CET 4711 – Sec. 4376 Computer Control System Design

Final Project ReportAutomobile Toddler Alerting System (ATAS)

Project Partners: Andriy Koval,Matewos Sebsibe and Mohammad Ali

Group Motto - “Designing, building and using technology to make a better world”

Due Date: Thursday, December 20, 2012

Submitted to:Professor Benito Mendoza

ABSTRACT

“Circuitry of the Automobile Toddler Alerting System (ATAS)”

Prepared by: Matewos Sebsibe, Project Manager and Report AuthorAndriy Koval, Product EngineerMohammad Ali, Technical Advisor

This circuitry product for automobiles specifically designed for parents and for the protection of toddlers in mind, devolved from a tragic story aired on October 1, 2008 on the Oprah’s television talk show titled “An Overwhelmed Mothers Deadly Mistake”. It was about a mother by the name Brenda Slaby, who, out of her busy day, went outside of her car to run some errands and go to work afterwards, forgot and left her toddler in a car seat in the back of the car for eight hours which ended up in fatality due to high temperatures. This is the inspiration behind our project, trying to use technology to solve society’s problems. This report shows in detail the project description, conceptual sketches and technical drawings, time and project management, project construction process and user manual.

Keywords: car seat, toddler, automobile, fatality, parents, forget, high temperature

Table of ContentsProject Description and Conceptual Model of ATAS 4

Conceptual Sketches and Technical Drawings 8

Time and Project Management 11

Project and Construction Process 14

User Manual 18

Bibliography 19

Appendix 19

Project Description and Conceptual Model of the Automobile Toddler Alerting System (ATAS)

We have heard on numerous occasions in the news (see link in Bibliography at the end of the report) and on television talk shows for many years of how stressed-out parents forget that their toddlers are behind them strapped in car seats, as required by state laws, while they are driving on the road. The excerpt below is one of Oprah’s TV show episodes aired on October 1, 2008 about a mother, who, out of her busy day, forgot and left her child in the back of the car for eight hours which ended up in fatality due to high temperatures. This is the inspiration behind our project trying to use technology to solve society’s problems. To get a full access to the story, click on the link in the Bibliography section at the end of the report.

With Cecilia sleeping in the backseat, Brenda pulled out of the driveway at about 6 a.m.When she realized it was too early to drop her youngest child off, she decided to run a quick errand. Brenda stopped at the store to buy doughnuts, a treat for the returning teachers…Despite his grief, Gary says he has never blamed his wife for Cecilia's death. "I could have done the same thing very easily," he says. On nights when his wife had to work late, Gary says she'd ask him to pick up the girls from the babysitter's house, a break from their normal routine. A few times, he says he forgot.

The system we have conceptualized and devised fills in this gap of human weakness. It first turns a switch ON, (located between the bottom of the car seat and the base frame - see Fig. 3) when the car seat is fastened to the base frame which takes the human element of forgetting to turn the switch ON, out of the way. We developed this product with the parents in our minds, to prevent them from years of heart ache that nobody has to go through, by employing our engineering technology training to be put to action to solve this specific human problem. Particularly, we believe in the motto, “Designing, building and using technology to make a better world”.

Some core beliefs of our team members adopted from our department’s engineering rubrics: Translate academic theory into engineering applications. Learn, build and use technology to make life better for society. Implement the utmost quality control for the safety of the users of our technological devices.

If the system functions the way it was intended to do, it alerts the adult driver in the following scenarios shown in their respective flow charts:

I. Toddler is not in the car – in this situation, the system will test whether the engine ignition is turned on. If it is, it will show the ambient temperature on the LCD display. According to the temperature sensor, if the temperature is above the comfort level of the driver’s on the front console, Basic Stamp will activate the FAN, if not it will deactivate it and loops back to the starting point where it tests for the presence of the toddler. If the engine is off, it will also loop back to test if baby car seat is engaged.

II. Toddler in the car and the car’s engine ignition is turned ON – in this instance, the toddler is fastened to his/her car seat with the base frame of the car seat activating the switch located just underneath it. This takes the human forgetfulness of manually turning the switch ON, out of the way. The LCD Display will show the temperature first then the temperature sensor will test to see if it is above 75º F. If it is, the LCD display announces “Temperature is Higher than Safe Level” and activates the fan along with the yellow LED being turned ON. If temperature is below 75º F, it deactivates the fan. At this point, the program will loop back to the first scenario of testing to see if the toddler is still in the car and if the car engine ignition is turned on.

III. Toddler is in the car seat and the car’s engine ignition is turned off – at this point, the program will test to see if there is any passenger in the car. If there is at least one passenger whether the driver or another non-driver passenger, this sequence of events will take place. It will turn the red LED on, the LCD display will announce “Baby on Board”, deactivate the outside speaker, deactivates the car’s emergency yellow lights, deactivates the piezo speaker and finally sets the delay mechanism ON for 3 seconds to see if the driver would start the engine. If the car engines is not started, the system would just revert back to scenario I to test for the presence of a baby in the car seat and also if engine is turned ON. If the car driver or any passenger is not in the car, it triggers a delay countdown to see if any adults haven’t forgotten and are coming back to the car. If an adult returns to the car, the LCD display will announce “Baby on Board”, the piezo speaker chirps for few seconds to alert the driver not to forget and the red LED would flash. If no adult returns to the car, the system enters into an emergency mode and the outside speaker will blare an alarming sound along with the car’s emergency headlights flashing constantly to draw attention towards the car. At this point the program loops back into scenario I testing for the presence of the toddler and if the car engine is turned on.

Fig. 1 – This picture shows the circuitry inside the ATAS system. The green colored module to the left is the Basic Stamp Education Board microcontroller module and bread board. The fan is in the upper left corner of

the picture is a black housing while the LCD display and LED lights are on the back of the upright plank. The orange and black switches at the end of the wires to the right are the embedded sensors under the car seat and

under driver and passenger seats. This picture is better described in Fig. 4 below.

Conceptual Sketches and Technical Drawings

This experiment will demonstrate the system described above in only a miniaturized internal car model. To assemble this micro controller setup described in the various figures below, follow the instructions in the Project & Construction Process section.

Fig. 2 – Matewos Sebsibe’s original hand sketch of the concept

The original concept that matches the above rough sketch which is superseded by the scenarios and flow charts in the project description section is as follows:

I. If the driver forgets that there is a baby in the back and opens the driver side door to go out to run errands, the system would detect if the car door is opened and if the switch beneath the car seat is turned ON after the baby and the car seat are first placed in the car turning the switch ON earlier. When these two conditions are met, the LCD display will show a blinking text that says “Baby On Board” and the Piezo speaker would announce the same thing, “Baby on board”, there by alerting the parent not to leave the baby behind.

II. If the parent is driving on the freeway and forgets that there is a baby in the back while the driver side door is closed and the inside temperature climbs above 75º F, the system would detect if the switch under the car seat is turned ON along with the temperature sensor detecting high temperatures. If these conditions are met, the LCD display and the speaker would announce that there is “Baby on Board + High Temperature” alerting the parent to turn the AC on and the motor by the window shade would be activated to roll it down to provide cover for the toddler from exposure to sun rays.

Fig. 3 – An improved graphic implementation of Automobile Toddler Alerting System (ATAS)

Fig. 4 – An overall schematic of ATAS circuitry with all the different components connected to one central module which is the Basic Stamp microcontroller chip in the center.

Fig. 5 – Parallax Inc.’s BASIC STAMP® 2 Microcontroller Module components and their functions shown in the center of Fig. 4 above.

Fig. 6 – Parallax Inc.’s DS1620 Temperature Sensor / Thermostat chip schematic found in the lower right corner of Fig. 4 above. Ports 7 – 9 are the ports of the Basic Stamp microcontroller.

Fig. 7 – Schematic of an Audio Amplifier for both the Piezo speaker inside the car and the outside emergency speaker located at the bottom of the Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 – Schematic of the fan controller circuitry located at the bottom right of Fig. 4. Port 6 is the port on the Basic Stamp board. It was designed in Multisim. Relay is required to match the 12V requirement of the fan.

Time and Project Management

The following work breakdown structure which is unchanged since the project design phase shows the fragmentation of levels of tasks for this product deliverables but since some steps apply to all other adjacent ones, instead of repeating them side by side, we have chosen one text box in the center such as for steps on and below “wiring”. The scheduling in the form of Gantt chart is derived from this WBS.

Notable milestones are listed in the WBS list and Gantt chart below Brainstorming: Looking for ideas - Saturday 9 / 15 / 2012 from 4 pm to 6 pm – 2 hours Presented two competing ideas to our professor to decide which project to do based on selection

criteria below – Thursday, September 20, 2012 8:30pm – 8:50pm Task selection criteria process and description of the two proposed projects 9/24/2012 Mohammad Ali was added to our team on 10/11/2012 totaling 3 team members. Board schematic was designed on October 15 Fan and microcontroller tested in mid-October. LCD display tested in on November 15. Piezo speaker and temperature sensor with its Pbasic program tested on November 16.

Mohammed Ali departed the US to go to his home country to get married on December 16. Do final video and report presentation on 12/20/2012

Gannt Chart – some magnification required for a better view

Project and Construction Process

If you follow this list of activities step by step, you would be able to build the entire system from the beginning to end.1. Assemble all the necessary parts as listed below.

5 LED's(yellow is for unsafe temperature levels, red for “baby on board”, 2 yellow to resemble a cars emergency lights, green for the fan), 8-1KΩ, 2-220 Ω, 1-5.6 KΩ resistors; from Parallax Inc.: Basic Stamp Microcontroller set and manual, 5V LCD display, a Piezo speaker, a mini 5V speaker with amplifier built in, mini 12V fan, DS 1620 Temperature sensor / Thermostat, a 0.1μF capacitor, an opto-coupler, 2-Tip31A transistors, 5V to 12V Relay, a heat sink, a voltage regulator, a computer with USB to serial port connector, wires and 6 switches.

2. Make the necessary connections as follows and also by following Fig. 4, to the Basic Stamp module.

Components* Pin on Basic stamp boardLCD display

16 x 2 characters 5 x 7 character font Input data: 8-bit Input Voltage: 5.0V@1.25mA Backlight: No Module size: 3.2"W x 1.4"H x 0.3"D Display size: 2.5"W x 0.5"H

pin 5 or port 0

Announcer LED pin 6 or port 1“Baby on Board” red LED pin 7 or port 2

Emergency yellow LED pin 8 or port 3Piezo speaker

tone type: external drive operating voltage: 3-28 V AC

o rated voltage: 5 V ACo current consumption: 1.5mAo resonant frequency: 4.0 ± 0.5kHz

sound pressure level: 85dB connector type: leads body color: black weight: 4g

pin 9 or port 4

Amplifier speaker pin 10 or port 5Fan controller

Nominal voltage: 12VDC Voltage range: 6 - 18VDC Current @ maximum efficiency: 0.74A Speed @ maximum efficiency: 9820 RPM Torque @ maximum efficiency: 53.5 g-cm Efficiency: 60.7% Terminal type: 0.11" solder tabs Shaft diameter: 0.091" Shaft length: 0.622" Size: 1.082" diameter x 1.279" depth

pin 11 or port 6

DS 1620 Temp. sensor1kΩ resistor to its DQ and 0.1μF capacitor to its

Vdd pins are a must as you see in Fig. 6

pin 12 or port 7pin 13 or port 8pin 14 or port 9

SwitchesNumber of pins: 2Mounting hole diameter: 0.500"Contact form: SPST off-(on)Contact rating: 3A @ 125VACDimensions: 0.82"(D) x 1.02"(T)Lead spacing: 0.20"Terminal type: SolderButton color: Green

Connect them as you see in Fig. 4 above

Fan Controller Make connections as you see it in Fig. 8 regarding the opt-coupler, transistors and relay

Resistors 1 KΩ Connect them as you see in Fig. 4 above

* - All the support material is included in the Bibliography section such as BasicStamp - Syntax & Reference Manual, StampWorks-v2.1-Experiments and What is a Microcontroller by Parallax Inc.

3. Cut and paste the following PBasic program into your Basic Stamp IDLE.

' {$STAMP BS2}' {$PBASIC 2.5}

DQ CON 9 ' DS1620.1 (data I/O)Clock CON 8 ' DS1620.2Reset CON 7 ' DS1620.3

' -----[ Constants ]-------------------------------------------------------RdTmp CON $AA ' read temperatureWrHi CON $01 ' write TH (high temp)WrLo CON $02 ' write TL (low temp)RdHi CON $A1 ' read THRdLo CON $A2 ' read TLRdCntr CON $A0 ' read counterRdSlope CON $A9 ' read slopeStartC CON $EE ' start conversionStopC CON $22 ' stop conversionWrCfg CON $0C ' write config registerRdCfg CON $AC ' read config registerDegSym CON 186 ' degrees symbol

' -----[ Variables ]-------------------------------------------------------tempIn VAR Word ' raw temperaturesign VAR tempIn.BIT8 ' 1 = negative temperaturetC VAR Word ' CelsiustF VAR Word ' FahrenheitDELAY VAR Bytefreq VAR Word

' -----[ Initialization ]--------------------------------------------------Setup:HIGH Reset ' alert the DS1620SHIFTOUT DQ, Clock, LSBFIRST, [WrCfg, %10] ' use with CPU; free-runLOW ResetPAUSE 10HIGH ResetSHIFTOUT DQ, Clock, LSBFIRST, [StartC] ' start conversionsLOW ResetDEBUG CLS, "DS1620 ", CR, "---------"

' -----[ Program Code ]--------------------------------------------------Main:DELAY = 7DOIF (IN12=1) THEN ' NO BABYIF (IN13=0) THEN ' If Engine is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF)GOSUB Read_DS1620 ' Get the temperatureIF tc>270 THEN 'Set comfort temp. level 270 = 27C(Adjustable by Driver)

LOW 06 ' Port 06, fan is OFF (0=ON, 1=OFF)SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," HIGH TEMP",13," ",DEC tC/10,"C/",DEC tF/10,"F"]

PAUSE 1000 SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," HIGH TEMP",13," "]

PAUSE 500ELSESEROUT 0,84,[12," TEMPERATURE IS",13," ",DEC tC/10,"C/",DEC tF/10,"F"]HIGH 06 ' Port 06, fan is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF)

ENDIF PAUSE 500 ' Delay between readingsENDIF

ELSE ' BABY ON BOARDIF (IN13=0) THEN ' If Engine is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF)

GOSUB Read_DS1620 ' Get the temperatureIF tc>260 THEN ' Setting Safe temperature level 260=26C (Fixed value)

LOW 06 ' Port 06, fan is OFF (0=ON, 1=OFF) SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," TEMP IS ABOVE ",13," SAFE LEVEL ",DEC tc/10,"C"] LOW 01 PAUSE 200 HIGH 01 PAUSE 300 LOW 01 ELSE SEROUT 0,84,[12," TEMPERATURE IS",13," ",DEC tc/10,"C"] HIGH 06 ' Port 06, fan is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF) ENDIF

PAUSE 500 ' Delay between readings ELSE IF (IN11=0) THEN ' If Passenger is present (0=YES, 1=NO) DELAY=7 HIGH 06 ' Port 06, fan is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF) HIGH 02 PAUSE 200 LOW 02 PAUSE 300 SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," BABY ON BOARD "] ELSE IF (IN10=0) THEN ' If Driver is present (0=YES, 1=NO) DELAY=7 HIGH 06 ' Port 06, fan is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF) HIGH 02 PAUSE 200 LOW 02 PAUSE 300 SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," BABY ON BOARD "] ELSE ' If a Driver or a passenger is not present (0=YES, 1=NO) HIGH 06 ' Port 06, fan is ON (0=ON, 1=OFF) IF DELAY<=0 THEN ' Alarm DELAY=0 HIGH 03 PAUSE 400

FOR freq=2000 TO 2500 STEP 5 FREQOUT 05,3,freq

NEXT LOW 05 LOW 03 PAUSE 500

ELSE ' Alarm Delay and Annunciation SEROUT 0,84,[12,18] HIGH 02 PAUSE 200

SEROUT 0,84,[12,17," BABY ON BOARD "] LOW 02 FREQOUT 04,200,2000 LOW 04 PAUSE 200 DELAY=DELAY-1 PAUSE 400

ENDIFENDIF

ENDIFENDIF

ENDIFLOOP

' -----[ Subroutines ]-----------------------------------------------------Read_DS1620:Display_C:DEBUG CRSRXY, 0, 2, (tC.BIT15 * 13 + " "), DEC (ABS tC / 10), ".", DEC2(ABS tC), DegSym, " C", CLREOLDEBUG ? tC

HIGH Reset ' alert the DS1620SHIFTOUT DQ, Clock, LSBFIRST, [RdTmp] ' give command to read tempSHIFTIN DQ, Clock, LSBPRE, [tempIn\9] ' read it inLOW Reset ' release the DS1620tempIn.BYTE1 = -sign ' extend sign bittC = tempIn * 5 ' convert to tenthsIF (tC.BIT15 = 0) THEN ' temp C is positive tF = tC */ $01CC + 320 ' convert to FELSE ' temp C is negative tF = 320 - ((ABS tC) */ $01CC) ' convert to FENDIFRETURN

4. Compile and run program. 5. Follow the three scenarios in the Project Description section to test the system.

User Manual

For the temperature sensor, press with your finger or blow on it with a hair dryer, to raise the temperature level to see how it reacts and engages the system. The three testing scenarios described below pretty much sum up the user manual. Since this is not a device like video games or a computer, to actually test the system, it only requires minimal effort on the user’s part which is to just test the switch-sensors in the three scenarios as described below.

I. Test for toddler not being in the car – in this situation, don’t engage the toddler’s car seat in the base frame. Basic Stamp will test whether the engine ignition switch is turned on. Turn the engine ignition ON. The LCD display will show the car’s inside temperature. According to the temperature sensor, if the temperature is above the comfort level of the driver’s preset value on the dashboard, Basic Stamp will activate the FAN, if not, it will deactivate it and loops back to the starting point where it tests for the presence of the toddler using the switch under the car seat. If the engine is off, it will also loop back to test if baby car seat is engaged.

II. Test for toddler being in the car and the car’s engine ignition is turned ON – in this instance, fasten the toddler’s car seat to the base frame to activate the switch at that spot and turn the engine ignition ON. The LCD Display will show the temperature first then the temperature sensor will test to see if it is above 75º F. If it is, the LCD display announces “Temperature is Higher than Safe Level” and activates the fan along with the yellow LED being turned ON. If temperature is below 75º F, it deactivates the fan. At this point, the program will loop back to the first scenario of testing to see if the toddler is still in the car and if the car engine ignition is turned on.

III. Test for toddler being in the car seat and the car’s engine ignition is turned off – at this point, fasten the toddler’s car seat to the base frame to activate the switch at that spot and turn of the engine ignition. The program will test to see if there is any passenger in the car. If there is at least one passenger whether the driver or another non-driver passenger, this sequence of events will take place. It will turn the red LED on, the LCD display will announce “Baby on Board”, deactivates the outside speaker, deactivates the car’s emergency yellow lights, deactivates the piezo speaker and finally sets the delay mechanism ON for 3 seconds to see if the driver would start the engine. If the car engines is not started, the system would just revert back to scenario I to test for the presence of a baby in the car seat and also if engine is turned ON. If the car driver or any passenger is not in the car, it triggers a delay countdown to see if any adults haven’t forgotten to come back to the car. If an adult returns to the car, the LCD display will announce “Baby on Board”, the piezo speaker chirps for few seconds to alert the driver not to forget and the red LED would flash. If no adult returns to the car, the system enters into an emergency mode and the outside speaker will blare an alarming sound along with the car’s emergency headlights flashing constantly to draw attention towards the car. At this point the program loops back into scenario I testing for the presence of the toddler and if the car engine is turned on.

Bibliography

Floyd, Thomas L., and David M. Buchla. The Science of Electronics: Analog Devices. Saddle River: Pearson, 2005.

Floyd, Thomas L., and David M. Buchla. The Science of Electronics: Digital. Saddle River: Pearson, 2005.

Lindsay, Andy. What is a Microcontroller ? Rocklin: Parallax, 2004.

Martin, Jeff, et al. Basic Stamp Syntax and Reference Manual. Ver. 2.2. Rocklin: Parallax, 2005.

Oprah Winfrey Show. “An Overwhelmed Mom's Deadly Mistake.” Oprah 01 Oct. 2008 Oprah.com.18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.oprah.com/relationships/An-Overwhelmed-Mothers-Deadly-Mistake/2>

Williams, Jon. StampWorks: Experiments and BASIC Stamp Source Code. Ver. 2.1. Rocklin: Parallax, 2005.

Appendix

Temperature Unit Conversion:Degree Fahrenheit to Degree Centigrade ºC = (ºF – 32) x 5/9Degree Centigrade to Degree Fahrenheit ºF = (ºC x 9/5) + 32