EE-446 Embedded Architectures Homework #1

EE-446 Embedded Architectures

Homework Assignment 1
Fall 2014
This homework assignment is to be performed by teams with 3~4 students each. All students in a
team will receive the same score for this assignment.
Problem: Embedded System Project Proposal
Objective: Students will learn how to write a proposal for an embedded design.
Description:
You are an embedded engineer team and work for a technology company. One day, your manager
meets with your team and requests a project proposal. The manager wants your team to design a
wonderful product for the market. The product project can be one from the lists below (or you can
come up with your own team project)
1. Smart Temperature Controller
Southern California is a great place to live in. Usually, it is hot here in the day time and cold in the
night time. This device can detect the outdoor and indoor temperatures. If outdoors is colder than
indoors, then this controller will turn on the fan to cool down the room temperature. If outside and
room temperature are both hot, then the controller will turn on the air conditioner unit. Please
design this controller and add more intelligent functions to this temperature device that you think
the customer may need.
2. Smart Stand Fan
Sometimes we will turn on the fan in the night for the kids when they are sleeping. Some of these
fans provide timer functions, but, it is not enough. Parents want the fan which can be automatically
controlled based on the room temperature.
3. Smart Irrigation Controller
Most people use a programmable irrigation timer, which will turn on the water on your preset
schedule. Now, we need a new smart irrigation controller, which can automatically adjust the water
amount by lowering it on rainy or colder days, while increasing the water amount on hot summer
days.
4. Smart Temperature Control for Shower
When we take a shower, we always need to adjust the water temperature. If someone turns on the
hot water in the kitchen room, then your shower will become cold. Please design a temperature
control system for the shower; this device will not only control the water temperature but also
adjusts the temperature based on different seasons.


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EE-446 Embedded Architectures Homework #1
The project that your team chooses will also be used for the next homework assignment. You will
continue to do system design and analysis for this project using UML tools.

The Embedded Board and Sensors
You will be asked to design the embedded system based on the Cypress PSoC 5 board. Each team
will get one EagleSoC Development Board on the 3
rd
week of the quarter. You can choose any sensors
you may need in your project, but dont forget to control your budget. Before you select the sensors,
please read carefully each sensors datasheet. The sensors that you pick will be used in order to
implement projects in the future; therefore you may need to purchase all of the sensors to finish your
project.

Sensor Information
You can choose your sensors from following recommended website vendors, or others. Do not
purchase them yet, because you may change the design prior to your project implementation.
Please perform the research and provide the sensors information in your report.
Sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com
Pololu: http://www.pololu.com/
Adfruit: http://www.adafruit.com/

Report
You must turn in your team report before 11:59 pm on October 8
th
, 2014 by email. Please send
PDF format file to me. You can click here to learn about how to write a proposal.
(http://www.slideshare.net/Makewa/8-project-proposal)
In the report, you may include the following information:
Cover sheet
Title of Proposal (in initial capital letters)
Team members information (last 4 digitals of CID and full name)
Date
Contents
Introduction
In one page or less, summarize the main reasons for performing the design and the scope
of the design that your group attempts to achieve.
Statement of Problem: Why?
This section establishes the need for your design. Granted, the advisor of your project
understands the need for a product, but the main audience is not yet convinced and
needs thorough explanation. In this section, you will make assertions about the problems
that have generated from the design you are working on.
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EE-446 Embedded Architectures Homework #1
In this section, you typically do not discuss the design solutions that you propose. Rather,
you establish the problem or problems so that when you discuss the proposed designs in
the following sections, the reader is prepared.
Design Objectives: What?
This document proposeshere you formally state what you propose to design.
In this section, you would present text which discusses in details your design objectives.
That explanation would include a discussion of not only what you intend to do, but also
a justification of what you will not do (in other words, what your audience might assume
that you will do).
Technical Approach: How?
This section discusses how you will obtain the objectives presented in the previous
section. This plan should follow a logical sequence.
Identifying needs of customers
Here you would write few paragraphs that explain how you have identified the
needs of the customer or how you will identify the needs of the customer
Identifying Target Specifications
Here you would write few paragraphs that explain how you have targeted the
specifications or how you will target the specifications.
Generating Design Concepts
Here you would explain how you have generated the design concepts.
Selecting Design Concept
Here you would explain how you have selected the design concept.
Cost: How Much?
Here you would write a paragraph or few paragraphs that explain the cost for the
project.




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