ECE 477 – Team 5

»We are designing a wireless telemetry system that measures translational and angular accelerations experienced by athletes and stores the data on an external memory device as well as transmits pertinent data over a wireless network to a base station on the sideline.

»Environmental Concerns: ˃ Our design uses a lot of semiconductor technology in the manufacturing of most of the components. PCBs are non- biodegradable. ˃ These have significant impact on the environment because of the amount of electricity, water and chemical substances that are used during the fabrication process. ˃ Hazardous Chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, toxic metals and gases, and volatile solvents are often used in large amounts during the manufacturing of some of these semiconductor devices.

»More Concerns: ˃ Our design may consume a significant amount of power because it will be in sleep mode a lot of the time which means it is constantly using energy. ˃ We need to consider the biodegradability of the plastic that we intend to use for the packaging of our device.

»Addressing these Issues: ˃ Proper disposal: + Many companies recycle circuit boards and parts + We will detail the proper disposal techniques in our user manual ˃ Power Usage: ˃ Device will have an “off” switch which will not use any power/energy. We can have it in this mode most of the time and only in “stand-by” when there are breaks during games. ˃ Proper package/case testing: + If we can ensure proper testing and minimize case failure, this will increase the product lifetime and consequently decrease disposal.

»Ethical Concerns: ˃ Safety of the product: + Battery placement: We need to avoid short circuiting or puncture of the battery ˃ Proper Functionality: + We need to ensure that the product is functioning as expected in all sorts of conditions to be certain that it is properly accomplishing its task, which is to prevent injury

»Addressing Ethical Issues: ˃ Make sure the battery is mounted/housed securely to prevent anything possibly happening to it. ˃ Warning labels and cautions to let users know how best to handle the device and what conditions to expect the best results in. + Cautions can be placed on the device and then explained in better detail in the user manual. ˃ Provide an alternative way of collecting the information that is on the monitoring device, assuming that there is a problem with the wireless capabilities.