MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION IOT BASED PROJECTS AS CULMINATING EXPERIENCE FOR ENGINEERING MAJORS

This paper discusses the technologies and related engineering projects that students at San Francisco State University have worked on for their senior project. Students majoring in diverse fields of computer, electrical and mechanical engineering collaborated in groups and researched, designed and implemented some innovative projects. A key technology that students have researched and worked on is IoT (Internet of Things). IoT is a network of interconnected devices that can transfer data between each other over a network without any human interference.

Some noteworthy projects that the students have designed and implemented include, a “Honeycomb application of Wi-Fi” which is a device that creates a private network and allows you to rent your Wi-Fi to someone or rent someone else’s Wi-Fi to stay connected on the move. Another project is “Wireless Musical Instrument Digital Interface Glove”. It is a glove embedded with sensors and a microcontroller that can produce sounds of various musical instruments like drums and keyboard. When the wearer of the glove taps his/her fingers the sensors in the tips give feedback to the microcontroller which produces sounds like drums. Further “Smart Parking Space Locator” an application that helps people find empty parking spaces without having to go in circles searching for one was developed. It is based on various sensor-nodes strategically placed at parking spots that send out the location of an empty parking spot to people looking for one. This is one of the key applications that helps cities get smarter. Finally, “Motorcyclist Smart Safety Gear” a guidance system for motorcyclists that includes a camera, sensors and a display was designed and implemented. The camera and sensors are used to display and warn the rider about imminent dangers in his/her blind spots and help him/her avoid getting into accidents.