Advisor:  Jan Van der Spiegel

The growing importance of voice recognition technology have, in recent years
highlighted the shortcomings of serial computation systems. The massive
amount of computational power required in these systems has made them both
financially and logistically difficult to implement. However, parallel
computation, inspired by studies of biological nervous systems and
implemented through the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) has shown
great potential to improve the performance and feasibility of existing voice
recognition systems.

The aim of this project is to implement an ANN approach in the recognition
of obstruent phonemes. Obstruents are specific classes of sound that have
proved difficult to recognize in traditional approaches to speech
recognition. An Artificial Neural Network system has been designed to
classify the incoming obstruent ‘features’ from an auxiliary front-end
speech processing subsystem. Through a process of training and weight
adjustments, the hidden layers of the ANNs retain ‘recognizable’
characteristics of obstruents from a large training sample. The ANN system
checks for these same characteristics in the features from an untested
obstruent fed into the network and outputs corresponding binary sequences
from which a joint decision is made on the type of obstruent phoneme
entered.

VLSI Implementation of Auditory Speech Processing

Author: Hans Eberhart

Advisor: Jan Van der Spiegel, Ahmed M Abdelatty Ali

A synchrony detection system was developed as a building block for a
speech recognition system. The design is based on the processing that
takes place in the human auditory system. It delivers an output voltage
that is related to the periodicity of the input signal in relation to a
given time delay. The information is useful when analyzing the spectral
breakdown of a speech signal. This kind of signal processing was fully
designed in HSpice, to enable a future implementation in VLSI. The
technology of choice was the 1.5u CMOS AMI process. The system correctly
matches the peak output to the period that corresponds to the given time
delay.

Location Identification System (Keypad)

Author: Jason Lee

Advisor:  Siddharth Deliwala

There is a need for a device to alert people when they are in the general
vicinity of a desired location when operating an automobile.  To solve this
problem we will use IR and RF technology to transmit a signal in binary code
from a stationary location and receive these signals on a moving vehicle.
The IR signal has a range of 20 feet and its main purpose is to signal a
driver when they are directly in front of the desired location.  The RF
signal has a range of 150 feet and provides a general proximity alert where
line of sight may not be available.

To provide additional functionality to the IR/RF transmitters a keypad and
display will be interfaced to the transmitter units.  This will provide the
user with the flexibility of changing electronic addresses.  The IR
addresses will be able to accept any numerical number between 0000-3999,
while there will be four different RF addresses denoted as zones A, B, C,
and D.

 Optically Controlled Servoed Electronic Microbalance

 Authors: Alexander Muniz, Nadine Tsai, Eamon Jordan

 Advisor: Jorge Santiago

The purpose of this project was to create an electronically-servoed
microbalance for the Penn Microfabrication Lab, at a project cost
hundreds of dollars less than market costs.  The microbalance should
measure weight samples on the order of milligrams and resolve to the
nearest microgram.  The microbalance uses a feedback circuit to control
the galvanometer's balance arm when a weight sample is applied, and receives
its input from a laser beam that is partially deflected by a flag mounted
on the balance arm.  Excel is used to calculate the linear relationship
between the Weight sample vs. Current needed to drive the microbalance to
equilibrium.  LabView is used to calculate the weight values using the
linear relationship derived from the Excel program.

Advisor: Jorge Santiago

The goal of the Mini CNC Machine project is to design and test a low cost,
highly repeatable, and portable computer numerically controlled milling
machine.  It was designed with the specific intention of tooling a 76.2 mm
by 76.2 mm by 0.2 mm piece of soft glass ceramic composite used in
microfabrication processes.  However, the milling machine is not limited to
this application.  The three axes have a tooling area of 127 mm by 127 mm by
127 mm.  The X, Y and Z axes are controlled by a motion control card which
mounts into a standard 8 or 16 bit IBM PC  expansion slot and its
accompanying software which uses standard G code to create toolpaths.  Each
of the three axes consist of a five phase stepping motor and drive which
have 1000 steps / rev and a linear actuator with a 1mm pitch.   The maximum
resolution on each axis is 0.001 mm.  The positioning stage of the Mini CNC
Machine has a repeatability of +/- 11 microns (worst case) or +/- 10.05
microns (RSS).  The cutting tool used in this project is a Dremel rotary
tool mounted on the Z axis.

Wireless Ethernet Communications
 
Authors: Antonio Wong, Gordon Ching, Samson Lo
Advisor: Phil Farnum, Phil Lopresti
A.
The Wireless Ethernet Solution provides an inexpensive solution to
networking electrical devices by harnessing Radio Frequency technology to
transmit data at a bandwidth of 1 Mbps with a 900 MHz carrier frequency.
This will primarily be accomplished with the modeling of a Phase Locked
Loop using a circuit design package called PSPICE, before the actual
fabrication and development of the wireless system on a printed circuit
board. A 1 MHz PLL circuit is built as the PSPICE simulations take place.
B.
The Wireless Ethernet Solution provides an inexpensive solution to
networking electrical devices by harnessing Radio Frequency technology
to create a wireless link and utilizing the Ethernet algorithm to
transmit data.  A proper implementation of a transmission algorithm must
have the ability to request and transmit bits without collisions or
error.  Therefore the Ethernet standard was chosen because of its
Carrier Sense, Multiple Access with Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) format.
The algorithm will be imbedded onto a Motorola 68HC11 microcontroller to
handle interrupts for receiving and sending processes.  In addition, a
32 bit Cyclic Redundancy Code will perform error detection for the bit
stream transmission.  At which point retransmission requests will be
sent out if errors occur.

Location Identification System (Keypad)

Author: Gurav Saraf, Jason Lee

Advisor: Phil Lopresti, Deliwala

In this world of e-mail and e-trading, electronic addressing for locations
must be the rule, rather than an exception. The Location Identification
System (LIS) is a device that enables this form of addressing in order to
alleviate the trouble faced by people, specially senior citizens, to locate
a particular destination. The idea behind this project is that in the
suburbs there are rows of houses, which look quite similar, and are only
distinguished by the number written somewhere on the house. This makes it
hard for senior citizens to locate a particular house that they are looking
for (more so at night). Thus, by using infrared and radio-frequency
transmission and reception of a location code and an area code, the trouble
associated with such a search can be alleviated. The transmitter is
attached to the mailbox of the house, while the receiver is placed on the
car. The area code and location code of the house are keyed into the
receiver. The receiver then continuously searches for the keyed in code,
and when it sees a match, it sounds a buzzer, signalling that the desired
location has been reached. Since infrared transmission is a line-of-sight
technology, when there is a car passing between the receiver and the
transmitter, a match will not be detected. This necessitates the use of
radio-frequency transmission and reception, for it is a spherical
communication technology.

3-D Laser Rastered Display

Authors: Ben Tang, Sam Cho

Advisor: Phil Lopresti

Current computer monitors and LCD screens only render two-dimensional images forcing three-dimensional objects to be represented by a profile of the object from a fixed aspect, and do not give any information about depth. Complex shapes such as protein chains and astronomical simulations of galactic formations are hard to perceive, and the viewer may overlook details, which become obvious when viewed in three-dimensions. Diagrams that depict situations unfolding real-time in three dimensions, for instance air traffic movement around an airport, when displayed in two-dimensions, cannot be interpreted and acted upon quickly by the human visual system.
The goals of the project are:

-To create a display that creates three-dimensional images that may be used to represent objects or data on location in a three dimensional environment.
-To keep the cost of the system affordable to the consumer (under $1000 for an 8 inch display) and companies (under $5000 for a 16 inch display)
-To allow a personal computer to control and send and refresh image data for display.

A display that projects three-dimensional(3-D) images will enhance the viewer’s ability to visualize objects with complicated shapes and information where depth perception is important. By rastering a two-dimensional(2-D) image on a screen and rotating the screen about one of it’s vertical edges to sweep out a volume in cylindrical co-ordinates, the illusion of a 3-D object suspended within the space swept out by the screen may be created. The prototype, which will be presented on Demo Day, will be able to create an image within a cylindrical space 4 inch high and 8 inch in diameter and refresh the image 4 times a second. Greater resolutions may be obtained by increasing the laser diode strobing rate and the rotation speed of the reflecting mirrors.
 

Mechanical Arm

Author: Terrance Whitehead

Advisor: Phil Lopresti

A previously constructed robotic arm, for use by handicapped people
limited to a wheelchair, needed a desktop computer running C code to
control its movement. Since the objective is to create a portable system
that can be mounted on a wheelchair, a desktop computer is not efficient
in terms of space, power, or cost.

A vast reduction in size, power and cost can be realized by replacing the
computer (processor and hard drive) with a microcontroller (with RAM or
EEPROM on-board). This microcontroller can and will be driven by assembly
programming language.

By using this language the previous control system has been
reduced to a set of chips, currently housed on various test boards.
There has also been a reduction in the amount of Assembly language code
lines
being used. This code attempts to add speed controlled motion to the arm.

Packet Generator and Traffic Control

Authors: Sugiharto Sudiro Widjaja, Nuttakajorn Yanpirat

Advisor: Guerin

The goal of this project is to design the Packet Generator and the
Traffic Controller.  Currently, there are many new and sophisticated
network applications that are being developed.  However, these powerful
applications come at the price of using up the allocated bandwidth.  To
test the efficiency of how these software run during networking
operations, packets simulating the software can be generated and the
network will be checked for overflows or saturation.
This project implements various distribution functions on the Time
Interval to generate traffic flow which resemble a real network flow.
Furthermore, the Traffic Controller module uses the Leaky Bucket to limit
the number of packets in the network.  This prevents any network
saturation or lossy transmission.

Optical Mouse for Paraplegics

Authors: Jon Holzman, Marc Dworkin

Advisor: Pei

The traditional computer pointing input device - the mouse - is limited in
that it is inaccessible to paraplegics.  Mice designed for paraplegics,
generally using sophisticated imaging techniques to follow the direction
of a users eye, cost thousands of dollars and require the user to wear a
large cumbersome apparatus.  In addition, the mice built into laptop
computers are generally awkward to use, even for non-paraplegics.

This senior design project seeks to create a valuable alternative to the
standard mouse by building a prototype that addresses these issues.  The
mouse consists of a specially constructed pair of glasses connected by
fiber optic cable to a circuit board.  The circuit board is connected to
the computer via the PS/2 port.

When the user is wearing the glasses, eye tracking is achieved by
reflecting infrared (880 nm) light through the cables and using the
difference between the reflectances of the pupil and iris to determine if
the pupil has crossed an edge either up, down, left, or right.  When an
edge is crossed, the pointer on the screen moves in the appropriate
direction.  The mouse should allow a user to move the pointer to any point
on the screen with an error of one half inch within a time period of two
seconds.

Content Addressable Memory Module

Authors: Albert Shen, Jaric Loving, Mark Hartz

Advisor : Van Berg

The High Energy Physics (HEP) group of the University of Pennsylvania
requires a quick, efficient way to filter particle detector data. In order
to fulfill this need, an integrated circuit module that can be directly
incorporated into future experiments has been designed. The Content
Addressable Memory Module (CAMM) consists of a counter, decoder, Content
Addressable Memory (CAM) array, and two input / output latches. The 16-bit
data relevant to the experiment is stored in the array sequentially.
Experiment data is then inputted to the CAMM, compared, filtered, and
outputted based on the desired values. A XILINX simulation of the CAMM was
designed to verify functionality. A CADENCE physical layout was designed
for hardware fabrication.

MRI Compatible Arterial Compliance Gating System

Authors: Christopher Ah-Kee, John Yoo

Advisor: Pilla,

In medicine today, with the great number of victims of cardiovascular
events, there is a need for advance detection of these events. It is
proposed to take advantage of the imaging prowess of a Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) machine and design circuitry that will couple a patient's
blood pressure waveform and the MRI's images to compose a series of pictures
and elasticity measurements of the vasculature for diagnosis. The series of
MRI images correspond to discrete points on the pressure waveform and
document the reaction of the vasculature at a certain point of the body to
changes in blood pressure during a typical heartbeat. From a blood pressure
cuff strapped to the arm of the patient inside the MRI, a pressure
transducer will produce a pressure waveform, which is then converted into a
digital system and transmitted on an optical fiber link out of the MRI room.
After digital-to-analog conversion, LabView will receive the signals,
display the AC-coupled waveform, and read the cuff pressure from the DC
signal. A separate circuit will trigger the MRI to initiate image
acquisition. Finally, blood vessel volume data from the MRI will be
retrieved to calculate the compliance-a measure of the elasticity of the
artery in question.
 

Interactive MP3 Jukebox

Authors: Jessica Fosler, Edain Velazquez, Mary Low

Advisor: Smith

The JEM 2000 Interactive MP3 Jukebox is an integrated entertainment
system designed to replace existing CD Jukeboxes that can be found in
a restaurant or bar setting.  The goal of the system is to deliver
"Music on Demand" through the use of Internet technology while
preserving fidelity, increasing storage capacity and decreasing the
overall cost of the system.  Furthermore, these goals should be met in
such a fashion to remain flexible enough to adapt to future
advancement in music encoding technologies, network technologies, and
operating systems design.

Systematically, the JEM 2000 Jukebox consists of an off-the-shelf PC
equipped with a sound card, speakers, a hard drive, and network
connection as well as a serial connection to a coin detection/sorting
interface.  Coin drops are detected through an infrared sensor and
registered through the use of a Motorolla 68HC11 Microcontroller in
real time.  Communication between the Microcontroller and the PC is
necessary to establish the protocol for selection and payment of songs
on the Jukebox.  The music is stored on a remote server as well as a
local cache to reduce the waiting time for a song in MP3 (Motion
Picture Experts Group Layer 3) encoded files.  The use of MP3 encoding
technology allows the Jukebox to achieve compression rates of 12:1
while preserving CD quality sound.  A user-friendly interface implemented in
Perl/Tk strives to make these complex operations transparent to the
customer selecting a song.  Searching functions are available by
Artist, Title, Keyword or Genre in order to provide easier access to
the database.

Designed to be a scalable solution, the JEM 2000 costs about 1/5th the
cost of a conventional jukebox while being designed to hold at least 5
times more songs.  Through the combination and integration of these
popular existing technologies, the JEM 2000 System strives to change the
way people listen to music.

Child Minder

Author: Vincent Marshall

Advisor: Ostrowski

It is cumbersome to constantly watch for the whereabouts of a child, but
when the child's safety may be at stake, there is no real choice.  The
Child Minder is a device to allow parents to monitor the location
(distance and direction) of a child.  This frees parents from having
to rely on unsuitable methods, such as the now popular "leash", and
from worrying.

The Child Minder consists of two units, a parent's unit and a child's
unit.  These units are identical with regard to hardware, but differ
in the software algorithms used to control them.  When in use, the
parent's unit periodically polls the child's unit which responds, and
from that the distance between the two is calculated.  The parent's
unit will display the distance in our test/demo configuration, but in
real operation, would simply activate an alarm when the units moved
apart beyond some preset threshold distance.