This project involves the integration of software algorithms and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, used for unmanned missions. It was initiated as part of Microsoft’s Project Premonition to collect and analyze mosquitoes to look for early signs that potentially harmful diseases are spreading. The project is also part of the National Science Foundation’s Cyber-Physical Systems Virtual Organization. The goal of the project is to design and build a UAV-based hook system to capture and retrieve a mosquito trap. The design includes an electropermanent magnet, Pixhawk autopilot system, cameras, and sensors. The UAV has sufficient power and agility to carry the payload through a specified course, and an algorithm has been modified to allow the UAV to perform certain other tasks. The combination of the designed physical system and the modified algorithm will be used in a competition to navigate through an obstacle course.

Automated external defibrillators are medical devices used to treat sudden cardiac arrest. If administered within minutes of cardiac arrest, a defibrillation shock can reset the heart to a normal synchronous rhythm and improve the outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The sponsor is interested in developing a prototype defibrillator intended for affordable personal ownership. The design emphasis is on small size, ease of use, and simplicity of function in light of FDA stipulations regarding safety and effectiveness. The goal of this project is to design the diagnostic front end of the defibrillator, which acquires, filters and digitizes the electrocardiogram sample. An algorithm analyzes heart rhythm and determines whether a shock is appropriate, as in the case of ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, or not. The device’s microcontroller determines actions required and if necessary can communicate with the shocking portion of the defibrillator designed by team 15071. All device activity is logged and stored.

The purpose of the project was to design and build a wearable virtual reality camera for use as communication tool on social media. The team was a participant in a collaborative project between the Senior Design program and the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program. The Engineering team developed a wearable virtual reality camera to be used for 3-D social media while the Entrepreneurship team planned a path to market. The device, called Vidi VR, fits like eye glasses and contains small cameras above each eye that capture the user’s exact perspective, and a stereo microphone to capture the sounds of the environment. The camera is connected wirelessly to the user’s smartphone and experiences are sent to a virtual reality headset that lets the viewer experience a moment in realistic 3-D as if they were actually there. This patent-pending device will enable the transition from 2-D social media on smartphones to 3-D social media in virtual reality. Anyone with a smartphone can experience virtual reality via a $10 headset that uses their smartphone screen as the display, which lowers the barrier of entry into virtual reality.

The team’s objective is to design and manufacture a microhydraulic-powered monitor-covering system for B/E Aerospace’s super first class suites. The increasing size of television monitors in these suites has created a need to cover them up to improve the overall aesthetics of the cabins. In order to integrate the monitor-covering system into the existing interiors, the team had to carefully consider weight and size when determining a feasible design. The team created a monitor-covering mechanism consisting of composite blades set on rails to cover the television screen as needed. This mechanism uses a water-charged microhydraulic subsystem to power movement of the blades, giving an aesthetically pleasing solution that matches the style of the suites.

The goal of this project was to enhance aircraft suite sliding doors with the addition of wireless lighting. Current super first class luxury suites have minimal or no lighting in the doors because of the limitation of exposing the wires, thus the design incorporates induction to transfer power wirelessly. The airplane power outlet supplies coiled transmitters generating a magnetic field, allowing power receivers on the door to supply enough current to turn the lights on. The design prototype also includes smart lights, which enable users to change the colors of each light area.

CubeSat nanosatellites have a standard chassis size of 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters to allow low-cost space missions through the use of standardized components and launch systems. Many CubeSat missions, however, still cost tens of thousands of dollars because they use expensive “space-rated” components, creating a cost barrier for many CubeSat projects. The team was asked to develop a CubeSat infrastructure design costing less than $5,000 that uses off-the shelf components, including a miniature transceiver, 3-D printing for the internal structure. Off-the-shelf components include a Teensy 3.2 microcontroller and Arduino MicroModem for recording telemetry such as CubeSat surface temperature, system acceleration, attitude, and functionality; and a Yaesu VX-3R FM transceiver that uses amateur radio frequency for communications. The 3-D printer saves cost and mass, improves strength, and permits greater creativity in design beyond the standard CubeSat stack format.

Taxiing aircraft cause an estimated $100 million worth of damage per year. To prevent such damage, Meggitt Securaplane has designed a forward-facing wingtip camera that acts much like backup cameras on cars. The complex curvature of the wingtip and its orientation with respect to the camera’s optic axis cause an ordinary window to produce unwanted optical aberrations. The project’s objective is to design a window that reduces aberrations in the final image from the camera. The team designed a window that was conformal with the aircraft wing on the outside, while changing the shape of the inside surface to remove the most aberrations. The window design includes a heating element to prevent mist and frost from accumulating on the window. Because installing the camera wire feed through the wings to the cockpit is extremely costly, the design includes an antenna to transmit high-quality images directly to the pilots.

Continental Automotive Systems seeks to incorporate collaborative robots, designed to work side by side with human workers, into its existing assembly lines to increase plant efficiency and effectiveness. The design team was charged with designing and constructing a mounting frame for use in a collaborative manufacturing cell that can be integrated into current Continental assembly lines, where components are manually transferred from one stage to another. The team’s collaborative manufacturing cell consists of a robotic arm, a MicroRAX frame, multiple pneumatic grippers, and a proximity sensor for safety. The manufacturing cell automatically transfers components from one location on the assembly line to another. The frame was designed so that the robotic arm could attach multiple grippers, which allows the manufacturing cell to transfer multiple components at once. The implementation of a collaborative assembly line robot will improve productivity, save space, and reduce cost.

The goal of this project is to improve Continental’s manufacturing efficiency and reduce human error by designing and building Virtual Companion, based on Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses, for assembly-line workers, who use multiple data sources to inform decisions and execute tasks. Several locations on the assembly line contribute to errors that lead to downtime and reduced efficiency. The team designed algorithms and a user interface to help operators prioritize multiple upcoming tasks on the assembly line, enabling them to select the most important task for the effective functioning of the line. The system receives data from the assembly line modules and processes it to help the operator with real-time decision-making. The system also forewarns the operator of potential failure points in the upcoming assembly line process.

High-density polyethylene, or HDPE, pipes are typically installed 18–36 inches below ground, where summer temperatures can exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. Southwest Gas is interested in quantifying the cooling effects of air moving through small-diameter HDPE pipes, and the goal of this project is to design and build a prototype system for testing 1-inch and 2-inch HDPE pipes. The test system varies the surrounding air temperature and the flow rate of the air moving through the pipe to user-defined values. Data is collected on volumetric flow rate, surrounding air temperature, and internal pipe pressure and combined with fundamental heat-transfer and pipe-flow knowledge to derive a temperature gradient denoting the cooling effect across the wall of the pipe.