1. Microcontroller Sensors in Automobile and Aerospace Technologies
Tyler Jones, Mentor: Shahram H. Hesari
1 The University of Tennessee, Knoxville 1 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1 Northeastern University 1 Tuskegee University
ABSTRACT AEROSPACE
This poster will go over the research done as part of the CURENT labs YSP program. The original task was to complete 38 different projects using a microcontroller, with each project highlighting a different sensor and its applications. Afterwards, five of the sensors (ultrasonic, obstacle detection, temperature, magnetic, and motion) were chosen to be further researched. The areas they seemed to best fall into were automotive and aerospace studies.
Space is dangerous, and missions
have to be simulated and tested
numerous times before actually being
carried out. Sensors play a huge role
in this field, as many dangers in space
generally come from a failure in
equipment or poor planning.
Temperature sensors are notable in this regard, as they deal with some the more pressing dangers.Wire wound platinum to thin film. Sensors can also help carry out mission, and an example of this is the magnetometers on the Juno spacecraft. Launched in 2013, the spacecraft orbited Jupiter for 5 years, using magnetic sensors to create three-dimensional maps of the planet’s magnetic fields. This was later repeated by Cassini for Saturn and Enceladus.
SENSORS AEROSPACE
Men have not been back to the moon since 1972, but MIT student Richard Fineman is paving the way for future spacewalks anyway. Using wearable motion sensors, Fineman is collecting extraordinary data on the movement and workings of the human body.
This data has already been used to help advance health and medicine technology, but Fineman’s deeper interest is in spacesuits. He wants to get rid of the big and bulky suits that have been in use since the beginning of space travel, and create something more fitting to an individual person; a less cumbersome, more mobile suit.
A major purpose of this data is to be able to tell whether or
not a person is about to fall, or if they are at risk of
doing so.
Ultrasonic Sensor: Emits sounds waves that bounce off nearby surfaces and are read by the sensor, determining distance.
Infrared Obstacle Avoidance Sensor: Uses a pair of infrared emitting and receiving tubes to send out and retrieve refracted light rays. This allows it to determine distance of objects in a much larger range.
Analog Temperature Sensor: Uses the principles of a thermistor, meaning its resistance varies as environmental temperature changes, creating data that can correlate with degrees celsius.
Hall Magnetic Sensor: While this particular sensor is quite weak, having a range of only 3cm, its ability to detect magnetic fields is desirable enough that bigger version have been created, as is shown later.
PIR Motion Sensor: Can detect infrared signal from a moving person. Types differ between digital sensors, just give out Y/N results, and analog sensors, which give out specific data. Can be applied to specifically detect only the human body.
AUTOMOBILES CONCLUSION
Car companies have been working on the commercial production of autonomous vehicles for several years now. A car with no driver needs a way to “see” its surroundings, and it does this using Ultrasonic and Obstacle Detection sensors.
Ultrasonic: Used primarily in short proximities, notably for parking.
In use since 1999, ultrasonic sensors are being revisited. INRIX is creating
While small in size, microcontrollers
and the sensors that help guide them
are doing big things to shape modern
and future technologies. Today’s
supercomputers can do trillions of
functions a second, but sometimes it
only takes one to solve a problem Five sensors were chosen for this poster, but the other and just as powerful in their own respective abilities. Ranging from watering plants to mapping planets, the applications of sensors are endless.
sensors that can collect parking data and easily find spots for drivers, human or not.
Obstacle Detection: Google’s LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor is a good example as it is used to detect most everything that needs to be avoided. The main sensor used by the car’s self-driving computer, the LIDAR sensor can take over 1.3 million rps at ranges up to 100m range.