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Week Four

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Solve the problem last week. In this week, we finished our design and made the curtain to have different function. Last week, our remote could not control the curtain when the motors were working. We thought that may have mistakes in the code. We rewrote the code and changed the logic sentence. We rewrote the “loop” part add some “if” sentence, and defined variable (cm) we also simulated in the software and the result is the system could work normally. But when we uploaded the code again, the result is not fully correct. We made the curtain be opened, closed and stopped by remote. This result shows that we already finished  the function of the curtain. We want to use the photoresistor to control the curtain working for the next step.  So we tested the photoresistor first. We used the code to check the intensity of light. Under normal conditions, the intensity of light is about 445-460. Then, we set the open command as the intensity of light great than 440. When the photo...

Week Two

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As in week One we finished the preliminary design work, the second week we started to build the circuit in reality.  This week's work will mainly include:   Check whether the components work properly Supplement the additional required components Build up the basic circuit Make some studies on the technical difficulties which encountered in the process of transferring the circuit from the design on the simulator to the reality Problems: 1.       The infrared remote module only applies for the purchase of sensors for receiving infrared, and the remote control is missing. 2.       The number of pins of the ultrasonic ranging component actually purchased is different from that of the simulator. The code logic required for the three pins in the simulator and the actual four pins is also different. 3.       The LCD requires too many pins, and the number of interfaces on one Arduino is not enough. 4. ...

Week Three

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For this week, we began to build the main part of the curtain. We used wood to built the frame part of the curtain first. Next step, we tested the functions of components.   Test components: Ultrasonic distance module: we programmed a code to test the function of the ultrasonic distance module. In the code, we connected ultrasonic module and LED, wish when distance is less than 20 cm, the LED would keep flashing that proof ultrasonic distance module could work. In the second part we started to test the motor, we used the DC power to supply the motor with 6 voltage. And the motor could run properly. The third part is to test the IR part. We try to use the IR remote to control the curtain function (eg. open, close and stop). At the beginning of test IR function. We need got know the command number for each keyboard. In that time, we face the first problem. We cannot get the command number we could just got FFFFF, we know that is the wrong result, but we cannot solve in that tim...

Week One

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Introduction of Project: We will design and build a circuit to accomplish the functions of the smart curtain. The smart curtain will be opened and closed by IR remote, automatically opened and closed by a photoresistor and display the outside temperature through an LCD display. The roles of each member: Project manager - Zihan Su - Design the basic circuits, code and keep us on track Technical writer - Jialu Xu - Design poster and debug code Code writer - Zhiyuan Zhu - Write and debug code Recorder and developer - Aditi Jha - Record our work and write a logbook, provide development details Main components: Arduino UNO: The brain of the smart curtain. DC Motor: To represent curtain Motor driver IC L293D: Allow the motor to rotate forward and reverse Ultrasonic distance sensor: Calculate the distance between curtain and wall IR remote: Control the curtain Photoresister: Perceive light intensity LED: For night lighting Temperature sensor:  Perceive outside temperature LCD...