User:Medelen8/ENES100/Smart Shoe Design B

Problem Statement
1. The purpose of this project is to design a small, portable device that accurately senses and displays a person's vertical jump height. 2. Shiloh's superior hops need to be measured, and this device will do so

Requirements for each element or component derived from system level goals and requirements
The Accelerometer must be able to measure and record jumps in feet accurate to the thousands place. Also,the RF link must be able to communicate this with the receiving arduino. Our code must be able to display the correct information upon landing which should also be displayed on the serial monitor of the computer.

Concept #1: Wired Design
The previous group who worked on the Smart Shoe used an Arduino Duemilanove, prototyping shield, and a Sparkfun accelerometer.

Concept #2: Wireless Design
A wireless communication between two Arduinos would allow for more freedom for the end user. Instead of having the Smart Shoe connected to a computer or a laptop, an Arduino could be won on the shoe along with an accelerometer.

The initial design
The first design was a slim case that would be clipped to the side of the shoe by a needle and would use updated RF communication to display the information with your smart phone. After further discussion and decision making it was noted that the needle may be too dangerous to implement and that the technology needed for the smartphone communication would not be released until December of 2013.

Experimental prototypes and testing conducted during design
The first image is a case designed for the Arduino micro with attached accelerometer and RF link. This case has a clip that attaches to the users shoe laces The second image displays the receiving Arduino that will pick up the information being sent from the RF link in the wireless arduino on the user. The receiving arduino is consisted of an Arduino Duemilanove wired to a computer which will display the output onto the serial monitor from the Arduino Micro/Duemilanove. The third picture shows us unsoldering the pins on the transmitter of the RF link in order to make it smaller so it can slide into a slim case. Later we soldered flexible wires to it in order to connect it to the micro.

Appropriate optimization in the presence of constraints
Here we are unsoldering the pins from the micro. This is also to give us more space for it to be put into a slim case.

The final design
For our final design we have a slim case made of PLA printed from the makerbot which encases the arduino micro, accelerometer, RF link, and power source. This case clips to the users shoe lace on top of their foot near the tongue of the shoe. The information will be sent to the RF receiver which is attached to an arduino and wired to a computer. The computer will receive the information and display the jump height and time spent in the air on the serial monitor.

Technical and Scientific Knowledge
For the physical portion of the project we had to understand how to properly solder, so that we did not lift any trace pads or get cold solder joints. We also needed to understand the schematics of the components to be sure that we were putting wires and connecting everything properly so that we would not fry a component.

Creativity, Problem Solving, and Group Decision-making
Here is where we decided to unsolder all the pins from the micro, it was a tough decision because there was a good chance of breaking it and we only had that one Arduino Micro. As the picture shows this took multiple sets of hands to complete. Another problem, we faced was configuring the newer Arduino Micro to an older software version of the Arduino program. Instead of using the older version of the Arduino program, go directly to Arduino's website and download version 1.0.5, which has complete Arduino Micro support.

Prior Work in the Field, Standardization and Reuse of Designs (including reverse engineering and redesign)
Much of the smaller aspects of this design did not change from the previous group's plans. We were able to take the ideas from them such as a slim case, wireless communication, and a smaller Arduino and put them into use.

Modeling and/or Simulation
One model we made was for the case that would hold the arduino micro, accelerometer, and RF transmitter. This was designed to be printed on the makerbot out of a durable PLA plastic. The case will be attached to the users shoe laces by a clip on the back of the case. This design can be referenced in the experimental prototype section of this report.

Performance, life cycle cost and value
This device is expected to last about 2-3 years assuming that the end consumer uses the product by jumping regularly on relatively flat surfaces and not thrown in the air or used to jump off high landings in order to measure distances. Our cost for the Smart Shoe was approximately $50; an Arduino was purchased from Amazon for $30, an accelerometer for $5, 315 mHz receiver and transmitter for around $5, and other additional costs such as labor for $10.

Aesthetics and human factors
This product does not focus too much on aesthetics but instead functionality. However all of the unsoldering of pins and ordering a smaller Arduino comes into use here where we have a smaller compact case that will not be to bulky and get in the way of the user. It will be very simple to use just a small switch that will be turned on when the user is ready to begin.

Implementation, verification, test and environmental sustainability
Through controlled testing we were able to gradually make our code more accurate with an outcome of over 80% accuracy. This was done with testing on leveled surfaces indoors, the product has not been taken out into other weather conditions such as rain due to the fact that we do not have a completely water proof case.

Maintainability, reliability, and safety
This product is highly reliably for its intended purpose which is to monitor patterns in a users jumping to pick up on trends such as progress in jumping height. If it is not used properly for things such as throwing or dropping or attaching it to anything but the foot in order to attempt to get a height reading (which will not work due to the fall time measures in the coding)then there is no saying how reliable it will be or how long it will last. As far as safety, the device is small so that it does not get in the way of the user and has no dangerous factors that would concern the user.

Robustness, evolution, product improvement and retirement
Despite the success of this project, there is still room for improvement for the codes used for the acceleromter, transmitter, and receiver. The final project could fit on a PCB smaller than a flash drive. Improvements with the product also depend on changes in technology, just after the end of this project the technology to wirelessly communicate between arduinos and smartphones will be released, this and other technology improvements will greatly change the products functionality. As retirement goes the plastic case can be thrown away and the arduino, RF link, accelerometer, and power source can be recycled under the computer category or you could even send the arduino to a site that collects old micro controllers. Claude Moutome