Philip R. BrownAdvisor: Prof. CotterKey Detection in Musical Signals
The use of signal processing to analyze pieces of music is an important research area. In particular, previous research has proposed methods to successfully determine the key of an entire piece of music. However, no attempts at real-time key detection have been made. This project looks at some possibilities for real-time key detection. Using a specialized spectral analysis method, and algorithms for note detection, MATLAB code was created to output the musical key as a function of time. Real-time musical analysis with the correct determination of key changes could potentially provide new tools and learning aids for the performer.
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Fenghua Chen and Su HuangAdvisor: Prof. HedrickSilent Alarm System
The current Union College Campus alarm system uses push buttons and cameras mounted on poles that are connected by wires to a display at the Union College security building. To activate an alarm a person must go to a pole and push a button. Due to the cost of installing the poles and wiring, the poles are spaced far apart, and a victim may have to run a distance to push a button and activate an alarm. To address this problem we have designed a wireless alarm system that can be activated both at the pole and by a personal activation device similar to an automobile remote key. A prototype has been built and tested.
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Timothy JaykoAdvisor: Prof. CotterDesign, Implementation, and Application of a Microstrip Patch Antenna Array
In airplanes, missiles, mobile communications, and other technologies where space is at a premium, microstrip patches provide a planar means of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves. Positioning multiple patches in parallel creates an antenna array with a focused radiation pattern and a half-power beamwidth that is dependent on the number of array elements. When mechanically rotated, a steered array can provide angular direction of arrival information on an incoming signal based on peak power. This project explores the design, optimization, and manufacture of a four-element corporate-feed microstrip array operating at 10 GHz. Simulation and analysis techniques are covered as well as the direction of arrival application.
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Andrew LockwoodAdvisor: Prof. HedrickAutonomies Infrared Guidance System
I have developed a system to detect a paved path or walkway and to stay on it while avoiding obstacles and people. The purpose of this is to guide the MMARP around and stop at predetermined points on campus and “deliver” mail. The system uses both an 8051 Microcontroller and a comparator circuit to interpret the output from the infrared sensors. The output from the sensors is a voltage that is used to determine the distance from the grand or an object and material type that is in front of it. The system is to be used with the MMARP, Senior Project of Evan Gouzie and Paul Seiffert, but could be modified to connect to another robot and work in a similar capacity.
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Christopher H. MatthewsAdvisor: Prof. CotterFeature Detection and Emotion Recognition
The main objective of this project is to use computer vision to classify emotion within the human face. This project proposes using a set of backpropagation neural networks for each extracted area of interest, i.e. the eyes and mouth. The SUSAN high-pass filter in conjunction with MATLAB's object finder is used to locate and crop the areas of interest. Principle Component Analysis is used for dimensional reduction of the cropped regions. After training the neural networks on a set of images, testing is performed. The goal is to correctly classify test images to their respective predetermined emotions.
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Thang PhamAdvisor: Prof. Shane CotterSpeech-Operated Mobile Platform
The objective was to design a user-dependent speech recognition system to control the movement of a small remote control car. It is a user-dependent system and limited in vocabulary. The problems which arise in speech recognition systems were explored and advantages and disadvantages of different front-end filters were examined.
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Michael W. SiekmanAdvisor: Prof. HedrickSeismic Octave Programming for Analog to Digital Data Acquisition
Analog data acquisition is an important part of engineering and scientific research. A computer based data acquisition system consists of a plug-in analog to digital (A/D) converter board and software to acquire, analyze, and display samples. While the analog to digital boards are available from several sources at reasonable prices, the cost of the commercially available software is high. In this project I designed and developed a computer based data acquisition system using readily available, free, open source software and the Linux operating system. The system is versatile and will work with many of the commercially available A/D PC compatible boards. The system was designed using a modular approach so that individual system components can be replaced without affecting the other components. I have tested the system using it to implement a seismograph.
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Daniel Fishman, Saim Jafri, Michael ThylurAdvisor: Prof. HassibAutomatically Tuned MP3 Transmitter for Vehicles
There currently exist several devices which allow people to transmit sound from their portable music devices to car radios. These devices work as a control system, where the user selects the appropriate station, then tunes the transmitter to the correct frequency. Often when driving between cities, the unused radio frequency in one city might be used by a broadcasting station in the next city. If this situation exists and the radio and transmitter are not retuned, the transmitted message will contain interference and will be incoherent. An automatic tuning transmitter will help reduce frustration for drivers and provide safer car rides. To do this, an automatic FM radio frequency scanner will have to be designed which distinguishes between used and unused stations. A phase-locked loop system with a digital divide-by-n chip will be used to scan through the FM range, and a microcontroller will be used to decide which stations are unused, displaying an unused station on a seven segment display.
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This report generated by script ./write.project.sections - May 10, 2007
Address questions or comments to spallhol@union.edu