YEAR 3 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
PROPOSALS 2016/2017
KEY:
ECE = Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering Projects
(Note: projects 01-06 are also listed for ME/AUTO students)
If you have your own idea for a project, then you need to find someone willing to supervise it. The best way
is to review this listing and look for a supervisor who appears to have expertise and interests that fit your
proposal, then arrange to meet with them to discuss it. If they agree to supervise, you enter it on your form
as a special project.
ECE01 Deployment mechanisms for solar sails in space
Will hardware be involved? YES
Solar sails offer the ability to propel spacecraft using the radiation pressure from the Sun and deorbit spacecraft by
increasing atmospheric drag. The person undertaking this project will be working at the cutting edge of spacecraft
engineering to investigate options for low cost, low mass, high reliability, deployment mechanisms for small satellite
(e.g. CubeSat) solar sails, then carry out work with the aim of designing, building and testing a prototype mechanism.
This is a practical project. Please make an appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE02 A snake arm robot
Will hardware be involved? YES
Snake arm robots are used in applications with limited space and many obstacles that may prevent the use of
“conventional” robot arms. This project will design and construct from scratch a small snake arm robot. This is a
practical project. Please make an appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE03 Exploration of Finger Pad Designs for Improving the Dexterous Manipulation Capabilities of Robot Hands
Will hardware be involved? YES
In the context of robot hands, dexterous manipulation can be broadly defined as the purposeful movement of an
object within the hand by the relative movement of some fingers respect to the palm. This project focuses on
evaluating the effects of novel compliant finger pads on the dexterous manipulation workspace of a two‐fingered
adaptive robot hand. The project involves the implementation of the corresponding robot hand and the use of
computer vision techniques for determining the motion of the manipulated object.
(Contact: Dr Nicolas Rojas. [email protected])
ECE04 Implementation of a Novel Low‐Cost Robot Mechanism for Material‐Handling Applications
Will hardware be involved? YES
It is widely recognised that industrial automation in highly developed economies must move beyond the traditional
manufacturing industries such as automotive and electronics to reach more flexible industrial environments, as
those typical of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME), in order to compete globally and increase the value
added by manufacturing. A key element to increase the flexibility of industrial robots as required by SME is the
development of low‐cost robotic systems for manufacturing tasks such as assembly, precision positioning, pick-and‐
place manipulation, and sorting. This project focuses on the development and control of a novel robot mechanism
whose mechanical simplicity makes the whole system suitable for solving material‐handling problems in flexible
production organizations.
(Contact: Dr Nicolas Rojas. [email protected])
ECE05 Stretching tester
Will hardware be involved? YES
Nowadays, electronics is diverging from being bulky and rigid, and is
becoming lightweight and flexible. This development will lead to new
applications such as smart textiles and skin mount devices. The unique
mechanical properties of these new electronic devices make it necessary to
optimize the electrical performance, but also to characterize and improve
the mechanical performance. In this respect it is necessary to bend and
stretch the flexible substrates in a controllable and reliable way.
The goal of this project is to use two existing motorized EARLING micrometre
stages to build an automated stretching tester. Therefore, the two stages
have to be mounted on a common ground plate, and two clamps to fix an
arbitrary sample on the stages have to be designed. Furthermore the control
electronics (including power supply, stepper motor controller, etc.) to adjust
the position of the stages has to be developed. This also includes the control
of the final stretching tester using a PC, e.g. based on a simple LabView program.
This project combines mechanical design with the development of the corresponding electronics, and is therefore a
very good example for the growing field of mechatronics.
(Contact: Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE06 BB-8 Rolling Robot
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project will build an autonomous robot based on a sphere with a control unit balancing on top, similar to the
BB-8 robot seen in Star Wars, The Force Awakens. This project is suitable for all engineers.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE07 Robot motion control using human movement
Will hardware be involved? YES
The aim of this project is to design and analyse a humanoid robot. The humanoid (skeleton) will be designed and
modelled using CAD for construction using rapid prototyping facilities (3D printing, laser cutter, etc.). The design
must take into consideration mechanical and motion analysis, which must be validated using simulation. It will also
have to consider the use of relevant actuators which could be implemented.
(Contact: Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera. [email protected])
ECE08 Autonomous vehicles traffic management
Will hardware be involved? YES
The aim of this project is to design and implement a traffic management strategy for autonomous vehicles. A set of
robot car chassis will be equipped with various sensors and it will be used to emulate road conditions to design an
appropriate strategy. The robots should be able to follow the road and interact with each other to avoid collisions.
(Contact: Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera. [email protected])
ECE09 Advanced Driver-assistance System implementation
Will hardware be involved? YES
A robotic car chassis will be equipped with relevant automotive sensors (ultrasonic, gyro, hall, etc.) and a
microcontroller (Arduino) in order to implement and configure an Advanced Driver-assistance System (ADAS). The
implemented system will focus on safety, therefore fault diagnosis and fault tolerance control will be considered.
(Contact: Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera. [email protected])
ECE10 Series-hybrid vehicle control methodology
Will hardware be involved? NO
The aim of this project is to design a control methodology of a series hybrid drive train (electrically coupled). The
strategy should focus on combining the two power sources using power electronics with capability for regenerative
braking. Matlab and Multisim will be used to produce simulations and results
(Contact: Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera. [email protected])
ECE11 Neural network for object orientation independent pattern recognition
Will hardware be involved? NO
The project will employ neural network methods to design filter banks for the orientation independent recognition
and discrimination of three dimensional objects, such as road vehicles, in a cluttered environment. The work will
involve the development and implementation of filtering algorithms for this pattern recognition task and their
comparative performance assessment on an existing image database of test imagery. The simulation code will be
written in Matlab.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE12 Application of the fast Fourier transform algorithm to large number factorisation for cryptographic
applications
Will hardware be involved? NO
Operations based on the Fourier transform are of considerable importance in many signal processing algorithms
such as in the fast multiplication of the very large numbers encountered in various cryptographic schemes. This
project will investigate application of the FFT in the factorisation of very large numbers into their prime factors. The
work will involve gaining an understanding of the underlying theory and development of various FFT algorithms and
some basic cryptography with the development of code being undertaken in Matlab or C
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE13 Genetic algorithms for digital filter design
Will hardware be involved? NO
Digital filters can be characterised in the complex frequency z-domain by the number and location of the poles and
zeros of their pulse transfer function. This project will attempt to ‘evolve’ digital filter designs by applying genetic
algorithm methods to determine the number and location of the pole and zero positions in the z-domain and
evaluate the ‘fitness’ of the filter from its amplitude and phase response derived from the z-domain pole and zero
locations. The algorithm development will be carried out in Matlab on a PC. (Contact: Dr Rupert Young.
[email protected])
ECE14 Improvement of genetic algorithms for optimisation by realising a closer biological analogy
Will hardware be involved? NO
Genetic algorithms are a well established technique for optimisation and have been widely applied to a wide variety
of applications. They are loosely based on the gene swapping that occurs as part of the meiosis process during
gamete formation. However, the existing models could be improved to make them more biologically accurate. For
instance, in a biological organism the genotype is expressed via the phenotype before being selected by the
environment. This process involves a highly complex non-linear expression of an individual gene. Also, individual
genes are activated in many cells within the body of the organism but have a very variable and often localised effect
on the phenotype i.e. the physical structure of the organism. The genes are also arranged in a complex hierarchy
with a few genes being important for directing the development of a fundamental body plan. This project will
attempt to incorporate some of these more accurate biological representations into a genetic algorithm and then
assess the performance of the resulting model in a typical optimisation problem, such as the automated focus
correction of an image. The algorithm development will be carried out in Matlab on a PC.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE15 Encryption technique for secure image and document computer storage
Will hardware be involved? NO
Random phase masks may be generated and multiplied with image or document data. By performing a two
dimensional Fourier transform and multiplying by a further random phase mask in the spatial frequency domain, a
secure encryption can be obtained. Unscrambling of the data is only possible with knowledge of the phase masks.
The project will evaluate this technique by developing code to implement the various encrypting and decrypting
stages and apply the technique to test data to evaluate its performance. To allow effective internet transmission, the
encryption will be combined with both lossy and lossless data compression and the reconstruction results compared.
Matlab will be used for this development.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE16 Vehicle pattern recognition and tracking using correlation filters
Will hardware be involved? NO
Correlation filters implemented in the spatial frequency domain have been extensively used for the recognition and
tracking of vehicles in high clutter environments. However, it has recently become clear that the performance of the
filter is critically dependant on the shape of the boundary around the object that is employed giving rise to the socalled area of support of the filter in the image. This project will investigate the detailed design of correlation filters
including the effectiveness of various areas of support in enhancing correlation filter performance i.e. the ability of
the filter to discriminate the target object from highly cluttered environments whilst maintaining tolerance to minor
distortions of the object. The work will be conducted on a PC in Matlab.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE17 Associative memory for machine vision based on a triple product
Will hardware be involved? NO
A common problem in machine vision is the recognition of a target object in spite of distortions of the object due
perspective changes and/or conformational changes of the object. Associative memories that require only a partial
match between the target object and a stored reference have been investigated to alleviate this difficulty. A model for
auto- and hetero-associative memory devised by Gabor (the process has some analogies to ghost image formation in
holography) involves the evaluation of the triple product: g’  gi * f (where * represents convolution and  the
correlation operators). The ith object reference, gi, is correlated with the distorted input object, g’, to produce a
relatively localised signal which is then convolved with f to generate f(I), an approximation to the desired heteroassociated recall from the memory, f. The recall can be improved if the process is iterated with an intervening nonlinearity imposed on the output of the correlation prior to subsequent convolution with the f(I-1) approximation from
the previous iteration cycle. The purpose of the project will be to generate in Matlab a model of this memory, using
FFT techniques for fast evaluation of the correlations/convolutions, and to assess the performance of the technique
in comparison to various distortion invariant correlation based filters.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE18 Modelling of the mammalian retina
Will hardware be involved? NO
The retina is responsible for a large amount of pre-processing of the image formed by the eye of a mammal before
communication with the brain via the optic nerve. This includes space-variant blurring with wavelet functions and a
log r-θ co-ordinate transformation in the centre of the visual field. The project will develop Matlab code for
modelling these operations and examine how they are employed for such operations as edge detection.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE19 Image processing analysis of medical X-Ray images
Will hardware be involved? NO
The research group collaborates with the Medical School in developing digital image processing techniques to
quantify features in x-ray and Computer Assisted Tomogram images of a variety of tissues including liver, lung and
nerve. This project will continue the design and assessment of these methods to help provide quantitative measures
of features in the selected tissue that can be related to various forms of disease states. The code will be written in
Matlab to integrate with the existing image analysis software developed by the group.
(Contact: Dr Rupert Young. [email protected])
ECE20 Computer modelling of photon counting X-ray detectors for astronomy
Will hardware be involved? NO
This project will develop new Monte Carlo code in Matlab to model the detection of X-ray photons with specialist
semiconductor detectors and compare the results with experimental data already obtained. X-ray astronomy allows
high energy processes in the universe to be understood. To address the needs of astronomers in the 21st Century,
new detectors need to be developed with extremely high performance. This project will model X-ray interactions in
a new generation of astronomical X-ray detectors in order to understand their performance and inform future
experimental development. This is a theoretical project involving Matlab programming. Please make an
appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE21 Mission and payload definition for a Venus nanosatellite
Will hardware be involved? NO
Nanosatellites (e.g. cubesats) are already an established technology for small, low cost, technology demonstration
missions in low earth orbit (LEO), but there is increasing interest in using them for science missions beyond LEO (e.g.
to the Earth’s moon and the planets). This project will explore and analyse what science is achievable within the
engineering limits of 3U cubesat, and make a rational engineering-led assessment of what is possible and whether
nanosatellites represent a suitable platform for low cost exploration of Venus. A pre-existing interest in
astronomy/space is essential. Please make an appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE22 Mission and payload definition for a Mars nanosatellite
Will hardware be involved? NO
Nanosatellites (e.g. cubesats) are already an established technology for small, low cost, technology demonstration
missions in low earth orbit (LEO), but there is increasing interest in using them for science missions beyond LEO (e.g.
to the Earth’s moon and the planets). This project will explore and analyse what science is achievable within the
engineering limits of 3U cubesat, and make a rational engineering-led assessment of what is possible and whether
nanosatellites represent a suitable platform for low cost exploration of Mars. A pre-existing interest in
astronomy/space is essential. Please make an appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE23 Mission and payload definition for a Lunar nanosatellite
Will hardware be involved? NO
Nanosatellites (e.g. cubesats) are already an established technology for small, low cost, technology demonstration
missions in low earth orbit (LEO), but there is increasing interest in using them for science missions beyond LEO (e.g.
to the Earth’s moon and the planets). This project will explore and analyse what science is achievable within the
engineering limits of 3U cubesat, and make a rational engineering-led assessment of what is possible and whether
nanosatellites represent a suitable platform for low cost exploration of Earth’s moon. A pre-existing interest in
astronomy/space is essential. Please make an appointment to discuss project with Dr Barnett before selecting.
(Contact: Dr Anna Barnett. [email protected])
ECE24 Hardware-accelerated activity and context recognition on FPGA
Will hardware be involved? YES
With technological advances a myriad of sensors can be embedded into everyday accessories, garments, mobile
devices or our surroundings. Recently, many wearable motion sensors have been put on the market to quantify
physical activities (e.g. Jawbone, Misfit Wearables, Nike Fuelband). However, more complex gestures, physical
activities and even complex daily routines can be recognized when combining the signals of multiple sensors.
Currently, activity and context recognition is done in software (e.g. on a micro-controller) using streaming machine
learning techniques. This implies that the processor must be permanently on to sample and process the sensor data.
This increases energy consumption and is not desired in mobile and wearable computing. Instead, hardware pattern
recognition offers the possibility to significantly decrease energy usage by placing the data processing in a dedicated
sensor front-end within the next generation of processors.
We have recently developed an optimized pattern recognition algorithm (template matching) suited for hardware
implementation. The objective of this project is translate the existing reference implementation (available in C and
Matlab) and design a hardware architecture suited for this algorithm on an FPGA in VHDL or Verilog. Various
architectures will be considered: optimizing performance or minimizing energy. The system should allow to
configure all the parameters of the system (quantization, template, thresholds, etc). The system will be evaluated
against real data coming from a wearable movement sensor and its performance, energy and size will be
characterized.
Type of work: digital circuit design on FPGA (60%), Matlab (20%), Characterisation (20%).
Requirements: good expertise in digital circuit design and VHDL on FPGAs required, Matlab knowledge.
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE25 Gesture recognition demonstrator using Kinect
Will hardware be involved? YES
We have developed a gesture recognition algorithm called LM-WLCSS: Limited-Memory Warping Longest Common
Subsequence. The objective of this project is to create a gesture recognition demonstrator under Matlab with this
algorithm. This demonstrator will acquire hand movement data from a Kinect. It will allow user to demonstrate
several gestures and will then find the optimal parameters to recognise these gestures with LM-WLCSS. Finally, it will
perform real-time recognition of the demonstrated gestures with visualisation of the algorithm input and output,
and the internal parameters, such as the degree of confidence in the recognition. A software is already available to
acquire the Kinect data and provide them via a TCP server. The LM-WLCSS algorithm is available in Matlab for offline
use.
Type of work: programming (70%), characterisation (30%)
Requirements: Matlab programming and Matlab GUI knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE26 Collecting and analysing a modes of locomotion dataset
Will hardware be involved? YES
Activity recognition requires high quality reference datasets. The objective of this project is to collect a high quality
reference dataset of "modes of locomotion" on at least 10 persons using an Android phone. Each dataset must
include the following tasks (possibly more upon project start): walking, walking upstairs, walking downstairs, running
slowly, running fast, bicycle, sitting (working in office), standing, laying. Each dataset must be at least one hour long
with equal distribution of these activities. For each person, the data will be collected using 6 or more placement of
the phone (front/back trousers pocket, shirt pocket, handback/backpack, hand, belt). The dataset must be precisely
annotated (start/end time of activities). A variety of persons must be used (age, sex) for data collection.
Once collected, the dataset will be curated to be placed in an easily usable format. It will finally be analysed
following a sliding window approach, extracting standard features and using Weka to automatically classify the
activities to create a "reference performance baseline".
The quality of the work will be judged based primarily on the re-usability of the dataset and the availability of
baselines, and it's suitability to be published on the UCI machine learning repository.
Type of work: data collection (60%), machine learning (40%)
Requirements: Android programming knowledge, Matlab knowledge, Weka and machine learning knowledge a plus.
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE27 Porting a custom smartwatch to Arduino
Will hardware be involved? YES
We have developed a custom smartwatch based on an Atmega1284P processor and including SD card, Bluetooth,
motion sensor, RTC, and expansion slot. The firmware is in C and the current code base comprises all the functions
to interact with the peripherals, including a serial bootloader. Current applications must be developed in C with
extensive knowledge of the API provided by the smartwatch.
As a way to make it easier to use the smartwatch, we wish to make it possible to use it with the Arduino IDE. The
objective of this project is to make such a port. This involves understanding what is required to make a custom
hardware be Arduino compliant. This will likely include: writing libraries that map the Arduino functions to the API
provided by the smartwatch; writing/adapting the bootloader; creating/adapting functions of the smartwatch API;
creating demonstrator programs; creating the Arduino configuration and package files, etc.
Type of work: programming (80%), API design (20%)
Requirements: A solid and comprehensive low-level embedded C programming knowledge is required, Arduino
knowledge a plus.
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE28 LCD or E-Ink screen for custom smartwatch
Will hardware be involved? YES
We have developed a custom smartwatch based on an Atmega1284P processor and including SD card, Bluetooth,
motion sensor, RTC, and expansion slot. The firmware is in C and the current code base comprises all the functions
to interact with the peripherals, including a serial bootloader.
The smartwatch comprises connectors on top and bottom for custom extensions.
The objective of this project is to create a miniature extension for a screen (either LCD or E-Ink) of size similar to that
of the smartwatch. This will include designing the inverter and voltage regulator circuit for the display, designing and
producing the PCB, finally creating an API providing functions to draw shapes (lines, rectangles, text, etc).
Type of work: PCB design (40%), C programming (40%), characterisation (20%).
Requirements: digital and analog circuit design knowledge, C programming knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE29 Atmospheric pressure sensor for custom smartwatch
Will hardware be involved? YES
We have developed a custom smartwatch based on an Atmega1284P processor and including SD card, Bluetooth,
motion sensor, RTC, and expansion slot. The firmware is in C and the current code base comprises all the functions
to interact with the peripherals, including a serial bootloader.
The smartwatch comprises connectors on top and bottom for custom extensions.
The objective of this project is to create a miniature extension for an atmospheric pressure sensor (e.g. MS5637).
This will include designing the sensor extension, producing the PCB, creating an API providing functions to query
pressure, and finally creating a demonstrator program using the pressure sensor. We would like to detect that
somebody is in an elevator by combining the data of the motion sensor and the pressure sensor.
Type of work: PCB design (40%), C programming (40%), characterisation (20%).
Requirements: digital and analog circuit design knowledge, C programming knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE30 Text to speech for custom smartwatch
Will hardware be involved? YES
We have developed a custom smartwatch based on an Atmega1284P processor and including SD card, Bluetooth,
motion sensor, RTC, and expansion slot. The firmware is in C and the current code base comprises all the functions
to interact with the peripherals, including a serial bootloader.
The smartwatch comprises connectors on top and bottom for custom extensions.
The objective of this project is to create a miniature extension for the smartwatch that includes a text-to-speech chip
(e.g. TTS256) and a miniature loudspeaker. This will include designing the extension, producing the PCB, creating an
API providing functions to issue speech, and finally creating a demonstrator program. For instance the smartwatch
should speak the time or say what is the current activity of the person (standing still, walking).
Type of work: PCB design (40%), C programming (40%), characterisation (20%).
Requirements: digital and analog circuit design knowledge, C programming knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE31 Electric Potential Sensor extension for smartwatch
Will hardware be involved? YES
Electric potential sensors (EPS) act as perfect voltmeters and can measure without contact the electric field (and
change in it). Among other applications, it can be used to measure muscle activity (surface electromyography). The
current chip (manufactured by Plessey Semiconductors) provides an analog output and requires positive and
negative power supply, which makes the system inconvenient for integration, for instance in a smartwatch.
The objective of this project is to create an extension for a custom smartwatch comprising the electric potential
sensor. The extension must offer programmable gain, and programmable high and low-pass filters. This work
includes designing designing and producing the PCB, creating an API providing functions to configure the gain and
filters, and create a demonstrator of the circuit.
Type of work: PCB design (40%), C programming (20%), filter design (20%), characterisation (20%).
Requirements: digital and analog circuit design knowledge, filter knowledge, C programming knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE32 Oscilloscope and digital logic analyser for mobile phone
Will hardware be involved? YES
Current mobile phones have already a multitude of sensors built-in: accelerometers, light sensors, camera,
microphone, etc. However they do not have any analog or digital input that could be used as a portable oscilloscope
and/or digital logic analyser.
The objective of this project is to create a phone extension, connected and powered via USB, that will: serve as
oscilloscope (2 channels) and 8 channel digital logic analyser. The software (on Android) will be developed to
acquire, visualise, store and interpret the acquired sensor data. In particular it should be able to decode common
digital protocols (I2C, UART).
The project involves 3D rapid prototyping of the case, design of the sensing electronics in the case, interfacing the
sensors with the phone (Android) over USB, and readout of the sensor values from the phone and design of the
oscilloscope application.
Type of work: PCB design (40%), Android programming (40%), characterisation (20%).
Requirements: digital and analog circuit design knowledge, Android programming knowledge
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE33 Low-power wearable gesture control
Will hardware be involved? YES
The objective of this project is to program a wrist-worn device (e.g. our custom-designed miniature sensor or a
Pebble Watch, Moto 360, or a miniature internal sensor) comprising accelerometer and microcontroller with a
"Warping Longest Common Subsequence" algorithm (C++ code available) to recognise gestures in real time. This
algorithm is a an elastic template matching algorithm which compares a typical movement with the actual
movement of the user.
You will first implement a way to "program the gesture" to recognise in the system (by repeating the gesture several
times). Then you will assess the performance of the system at the gestures in real-time (latency, reliability). Finally
you will interconnect (e.g. over Bluetooth) the sensor with a piece of equipment (e.g. computer) to be able to do
gesture control. For example, a target could be to control PowerPoint slides by the system.
Type of work: Android programming (70%), characterisation (30%)
Requirements: Android and Java programming knowledge, Matlab knowledge, Android Wear knowledge a plus
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE34 People-aware displays (smart mirror)
Will hardware be involved? NO
Have you ever wondered how many people use the soft drink vending machine at the entrance? Or the water
dispenser? Or how long people look at a poster or advert?
The objective of this project is to create system with a camera and a display (e.g. using a laptop) that acts as a
"mirror" (people see themselves when facing the screen). In addition the system indicates on the screen how many
people stood in front of the screen, for how long on average, and tries also to detect sex, age and facial expressions.
The data is logged, stored locally, and can be accessed over Bluetooth.
The system will be implemented with Qt and OpenCV, unless a better approach is suggested.
Type of work: programming (40%), computer vision and machine learning (40%), characterisation (20%)
Requirements: C/C++ programming knowledge, Qt and OpenCV knowledge a plus.
(Contact: Dr Daniel Roggen. [email protected])
ECE35 Tunnel microscope
Will hardware be involved? YES
The world of nanometer small objects, this means the
observation and manipulation of features as small as one
millionth of millimeter is of high importance for different
industries. Just think about dirt-repellent surfaces or
modern microprocessors. Although these kind of tiny
features are extremely important, the most important
tool to characterize them, the tunnel microscope, has
only been developed (and awarded a noble price) 30 years
ago. These microscopes do not work with light, but by
measuring small current variations between a tip raster
scanning a sample and the sample surface. Nevertheless,
there was an impressive development, and in the
meantime tunnel microscopes have been built even by
students all around the globe.
In this project a scanning tunneling microscope previously built by a student of the Sensor Technology Research Centre
should be brought into operation again. Based on the existing documentation, the mechanics has to be reviewed and
the control electronics has to be updated and connected to a computer. Finally a proof of concept scan of a structured
surface should be performed.
This project focuses on the maintenance and improvement of an electrometrical system used for the characterization
of nanometer small geometrical features.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE36 Electrostatic simulation of flexible oxide thin-film transistors
Will hardware be involved? NO
Due to the thermal and mechanical properties of polymer substrates it is not possible to fabricate standard electronic
devices on flexible plastic foils. That’s why flexible transistors
are fabricated using novel materials like Indium-Gallium-ZincOxide (IGZO). The goal of this project is the simulation of the
electrostatic field distribution of IGZO based thin-film
transistors (TFTs) using an electric field simulation tool like
“ElecNet”. The simulations should then be used to determine
the optimal layer thicknesses to achieve an optimized
electrostatic control of TFTs smaller than 1 µm. Additionally it
can be evaluated if IGZO TFTs can be used as electric field
sensors.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder.
[email protected])
ECE37 XYZ stage
Will hardware be involved? YES
The feature sizes of modern mechanical and electric devices can be amazingly small. The pixel size of the new retina
displays for example is as small as 0.1 mm. This means equipment used
for the fabrication and characterization of such devices must be placed
with a similar level of precision. Positioning in the sub-millimeter range
is in general done using micrometer screws connected to a movable
stage, whereas more advanced system can be actuated using highly
precise stepper motors.
In this project the control electronics for an EARLING digital positioning
system XY stage should be developed. This positioning system has 5
degrees of freedom (x, y and z translation, rotation, tilt), and could
potentially be used for applications like ultra-precise positioning of
sensor probes. The commercial micrometer stages exhibit excellent
special resolution, but the corresponding control electronics is not
anymore up to date, and also generates too much electronic noise.
This project focuses on the realization of a digital control system for high
resolution stepper motors, whereas one potential focus could be the minimization of the generated electronic noise.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE38 TFT measurement
Will hardware be involved? YES
Nowadays thin film transistors (TFTs) are one of the most important
electronic devices, mainly because of their low price and the possibility
of large area fabrication- just think about the great success of TFT
displays or touch screens in the last few years! As the name suggests a
TFT consists of various very thin layers deposited and structured one
after the other using different semiconductor fabrication
technologies. We are fabricating TFTs using novel oxide semiconducing materials such as amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide
(IGZO). These novel fabrication technologies and materials have big
advantages in some fields, but also cause problems for example
concerning the electrical long term stability.
In this project the stability of our transistors will be evaluated. Therefore the electrical performance of this transistors
has to be measured using the existing high-end characterization equipment, and the important performance
parameters have to be extracted. In a next step the variability of these performance parameters, in particular of the
threshold voltage, has to be evaluated. Here the influence of aging effects can be investigated.
This project focuses on the electrical characterization of transistors, and their long-term stability.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE39 Spice model for flexible short channel TFTs and simulation of high speed circuits
Will hardware be involved? NO
Flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) can be
fabricated on polymer substrates using novel high
performance semiconductors like Indium-GalliumZinc-Oxide (IGZO). Nevertheless, the performance
of these TFTs is restricted by the fact that the
minimum feature size of the transistors is in general
limited to several micrometers. This is due to the
mechanical instability of the available plastic
substrates. Recently it was possible to fabricate
flexible TFTs with smaller channel length using
innovative fabrication methods. Before this new
short channel TFTs can be integrated into flexible
systems and circuits it is necessary to model and simulate their performance. This can for example be done using
“Spice” which is a very common simulation tool. It is for example the basic concept of MultiSim.
While “spice” models for flexible IGZO TFTs with channel length >2.5 µm are available, the goal of tis projects is to
extract the performance parameters of TFTs smaller than 1 µm and to model their behavior using e.g. MultiSim.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE40 Sensor glove
Will hardware be involved? YES
Wearable electronics is one of the big trends concerning the integration of
electronic devices into our everyday life. One of the main applications of such
devices is monitoring and supporting of humans in areas like healthcare,
sports, or while performing professional activities. In particular monitoring of
body postures is of importance for several applications. One possibility to
measure the posture of a human body is to use strain sensors and to evaluate
the position of every single joint by recording the deformation of the skin
around it.
Here, a strain sensor developed in a previous student project should be used
to fabricate a sensor glove able to detect the posture of a human hand without
the need to attach any sensors to the skin. Therefore a conventional glove has
to be equipped with at least 5 strain sensors, and the gathered sensor data
has to be evaluated. This project focuses on the integration of resistive strain sensors into a glove, and on the
evaluation of its performance.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE41 Capacitance tester
Will hardware be involved? YES
YES
Nowadays electronic devices are not only fabricated on
standard silicon semiconductor wafers, but also on a
multiplicity of other substrates made from different
materials. The variety of available substrates ranges from
glass slides, to paper and numerous organic and inorganic
polymers. The only common thing among all these
substrates is their form factor, like a piece of paper, all
substrates exhibit a small thickness compared to their width and length. The fabrication and performance of electronic
devices on such kinds of substrates is influenced by several material specific properties, but one of the most important
one is the electric capacitance of substrate.
In this project the goal is to build a test setup to measure the specific capacity of arbitrary sheet like materials. This
can for example be done using two parallel metallic plates as plate capacitors, whereas the distance and the material
between the plates can be changed. If the material under test is place between the plates it acts as dielectric, therefore
its properties can easily be measured using a commercial LRC meter. This project focuses on the mechanical aspects
of the developed capacitance tester, but can also include the characterization of different substrates concerning their
capacitance.
(Contact Dr Niko Munzenrieder. [email protected])
ECE42 Microscopy Image Recognition
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project will use Matlab and some custom built hardware to automatically piece together images taken from a
microscope to generate super resolution images and 3D reconstructions. Mostly software, but stepper motors or
piezos are required to move the samples. No image processing knowledge is required.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE43 Traffic Sign and Road Recognition
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project will look at and implement a system for the automatically recognition of road traffic signs and roads. This
is an important step in autonomous vehicle control. The project will be mostly software but modified camera will be
developed.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE44 Robotic Navigation
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project will develop a robot with a camera to automatically build a map of the room and navigate itself. The robot
will be controlled using an Arduino board and a single board computer (eg Raspberry Pi or something more powerful).
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE45 Robotic Face Tracking
Will hardware be involved? YES
The project will developed a camera mounted on a robotic arm which will automatically locate the people in a room
and track them using face detection algorithms. Face detection is an important computer vision task and has
numerous applications from crowd monitoring to airport security. There are several methods of detecting faces
within an image. This project will concentrate on developing wavelet analysis to locate and count the number of
faces within an image. Training sets of faces will be used. The arm will be controlled either by an Arduino board or
USB from a host PC.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE46 Human Detection in Images
Will hardware be involved? NO
There is extensive research carried out throughout the world to enable computers to detect the presence of humans
within an image or video stream. Since the shape is so variable a multiple set of techniques have to be used. This
project will explore methods of building a robust detector. Matlab or another programming language can be used.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE47 Classification of web based images
Will hardware be involved? NO
The automated classification of images for sorting databases is big growth area of research. Goggle’s image search
would be better if you could specify what type of image you were looking for, e.g., graphical, natural image, indoor
image, etc. This project will look at deep learning neural networks.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE48 Cycling Power Meter
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project will build a power meter for a bicycle. The normal method of measuring the energy output is calculated
by measuring the distance and the force applied to the crank arm. The force measurement is however more difficult
since it requires sensors built into the bicycle. This project will develop a low powered system for estimating the force,
possibly based on GPS, elevation and the gradient of the road.
(Contact: Dr Phil Birch. [email protected])
ECE49 Modbus - enabled controller for Distributed Energy Resources using Java
Will hardware be involved? YES
The integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER), e.g. solar panel, small battery, electric vehicle charger, in the
electricity system is increasing. Several control methods are being developed, to coordinate these DER. All of the
control concepts require an implementation, i.e. a controller which physically receives and transmits signals from/to
the DER. Novel control algorithms are usually developed in Java-based platforms. Hence, it is required to implement a
controller that will be able to receive control signals (e.g. set-points for power output) from Java and translate those
to commands under a specific protocol. The opposite must also be possible (receive measurements and translate them
to Java). One of the industry standard protocols is Modbus, which involves a master-slave communication mode, either
through serial I/O (RS232, RS485), or through TCP/IP. An appropriate platform for hosting Java code is the Raspberry
Pi, a credit-card-sized computer running a version of Linux. The aim of this project is to develop an interface for a
Raspberry Pi to be able to receive and transmit control/measurement signals using the Modbus protocol.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE50 IEC61850 - enabled controller for electrical substation automation systems using Java
Will hardware be involved? YES
The IEC61850 standard aims to simplify and standardise the operation of power system equipment and enable
supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). SCADA systems require a controller implementation, which
physically receives and transmits signals from/to the equipment. Novel control algorithms are usually developed in
Java-based platforms. Hence, it is required to implement a controller that will be able to receive control signals (e.g.
set-points for power output) from Java and translate those to commands under a specific protocol. The opposite must
also be possible (receive measurements and translate them to Java). An appropriate platform for hosting Java code is
the Raspberry Pi, a credit-card-sized computer running a version of Linux. The aim of this project is to develop an
interface for a Raspberry Pi to be able to receive and transmit control/measurement signals using the IEC61850
protocol.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE51 IEC60870-5-104 - enabled controller for telecontrol in power system automation applications using Java
Will hardware be involved? YES
The IEC60870-5-104 is a generally established standard for telecontrol, i.e. supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA), of power system equipment. SCADA systems require a controller implementation, which physically receives
and transmits signals from/to the equipment. Novel control algorithms are usually developed in Java-based platforms.
Hence, it is required to implement a controller that will be able to receive control signals (e.g. set-points for power
output) from Java and translate those to commands under a specific protocol. The opposite must also be possible
(receive measurements and translate them to Java). An appropriate platform for hosting Java code is the Raspberry
Pi, a credit-card-sized computer running a version of Linux. The aim of this project is to develop an interface for a
Raspberry Pi to be able to receive and transmit control/measurement signals using the IEC60870-5-104 protocol.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE52
Investigation of the potential of grid-connected energy storage to provide synthetic inertia
Will hardware be involved? NO
Energy storage devices connected to the grid is gaining popularity, but their active control is not fully developed. Inertia
in electrical systems refers to the energy that is stored in machine rotating parts and may damp oscillations in power
supply. With the introduction of low-inertia energy resources (e.g. photovoltaics), there is a need to compensate for
this lack of inertia in the electricity system. Synthetic inertia is when an energy resource in the electricity network
responds to the change of the network frequency, for example by providing active power to prevent frequency drop.
This simulates the inertial capabilities of rotating machines. The purpose of this project is to study the potential of
common energy storage devices to provide synthetic inertia and derive functional specification requirements for such
devices (i.e. response times, ramping rates, etc). In addition, a simple reliability analysis will be performed using
simulation software, to evaluate the impact of fast-acting energy storage on the reliability of a simple power system.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE53 Impact of electric vehicle charging on electrical network reliability
Will hardware be involved? NO
Electric vehicles bear great promise for the reduction of carbon emissions from transport. Charging an electric vehicle
can be regarded as a load, from the electricity grid perspective. This may have an effect on the reliability indices of the
electricity network (such as SAIFI, SAIDI, LOLE, EENS, etc). The aim of this project is to model a simple electricity
distribution network and perform a complete reliability analysis to evaluate the impact of electric vehicle charging on
reliability indicators. Different locations of vehicles, power ratings, etc. will be considered.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE54 Power system cascading failure model in DIgSILENT PowerFactory
Will hardware be involved? NO
Cascading failures occur in electrical power systems when an important component (e.g. a transformer substation)
fails. This then causes another component to be overloaded, which in turn fails as well, thus causing a chain reaction.
The final outcome is a partial or complete electrical system blackout. Cascading failures are fairly rare (once every few
years) but their consequences are significant, including sometimes loss of life. In order to study cascading failures and
mechanisms to prevent them, appropriate models are needed, to build simulated cases of cascading failures. The
purpose of this project is to develop a model in DIgSILENT PowerFactory simulation software, which simulates at least
one occurrence of a cascading failure in a power system.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE55 Identification of electrical load and generation not notified to network operator
Will hardware be involved? POSSIBLY
Currently, if a customer wants to connect a load or a generator to the electricity distribution network, there is a chance
that the network operator would not realise. This is because in some cases the measurements that are taken are
aggregating a number of customers, hence any additional load/generation gets lost in the crowd. In addition,
sometimes the data is just too much for the operator to analyse effectively. The electricity distribution industry needs
methods for recognising the fingerprint of different load types on the network and quantifying them, such as electric
vehicles and heat pumps that have not been notified to the network operator. Similarly methods of locating and
quantifying microgeneration on the electricity network such as PV that has not been notified to the network operator
are also necessary. The aim of this project is to develop such methods.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE56 Impact of power electronic based generation and loads on power system harmonics
Will hardware be involved? NO
Power electronic based generation and loads, such as electric vehicles and photovoltaics are increasingly being
introduced in the low voltage levels of modern power systems. Large amounts of power electronic switching could
potentially have an effect on power system harmonics, thus reducing power quality. The aim of this project is to model
a simple electricity distribution network and perform a harmonics analysis to evaluate the impact of power electronic
based generation and loads on harmonics levels. Different locations of power electronic components, power ratings,
etc. will be considered.
(Contact: Dr Spyros Skarvelis-Kazakos. [email protected])
ECE57 Wind Speed Data Acquisition and Storage for a demonstration project
Will hardware be involved? YES
It is very important to have wind speed data for any wind power generation project. A small wind turbine is to be
installed to demonstrate a new innovation design, at a farm about 7.5 miles away from the University. While some
historical wind speed data may be obtained from the nearest met office weather station, on-site data is essential for
the success of this demonstration project. This student project will use an anemometer, electronics, and a
microcomputer to build a data acquisition and storage system. The project requires site visiting by car, therefore it is
the sole responsibility of the student who works on this project to have an existing driving insurance policy that
covers such visits.
(Contact: Dr Tai Yang. [email protected])
ECE58 Embedded systems design for connected vehicles
Will hardware be involved? YES
Connected vehicles are very important for the future network infrastructure in vehicular environments to integrate
every “object” (e.g., in-vehicles’ sensors, passengers’ smart phones, infrastructures) and form an intelligent ITS. In
this project, students will have the opportunity to develop innovative embedded systems to simulate connected
vehicles by having multiple mini-robot connected and mobilize in smart ways to improve the efficiency of road
transportation. Programming skills, such as C/C++, will be needed for embedded system design.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE59 Internet-of-vehicles to support multimedia streaming
Will hardware be involved? YES
The Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV) is an inevitable convergence of vehicles and the Internet of Things. As a result it is
predicted that future vehicles will be connected and integrated with Ethernet. In the IoV paradigm, one important
application is to play multimedia streaming, which requires high bandwidth and reliable communications. This project
is sponsored by the NXP University Program to design and develop a wireless controlled model racing car to recognize
traffic lines using line scanner sensors. Programming skills, such as C/C++, will be needed for embedded system design.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE60 Application design to support big data analysis in smart cities
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project proposes developing a reference application that will highlight the benefits of the proposed connected
communications architecture. The application will be able to remotely connect with model vehicles to collect status
data and control vehicles. A further goal of the application will use data from connected vehicles and environmental
sensors & cameras and external media sources to build a real-time picture of an urban area. Program skills, such as
JAVA, C++, will be needed to develop Android based applications.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE61 Power line communications for electric vehicles
Will hardware be involved? YES
The technology, known as power line communications (PLC), has been considered a niche technology until recently
and the intra-vehicle communication tasks can be accommodated through PLC, avoiding extra wires and thus having
the potential to reduce costs and improve vehicle energy efficiency. In this project, the student will have the
opportunity to study the communications environment and protocols to support PLC automotive communication
networks, and develop a test environment to evaluate the performance of in-vehicle PLC.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE62 Wireless sensor networks for eHealth
Will hardware be involved? YES
One highly appealing aspect of the embedded devices is its potential contribution to eHealth, defined as the use of
mobile information and communication technologies for healthcare. With several sensors, cameras, and biomedical
devices implemented throughout the sensor platform, the health conditions of users are continuously monitored. This
project is to design a sensor platform and enable it’s connectivity with your smart phone to monitoring health status.
Development boards, such as Arduino, will be considered in our project.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE63 Cloud platform design for big data monitoring
Will hardware be involved? YES
The integration of sensor devices and cloud computing creates new opportunities to empower more intelligent sensor
based applications. Therefore, the remote cloud platform plays an important role to store and manage data. In this
project, the student will develop a simple prototype cloud platform based on free and open source IoT cloud services,
and store and monitor our data from sensor devices.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE64 Designing DSRC capable On Board Units (OBU) for autonomous vehicles
Will hardware be involved? YES
The Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) is a network type that has received a lot of interest the last few years from
researchers, standardisation bodies and developers since it has the potential to improve road safety, enhance traffic
and travel efficiency as well as make transportation more convenient and comfortable for both drivers and
passengers. It is envisioned to be a critical building block of Intelligent Transport Services (ITS), Smart City as well as
the Internet of Things (IoT). The key enabling technology, is Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). The
DSRC radio technology is essentially IEEE 802.11a adjusted for low overhead operations in the DSRC spectrum. It is
being standardized as IEEE 802.11p. The purpose of this project is to design DSRC compliant OBUs for vehicles, using
embedded systems and the most appropriate radio, as well as demonstrate their operation through applications
such as emergency message exchange as well as video and road map data transfer.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE65 Cloud Assisted Vehicular Communications
Will hardware be involved? NO
Cloud computing enables new types of applications for Vehicular Networks. Various stationary units within such a
network can act as gateways to the “cloud”, offering new types of services, media and information for the driver, as
well as act as data collectors from the cars for infrastructure applications (toll collection, mapping common routes,
traffic congestion information, smart traffic light system etc.). The aim of this project is to build a cloud platform using
the free and open source software for collecting and managing vehicle data.
(Contact: Dr Zhengguo Sheng. [email protected])
ECE66 Future Vehicular Communications
Will hardware be involved? YES
The aim of this project is to design and implement a vehicular communication platform with wired and wireless
networks enabled capabilities for future connected cars. It is expected to consist of controller area network, Ethernet
and wireless technologies such as Zigbee and WiFi to provide intra- and inter-vehicular communication functionalities
using commercially available components. This project is already underway and it is intended to continue the work
and develop different applications for future cars.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE67 Border Monitoring using Wireless Sensor Networks
Will hardware be involved? YES
Border monitoring and surveillance is an important issue among all countries. Wireless sensor network (WSN) consists
of a number of devices with sensing and wireless communication capabilities. WSNs have been deployed in many
applications from environment monitoring to health. The aim of this project is to design and implement a WSN for
border monitoring and surveillance. The system may use fixed and mobile nodes to be constructed using off-the-shelf
components. The project involves both hardware and software.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE68 Development of Mobile Applications
Will hardware be involved? POSSIBLY
Mobile communications is playing an important role on our daily lives. The aim of the project is to utilize the computing
power capabilities of smartphones, data storage, and interface with sensors as a platform to implement a mobile
application. The mobile phone has the power to develop variety of applications from gaming to data gathering and
medical mobile health. It is expected to make use of the sensors available on smart telephones. The application will
be decided in discussion with the student. The project welcomes student with good knowledge in mobile telephone
platforms and programming skills.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE68 Development of Mobile Applications
Will hardware be involved? POSSIBLY
Mobile communications is playing an important role on our daily lives. The aim of the project is to utilize the computing
power capabilities of smartphones, data storage, and interface with sensors as a platform to implement a mobile
application. The mobile phone has the power to develop variety of applications from gaming to data gathering and
medical mobile health. It is expected to make use of the sensors available on smart telephones. The application will
be decided in discussion with the student. The project welcomes student with good knowledge in mobile telephone
platforms and programming skills.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE69 Wireless Sensor Network for Environment Monitoring
Will hardware be involved? YES
The aim of the project is to design and implement a low cost wireless sensor system for environment monitoring. The
system consists of combination sensors, microcontrollers and wireless modules to provide the sensing functions,
processing and transmission to a central logging node. It is expected to use commercially available off-the-shelf
components. Example sensors include temperature, light, humidity, air pollutants, and gasses. This project is a
continuation from last year for wide scale applications. It involves both hardware and software work.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE70 Optimization of WiFi
Will hardware be involved? NO
Wireless local area network (WLAN) or as commonly known Wi-Fi is one of the most widely used networking interface
in many devices. There is also a huge demand for wireless data driven by new applications and services. This is forcing
the need for higher standards and optimizations of Wi-Fi. The aim of the project is to investigate by research and
simulations high spectral efficiency solutions such as higher order modulation, multicarrier, and multiple antenna
technologies as proposed in latest standards such as IEEE802.11ac to deliver high data rates in excess of gigabit per
sec. This project is mainly software programming in MATLAB.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE71 Unmanned Ground Vehicles
Will hardware be involved? YES
This project focuses on the application of mobile sensor networks to environment mapping. The project will consist of
a number of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) each equipped with sensors, an Arduino microcontroller kit and an
XBee wireless communications module. This project requires the student to program the UGVs to create a functional
autonomous terrain mapping group of vehicles. Typical tasks include UGVs movement over the network area,
localisation, and relay information from the UGVs to a central location (sink).
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE71 Smart Home
Will hardware be involved? YES
The aim of this project is to design and implement a low cost and power efficient smart home automation system
where you can control the different appliances within home using sensor nodes with microcontroller and wireless
communication technologies. It involves both hardware and software.
(Contact: Dr Falah Ali. [email protected])
ECE72 Eco Street Lighting
Will hardware be involved? NO
Design and analysis of a high efficiency solar panel array and energy storage scheme to support LED street lighting.
Generate a requirements specification high-lighting compromises. Create a general assembly or systems schematic
of your concept and complete an analysis of this. Complete a detailed design of the elements of the system that you
have designed, this should include analysis and calculations. Explore the life cycle and environmental impact of your
design. You may not complete all of these activities but you may add others like generating the business case for
making the system into a new product. (Contact: Prof Chris Chatwin. [email protected])
FORMULA STUDENT RELATED PROJECTS
The Mobil 1 Sussex Team of Formula Student Racing Car is supported by the School/Department and mainly
sponsored by Mobil 1. The detail about Formula Student competition can be found at
http://www.formulastudent.com/ . For the 2016/2017 team, a new car will be developed and it will be taken to the
2017 Class 1 competition at Silverstone circuit in July 2017. While the project will be basically managed by Year 4
MEng group, a number of Electrical/Elecvtronic/Computer Engineers may undertake projects in the areas shown
below. In addition to the main Class 1 competition, the Department also enters the Class 2 competition, which is a
design exercise. There is the opportunity for the students doing any of the following projects to undertake design
studies and enter this competition as a team along with the Mech/Auto year 3 students entering class 2.
ECE73a Formula Student: electrical telemetry
Will hardware be involved? POSSIBLY
- Design of telemetry system
- Model in software (Simulink or other)
(Contact: Dick Atkins and/or Dr Helen Prance. [email protected], [email protected] )
ECE73b Formula Student: car electrical system design
Will hardware be involved? POSSIBLY
- Design of electrical system considering all the current drawing components of the car
- Wiring loom diagram
- Design a system so that it runs two circuits, one for critical components that is extremely robust,
secondary for additional devices to achieve sustainability
(Contact: Dick Atkins and/or Dr Helen Prance. [email protected], [email protected] )
ECE73c Formula Student: Electric power recovery
Will hardware be involved? YES
- Design and test a kinetic energy recovery system capable of powering a small battery and second circuit
for telemetry.
(Contact: Dick Atkins and/or Dr Helen Prance. [email protected], [email protected] )