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Preliminary Design

Specification

Wireless Notification Device

Group 5

Matthew Baker Paul Briskey Kevin Buck Lucian Stewart

Table of Contents

• 1. Revision History
• 2. Introduction....................................................................................................................
  • 2.1. Customer Requirements & Product Background....................................................
  • 2.2. Competitive Analysis.............................................................................................
    • 2.2.1. Product Space Analysis...................................................................................
    • 2.2.2. Target Feature Set
      • 2.2.2.1. Remote Sensors........................................................................................
      • 2.2.2.2. Monitoring Device
      • 2.2.2.3. Programmer..............................................................................................
  • 2.3. References..............................................................................................................
  • 2.4. Naming Conventions Used
• 3. Architectural Overview.................................................................................................
  • 3.1. Implementation Approaches
• 4. Top Level Description
  • 4.1. Top Level Block Diagram
    • 4.1.1. Top Level Interface Definition
    • 4.1.2. Environment..................................................................................................
• Table 1- Competitive Product Analysis............................................................................. List of Figures and Tables
• Figure 1- Sound Sensor....................................................................................................
• Figure 2- Light Sensor
• Figure 3- Programmer......................................................................................................
• Figure 4- Notification Unit
• Figure 5- Sound Sensor Interface
• Figure 6- Light Sensor Interface
• Figure 7- Programmer Interface.......................................................................................
• Figure 8- Notification Device Interface...........................................................................
• Table 2- Wire Descriptions..............................................................................................

consumer. Because of this, we are confident that our product can carve out a niche in this market as well.

To our knowledge, no similar product exists on the market at this time. There are companies such as X-10 [1] which offers products that automate your home. These products plug in between a device and the outlet. Using powerline communication technology, which transmits data at the 0V point in the AC signal; these devices allow you to control the power to appliances that you plug into the X-10 unit wirelessly. These control units work remarkably well. However, they do not allow the user to monitor the status of the device. Most devices that have this sort of capability are extremely specialized and marketed to the disabled community.

In the past few years, there has been a large push toward “intelligent” appliances. These are the refrigerators which keep track of how many eggs you have, or the trash can which creates a shopping list to replenish items thrown away. Most of these devices are shown having connectivity to a home network, which would allow the homeowner to monitor the devices status continuously from various locations. While these appliances sound quite lucrative, it is important to note that the average age of retirement for a refrigerator in 2001 was 13 years [2], while the average thrown away washing machine was 20. years [3] old in 2003. The age of these discarded appliances eliminates the possibility of older models lacking monitoring capabilities being replaced for quite some time. Our product will enable some of the new-age monitoring features of newer appliances at a greatly reduced cost.

We intend to make our monitoring device as user friendly as possible. The sending units themselves will be battery powered, with a minimum footprint. We intend on designing these devices such that they will have a minimum 6 month lifespan for sake of convenience. Two different types of sensors will be produced: Sound and Light. Each sound sensor will be individually programmed to recognize warning sounds of the appliance to which it is attached. Light sensors will simply need to be attached to the indicators on its appliance. The user will be able to select which type of message is sent to the notification unit though a programmer that we will create, which will be GUI based. Ideally, all programming will be done in 3-5 button presses.

Obviously, this product has some limitations which must be discussed. All functions which this product monitors and reports must be either lights or buzzers. Filtering out all ambient noise so that the sound sensor only triggers on the buzzer from its appliance will be a large challenge. Also, all lights must have some sort of sensor attached to them. At the moment, we plan on minimizing the impact of these sensors by using some sort of clear photodetector with a very small wire connecting it to the transmitting unit. For indicators towards the back of an appliance, this will not be an issue, but if the lights are on the front, connecting wires to these sensors might be an issue. We will also need to investigate external antennas for the sensors. As the target system does not include a base station to mediate communication between the sensors and the remote, sufficient signal gain will most likely be obtained at the sensors by use of an external antenna.

2.2. Competitive Analysis

The spreadsheet on the following page is a comparison of products that are similar to our project. It includes some details of the product features and attributes. Refer to Table 1.

Table 1- Competitive Product Analysis

Power

Operating

Transmission

Component Name

Manufacturer

Requirements

Cost

Frequency

Features

Description

Interface

Network

Method

RLM20k Remote Laundry

LG Electronics

Outlet

$

60 Hz

Wall Mounted,

Displays washer/dryer status

Modem

One

Power Line

Monitoring System

Displays Info

Washer/Dryer

AM 6000 AlertMaster

Ameriphone

Outlet

$

80ft radius

Alerts from:

Wireless Notification Device

Master unit

Several

Wireless

Wireless System

(Battery)

*Doorbell

of household products

Devices

*Alarm Clock

(all features use accessories)

*Loud Noises Indicate with: *Flash Lights *Vib Bed

AlertMaster AM-

Ameriphone

Outlet

$

80ft radius

Alerts from:

Wireless Notification Device

Master unit

Several

Wireless

*Doorbell

of household products

Devices

*Alarm Clock *Loud Noises

Personal Signaler

Ameriphone

Battery (2.4V)

$

80ft radius

LED Indication

Portable Indicator of Alarm

Personal

One/Person

Wireless

from Ameriphone

Vibration

Works with AM 6000 and AM- 100

Deaf Alerter Transmitter

Deaf Alerter PLC

Outlet

????

49MHz

Fire Proof,

Alerts all Alerters of any alarm

Building

Unlimited

Wireless

(Battery)

Reset all Alerters

Fire system

Devices

Deaf Alerter PLC Alerter

Deaf Alerter PLC

Battery (1.5V)

????

49MHz

Vibrates,

Indicator of alarm trigger through

Personal

One/Person

Wireless

homing beacon

vibration/ visual and location of

No off button

alarm trigger

Integrated touch-skin notification system for wearable computing

International Business Machines Corporation

devices (Patent #: 6218958) Multiple products offered by the same company are grouped together

requires the purchase of additional hardware units. The common theme among all of the competing products is that all have some way of alerting the consumer to a certain event in their homes, some products are marketed for convenience and others for necessity (i.e. disabled persons). In general though there are very few choices available in this class of products and thus the opportunity is great to fill a niche market that serves both the disabled and those who want to have the convenience of being remotely alerted of certain events taking place in their home.

2.2.2. Target Feature Set

Below is a list of the features we intend to include in our product. The benefits of this product are not constrained to the list below, however, the features included should demonstrate the most outstanding abilities and attributes we project this product will have.

2.2.2.1. Remote Sensors

• Will hang, mount or set anywhere in your home.
• Battery powered – no wall outlet required.
• 2-way communication with the Portable Advisory Device to guarantee no important event goes unnoticed.
• Easily programmable sound sensors will recognize any custom tone.
• Light sensors will recognize and notify you when visual indicators change. (i.e., a stove or oven light).
• Light weight and small form factor make the Remote Sensors easy to place around the home so they stay out of your way.
• Advanced filters pass only the programmed tones so the audio sensors are not fooled by music or any other loud noises.

2.2.2.2. Monitoring Device

• Clip it to your belt, wear it on your arm, or put it in your pocket.
• The monitoring device will vibrate, beep, and flash when it receives notification so you never miss and event.
• No matter if you have trouble seeing or hearing, the monitoring device delivers the message in several ways to make sure you always informed. o See the message – a LCD display shows the message in clear text o Hear the message – built in voice software speaks the message to you. o Feel the message – the monitoring device vibrates differently for each device it monitors.

• The compact design and light weight make it easy to take the monitoring device anywhere.

2.2.2.3. Programmer

• This hand held device is the size of a graphing calculator so it is easy to carry around your house during setup.
• The full button keyboard and large LCD display make interfacing with the programmer easy.
• The flexibility of the programmer allows you to edit custom messages to send when an event occurs.
• The text display makes programming straightforward by guiding you through whole process in just four or five steps.

2.3. References

[1] X10. X10 Home Security, Wireless Security Camera, Home Automation, Electronics and More! [Online]. Available: http://www.x10.com/homepage.htm

[2] Energy Information Administration. (2005, July). US Household Electricity Report. [Online]. Available: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/enduse/er01_us.html

[3] AHAM (2005). Clothes Washers Energy Efficiency and Consumption Trends. Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. June 1, 2005.

[4] AbsoluteHome. LG Remote Monitoring Laundry System - RLM20K by LG. [Online]. Available: http://www.absolutehome.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=

[5] Ameriphone. Alertmaster Personal Signaler (AM-PX) and Personal Tactile Signaler (AM-PXB). [Online]. Available: http://www.clarityproducts.com/pdf/userguides/01885.000_Manual.pdf

[6] Canadian Hearing Society. (2005, November). Communication Devices Product Catalogue. [Online]. Available: http://www.chs.ca/chsshop/PRODCAT.PDF

[7] Deaf Alerter plc. Alerter. [Online]. Available: http://www.deaf-alerter.com/website.htm

[8] Marilyn Electronics. Alertmaster®™ AM-6000 Notification System from Ameriphone. [Online]. Available: http://www.marilynelectronics.net/products/notification- systems/AM-6000.htm

[9] M. Eichstaedt and L. Qi, “Integrated touch-skin notification system for wearable computing devices,” U.S. Patent 6 218 958, Oct. 8, 1998.

Notification Unit Physical Design

The notification unit itself is initially planned to be similar to a pager in dimensions. We anticipate this unit being no larger than 5” by 3” by 1”. Similar to the sensing unit, this will also be made of a durable plastic exterior. However, this unit will have a large display and buttons which will allow user input during certain specific instances. The display will be large enough to present all important information without the need for text to scroll across the screen. This unit will not be configurable by the end user.

Similar to the remote sensors, the notification unit will also be battery powered. However, due to the higher power requirements caused by the display features of the notification unit it will be equipped with a rechargeable battery and a charging station. This will eliminate the necessity of replacing these batteries frequently. To maximize convenience and ease of use, the notification unit will also have an antenna built into its housing, unlike the remote sensors which have an external antenna.

Notification Methodology

The notification unit will have three methods of alerting the individual wearing it: Visual display, vibrations and voice commands. These notification methods will be independently configurable by the user. The notification unit will include a button which will allow the wearer to indicate that they received the message. Until this button is pressed, the unit will periodically alert the wearer.

The visual display is intended on being the primary notification method. It will display the name of the device, and its status. The status (i.e. “Oven Heated”) will be a message sent from the remote sensor to the notification unit. The text message sent will be configurable via a programmer that we will also develop. A vibrator will also be built into the notification unit. This will vibrate in different patterns depending on which appliance is sending out the unit. These vibrations will be configurable with the programmer. Voice notification will allow our product to be used by those who are blind. We intend on including a microprocessor which can synthesize voice based on the text messages sent from the remote sensors.

Programmability

A programming unit will be developed to configure the remote sensors through the before mentioned communication interface. This unit will include a large LCD display, a GUI and a keyboard interface. The programmer will allow the user to select what type of appliance the remote sensor is hooked up to and include a preprogrammed list of messages which the sensor can be configured to send. It will also contain a microphone and allow the user to program in an appliance’s unique warning tones for triggering the sound sensors. The programming unit will allow the user to input custom messages for products and features which we did not anticipate. This unit will be powered by rechargeable batteries.

3.1. Implementation Approaches

Base (Controller) Station: In a system including a base station, the microprocessor (controller) would take a wireless signal from a sensor and transmit a corresponding instruction to the receiver. This kind of system has all of the computing done at one location with execution instructions sent to the receiver after taking data in from a sensor. We have ruled out this approach in favor of using a microprocessor at each sensor. Due to the need for different input stimuli at each station it would be very complicated to transmit the data to a single microprocessor which would then have to decide which kind of instruction to execute on the data depending on which sensor transmitted the signal.

WiFi: This communications standard was considered for the design concept but we have since rule it out due to issues of range, size, power and the transfer protocol.

Wired System: This approach eliminates the need for a wireless data transfer protocol, however it is also much more cumbersome for the consumer, a wired system was ruled out early because it was felt that a wireless product would be much more attractive for commercial purposes.

Programmed Receiver: The original idea for this project was to create a sensor array with a central microprocessor to control data transmission to a personal receiver; the big disadvantage of this design is the possible data bottleneck at the microprocessor due to processing requests from all of the sensors and the receiver/transmitter combination for the microprocessor would have to be quite large. This approach was eventually ruled out due to the reasons outlined above.

Room Sensor: Having one sensor per room would reduce cost and also the complexity of implementation, however, it was decided that filtering the appropriate signals from a noisy room with a single sensor would pose too great of a challenge and thus this idea was abandoned.

Programming Dongle: Using individual microprocessor units as data sensors there will be a programming device of some kind that will connect to the sensor and download instructions to it (i.e. listen for a certain frequency, watch for a specific wavelength of light, etc). This will make the product more portable, re-useable and customizable to the preference of the user as well as reduce the complexity of sending the signal to a single processing station and then multiplexing the output to send to the receiver.

4. Top Level Description

The following figures are general block diagrams for the four distinct system parts including the light sensor, the sound sensor, the programmer, and the notification device. The main functional components for each part are shown. Please refer to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Figure 3- Programmer

Figure 4- Notification Unit

4.1. Top Level Block Diagram

Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 show an expanded view of the system parts outlined in figures 1, 2, 3, and

4. Additional detail includes how the major components interface with each other.

Figure 5- Sound Sensor Interface

RxX

TxX^ Rxout Txout

Rxin

Txin

Gnd

5Vout

Gnd

Gnd

I/O_Clk

I/O_Clk

Gnd

3.3Vin

5Vin

Gnd

Micout

Sigin

Gnd

Gnd (-)Term (+)Term

Gnd

Vin

Vout

Sigout

Gnd

5Vin

FilterIN

Figure 7- Programmer Interface

Power Supply9V, 5V, 3.3V Current Limiter

500mA

Battery 9V 1000mAH

CC2430 (TI) Analog Digital Converter Included

SPI outputs

FlashMemory

3.3VRegline

External Connector

Clock Generator8-16 MHz

Supply Shutoff

Adjustable NarrowBand-Pass Filter

Schmitt Trigger

Microphone

SPI1Tx SPI1RX SPI2Rx SPI2TX

RxExternal TxExternal

Rxout Txout

Rxin

Txin

Gnd

5Vout

5Vin

Gnd

Gnd

Clk

Clk I/O_Clk

I/O_Clk 3.3Vout 3.3Vin

5Vout

5Vout

5Vin

5VRegline^ Tigout

I/O_

5V_Trigger

Sigin

Gnd

Micout 5Vin

Sigin

Sigout

5VRegline

Gnd

Gnd

9Vin^ Gnd

(-)Term

Gnd un-Regline

(+)Term

Gnd

I/O_

Shutoff

Amplifier

Vin

Received Signal

Vout

Amplified Signal

Peak Detector Sigin

Signal Envelope

FilSig

Gnd

5Vin

I/O_

FilterIN

FilterProgramming

Vcc

Gnd

External Connectorwill connect to a Light or Sound

Sensor

PowerConnector (To wall wort)

9Vout Battery Charger

ExtGnd

Gnd

Vin^

Vout

Charging_In SupplyIn

9Vin un-Regline

Standard ASCii Keypad Interface Gnd

LCD Display Externally Mounted (2 rows, 36 characters each)

TxLCD_line

LCDRx

LCDTx

RxLCD_line

5.5VRegline

5Vin

Gnd

Keyboard Logic uP 3.3Vin

Gnd

I/O

uPTx

uPRx

TTL1Rx TTL1Tx

TxKeypad_line

Rxkeypad_line

I/O 8 bit Mux

TTL2Rx TTL2Tx

Voice Synthesizer IC

Amplifier Vin Vout Vcc

Gnd

VoiceSignal

5Vin

Sigout

TxIC

Gnd

RxIC

RxSyn_line TxSyn_line

Phototransistor

Vout

5Vin

LightAmount

Gnd

Sigin

Sigout

Figure 8- Notification Device Interface

CC2430 (TI) Analog Digital Converter

IncludedSPI outputs Power Supply9V, 5V, 3.3V Current Limiter

500mA

Battery 9V 1000mAH

FlashMemory

3.3VRegline^ ClockGenerator8-16 MHz

Supply Shutoff^ TTL3Tx^ TTL3Rx^ SPI2Rx^ SPI2TX

Gnd

Clk

Clk I/O_Clk

I/O_Clk 3.3Vout 3.3Vin

5Vout

5Vout

5VRegline

TTL2Rx

9Vin^ Gnd

(-)Term

Gnd_un-Regline (+)Term

Gnd

I/O_

Shutoff

TTL2Tx

PowerConnector (To wall wort)

9Vout Battery Charger

ExtGnd

Gnd

Vin

Vout

Charging_IN SupplyIN

9Vin_un-Regline

Keypad Interface

Gnd

LCD Display Externally Mounted (2 rows, 36 characters each)

TxLCD_line

LCDRx

LCDTx

RxLCD_line

5.5VRegline

5Vin

Gnd

Keyboard Logic uP 3.3Vin

Gnd

I/O

uPTx

uPRx

TTL1Rx TTL1Tx

TxKeypad_line

Rxkeypad_line

I/O 8 bit Mux

Vibration Pack

Gnd 5Vin

Voltage Controlled Switch

I/O_

VobMotorTrigger

Zigbee Transceiver

2.4 GHz RxX

TxX

Gnd

3.3Vin

S(t)out

Xout Xin

S(t)in

Signals Transmittedand Received fromthe Sound or Light

Sensors

PatchAntenna

SPI1Rx^ SPI1Tx

RxXceiver TxXceiver

3.3VRegline

Voice Synthesizer IC

Amplifier

Vin

Vout Vcc

Gnd

VoiceSignal

5Vin

Sigout

TxIC

Gnd

RxIC

TxSyn_line

RxSyn_line

4.1.2. Environment

It is our recommendation that no part of this system be subjected to conditions outside the suggested environmental ranges for storage or operation. Failure to so will likely result in one or many nonfunctioning components.

The ambient temperature for any part of this system should not fall below -10 degrees or rise above 60 degrees Celsius for storage and should not go below 0 degrees or above 50 degrees Celsius during operation. The humidity where the system is operating should be between 10 and 80%. While no part of this system produces any significant amount of heat, best results occur when the microphones and speakers are a minimum of 3 inches from any wall. Keep all product components away from water and out of direct sunlight.