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1 Mileage Recording Solution for Small Business Owner/Operators Presented By:Bergen Fletcher (CEO, HW Engineer) Ali Abdul-Hussein (COO, FW Engineer) Patrick Perrella (CFO, SW Engineer) Lena Lee (QA Director, SW Engineer)
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2 Agenda Company Profile Vision Other Existing Solutions Our Solution System Overview Budget Time Constrains Future Work Learning Experience
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3 Company Profile Bergen Fletcher – CEO, Senior Hardware Engineer Team/Project Management Hardware Design/Development Project Integration (Including SW/FW development) Ali AbdulHussein – COO, Firmware Design Engineer Software/Firmware Management Firmware Design/Development Lead Flowchart Design/Development Lead
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4 Company Profile Patrick Perrella – CFO, Software Design Engineer Finance Management Software Design/Development Firmware Design/Development Lena Lee – Director of QA, User-Interface Design Engineer Test-Plan Development Graphical User Interface Design/Development
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5 Problem Small business owner/operators Use vehicle for business and pleasure purposes Can deduct vehicle business use costs from income tax Deduction based on percent business mileage to total mileage Vision
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6 Need Method of recording vehicle usage Record mileage for all trips Record should include (as specified by the CRA): Trip purpose (business/pleasure) Destination Date
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7 Other Existing Solutions 1. Estimation Simple/cheap, but inaccurate Not compliant with CRA rules Possible consequences
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8 Other Existing Solutions cont ’ d 2. Travel Log Cheap & in compliance with CRA guidelines Involves much more effort and more prone to error
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9 Other Existing Solutions cont ’ d 3. ON Board Diagnostic (OBD) Devices Automatically provides accurate data Expensive, not easy to use Not tailored for mileage recording Compatibility issues
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10 Our Solution Plug N’ Go: Automated Vehicle Usage Recording
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11 Our Solution cont ’ d Our Solution Tailored for small business users Specifically designed to record vehicle usage CRA guideline compliant Additional features Easy to use Low cost Highly compatible
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12 Other Uses 1.Route comparison 2.Vacation trip tracking 3.Car usage in carpooling 4.Family car sharing 5.Company vehicle tracking
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13 Market Analysis Positive initial reaction Larger companies face similar problems Potential CRA certification
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14 System Overview 1.Mileage Recorder Device (MRD) 2.User PC Software
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15 MRD Modules Modules MRDUI: LCD, 4 push buttons PC-MRD: USB Connector CAR-MRD: Vehicle Cradle Device (VCD)
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16 MRD Functionality User Trip/Gas Data Input Trip DataGas Data User Name Car Type Data/Start Trip TypeCost ($/L) DestinationVolume (L) Mileage
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17 Software Overview Software Basic Features Windows ® XP and 2000 compatible Standard GUI application USB communication to MRD Spreadsheet format
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18 Software Overview cont’d Software Spreadsheet Functionalities Separate data and gas sheets Customizable: Hide columns Sort data Save as CSV file format Printable file
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19 Software Overview cont’d Software Data Functionalities Display in Metric units Allow MRD configuration editing Allow vehicle cost entry Calculate trip type ratios Calculate total mileage Calculate total fuel usage
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20 Cost approx. doubled due to extra prototypes Extra prototypes not required Component/EquipmentCost Estimate Atmel AVR STK500 Development Kit$100 Atmel AVR Microcontroller$10 USB Interface IC$10 Voltage Regulators$10 Discrete Logic, Opamps, Misc Discrete Components $10 Passive Components$10 Liquid Crystal Display$20 Prototyping Perforated Circuit Board, Enclosure$20 EEPROM Memory$5 Real Time Clock (RTC)$5 Other/Extra(Back-up) Components$50 Total$250 Budget
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21 Time Constrains
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22 Possible Future Work Intellectual property protection Apply for a Patent More sophisticated market analysis Business incorporation CRA certification Reduced hardware cost Less costly USB interface High volume production
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23 Possible Future Work cont’d Improved Hardware Larger, possibly graphic-based LCD Improve user interface Smaller, more appealing industrial design User upgradeable firmware
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24 Possible Future Work cont’d Software Improvements Enhanced file saving Unit conversions Graphical data presentation Integration with tax software Multi-platform support
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25 Learning Experience Team/Project management Product development process Troubleshooting Documentation Application of engineering skills
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26 Acknowledgements Dr. Andrew Rawicz, Professor of the School of Engineering Science Steve Whitmore, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering Science Leah Honkanen, Small Business Owner/Operator, Sunshine Bay Natural Products Maria Bender, Canadian Revenue Agency
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27 Thank You!
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