Group Design Project : Group 29

Instrumenting an abstract object

Team : Alexandros Nikolaou Christopher Long Chung Pang Hamish Dalrymple Nikhil Banerjee

Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure

The Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP) is a simple measure of hand functionality.
Originally developed to assess the effectiveness of upper limb prostheses, the SHAP has now been applied to assessment of musculoskeletal and neurological conditions. Used in conjunction with other tools, it can observe the function of the entire limb

SHAP
SHAP can be used to monitor progress and compare performance. This is a clinically validated hand function test.

The SHAP is made up of 8 abstract objects and 14 Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Each task is timed by the participant, so there is no interference or reliability on the reaction times of the observer or clinician.

Project proposal
The basic aim of this project is to aid SHAP in achieving more detailed results, helping with its overall assessment
We aim to provide a wireless instrumentation module for one of the abstract objects (sphere) in the SHAP tests

Information related to the motion of the sphere in 3D space subjected by the user will be transmitted wirelessly to an external data logger
This data will ensure a more detailed analysis of the users limb effectiveness and will further aid the assessment of the users recovery

USER TASK

SENSOR MODULE

WIRELESS TRANSMISSION

DATA LOGGER

Understanding the engineering problem

The object is under motion in three dimensions :
6 Degrees of Freedom which need to be measured Inertial Measurement Unit Gyro Free : Due to large inaccuracies in gyros in instrumenting small objects

accelerometers will be used in a predefined arrangement

Wireless adaptor for communication outside the device Power: Maintaining enough power for sensors and wireless transmitter keeping in mind space constraints

Robustness : Keeping the components secure inside the object while it is manipulated by the user
Size: Module must be small enough to fit in the given abstract object

Visualization
Data Logger

Wireless Transmitter

Accelerometers
Microprocessor

Diameter = 72mm

GF-IMU : Gyro free - Inertial Measurement Unit

The object under observation has 6 degrees of freedom which will be measured using accelerometers alone (gyro free)
We aim to establish an optimal number and geometrical arrangement of the accelerometers

The purpose is to achieve a good measure of accuracy and observability of the linear and angular accelerations

Accelerometer arrangement
Mechanization equations: Differential equations describing the position, velocity and attitude as functions of the sensor outputs
They depend on the physical configuration of the sensors relative to both the object body and the reference frame

Strapdown Mechanization : Sensors are strapped onto the body frame

Advantage: Decrease in size and weight Disadvantage: Computational complexity

Geometrical Arrangement
Tetrahedron
Reasoning:

No. of Acceleromet ers

No. of Wires required

12

18

24

2D analysis of the equations

Let the readings be y1, y2, etc.
For a static object, the readings will be
y1 = y3 = y5 = 0 y2 = y4 = y6 = g

Assuming we are using two-axis accelerometers

2
1

6 5

4 3

2D analysis of the equations

The readings are
y1 = y3 = y5 = g sin
y2 = y4 = y6 = g cos

6 5 4 3

2D analysis of the equations

While in linear motion
2
y1 = y3 = y5 = g sin + a cos
y2 = y4 = y6 = g cos + a sin

This set of equations can be solved numerically

6 5 4 3 a

2D analysis of the equations

While under angular acceleration, the accelerometers experience two linear accelerations
6 5 4 3

2D analysis of the equations

Tangential acceleration
= 2 =

Radial acceleration (towards the centre of rotation)

6 5 4 3

General equation
From Hanson
Combining linear and angular accelerations
1 2 1 1 = H + + 2

General equation
1 2 1 1 = H + + 2

y is the vector of the readings from the accelerometers y = (y1; y2; ...; yN) is the vector of unknowns, i.e. the angular and linear accelerations in the x, y, z axes. H is the regressor matrix

H=

1 1

The regressor matrix

Used to solve the equation
Also provides a condition number H = H H1 The condition number measures the worst case of how much accuracy would be lost due to small changes in the data received

Hardware Parameters
System Physics behind Scale Ease of use Other parameters

Main Components
Wireless Data Transmission

Outer cell

Accelerometers

Power Supply

PCBs For Accelerometers

Microprocessor

Wireless Data Transmission

Requirements
12 channels without processor 6 channels with processor Low power consumption Small size Short range Ease of use Cost

Wireless Data Transmission

Easyradio ER900TS transmitter
31x12x4 (mm)^3 3.3V 82.5mW 14.56 GBP low cost Data Encryption 16-bit

Wireless Data Transmission

Easyradio ER900RS receiver

Pair with ER900TS transmitter 23.81 GBP

Main PCB - Processor

Requirements
6 inputs/outputs Small size Low power consumption High processing speed not required

Main PCB - Processor

Arduino Pro mini 328
3.3V 3.3x1.8x0.8 (mm)^3 8 MHz processing speed 13.22 GBP Low power consumption USB connection using adaptor

Power Supply
Requirements
Small size High endurance Lightweight Rechargeable Low cost

Power Supply
NiMH Button Type Cell
19.5 mm length 15.5 mm diameter 3.6V 80 mAh Rechargeable 2.71 GBP

Hardware
Accelerometers
Requirements
> 1kHz Bandwidth Measuring range ~ +/- 6g Low power consumption

Considerations
Type of chip mounting Design a PCB? Size of complete package Synchronization

Hardware
Accelerometer
Suitable device found:
Triple Axis Accelerometer ADXL345 Measurement range: +/- 2, 4, 8 & 16 available Output data as 16-bit twos SPI (3 or 4 wire) digital interface 3.2 kHz Bandwidth PCB dimensions: 15.5 x 22 mm

CAD Design
Rapid Prototyping Machine

CAD Design
Design Constraints
Cost of material Size Required Geometry of Accelerometers

CAD Design
Design Considerations
Accessibility of the components? Access to sphere after construction?

Design so far:

Microprocessor

Accelerometers Easy Radio

Battery

Programming, Data extraction and Data Processing

Programming the Arduino Pro Mini

Arduino development environment used
Breakout board for the FTDI FT232RL USB to serial IC Arduino Pro Mini equipped with bootloader software, allows it to be readily programmed Language used was C++, inherent Arduino libraries were used

Data Extraction : Communication modes

Data Extraction from the ADXL
Two communication modes : SPI and I2C I2C communication drawback :
X Hard coded I2C address, same for all accelerometers X Cannot address accelerometers individually

SPI Communication chosen :

No addressing required on bus while communication Communication is faster No delays between inflow and outflow of data

SPI communication

4 wire communication For selecting accelerometer: SS slave select wire LOW Digital output pins served this purpose on the master device i.e. Arduino Pro Mini

Accelerometer Configuration
Requirements:
Continuous 3 axis readings for acceleration Low power consumption 5 g range for acceleration Register values in ADXL345 were set as per requirements

The decided rate was 1600 Hz with bandwidth 800 Hz (minimum 90A current), thus we use the rate code 1110 for this register.

Program Structure
Setup :
o SPI communication mode, rate, digital SS pins o Serial communication rate o Initialize velocity displacement variables o Configure accelerometers g-range, data rate, etc Loop

Data flow

Testing
Static Test
Use Horizontal and vertical rotary table

Testing
Motion Test
Use gravity and standard equations
(v=u+at ect)

Use Robot arm

Gantt Chart

Future Work
Circuit design
Connections Built of outer cell using rapid prototype machine Data transmission Software for computation Testing