Simulation of the IEEE 802.11 MAC layer in Ad-hoc Mode

Final Report: [doc]

Presentation : [PowerPoint]

In this project we simulated an 802.11 Ad-hoc wireless network in order to determine how the effective throughput varies with the number of nodes, range, and packet size. Our simulation platform was Matlab.

Matlab Files

• Script file with interactive menu: [wireless_script.m]
• Function called by "wireless_script.m" to display simulation: [wireless_output.m]
• Simulation script which plots throughputs vs. various variables: [wireless_test.m]
• Function called by "wireless_test.m" simulation script: [wireless.m]

Images (Click to enlarge)

...These are snapshots of the output display from the matlab script "wireless_script.m".

Hypertransport vs. PCI: A Performance Comparison

Final Report: [doc]

MLDesigner Files: [eel6785.zip]

This project was a performance comparison of the PCI bus vs. HyperTransport in a workstation environment. The comparison was done by simulation using MLDesigner as the platform.

Worked-Oriented Mobile Autonomous Neat-Freak (WoMAN)

Final Report: [pdf | doc]

Presentation: [PowerPoint]

Abstract

WoMAN is an autonomous vehicle that randomly moves around a room vacuuming the floor as it goes. WoMAN monitors its battery and returns to its recharging station when it becomes low charge. WoMAN demonstrates obstacle avoidance of walls as well as objects in the room, including people.

More autonomous robots like this can be found here.

University of Florida Teaching Clock Tower Project

Report-- Instructions and Specifications: [pdf | doc]

Complete Project Files: [zip archive]

Read about the project here .

I'm designing the electronic components necessary to drive the clock dials.

The device interfaces with four clock dials and automatically synchronizes with WWVB atomic time radio signal. The device uses an Atmel AVR Microcontroller with all programming done in C. The motors used to drive the clock dials are stepper motors.

The C compiler used is the GNU C Compiler for ATMEL AVR microcontrollers, along with the AVR binutils and AVR C Runtime Library, and AVRDUDE (AVR programming software).

Images (Click to enlarge)

Audio Transmitter

Final Report: [pdf | doc]

Presentation: [PowerPoint]

Images (Click to enlarge)

This was my Senior Design Project in the summer 2002. My partners were Scott Owen and Kahlil Khan. We aimed to create a device which would transmit audio from a person's computer to their stereo wirelessly. With the growing number of mp3 collections on people's computers, we figured this would be a useful device for many people.

Our original approach was to use stereo PCM taken from the digital out of a person's soundcard, or A/D convert the analog output to PCM, then transmit the high-bandwidth signal to a receiver which would D/A convert it, then output the analog signal to the stereo via RCA outputs.

However, we quickly found that the equipment available to us for prototype these boards were not adequate for our needs. We then decided to use a low-bandwidth signal ( <56 kbps), and send compressed data. We used lossy mp3 compression where 128 kbps is referred to as "near-CD quality". The quality we acheived from our encoder ( <56 kbps) sounded adequate.

Though we never completed this project in the short summer term. We were able to send data wirelessly at 48 kbps and encode an analog audio stream into a streaming mp3. The last piece of the puzzle (the mp3 decoder) was never completed due to time-constraints needed to debug (we think their were some bad connections due to the board quality as well as some possible ground faults).

This project spanned two courses. In the first course (Advanced VLSI, EEL 6323), we designed a 16-bit Moving Average Filter using DSP knowledge. We created a full schematic and layout for this chip (about 9000 transistors). Everything was created from scratch (no libraries were used).

In the second course (IC Test, EEL 6935), we added testability to the chip. This ties to the manufacturing process, so when the chip is made, it can be tested to see if it functions properly.