Denver Signal Processing Society
Senior Project Funding Competition
In 2008, the Denver Signal Processing Society Chapter decided to create a competitive funding opportunity for undergraduate electrical engineering majors working on their senior projects. In early December, letters were sent to 7 universities in the Denver Section providing details on the proposals that project teams should submit. The proposals could be up to two pages and should provide technical details of the project and how it involves signal processing, even if signal processing plays a minor role in the project, and how they planned to use the funds. Up to one team from each university was eligible for the $400 award. Letters providing the details of the competition were sent to the following universities:
Colorado School of Mines
Colorado State University
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Colorado, Denver
University of Denver
University of Wyoming
Project proposals were received from Colorado State University.
Congratulations to our 2009 winner!
Colorado State University - The Wireless Door Opener
Team members:
Iris Yi, Chris Wagner
Description:
The Wireless Door Opener Project was launched two years ago as a Senior Design project at Colorado State University, a class where Electrical and Computer Engineering students gain valuable experience taking a project from the unreliable product to a mature stage of which is useful for real-world applications. The core technology of this year’s project is the communications between two transceivers on a wheelchair and a door. It is to sense and determine the speed and direction of the transceiver on a wheelchair using a group of concentric circles produced by a radio transceiver that varies its strength by a microprocessor on a door. Also, we solved the power consumption problem from last year’s project through signal processing, which is, more specifically, saving 99% of the power consumption of the transceiver at the wheelchair by switching it from the sleeping mode to the receiving mode for a spark of time in each time period. Our device has the potential to transform the accessibility of public facilities everywhere, and we are eager to adjust the design to maximize both ease for the user, and universal installation possibilities for public buildings everywhere.