noise of this reference will be measured and compared with that found in step (0).  The two new references will then be used to simultaneously lock two lasers to provide a measurement of their relative linewidth and compared with that found in step (0).

Resources available

All optics and electronics required for this project will be made available by sponsor.

Expected Technical Background

Experience with electronics is key.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group

None.

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34. [ & ] Autonomous Marine Obstacle Detection System (UBC Sailbot)

UBC Saibot Team

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

The UBC Sailbot team plans to develop a sailboat capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. To achieve this goal, the boat needs to successfully navigate from Newfoundland to Ireland, avoiding ships and floating objects (icebergs, logs, etc). So far, the main impediment to most attempts by other teams has been obstacles crossing their path and sinking their boat.

Ideally, our boat would come equipped with an obstacle detection system to avoid these situations, but no design has proven reliable up to this point. So far the team have looked into IR technology, which seems to be the most promising due to the lower cost compared to other systems. However, we are open to other suggestions for alternative obstacle detection technologies. If successful, this project could pave way for a world record attempt in autonomous ocean crossing!

A successful design for an Obstacle Detection system would incorporate these points:

• Logic code written in Python (or similar) on a Raspberry Pi (or similar) platform.
• Designed for minimal power usage.
• Sensors able to function in high-sea conditions and differing pitch of boat.
• Waterproof.
• Project delivered to be easily physically implemented onto an 5.5 meter sailboat.

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35. Construction of a phantom for the investigation of microstructural effects on the magnetic resonance signal (Rauscher)

Alex Rauscher, Assistant Professor, UBC Radiology (UBC MRI Research Centre)

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used as a highly sensitive measure of brain tissue changes, for instance during aging or progression of disease. Our group develops advanced MRI techniques and explores their potential in clinical practice. Two techniques that have proven to have great sensitivity and specificity are myelin water imaging and the more recently developed MR frequency shift imaging. Often, specificity of these techniques can only be evaluated in animal model or generally in fixed tissue. The fixation process however changes the tissue’s properties.  The MR frequency signal is known to be influenced by tissue microstructure among other factors, therefore complicating quantitative image analysis. No commercial MR phantom is available yet to test and maybe control for such contributions to the MR frequency signal.

The goal of this project is to construct an MR compatible phantom which can model/simulate different microstructural effects, such as orientation dependency with respect to the main magnetic field , different fibre diameters and compositions or microarchitectures.  

Design and Analysis

The students are expected to run through several phases in this project:

1) Background research and learning about the MR system

2) Development of the possible phantom design(s)

3) Careful material considerations to achieve magnetic field compatibility

4) Phantom testing/ receiving feedback

5) Quality control (tests on MR scanner and implementation of quality control standards/comparisons)

6) Testing phantom flexibility (e.g. different contrast agent concentrations, tissues, compositions)

Resources available

We will provide the student resources towards the design and development of the phantom (e.g. purchase of material) and access to the MR scanner to test the phantom.  Scanning will be performed after approval of the phantom by the MR safety officer and under supervision of trained professionals.

Expected Technical Background

Familiarity with safety concerns regarding the operation at high magnetic fields would be advantageous.Some knowledge of  magnetic resonance and magnetic material properties is required, knowledge of Linux and Matlab helpful.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group

8 months

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36. [ & ] Ski AR Drone Assisted Movie Maker (Isbasescu)

 Miti Isbasescu; mitrutzul@gmail.com

 [ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

The project consists of developing software that allows a Parrot 2 AR drone to follow a skier down a run and record their descent. The drone's processing will be performed by an Android powered smart phone running a custom app developed using Parrot's public SDK.  To decrease the computational load the initial version has the skier wearing a brightly colored item that will be used as a fiduciary marker for the image processing software.

Dependent on the app performance commercialization (through Google's Play store) will be pursued.

Difficulties will involve:

1. Setting up development environment
2. Image processing optimization
3. AR drone flight control
4. [POTENTIALLY] Maintaining WiFi connectivity

I will provide:

- 1x AR Drone and if needed Android phone

- Technical expertise and supervision

The main purpose of this project is to get a proof of concept prototype developed. Thus a strong desire to solve sometimes tedious/sometimes tricky practical problems by any means possible is the most important asset to bring to the table.

It will help if you are:

• Familiar with Java development - specifically for Android.
• Somewhat Computer Vision literate. Let's say you know a thing or two about convolution.
• A disciple of control theory.
• An electronics hacker - as it might be necessary to "enhance" the AR drone flight specs to achieve desired control characteristics and/or comms performance.

Preference for 4 month group - ready for the winter ski season though testing and development can proceed through the season if needed (that is 8 months is OK).

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37. [ & ] Project (Tang)

Dr. Raymond Tang,   Director of Regional Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesia, Vancouver Coastal Health  [& claimed by 479 group Sept 6]

Project removed from public posting.

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38. Quantitative analysis of cell and tissue dynamics during animal development (Tanentzaph Goodwin)

Lab Supervisor: Guy Tanentzapf, tanentz@mail.ubc.ca

Project Supervisor: Katie Goodwin, katie.e.goodwin@gmail.com

Project Objectives, Background and Scope

Our lab is interested in the mechanisms by which cells interact with their environment, and how this interaction affects cell morphology and dynamics, and overall biomechanical properties of tissues. Our model system is the embryonic development the fruit fly (Drosophila) – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FChS4KU5jDM

In this project, students will develop image processing and measurement tools for quantitative analyses of cell shape changes and movement during animal development in 4D (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_image_velocimetry) , and then use these techniques in order to shed light on the mechanisms behind defective development. The tools developed in this project will become part of our lab’s framework for quantitative analyses, and provide valuable mechanistic insight into the biological questions we are investigating.

Lab Webpage: http://www.tanentzapf-lab.com/site/Home.html

Design and Analysis

Design: Students will need to design image analysis tools to achieve specific measurement goals, optimize them for our lab’s imaging data, and then streamline them for efficient implementation.

Analysis: Students will apply the tools they use to images and time-lapse movies either provided by the lab or taken by the students themselves. Students and their supervisor will then need to contextualize the results obtained in terms of the biology of the system.

Resources available

Students will have access to computers with MatLab, fruit fly facilities, whatever lab equipment they require for mounting samples, and supervised time using a confocal microscope for recording time-lapse movies.

Expected Technical Background

We require students with a fair amount of MatLab experience, and preferably with some image analysis experience/expertise (see Image Processing Toolbox for MatLab).

Example image of our model system, Drosophila Dorsal Closure

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group

No preference.

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39. Acoustic Imaging  (Waltham)

Chris Waltham, UBC Physics and Astronomy  http://acoustics.phas.ubc.ca

Imaging sound is a rapidly developing technology for analyzing vibrational and environmental noise, made possible by the exponentiating processing capability of affordable computers. A previous ENPH479 group has built a 30-microphone array (pictured below in CEME’s anechoic chamber) for analyzing the radiation from any structure that can fit inside it. In the past year extensive data has been taken on violins, violas, harps and Chinese string instruments. The physics works but the computing tools for displaying the images are at an early stage of development. What is needed now is a means to show velocity distributions over a geometrically complex surface, i.e. that of the instrument. A major part of the job is to generate 3-D maps of the instruments to mm accuracy and to devise a system to define their position (x,y,θ,φ) with respect to the microphones while data are being taken. Ease of future use is a major consideration.

Figure:  Gothic harp at 710 Hz; red and blue represent sound sources of opposite phases; arrows represent the acoustic velocities.

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40. Detection and Security System for Temporary Metal-Panel Fencing at Festival and Construction Sites (Leaver)

Tim Leaver, EngPhys Alumnus

Draft Writeup

"Music festivals are a growing industry. This summer, BC alone had two new multi-day camping festivals (the re-started Pemberton Fest and relocated Boonstock) in addition to other already established ones (Squamish, Rockin' River, SunFest). Since most of these are held outdoors in temporary facilties, one of the major challenges organizers face is physically securing the venue. Most venues use temporary metal-panel fencing, similar to what you see at construction sites (http://www.modu-loc.ca/en/products/standard-green-fence-panels/). While there are various options for minimizing fence breaches, such as butterfly clamps and braces, it is still very difficult to prevent a determined group of people from toppling a fence. At an event that may have as much 10 Km of fencing, it is not possible to visually monitor the whole perimeter. Therefore, it would be very desirable to have a system to remotely monitor whether or not a fence panel is upright or toppled."

My idea would be to experiment with a wireless system made up of a network of inclinometers, but a system that detects the mating of two panels could also work. I don't have time to work on this, but thought it would be a proof of concept would be a decent scope for 459/479. For a final product there would be cost consideration, but since it would be a re-usable, rented system the cost can be amortized. In addition, given the cost of securing fencing, it is actually a decent value proposition to a promoter.

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41. Vibration Damped Writing Aid  (Sterling)

George Sterling, EngPhys Alumnus

Project Objectives: 

Develop a system to dampen vibrations or jerks at the tip of a writing utensil. A successful design should allow one to write legibly on a bus, in a car, on a boat or on an airplane and it could also help those with inherently shaky hands as in the case of those suffering Parkinson’s disease or cerebral palsy.

Design and Analysis: This is a mechanical engineering project that involves:

•         Designing a         vibration dampening writing aid
•         Researching current         alternatives and solutions
•         Producing and testing a functional prototype

Resources Available:

• Mentorship and immediate project assistance

Expected Technical Background:

• Useful skills include proficiency with SolidWorks or other CAD software,         knowledge of mechanical design and material properties. 40 hour shop         course an asset.

Preference: 4 month group

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42. High Density Rapid Metallic 3D Printing  (Sterling)

George Sterling, EngPhys Alumnus

Background:

Current methods for 3D printing metals typically uses a spread layer of fine metallic powder that is heated with a laser to unite adjacent metal particles one layer at a time. Typically this is done within an inert gas environment to prevent oxidation. This method of producing arbitrary shapes is slow and has structural limitations owing to the production of a porous structure that is less dense than the powder.

Project Objectives: 

Develop a process to achieve full density or near full density 3D printing by uniting conventional 3D printing with sintering techniques. One such process could involve printing the external surface of a solid object. Once a hollow structure is formed, metal powder could be poured into the structure, then compressed isostatically and finally heated to the sintering temperature, completing the part. Once optimized, this process will compete with current 3D printing technologies owing to superior mechanical properties, enhanced speed and capacity to handle virtually any substance including mixtures of substances.

Design and Analysis:

• Design a set of 3D printable containers
• Test filling 3D printed containers with associated powders and observe effects of isostatic pressing

Resources Available:

• Mentorship and immediate project assistance
• Assistance with building prototypes + machining

Expected Technical Background:

• Useful skills include proficiency with SolidWorks or other CAD software, knowledge of mechanical design and material properties. 40 hour shop         course an asset.

Preference: Either 4 or 8 month group

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43. Sterile Barrier Test Apparatus (Drill Cover Team)

The Drill Cover Project (www.drillcover.com) requires a sterile barrier testing apparatus which will use compressed air to force synthetic blood through the drill cover interface. This is a method used in the medical industry to test the quality of surgical gowns, drapes, and other fabrics that are intended to provide a sterile barrier.

The design will feature a pressure vessel that will be filled with 60ml of synthetic blood, and then pressurized to 2psi. The drill cover will be mounted in the wall of the pressure vessel, to determine if synthetic blood can force its way through the interface. A regulator and gauge will be required to control the pressure in the vessel, automation of the pressure control (or even a GUI) could be interesting for a team to tackle, but is not completely necessary within the scope of this apparatus. A rough schematic is shown in Figure 1 and 2, which was taken from the relevant standard ASTMF1670-08 – Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Synthetic Blood. The schematic is intended as a guide only, it will have to be modified to fit a drill cover interface, so students can use their own discretion and creativity to complete the design as they see fit. It is preferred for this be an ENPH 479 project.

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44. Oscillating Saw Cover (Drill Cover Team)

Lawrence Buchan, Marianne Black, UBC Biomed Engineering / Engineers in Scrubs

A group of UBC students created the surgical Drill Cover (http://drillcover.com/) to meet the surgical drilling needs of orthopaedic surgeons in low resource hospitals. A hardware drill that runs at the same speed and torque as a surgical grade drill is used with a sterilisable cover to prevent transmission of infectious agents. Currently, in hospitals like Mulago Hospital, Uganda the best solution for drilling is an exhausting and slow hand-cranked manual drill. This leads to an increase in surgical time, increased risk of infection for patients, and less accurate drilling which likely leads to worse patient outcomes. The Drill Cover team aims to make safe surgical drilling accessible at all hospitals.

Surgeons have mentioned that an Oscillating Saw Cover would be ideal for amputations and osteotomies as well. The proposed project would involve the development of a cover and mechanical interface for creating a seal around a hardware oscillating saw to be used in surgery without transferring infectious agents between surgeries. Students who are strong in mechanical design and machining would be ideal for this project. Since this project is meant to meet the needs of low-resource hospitals, a project team would be required to create a prototype that can be manufactured as inexpensively as possible. The design also has to be autoclavable (20min @ 135°C) and user friendly for surgeons and nurses. The project team would be expected to meet with the UBC Orthopaedic Surgeons working on the Drill Cover project for feedback.  

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45. Mobile Game Cheater Detection (Foosler)

Eric Finlay, Foosler

Project Background and Scope: 

Foosler has created a system allowing mobile games to integrate cash tournaments (in-game score determines cash prize). As a result, the detection of players cheating while playing these games is important to maintaining a trustworthy system. In addition to other security measures, we log detailed play data from every cash play session. The play data will be our best indication of whether a player is being aided by a computer program or a second person.

Project Objective: 

A team of 2 or 3 members, supported by Foosler will design, write, and optimize a program/script that will analyze user play data and return a judgment on whether the given player was cheating in some manner. This project is a great opportunity to develop coding skills and practice building barriers against malicious end users. The specific goal is to correctly identify cheating vs. non-cheating 90% of the time.

Design and Analysis: 

The design of the program must be flexible enough to check for different methods of cheating in different types of game. The input data will always have the same form, but the games that the data is referencing will change. The analysis of game data and analysis of the results will form the bulk of the project.

Resources Available:

Mentors and immediate project assistance for software design and implementation.

Expected Technical Background:

Basic experience with Linux

Ability to program

Preference: 

4-Month Project  

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46. [ & ]Development of an In-Air STM : Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) for Room Temperature Surface Characterization of Thin Films Grown in Ultra High Vacuum (HighTC Lab)

Pinder Dosanjh, Doug Bonn, UBC PHAS / High Temperature Superconductivity Lab

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

We are developing a state-of-the-art STM facility for the characterization and study of, among other materials, complex oxide structures. To complement this facility, a room temperature characterization tool with near atomic resolution is required, to probe the surface quality of the oxide thin films grown in our ultra-high-vacuum, thin-film deposition chamber. Ideally, this tool is a room-temperature, in-air STM. This project requires an engineering team to re-design the structure that supports the main piezoelectric scanning tube of our currently non-operational in-air STM. Furthermore, we require the integration of open source software for controlling the microscope and acquiring images. The end goal for the project is to be able to image and characterize the surface quality of a thin film grown in house, to near atomic resolution.

 Figure 1 UBC In-air STM – image of the piezo scanner tube

 Figure 2 Gold thin film imaged by STM

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47.  [ & ] Development of a High Temperature Heater for the Growth of Oxide Thin Films in Ultra High Vacuum  (HighTC Lab)

Pinder Dosanjh, Doug Bonn, UBC PHAS / High Temperature Superconductivity Lab  [ & claimed by 479 group, Sept 10 ]

We are developing an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system for the growth of oxide thin films. One of the key components required to actually grow an oxide film is a heater that can maintain a substrate, upon which a thin film is grown, at elevated temperatures. Our current heating system has a number of constraints that make it difficult to repeatedly heat samples in a consistent and reliable fashion. This project requires an engineering team to re-design the heater system so that it is non-magnetic and can be operated over a greater temperature range. The construction of the heater must address stringent requirements to be able to operate in a UHV environment, along with being able to withstand exposure to oxygen at elevated temperatures. The end goal for the project is to heat a 5x5mm single crystal substrate to 1000C with a temperature stability of 1C.

 Figure 1 UBC Oxide MBE system

 Figure 2 Rendering of the Current UBC UHV heater design

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48. Control and Automation of an Ultra High Vacuum Oxide Molecular Beam Epitaxy Thin Film Growth Chamber using LabView (ARPES  Lab)

Pinder Dosanjh, Andrea Damascelli,  UBC PHAS ARPES Lab / Quantum Materials

 We are re-building a small molecular beam epitaxy thin film fabrication system, designed to be mobile, for the growth of complex oxide thin films. This system is now operational but requires automation and control of the various subsystems. The engineering team is tasked with controlling three growth sources, RHEED, thickness monitor, pyrometer, shutter control, and heating system. The end goal for the project is to grow a thin film of Bismuth to a pre-set thickness, 100-500Å, using LabView.

 Figure 1 Oxide MBE system being baked at 120C.     Figure 2 Rack with control electronics

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49. Two Projects - Test Facility for Large Area Photosensors (Tanaka)

Hirohisa Tanaka, UBC Physics and Astronomy

 Figure 1: Left: 20” Hamamatsu R3600 photosensor. Center: Photosensor Test Facility (PTF) at

TRIUMF showing outer magnetic shielding apparatus. Right: Manipulator arms of the PTF with

optical heads within the magnetic shielding.

Overview

Photosensors are extremely sensitive light detectors that can typically register the arrival of a single photon at the detector with ~nanosecond time resolution. Large area photosensors with diameters up to 50 cm, as shown on the left in Figure 1, play a critical role in particle and astroparticle physics experiments. In these experiments, large volumes of water are viewed with thousands of such photosensors to detect Cherenkov radiation occurring from the interaction of particles such as neutrinos in the water. The need for many, large area photosensors is driven by the need to collect as much of the Cherenkov radiation as possible, and to perform pattern recognition that will identify the nature of the interaction. The interior volume of Super-Kamiokande (SK), the largest water Cherenkov detector in the world, is shown on the left of Figure 2. The yellow bulbs are 20” photosensors, of which there are more than 11000 in SK. The raft with two people in the bottom left of the photograph illustrate the scale of the detector, which is 36 m high and 33 m in diameter.

A detailed and precise understanding of these large area photosensors is essential for the successful operation and analysis of data from experiments like SK. To this end, we have built a “Photosensor Test Facility” (PTF) at TRIUMF, which allows the response of a photosensor to be completely characterized as a function of the wavelength, polarization, angle, and position of the incident light. The PTF is shown in the center of Figure 1, where the outer magnetic compensation and shielding apparatus is visible. In the right, the two manipulator arms equipped with “optical heads”, which operate within the magnetic shielding and inject light onto the photosensor from various angles and positions, is visible. The optical heads also carry small photosensors that can characterize light reflected from the photosensors. Past EngPhys students have played an important role in designing and building key parts of the PTF, most notably the motor control system. With the completion of other parts of the PTF, the system has been in operation since the summer of 2014. However, several improvements and enhancements are desired to facilitate measurements with the system.

Figure 2: Inner volume of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. Right: Proposed Hyper-Kamiokande

experiment, employing 99,000 20” photosensors in a 1 megaton volume.

Project A - Motor Control System:

The manipulator arms are each driven by a set of five motors which provide three dimensional translational and twin axis rotational motion. The motors are controlled by a motor control board which translates instructions from a control PC into electric signals to drive the motors to enact the desired movement. For the vertical translation motion, it was found that a more powerful set of motors are desirable in order to accommodate the weight of the manipulator arms.

The project is to incorporate a pair of more powerful motors to the Galil motor control boards used by the PTF. As a first step, the basic interface between the board and the motors must be understood and implemented. As a second step, these basic instructions must be interfaced with the MIDAS control system used by the PTF which provides a user control interface to translate basic commands, such as to bring the a manipulator arm to a particular position and angle, into instructions transmuted to the control board, along with interpreting and acting on the feedback and monitoring information provided by the motor and the board. After the command interface is integrated fully with the new motors, alignment and positioning performance should be evaluated, and appropriate control mechanisms introduced to achieve ~1 mm/1 deg tolerance/precision

Resources Available:  Technical assistance from T2K and TRIUMF staff, modest budget

Expected Technical Background:  Strong programming skills in C/C++, basic electrical/electronics skills, previous experience with robotics desirable.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group:  either is fine.

Project B - Photosensor Mounting Stand:

Precise measurements of the photosensors with the PTF require that the photosensors can be precisely and reproducibly positioned with the PTF, particularly with respect the coordinate system defined by the manipulator arms. Furthermore, it is desirable that the photosensors can be rotated azimuthally and tilted in order to provide cross checks of the measurement and to allow a wider range of geometric configuration.

The project is to design and build a suitable mounting stand for the photosensors. Since various photosensors of different sizes and shape will be measured in the PTF, a universal interface to accommodate and mount these different photosensors is needed. The stand must accommodate other constraints and requirements such as:

1. Precise and reproducible positioning of the photosensor. Thus, the photosensor must be precisely positioned relative to the rest of the stand, and a means to precisely position the stand with respect to the rest of the PTF is also needed. The rotational degrees of freedom must also be reliably and reproducible manipulable.

2. Resilience against buoyant forces when measurements are made with the stand and photosensor in water.

3. Since the photosensors are extremely sensitive to magnetic fields, the materials, etc. must not introduce any magnetic fields.

4. The stand must be installable and operable within the physical constraints and boundaries of the other components of the PTF, which include a set of six magnetic compensation coils, a hexagonal frame for magnetic shielding, a large vessel of circulating water situated within the shielding, and the manipulator arms. To this end, remote verification of positioning and alignment would be highly desirable, as well as remote operation of the rotational motion of the stand.

Resources Available:  Technical assistance from T2K and TRIUMF staff, modest budget!

Expected Technical Background:  Mechanical design skills, CAD/Solidworks, previous experience with robotics desirable.

Preference for 4-month or 8-month group:  either is fine.

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50. [ & ] Multi-speckle dynamic light scattering for platelet assay (LightIntegra)

Andrew Mahoney, Robert Young, LightIntegra Technology   [& claimed by 479 group,  Sept 6]

Background

ThromboLUX

LightIntegra Technology (LIT or LightIntegra) is developing ThromboLUX, a medical device that analyzes platelet products prior to use. Platelets are a key component of blood, and necessary for clotting, however 15-30% of platelet transfusions are ineffective due to low-quality platelets. ThromboLUX will be the first point-of-care device that makes a rapid determination of platelet quality, thus avoiding ineffective transfusions. This device promises to improve patient outcomes and safety while lowering health care costs.

Dynamic light scattering (DLS) is a technology that is widely used for particle sizing and has the sensitivity to detect several particle populations and small changes in concentration. ThromboLUX uses the principle of DLS to determine what kind of particles are in the platelet concentrate, how many of the particles exist, and how they respond to temperature stress. At the end of the fifteen minute test, the instrument compiles all of the data and calculates a score displayed on a scale of 0-40.

Multi-speckle dynamic light scattering

Due to the increasing availability of CCD cameras with high framerate (up to 1kHz) and high dynamic range (e.g. 16bit), a new trend in DLS is to use CCDs as an area detector. This enables performing a large number (~106) of independent light scattering experiments simultaneously. Shorter measurement times and improved statistical accuracy are two significant advantages of this configuration compared to conventional DLS. Furthermore, the area detector enables the possibility of multi-angle measurements and static light scattering in parallel with DLS—giving researchers the ability to extract more information faster. Another possibility is to use cross-correlation techniques for multiple-scattering suppression in highly turbid samples.

Objectives and Scope

LIT would like to investigate incorporating a CCD camera into the DLS setup of the ThromboLUX to both reduce measurement time and improve statistical accuracy.

The objectives of this project are the following:

• To design and develop a flexible and adaptable test system.
• To set up and characterize different multi-speckle DLS configurations.
• To evaluate the test system in comparison to existing ThromboLUX data output.

Design and Analysis

Optomechanical system

• Students will design and fabricate an optomechanical apparatus that mounts to         the front portion of an existing ThromboLUX Console. The design shall make it possible to mount a CCD camera and optics at various distances to the sample on an optical rail at a given scattering angle.         
• Students will need to verify/characterize the apparatus and optical geometry with measurements.

Multi-speckle system characterization

• Students will explore up to two different multi-speckle configurations by setting up the apparatus for each and developing experimental plans for characterizing parameters such as scattering angle and speckle size.

1.  Multi-angle approach using a Fourier lens

• Map a range of scattering angles to pixels across the sensor        
• Develop a method to determine the scattering angle at each pixel

[1]

2.  Single-angle approach using a pinhole aperture

• Characterize speckle size versus pinhole size and sample-sensor distance
• Determine optimal CCD binning and speckle size relative to pixel size

[2]

Output data evaluation

• Students will collect raw data during a normal ThromboLUX measurement using one or both of the multi-speckle configurations and use software to evaluate and compare the raw data collected from the experimental system as well as ThromboLUX.

Resources available

• Relevant technical literature is available.         
• Students are encouraged to use the prototyping equipment at their disposal including but not limited to the machine shop, waterjet, laser cutter, 3D printer, and SolidWorks.                 
• ThromboLUX         components

Expected Technical Background

• Comfortable with the above mentioned prototyping tools
• Experience with setting up optical systems
• Knowledge of signal processing
• Experience with python or matlab

Preference for 4-month or 8-month

An 8-month group is preferred but a motivated 4-month group is also possible.

References

• [1]  Multiangle static and dynamic light scattering in the intermediate scattering angle range, E. Tamborini and L. Cipelletti, Review of Scientific Instruments 83, 093106 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4751864

• [2]  Multispeckle autocorrelation spectroscopy and its application to the investigation of ultraslow dynamical processes, S. Kirsch et al., J.         Chem. Phys. 104, 1758 (1996); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.470761
• [3] Multiple-scattering suppression in dynamic light scattering based on         a digital camera detection scheme, Pavel Zakharov et al., Applied Optics, Vol. 45, Issue 8, pp. 1756-1764 (2006)
• [4] Dynamic light scattering with a CCD camera, Wong and Wiltzius, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 64, 2547 (1993); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1143864

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51. [ & ] Projects from MAGIC / Human Communication Technologies Lab  

UBC MAGIC ( Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre)    [ & Project A claimed by 479, Sept 7th]

The UBC MAGIC Centre has projects that are concerned with understanding and creating new interfaces to improve the people's ability to interact with technology.  Some of the past projects have resulted in patents, academic publications, graduate theses and products.  Most projects require programming skills in at least C or C++ as a starting point and also require integration of hardware and software.

A number of undergraduate projects are listed at the following website:  (http://www.magic.ubc.ca/student/),but two projects have been highlighted by the Lab for  the upcoming term:

Project A - Augmented Reality App for Archaeological Site

Augmented Reality (AR) adds digital content such as 3D models and text on the reality that is seen through a digital camera. The aim of this Digital Salon project is to develop an AR app for the archaeological site of Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios (K-AD), a Late Bronze Age (c. 1650-1100 BCE) urban centre located on Cyprus. This app will provide a means for visitors to the site to use a GPS-enabled mobile device to reconstruct areas of the site by overlaying virtual content such as 3D models and animation. This AR app will integrate both vision-based and location-based AR approach to enable the user to walk about the entire archeological site and tap on the objects of interest and view the corresponding virtual content. This project is undertaken in partnership with NGRAIN and students will work with developing their AR platform.

Project B - ArgGraph

Philosophers think of an argument or reasoning as a series of statements in which one or more are conclusions and some others are premises providing support for the conclusions. Representations of arguments as diagrams of statements linked by their supporting connections promotes important parts of critical thinking. This project aims to design and build a user friendly web-based user interface tailored for argument diagramming, which will be sensitive to the interface demands of non North American audiences and can handle Arabic and Chinese scripts/characters. This tool is meant to be used by hundreds of students as an instructional tool in Philosophy and English courses, with the aim of expansion to many other courses in Canada and internationally. It will be developed and tested in tandem with instructors at UBC and in China.

The design of this platform is based on the concepts of HCI and human cognition, and will examine issues such as:

- What the interface should look like? What alterations in the interface are required to enable easy use by non-English speaking audiences based on visual cues?

- What tools should be available in the web-based application?

- What trade-off should we make between simplicity and complexity in designing the user interface?

- How or do simple interface structures enable better development of reasoning and argumentation?

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52. IC Engine Air-Fuel Ratio Control with a Modern ECU  (Nagamune)

Ryozo Nagamune, UBC Mechanical Engineering.  Pan Zhao (PhD student), Arman Zandinia (MASc student)

Project Background, Scope and Objective

In production automotive vehicles, the three-way catalytic converter (TWC) was introduced in 1981 to address increasingly stringent emission standards. The role of the TWC is to convert toxic exhaust gases into non-toxic ones and water. The effective operation of the TWC relies heavily on the oxygen storage level and on air-fuel ratio of the incoming exhaust gases being close to stoichiometric. Accurate control of the air-fuel ratio in the engine is therefore required to ensure good health and operation of the TWC, and consequently, low tailpipe emissions.

In order to compensate for air flow changes and maintain a desired air-fuel ratio, the engine control unit (ECU) adjusts the fuel flow by changing the fuel injector signal pulse width. While conventional control strategies have relied heavily on static maps and feed-forward controllers, the introduction of the universal exhaust gas oxygen (UEGO) sensor has made it possible to put a much stronger emphasis on feedback. Along with its linear characteristics and its improved response time, the wideband UEGO sensor has made control schemes employing a measurement of the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas feasible.

This project aims at constructing a feedback control system consisting of an engine, UEGO sensors, and a programmable electronic control unit (ECU). The UBC Mechanical Engineering Department has a 1992 GM Sunbird engine installed on an engine dynamometer that needs to be retrofitted to a modern ECU and will be used for testing and developing advanced engine control algorithms.

Design and Analysis

• Retrofitting MotoHawk ECU to Sunbird engine in parallel to OEM ECU.         

• Design of switchboard that allows sensor signals to enter both ECUs without significant signal degradation and the ability to independently switch between the actuator signals generated from the ECUs to the engine for calibration purposes.
• Wiring the sensors and actuators to the ECU. Crank position sensor needs an adaptive circuit to connect to MotoHawk ECU.         

• Mount UEGO (wide-band) sensors pre-TWC to work with the Motohawk ECU. The Sunbird engine currently uses narrow-band oxygen sensors; both types of sensors will be working in parallel.
• Calibration of the engine sensors.         

• Implementation of control algorithms, including PI control and gain-scheduled control, are to be programmed by Matlab/Simulink and embedded into ECU.

Resources Available

• 1992 Sunbird PFI SI Engine.
• SuperFlow engine dynamometer
• MotoHawk ECU         
• Support time from MotoHawk         
• Financial resources to purchase necessary items

Expected Technical Background

• Students involved in this project should have strong interests in automotive engines, automatic control, controller design based in Matlab/Simulink, sensors and actuators, modeling, and mechatronics systems.
• Knowledge of signal processing and circuit design.         
• The project also requires a great amount of documentation of all the work done (i.e., wiring diagrams, test procedures and programming explanations). Therefore, the prospective students must possess great communication and documentation skills.
• Experiences and knowledge of automotive engines will be a great asset.         

References

1. M. Postma and R. Nagamune, “Air-fuel ratio control of spark ignition engines using a switching LPV controller,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 20(5), pp. 1175-1187, 2012.
2. A. White, J. Choi, R. Nagamune, and G. Zhu, “Gain-scheduling control of port-fuel-injection processes,” Control Engineering Practice, 19(4), pp. 380-394, 2011.
3. L. Guzzella and C. Onder, Introduction to Modeling and Control of         Internal Combustion Engine Systems, 2nd ed., Springer, 2010.

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53. Improving Navigation Algorithms used in Mobile App for Runners (RunGo)

Alicia Woodside, Craig Slagel, RunGo

Background Information

RunGo is the voice navigation app for runners, which offers turn by turn directions, much like a car GPS, for runners. You can find out more here: http://www.rungoapp.com/video/

Project Main Objective(s)

To build upon RunGo's runner navigation system, by designing new algorithms that can enhance the app’s navigation along a pre-defined path.

Requirements include:

Provide turn by turn directional cues and points of interest along a route;

Guide runners on a variety of running formats, including looped courses, out and back routes, and point to point runs;

Support runners with directions at intersections;

Alert when runner when off-course;

Direct runners back to start if they choose to terminate the run early.

Resources:

sample route data

RunGo navigation pseudocode

Current app uses voice navigation, this is optional for this project.

Project Main Deliverable(s)

Research report; and,

Pseudocode of the algorithms.

Optional Deliverable(s)

Full functional prototype.

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54. Self-calibrating flow controller with fully disposable fluid path: A proof of concept  (Precision Nanosystems)

Andre Wild, Precision Nanosystems

Is it possible to achieve precise and steady flow control using low cost disposable components?

Will a doodle on the back of an envelope come to life as part of a pharmaceutical manufacturing

system? Choose this project and find out!

The project will involve combining low cost transducers, electric valves and a microcontroller

with a self calibration system to create a flow controller. You will be provided with a high level

design of the controller. You will add detail to this design, source components, build a prototype

and evaluate the performance of the system.

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55. [ & ] Measuring optical oxygen sensors integrated into microfluidic channels (Cheung)

Karen Cheung, UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering [ & claimed by 479 group, Sept 8]

Our group is working on integrating optical oxygen sensors, which consist of thin oxygen-sensitive films, on the bottom of microfluidic channels and then using these sensors for cell culture studies in our laboratory. Cells are cultured in tiny microfluidic channels and studied using an automated microscope system to track their behavior and proliferation. Optical oxygen sensors operate on the principle of reversible quenching of luminescence, modulating the luminescence intensity and excited-state lifetime of indicator molecules.  These sensors can be easily integrated into micro-scale environments and measured using microscopy and image processing.

This project involves the design and testing of a system to calibrate integrated optical oxygen sensors in an automated fashion. Optical oxygen sensors will be integrated into microfluidic environments for cell culture and imaged with an automated fluorescence microscope system to measure their intensities. The sensor luminescence contains information about the dissolved oxygen levels present in their environment. Sensors are currently calibrated by supplying different gas levels to the devices and taking images using the automated microscope system, and then analyzing the resulting images using MATLAB. The goal for this project is to integrate the sensor calibration (and eventual sensor measurement during cell culture) functionality into the automated microscope system.

For this project the student will:

Literature:

1. Do a literature review to understand the underlying principle of optical oxygen sensors.
2. Study image processing techniques, regression curve fitting, and C# software development.

Hardware:

1. Learn to assemble microfluidic devices with integrated sensors and connect their inputs and outputs for sensor calibration.

Software:

1. Review existing software for the microscope automation system.
2. Integrate sensor calibration and sensor measurement functionality (via image analysis to extract the sensor intensities from images and then regression curve fitting to the calibration function) into the automated microscope software.

Integration

1. Test the sensor calibration and sensor measurement functionality with the microfluidic devices with embedded oxygen sensors.

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56. [ & ] Design of an Internal Combustion Engine Cylinder Head (Kirchen)

Patrick Kirchen, Jeremy Rochussen, UBC Mechanical Engineering

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Overview

An ongoing research program in UBC’s Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) is developing a single cylinder internal combustion engine research facility for investigating advanced fuelling strategies for diesel, natural gas and biofuel engines. In addition to conventional engine research techniques, this program will employ advanced optical diagnostic systems for characterizing the combustion and emission processes. To facilitate the use of these systems, a new cylinder head is required.

This project is focussed on the design and analysis of a research grade cylinder head that will provide the required access for optical and conventional diagnostic systems. In addition, the cylinder head must employ a modular mounting system capable of accepting a range of different fuel injectors. The design should be based on an existing production cylinder head (available for inspection) and readily available valve-train components. The following aspects are expected to be addressed during the design process:

• Solid modeling of existing and new cylinder heads (in Solidworks or NX)
• Design of valve actuation based on production parts
• Design of a modular fuel injector and diagnostic mounting scheme
• FEA of final design (e.g. using NX)
• Thermal analysis of cooling (e.g. using NX)
• Flow analysis         of port flow (time permitting, using NX or similar)

The project team will work in close interaction with the CERC research team and will be able to access the research facilities as needed throughout the project. If successful, the design resulting from this project will ultimately be fabricated and used in CERC for numerous research projects. In light of this, the project team may be required to interact with local fabrication shops to finalize the design.

Deliverables

In addition to a project report, the deliverables for this project include:

• Solid model of final design, suitable for rapid prototyping         
• Shop drawings for any required machining operations
• Assembly drawings
• Documentation of the FEA, thermal and flow (if applicable) analyses

Expected Technical Background

The successful project team must have solid modeling experience and some mechanical design background. Any experience with, or a strong desire to learn FEA, CFD and/or computational thermal analysis is an asset. Experience in fabrication and/or automotive technology is desired but not required.  

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57. Projects From Misty West (Misty West)

MistyWest is an innovative engineering consulting company based out of Vancouver, Canada with very strong Engphys Representation in its founders and employees.  MistyWest specializes in the research and design of sustainable energy and transport products, solutions and policies.

Project A -  Deployable Solar Bike Trailer

Project Objectives: To develop a simple deployable solar assembly to be used in-place of portable fuel generators at public events (e.g. eatART). The assembly will include an integrated power inverter and battery conditioning system. The assembly is to be mounted to a bike trailer and have the ability to collapse and stow for delivery by bike. Total power should be as high as feasible for a portable array.

Expected Outcome: Prototype design may include (but not limited to);

1. Simple mechanical deployment or assembly for solar array
2. Battery charge conditioning system (monitor battery condition and include programmed charge conditioning cycles)
3. Display for battery capacity, condition, and power up-time (based on draw from electronics currently plugged in)

Budget: TBD

Project B  -  Folding Skateboard

Project Objectives: To design and prototype a skateboard (or longboard) which can be folded into itself to become its own carrying case (e.g. briefcase form factor). The entire skateboard must be easy to conceal without the use of tools or external parts. When folded, the skateboard case should expose an integrated carrying handle and appear to be a generic briefcase.

It is more important for the briefcase to appear as a generic case when folded over looking like skateboard when riding (i.e. in the worst case, it is better to look like a briefcase skateboard opposed to a skateboard briefcase).

Expected Outcome: Prototype to include;

1. Simple mechanism for collapsing the skateboard into a briefcase
2. Mechanism will be stiff enough to function on sidewalks/asphalt (e.g. low durometer, large diameter wheels)
3. Custom design of deck, trucks, wheels, etc. as necessary to adopt a folding mechanism
4. Board         size can be between the size of a skateboard or longboard – case size must be light/small enough to carry comfortably

Budget: TBD

Project C  -  Bluetooth Event Tracking Button

Project Objectives: To design and prototype an ultra-miniature push button which locally stores event data (push event, timestamp) and streams the data back to a smartphone when in range. The service should not use a data connection (e.g. Wifi) and should use BLE 4.0 to communicate to a pre-authenticated smart phone. The objective of this project is to develop a miniature custom PCB which includes the Bluetooth module, push button, and battery management circuit for a LiPoly battery. As time permits, a custom enclosure should be made to house the PCB, button cap, and battery.

The vision of this project is similar to BTTN (http://bt.tn) but sends event data to a smartphone without the use of a cloud based server. The Event Tracking Button can be used for collected data on the quantified self, or rigged to track physical events (e.g. door switches, etc)

Expected Outcome: Prototype to include;

1. Miniature battery powered, Bluetooth push button (momentary ON)
2. Simple android app which displays relevant push event data (timestamp, button ID, time plot)         

Budget: TBD

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58. [ & ] Advanced Tattoo Technology  (Microdermics)

Dr. Boris Stoeber, Microdermics, Inc.

[% added Sept 1]

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Background

A tattoo usually consists of ink that has been immobilized in the dermal skin layer to produce a visual artifact. Applications are in cosmetics and the marking of animals.

In conventional tattoo technology, ink is dispensed onto the skin, and the tattoo gun pushes the ink into the skin using a solid needle. The needle is actuated at a frequency around 20 Hz. Conventional tattoo technology is associated with skin trauma and pain for the client.

We have developed micromachined devices that allow the injection of fluids into the skin at a predetermined depth. Shallow injections using these devices are painless.

A combination of our technology with tattoo technology might lead to more effective and less invasive tattoo technology. One approach might be to modify a conventional tattoo gun. For this purpose, a mechanism has to be developed that synchronizes the motion of the needle and the ejection of fluid.

Project Objective

This project will lead to a prototype tattoo gun that injects the tattoo ink directly into the dermal skin layer. The prototype will have adjustable settings, and the student group will provide a set of recommended settings.

Design and Analysis

1. Background on skin mechanics
2. Background on tattoo technology and procedures
3. Development of system requirements
4. System design
5. Construction of a prototype system
6. Testing of the system and parameter optimization
7. User evaluation and comparison with conventional technology (if time        permits)

Available Resources

We can provide background information on skin mechanics and insertion procedures, and we are available for consultation throughout the project. We will provide micromachined injection devices if needed.

Preference for 4-Month or 8-Month Project

4 months, but 8 months is fine as well.

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59. [ & ] Real-time occupancy counting device for building system controls (Sensible Building Science)

Stefan Storey & James Montgomery, Sensible Building Science Inc. 

[% added Sept 1]

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Background Information

Getting at deep energy efficiency gains requires high-resolution data on the location and timing of building occupancy. If occupancy patterns are known then providing energy services scaled and targeted to the location of people can attain substantial energy savings.

The project ideation is shown in Figure 1. Knowing how many people are in a zone, or room, enables the use of load control strategies such as turning down the heat supplied to an empty room, or providing ventilation to an impromptu meeting or conference. A feasibility study has already been completed to show that between 2-15% of building energy can be saved when occupancy-driven control is used. This translates to a savings in the range of $500,000 over a campus the size of UBC.

Many technologies that detect occupancy already exist. However, these solutions, which include PIR, ultrasonics, and video analytics, are highly inaccurate when rooms become busy. We propose that a new approach more accurately determines occupancy by using ambient data from portable devices, such as counting passing blue tooth signals.

Project Main Objectives:

To build a device that is capable of counting and approximating the number of portable devices in a given area. As a proof of concept, a prototype shall be required only to count portable devices to 80% accuracy in an average room walled by drywall or concrete. All we need to know is how many devices are in a walled box, not exactly where they are. However, the actual location of each portable device would be an excellent bonus outcome.

• The target Bill of Materials cost of the manufactured device is under $150.
• Count         (and locational data if available) for up to 20 occupants must be recorded at (maximum) 15 minute intervals.
• Data streaming via Wi-fi or Ethernet LAN to server for data storage.

Project Deliverables

• Literature search on existing technological solutions

• Fully functional prototype

• Design documentation of assembly and operation

• Detailed strengths, implementation challenges and the results of test trials.
• Recommendation for scaling up for larger rooms and increasing the capacity to count a larger number of occupants (up to 400).

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60. BEAT - Breathable Electrostatic Transducer  (Mossman / SSAP Lab)

Michele Mossman, UBC Sustainability Solutions Applied Physics Laboratory

[% added Sept 2]

Click Here to watch a video of the mechanism in action.

In a variety of situations a silent and efficient method for displacing small amounts of air using a porous material is desirable. Here, we describe a new approach under development in the Sustainability Solutions Applied Physics Laboratory at UBC. Our initial investigations in this area focused on the development of a thin film transducer. We have since found that this transducer has unique features that may be valuable in a variety of applications.

The transducer is made from porous cellulose mat, which is used to create both electrically insulating and electrically conducting layers. To make the conducting layers, sheets of the material are soaked in Baytron CH8000 (an aqueous dispersion of the intrinsically conductive polymer PEDT/PSS). Sheets of conductive and insulating layers are then interleaved, and alternating conducting layers are connected to two electrodes, as shown in Figure 1. Using a DC voltage source, a potential difference is applied between the two electrodes. The resulting electrostatic pressure causes the structure to contract. When the potential difference is removed, the structure expands back to its natural rest state. This process of contraction and expansion is repeated at a low frequency to create a “breathable” transducer, which pushes air in and out of the structure.

The device can push air both through the structure and around it. A transducer with a thickness of 5cm at rest has been shown to have a 1cm displacement when powered by a 1000V source. (The source is capable of delivering up to 0.5mA of current, but only a few A is required.) The transducer has an efficiency of greater than 10% when converting electrical energy into mechanical work. With its silent and efficient operation, this technology could be applied to a variety of situations where small air movement through and around the device is desirable. This technology is in the early stages of development, but we believe that the unique properties of this transducer may make it a desirable solution in a number of fields and uses.

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61. Downsampling a Kinect Datastream (Mitchell)

Ian Mitchell, UBC Department of Computer Science  

[ %  added Sept 2nd ]

Background

A key challenge for robots is knowledge of the local environment.  Among current mobile robots -- such as Google's self-driving car -- laser rangefinders are typically used to detect obstacles; however, such sensors cost hundreds to thousands of dollars each and so are out of reach for inexpensive robots.  Microsoft's Kinect and similar depth sensing (or RGB-D) cameras are a much less expensive alternative, but they suffer from two challenges: their field of view is limited, so four or more cameras are required to provide full coverage around the robot; and each camera generates full frame video, so reading from multiple cameras can easily overwhelm the peripheral bus on a typical laptop.

Objectives & Scope

Students will develop a system to allow multiple RGB-D cameras to be connected to a single laptop bus and thereby deliver multiple downsampled RGB-D video streams into ROS (the Robot Operating System).  The robotics and vision communities have embraced RGB-D sensors, so there is extensive software already available for them.

Design & Analysis

Solutions may be a mixture of hardware and software; for example, one potential solution is to attach a small single board computer (SBC) to each camera (eg: a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi), and have the SBC pass along only a fraction of the incoming video frames to the main laptop.  Students are free to explore other potential solutions.  Once a solution is constructed, the analysis would involve exploring the capabilities of the system; for example, how many cameras and what frame-rates are possible?

Resources

We have several RGB-D cameras, at least one of which can be devoted to this project full-time.  We have a Beagleboard or could purchase other small SBCs.  ROS is open source software.

Expected Technical Background

Experience with Linux and Python or C++ is necessary to work with ROS.  Experience with SBCs and/or USB protocols would be an advantage, but not a necessity.

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62. [ & ] Live Tracking of Wheel Rotation with a Smartphone / Tablet (Mitchell / Borisoff)

Ian Mitchell, UBC Department of Computer Science  

Jaimie Borisoff, BCIT Rehabilitation Engineering Design Laboratory

[ & Project claimed by 459 group, Sept 22]

Background

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that wheelchair (WC) users benefit enormously from structured skills training programs; however, such training programs are often not available because of resource limitations.  In a previous project, we have developed an at-home training program that uses an Android tablet to deliver video instruction to trainees.  Unfortunately, such motor-skills training programs inevitably involve extensive and rather boring repetition.  One way to encourage trainees to continue such repetitive exercises is "gamification": Make the exercise into a game, and provide rapid and regular feedback on progress.  In the context of WC skills training, such feedback requires knowledge about how the trainee has moved the wheels.

Objectives & Scope

Students will develop a system to track motion of both wheels and deliver that data wirelessly to an Android smartphone / tablet.  Key properties of the solution are continuous (~1Hz or more) and rapid (less than 1 sec latency) detection, low power (sensors must last as long as possible, and at least an hour without recharging), easy to attach / remove components, reasonable accuracy (detect motions of ~30 degrees or more), and low cost (less than $100 for all components other than the smartphone).

Design & Analysis

Students will design / source hardware and software; for example, one potential solution is to mount three-axis accelerometers onto the wheels, connect them by bluetooth to the smartphone, and then track rotation by watching the gravity vector.  Students will characterize the key properties listed above for the chosen solution.  Students will demonstrate their solution by visualizing the incoming datastreams on the Android device; for example, tracking the position of the chair by dead-reckoning or mocking up a simple video game which scores the player based on how straight a path they can follow in the chair.

Resources available

An Android tablet or smartphone and a manual wheelchair can be borrowed for development and testing.  Small sensor systems (eg: accelerometers) can be purchased.  Mounting hardware can be constructed.

Expected Technical Background

Experience with mechatronic sensors (eg: accelerometers / gyros) and/or Android programming would be an asset, but not necessary.

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63. Design of an Optoporation, Optical Train  (Sakaki Haas)

Dr. Kelly Sakaki / Associate Professor Kurt Haas, Haas Laboratory, Brain Research Centre, Dept. of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, Fac. of Medicine [% added Sept 6]

Project Background and Scope

(left, and center) Microcapillary and whole-brain electroporation – methods currently used for transfecting cells in the Haas Lab. (right) A two-photon design, which was fabricated in the Haas lab for TPM.

At the Brain Research Center, in the Haas Lab, early development, neuron growth is analyzed within the intact and awake embryonic brain. Two-photon microscopy (TPM) is used to image rapid growth dynamics over seconds to minutes, and for long-term changes lasting up to several days in order to investigate mechanisms underlying normal and abnormal neuronal development (i.e. neural plasticity).

TPM, coupled with cell and systems biology, is an extremely powerful method to conduct in vivo analyses due to its low output power and high resolution characteristics. TPM imaging can resolve minute features because two photon absorption is proportional to the squared-incident light intensity, confining the excitation to a small volume near the focal point. TPM is well suited for in vivo imaging, since tissues are transparent to the red-shifted excitation wavelengths used, and photo-damage is reduced due to the limited excitation volume.

The technologies used for TPM, can be extended for a new method of inserting DNA into cells known as ‘laser optoporation’ (Davis et al 2013). Laser optoporation is an experimental technique that has the capability of targeting, and transfecting single cells by disrupting the integrity of the cell membrane in a highly localized area. Transient pores are induced in the membrane by focusing a pulsed laser in narrow column at the membrane using either a high NA, or a Bessel beam for millisecond durations.

This method is currently being explored at several laboratories; however, the mechanics and methods of delivery of the technique require further development to improve the efficiency across multiple platforms.

Project Objectives

A team of up to 3 members, supported by mentors within the Haas laboratory, will take part in the design and implementation of a TPM optical train for the purposes of targeted gene transfection and optogenetic modification of single cells. The project developers will be expected to lead and take part in understanding key components including: femtosecond lasers used for two-photon microscopy and optoporation.

The development team should include the following three deliverables for this mini-project:

1. A background        literature survey on current techniques and technologies in the field
2. A CAD model         of the proposed optical train using Radiant Zemax
3. The development a proof-of-concept optical train on an optical table (no         need to implement the final system)

This exciting, multifaceted project is an excellent opportunity for students to be immersed and take part in optical, electromechanical, and possibly some software design for systems, which play an integral role in the development of novel, scientific methods at the single cell level.

Design and Analysis

During the design stage, the team will explore prior-art in optoporation to be used as an entry point into the project and gain an understanding of existing TPM technology currently used in the Haas lab.

The project members will design the optical train using Radiant Zemax and explore the possibilities of optimizing previous designs.

Following the design stage, the team will implement the solution and demonstrate the output of the optical train to validate the intended design specifications.

Resources Available

In general, all of the infrastructure is already available, and project development space if available for use. The following important project components are also available:

1. Mentors and immediate project assistance for optical, electrical, mechanical and software engineering design and fabrication
2. Thor optics, mechano-optical structures for the optoporation, and optical train components are already available at the lab (if optimizations are         made further optics can be acquired if needed)
3. An optical table available for use
4. Existing license of Radiant Zemax for one project team (through CMC)         
5. Large         project space is available

Desired Technical Background

Understanding of one or more, or a keen desire to learn:

• Integrated, optical systems development
• CAD design (e.g., Zemax, Solidworks)
• Troubleshooting

Project Duration

Estimated project duration: 1- or 2-Semester

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64. Single Cell Electroporator - Embedded Systems, GUI, and mixed Analog/Digital Circuitry Design (Sakaki Haas)

Dr. Kelly Sakaki / Associate Professor Kurt Haas, Haas Laboratory, Brain Research Centre, Dept. of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, Fac. of Medicine [% added Sept 6]

Project Background and Scope

(left) A micropipettte tip in the optic tectum of the brain. (center) Several cells have been electroporated with a fluorescing die. Note the processes are highly visible in the cells, which allows the morphology of the cell to be tracked over time. (right) A two-photon design, which was fabricated in the Haas lab for TPM.

Single cell electroporation is a vital technique used in neuroscience to deliver plasmid DNA, fluorescent dyes, and other macromolecules. Transporting plasmid DNA into neurons is a fundamental mechanism used to investigate neural processes and disorders such as Autism, and Schizophrenia at the cellular level. However, the cell membrane is a natural barrier for exogenous molecules and alternative means are required to coerce entry. Single cell electroporation is a highly effective method of overcoming this barrier, and can be applied to cells in vivo, or in tissue culture. SCE induces reversible pores in the membrane by directing an electric field, which concentrates the electric field at the cell surface. Charged molecules enter the pores, and the pores reseal over time.

In the Haas Lab this powerful technique allows dynamic neuron process growth to be analyzed within the intact and awake embryonic brain using two-photon microscopy (TPM). Rapid growth dynamics are imaged over periods from seconds to hours over several days to investigate mechanisms underlying normal and abnormal neuronal development (i.e. neural plasticity).

Project Objectives

Over the past year, the Haas lab has developed a custom, micro-controlled electroporator to be used for in vivo electroporation. This system consists of a microcontroller, analog circuitry and the circuitry and some sub-units of the embedded system has been demonstrated at the proof-of-concept stage. This system and is now ready to be prototyped and the product will be demonstrated in the Brain Research Centre for use in laboratories.

A team of 1 or 2 members, supported by laboratory mentor, will take part in the design and implementation of the following deliverables for this mini-project:

1. The design and implementation of a PCB design of the existing proof-of-concept hardware using National Instruments MultiSIM/Ultiboard (some         understanding of mixed analog/digital design will need to be         acquired).
2. The investigation, design and implementation of a GUI to communicate         with a microcontroller, digital signals using object-oriented programming (LVOOP, and LabVIEW Actor Framework).                 
3. Demonstration of the system’s capability to insert genes in vivo (assistance will be provided by trained staff members of the Haas lab will be provided).

This multifaceted project is a well packaged mini-project with clear objectives and deliverables. In combination with the expertise in the Haas lab, this is an excellent opportunity for the project group to be immersed and take part in hardware/software systems-codesign, which play an integral role in the development of novel, scientific methods at the single cell level in Neuroscience.

Design and Analysis

This project is highly diverse combining signal processing, embedded systems, software design and some physiological processes. During the design stage, the team should develop an understanding for mixed analog and digital circuitry, and board development techniques to minimize noise as this instrumentation is integrated directly into the experimental platform. The team will also (re)learn or become more familiarized with GUI development and interact with members of the Brain Research Centre to determine a list of specifications to create a logical UI for persons with mixed technical capabilities.

Resources Available

In general, all of the infrastructure is already available, and a project space if available for use. The following important project components are also available:

1. Mentors and immediate project assistance for electrical, mechanical and software engineering design and fabrication
2. LabVIEW, MultiSIM and Ultiboard
3. One PC, and project workspace in the Brain Research Centre if desired
4. Diagnostic and conventional lab instrumentation         
5. Funding for additional hardware, if required

The project team will need to source a location for fabrication for the PCBs.

Desired Technical Background

Understanding of one or more, or a keen desire to learn:

• Mixed analog         and digital circuitry design techniques
• Microprocessor and embedded system design
• Digital         signal analysis
• Electroporation and methods of transfection for in vivo analysis
• CAD design (e.g., Ultiboard, MultiSIM)
• Troubleshooting

Project Duration

Estimated project duration: 1- or 2-Semester

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65. BCCA Phantom Controller Project  (BC Cancer Agency)

Dr. Steven Thomas, Medical Physicist, Fraser Valley Cancer Centre   [% added Sept 6]

The BC Cancer Agency Medical Physics uses "phantoms" as stand-ins for humans to test imaging and radiotherapy equipment. With the advent of more and more sophisticated therapy/imaging devices and methods we can obtain greater accuracies in treatment by anticipating body motion. Testing these technologies requires phantoms that move in ways that simulate motions generated through physiological activity.  A current project anticipates building a phantom to simulate simultaneous respiratory and cardiac motions.

The main deliverable for this project will be an implementation of a stepper based multi-axis control system which we could duplicate for future phantoms.  We are currently looking at the Smoothie board (http://smoothieware.org/smoothieboard) as a general purpose controller capable of being used in many projects but there may be other options.  Medical Physics uses Matlab extensively so key deliverables for this project would be a controller implemented with housings motors, power supplies and connectors and a g-code translator. Secondary deliverables would be the mechanical design of the phantom as described above.  All of these components are known to be readily available (e.g: http://shop.uberclock.com/products/smoothieboard) so for the clever systems integrator this project will provide a lot of peformance for a manageable effort. This project will be in conjunction with Brad Gill, Kirpal Kohli and Steven Thomas of BCCA Medical Physics as well as Robin Coope from the Genome Sciences Centre. The project can use resources at the BCCA such as the Joint Engineering Centre machine shop and mechanical design help from the GSC.

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66. [ & ] ROV  (Dennison)

Glen Dennison, Electronics Technologist, TRIUMF   [ % posted Sept 8 ] [ & this project is no longer available ] 

Introduction

Studying deep water glass sponges in Howe Sound in conjunction with Dr Jeff Marliave of the Vancouver Aquarium we are in need of a ROV system for deep water work on sponge bioherms located on sea mounts in Howe Sound. Using pressure compensating system the team will design and build a full ROV using low cost components (no bilge pump thrusters).

Depth rating 2000 feet (pressure compensated housing).

Wire tether; Single cable coaxial RG59 or similar

Signals:

• NTSC video 400 line minimum horizontal resolution
• Digital control signals for pan and tilt
• Power feed down the cable   400 watts
• Signals transmitted top side; video, NMEA format depth, temperature, heading
• Signals transmitted bottom side; RF modulated motor controls, pan & tilt for cameras

Knowledge Needed

Electronics; analog, digital, RF

Programming in C or assembler code

Physics; gas laws, coax cable transmission theory

Machining

Pressure Seal technology

Budget

$300 + sponsor supplies

Hardware Supplied

Camera, cable, pressure sensors, brushed DC motors & controls,  power switching modules, Leds, lasers, seals, some enclosures hardware (to be reviewed with design team).

Results

Team to demonstrate a working ROV

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67. Potential Project Postings to Come

As of Sept 1st, the following writeups may still come from the prospective sponsors:

• Mark Halpern - Autonomous Lawnmower for CHIME Experiment (Halpern)
• Aaron Quesnel, from SkyHarvest (rooftop agriculture projects, in Downtown Vancouver.  Worked with Civil/Mech before)
• Pat Crawford (undergrad in IGEN, sponsored remote security camera project last year, students had top mark in class)

End of Project List.