Wireless Automated

News Display (W.A.N.D.)

Daniel Karnik, Eric Scott,David Thompson, Ted

Wilcox

Overview

• Project is a customizable news display– Displays headlines, ticker symbols, sports

scores– Can be set for multiple users or channels

• Designed as a wireless, low power device

• Prototype is a wired device– Has all desired features except wireless capability– Will be production ready as soon as wireless

added

• Will be marketed to tech savvy consumers

Objectives

Technical SpecificationsAspect of Design Desired Specifications Actual Specifications

Physical Size 3” x 4.5” x 2” 4.175” x 5” x 1.5”

Weight 1 lb 1 lb

Wireless Range 30 ft. indoors N/A

Battery Life 24 hours 6.3 to 16.9 hours

Battery Type 1x 9V 1x 9V

Display Size 20 x 4 characters, backlit 20 x 4 characters, backlit

Users Supported 2 2

RSS Update Time 2 minutes User defined

Design Breakdown

RSS Feeds

Internet Connection

Serial Connection

PC Software

• MS Visual C# Programming Language

• Components of Software– Feed Retrieval and HTML Generation– Data Processing– Sending of Feeds to Device– User Interface Layer

Software Flow

TransmitUser 2

TransmitUser 1

EnableTransmit

DisableTransmit

DownloadUser 2

DownloadUser 1

Save Changes

Allow Changes

DisableTransmit/Download

ConfigurationMode

EnableTransmit/Download

Acquisition?

Sleep

Sleep

Transmit

Sleep

Download

On?On?

yes

yesyes

nono

no

Hardware Components

Crystalfontz CFAH2004A-YTI-JP LCDUses standard HD44780 controller onboard. 20x4 characters

Cypress PSoCEval1 boardIncludes the CY8C29466 PSoC microcontroller (32KB Flash, 2KB SRAM)

Battery Life

• 600mAh / 34 mA = 17.7 hours of operation

• Device is not designed to be operated continuously

• What happens when we attach an LCD?

Battery Life

• Crystalfontz 20x4 LCD draws just 1.6mA

• Optional backlight adds 60mA

• w/o backlight: 16.9 hours

• w/ backlight: 6.3 hours

The Product

Backlit LCD to display news.

Indicator LEDs for power and receiving data

Backlight On/Off pushbutton

User select pushbutton

On/Off Switch

Serial Connector

Non-Recurring Cost

Parts 111

Labor 9,230*

Fringe Benefits, % of Labor 2,308

Subtotal 11,649

Overhead, % of Matl, Labor & Fringe 6,407

Total $18,055

*Based on four engineers working 12 weeks for 10 hours a week at a $40,000 a year salary.

Cost Summary

Recurring Cost 194

Non-Recurring Cost Amortized over 10,000 Units 2

Total Cost $196

Selling Price $220

Profit 11.1%

Project Timeline

TaskProjected Completi

on

Actual Completi

onWired Data

TransmissionOctober 4 October 25

Wireless Data Transmission

October 17 Pending

Internet DataRetrieval

October 4 October 31

GUI Design November 8November

26

Final AssemblyNovember

19November

29

Why Serial Instead of Wireless?

• Incompatible USB dongles and receiver modules shipped from Artaflex

• Little to no documentation using WirelessUSB w/ PSOCEval1

• Nearly impossible to debug a wireless transmitter

• Serial is a simple backup plan

Future Improvements

• Correct USB dongles and receiver modules now received from Artaflex

• Implementation of wireless component should only require a few hours work

• Add Graphical User Interface features

Questions