Design of a Distance Meter Unit: Final Year Project

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DESIGNING A
PRODUCT THAT
MEETS CUSTOMER’S
REQUIREMENTS

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
LO1: Plan a design solution and prepare an engineering design specification in response to a
stakeholder’s design brief and requirements..............................................................................5
a. Produce a design specification from a given design brief..................................................5
b. Explain the influence of the stakeholder’s design brief and requirements in the
preparation of the design specification..................................................................................5
c. Produce a design project schedule with a graphical illustration of the planned activities. 6
d. Evaluate potential planning techniques, presenting a case for the method chosen............6
e. Demonstrate critical path analysis techniques in design project scheduling/planning and
explain its use.........................................................................................................................8
f. Compare and contrast the completed design specification against the relevant industry
standard specification.............................................................................................................9
LO2: Formulate possible technical solutions to given design requirement problems by using
prepared examples of engineering design specifications.........................................................10
a. Explore industry’s standard evaluation and analytical tools in formulating possible
technical solutions................................................................................................................10
b. Use appropriate design techniques to produce a possible design solution.......................12
c. Apply the principles of modelling/ simulation/prototyping, using appropriate software,
to develop appropriate design solutions...............................................................................12
d. Evaluate potential technical solutions, presenting a case for the final choice of solution.
..............................................................................................................................................13
LO3 Prepare an industry-standard engineering technical design report..................................14
a. Prepare an industry-standard engineering technical design.............................................14
b. Assess the presented technical design and identify any potential limitation it may have.
..............................................................................................................................................14
c. Explain the role of design specifications and standards in producing a finished product.
..............................................................................................................................................14
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d. Identify any compliance, safety and risk management issues present in the chosen
solution.................................................................................................................................15
e. Evaluate the effectiveness of the presented industry standard engineering technical
design report for producing a fully compliant finished product..........................................15
LO4 Present to an audience a design solution based on the design report and evaluate the
solution/presentation................................................................................................................18
a. Present the recommended design solution to the identified audience..............................18
b. Explain possible communication strategies and presentation methods that could be used
to inform the stakeholders of the recommended solution....................................................19
c. Reflect on effectiveness of communication strategy in presenting the solution..............19
d. Justify potential improvements to the presented design solution, based on reflection
and/or feedback obtained from the presentation..................................................................19
Conclusion................................................................................................................................21
Appendix..................................................................................................................................22
References................................................................................................................................25
List of Figures
Figure 1: Importance of design requirement..............................................................................5
Figure 2: Block diagram of distance meter unit.........................................................................7
Figure 3: Gantt chart of project schedule...................................................................................8
Figure 4: Critical path analysis of project schedule...................................................................8
Figure 5: Schematic of technical design 1...............................................................................11
Figure 6: Schematic of technical design 2...............................................................................11
Figure 7: Evaluation of technical designs................................................................................12
Figure 8: Contribution of project phases..................................................................................15
Figure 9: Sensor emitting frequency to measure distance from object....................................16
Figure 10: Elaboration travelling wave of sensor....................................................................16
Figure 11: Demonstrations of sensor detecting object at 7 cm................................................17
Figure 12: Presentation of selected technical design...............................................................18
Figure 13: Evaluation of presentation strategy........................................................................19
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List of Tables
Table 1: Target specifications for design...................................................................................6
Table 2: Comparison of available distance measuring sensors..................................................9
Table 3: Sample feedback questionnaire..................................................................................20
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Introduction
An electronic distance meter device is used to determine the distance from an object without
meter tape. The distance meter device calculates distance from object using infrared or
ultrasonic frequency. The distance meter device usually uses in industrial sector. It also has
application in other sectors too, such as construction, surveying, carpentry, and many others.
The distance meter device user-friendly compare to meter tape and provide better results. In
this perspective, we are assigned with the project of designing a distance meter unit. For this
purpose, we document our project in this report according to available standards. This report
discusses different design process of developing a distance meter unit.
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LO1: Plan a design solution and prepare an engineering design
specification in response to a stakeholder’s design brief and requirements.
a. Produce a design specification from a given design brief
We are assigned with project of designing a distance meter for client. Client requires a
reasonably accurate and easy to use distance meter. Design of distance meter can be based on
development board. If microcontroller development board is chosen for designing distance
mater, then Arduino development board is preferable for designing (Mok, 2017).
b. Explain the influence of the stakeholder’s design brief and requirements in the
preparation of the design specification
From design brief, we try to identify the important specifications of a distance meter.
Additionally, we studied a distance meter working as a reference to understand the working
of distance meter. The reference study helps us in identification of important components of a
distance meter. The major component of distance meter is ultrasonic or infrared distance
sensor, development board, and LCD display. Now, we identify the importance of different
design requirements for finished product. Next, we prepared an importance scale ranging
from 1- 100 where 1 being lowest importance and 100 being very much important to design
requirement. Figure 1 illustrates the bar graph of importance weight of specifications
(Glende, 2016).
Distance Sensor LCD Display Development Board Battery
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
90
75
85
70
Figure 1: Importance of design requirement
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Next, we define some parameters on which design solutions will be evaluated. We rank these
parameters according to design brief, where rank number 1 is considered as highest rank and
last rank number considering lowest rank, following is the ranking of parameters:
1. Durability
2. Ease of use
3. Components assembling
4. Configuration of whole unit
5. Cost-effective
c. Produce a design project schedule with a graphical illustration of the planned
activities.
The design brief received from manager, is discussed with client in initial meeting. In this
meeting, we try to consider suitable components for distance meter design. In the end,
components we choose for distance meter design are shown in table 1.
Table 1: Target specifications for design
Distance Sensor Infrared or Ultrasonic Sensor
Development Board Arduino
Display LCD or OLED
Power Supply AAA Batteries
Breadboard Generic
Enclosure Body Yes
d. Evaluate potential planning techniques, presenting a case for the method
chosen.
Design process of distance meter consist of following stages:
o Distance sensor determines the distance from object using infrared or ultrasonic
frequency
o Development board work as a microcontroller, which controls overall functionality of
distance meter unit
o Battery provides power to whole unit
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o LCD display used for the purpose of displaying output of sensors (Cheng, 2019)
4.1 Block diagram
Considering design process stage mention in previous section, figure 1 illustrates the block
diagram of distance meter unit.
Figure 2: Block diagram of distance meter unit
4.2 Scheduling of project design
Design brief received from manager and met the client to understand requirement further.
Design specifications are selected on the basis of design brief. After gathering requirement,
background research on selected components is conducted. On the basis of research, we
developed different technical design than test and evaluated them on defined parameters.
When technical design passes the define parameters, it will be select as final design for a
distance meter unit. After that, we build prototype of selected design and send for approval.
Feedback on prototype received and updated with suggested improvements. In end of project,
a final presentation session will be conducted to present finish project and its outcomes.
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Figure 3: Gantt chart of project schedule
e. Demonstrate critical path analysis techniques in design project
scheduling/planning and explain its use.
Figure 4: Critical path analysis of project schedule
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f. Compare and contrast the completed design specification against the relevant
industry standard specification.
We compare different available distance measuring sensors in market with each other to find
a suitable one (Nair, 2015). This comparison is shown in table 2.
Table 2: Comparison of available distance measuring sensors
Products→
Specifications↓
Sharp –
GP2Y0A21YK
Sharp –
GP2Y0A02YK0
F
Sharp –
GP2Y0A41SK0F HC – SR04
Distance
Range of
Sensor
0.10m ~ 0.80m 0.10m ~ 1.50m 0.04m ~ 0.30m 0.02m ~
4.00m
Accuracy ±1% ±~1% ±~1% ±3 mm
Update Rate 26 Hz 26 Hz 60 Hz 40 Hz
Input voltage 4.5V ~ 5.5V 4.5V ~ 5.5V 4.5V ~ 5.5V 5V
Continuous
Current
Consumption
30 mA 33 mA 30 mA 15 mA
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LO2: Formulate possible technical solutions to given design requirement
problems by using prepared examples of engineering design specifications.
a. Explore industry’s standard evaluation and analytical tools in formulating
possible technical solutions.
Before discussing possible design solution, we are devise a common methodology for design
solutions. Our main focus is distance measuring sensor because it is the most important
component of distance meter unit. To determine distance from object/hurdle, we need a
suitable distance measuring sensor. Then measured distance pass to microcontroller, which
displays the distance in digital form on LCD. As for microcontroller, we use Arduino board
for each design solution.
1. Technical design solutions
After completing research on project requirements and developing a suitable methodology,
now the next phase our project is to develop possible technical designs. In this section, we are
going to discuss these solutions one by one and their possible limitation. We have chosen
three technical designs and discuss them briefly in coming sections. Connection wires and
breadboard are generic in all technical designs.
1.1 Technical design 1
For technical design 1, we use following components: SHARP GP2Y0A21YK0F distance
sensor; Arduino UNO; and capacitor of 220μF. The circuit diagram, shown in figure 5, shows
the connection of distance sensor with Arduino UNO. The distance sensor pin 1 connect to
Arduino pinout A0, pin 2 to GND pinout, and pin 3 to 5V pinout of Arduino. This type of
distance sensors is a bit noisy due to unstable voltage. It is recommended to add a capacitor
of more than 10μF between Vcc and GND. So, we use 220μF to reduce noise of sensor.
During testing of design, we find that it does not fulfil the requirements and has a shorter
range.
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Figure 5: Schematic of technical design 1
1.2 Technical design 2
For technical design 2, we use following components: SHARP GP2Y0A02YK0F distance
sensor; Arduino Micro; capacitor of 100μF; and 2.8 inch TFT display. The circuit diagram
shown in figure 6, shows the connection of distance sensor with Arduino Micro. To provide
stable voltage to distance sensor, we place 100μF capacitor near sensor. The distance sensor
determines the distance from object or hurdle and passes it microcontroller. Then
microcontroller displays the reading of sensor in digital form on TFT. During testing of
design, find out that 100μF capacitor not much successful in providing stable voltage sensor.
Figure 6: Schematic of technical design 2
1.3 Technical design 3
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