Design and Development of Virtual Instrument for Hazardous Areas

This career episode report details the design and development of a virtual instrument for hazardous environment control and monitoring. The project focuses on creating a cost-effective and efficient system using wireless sensor network technology and the LabVIEW programming environment to improve safety measures in industries. The author's responsibilities included team leadership, project planning, and the development of the virtual instrumentation software. Key aspects of the project involved signal processing, power management, and ensuring reliable data transmission. The report highlights the challenges faced, such as power consumption and data transmission timing, and the solutions implemented to address them. The successful development of the monitoring system provides a long-term, accurate method for managing hazardous elements in industrial environments. Desklib provides similar solved assignments.

COMPETENCY
DEMONSTRATION REPORT
Career Episode 2

CE 2.1 Project Information
Name of the project: Development and Design of the Virtual Instrument for Hazardous
Environment Control and Monitoring
Location of the project: [PLEASE FILL]
Project Duration: [PLEASE FILL]
Organization: [PLEASE FILL]
Role and Designation during the time: Team Leader
CE 2.2 Project Background
CE 2.2.1 Characteristics of the project
I was the one who has to lead the team and thus, topic selection was one of my concern
and so, I suggested to target the industry related safety and control. I propose to develop a
hazardous environment monitoring and control system based on the wireless sensor network
technology. The goal of the execution was to target the industry for a trending technology and
improve the safety measures within the industry. I chose the WSN technology due to its cost
effective and high efficiencies for analysing and acquiring sensor signals. I developed the system
in a virtual instrument ‘Lab VIEW’ programming environment and integrated these systems in
the computer-controlled system for the efficient and effective measurement of the safety risk
parameters of the hazardous areas.

CE 2.2.2 Objectives developed for the project
Based on the experience gained in the previous project, I was assigned with the
management jobs other than the technical contributions. Thus, my prior responsibility was to
motivate and develop the path for the team members and make sure that the project can be
delivered targeting single path. Following is the list of the objectives developed for the project:
To develop the design a virtual platform for processing the acquired data related
to the hazardous parameter signal.
To use the Lab VIEW programming environment for the development of the
virtual platform proposed
To improve the safety factors in the industries
To deliver the project as per the developed schedule, plan, and cost
To prepare the documentation of the project other than successful delivery
CE 2.2.3 My area of work
My prior job sector was to develop a plan for the involved team members in the project
and make sure that the final delivery of the project meets the objectives and scope of the project.
I divided the project in two sectors System Architecture and design of the Virtual
Instrumentation Software and assigned different individuals with different sectors. I was
involved in the Virtual Instrumentation Software I had to develop the system in the lab VIEW
software. I had to configure the schedule of the lab VIEW and I kept them at the default state
with low observation frequency. I was also assigned to the sensor reading routine, RF
communication routine, and the overall remote monitoring system.

CE 2.2.4 Project Group
CE 2.2.5 My responsibilities throughout the project
I was responsible for accomplishing my sector of jobs in addition to the contribution
made by the other team members in achieving the successful output. I was responsible for
assuring that the entire project goes in the same direction as it was planned and so, I developed
the sophisticated plan and always motivated the team members to accomplish the overall goals
and objectives of the project. I made sure that the energy consumption is minimum and proposed
system can be applicable in the industries as, cost is a crucial factor for proposing an additional
service in the industries. I had to deliver the three crucial operations including First, the main
loop module is responsible for initializing the configuration parameters and managing the low-
consumption dynamic schedule for sensor reading and wireless communication. Second, the
sensor-reading program is in charge of the power supply to sensors and collection of sensor

observations. Third, the wireless communication program is designed for receiving and sending
data signal over a RF communication network. The following flowchart shows the main loop
routine of the node operations:
Figure 1: Typical Circuit of CC2500
CE 2.3 Distinctive Activity
CE 2.3.1 Comprehending the theory of the project
I proposed a product in the form of the automated that can be a vital application for the
monitoring and hazards identification in the industries. I identified that the wireless technology
are becoming the trending technology and implementation of this technology within the existing
system would allow the efficient and effective proposition of the safety system. I implemented
an autonomous and low budget node in the industrial hazardous environments without
availability of a communication infrastructure. My attempt enables the higher accuracy in the
data collection through real time observing and processing the real time data from the hazardous

areas. The upcoming phenomena can be detected and alarm can be produced through collecting
the real time data related to the changes occurring in the hazardous sectors of the industry.
CE 2.3.2 Engineering knowledge and skills applied in the project
The hardware implementation was the sector of other individual team members and I was
the one who had to monitor and keep the record of accomplishment of the ongoing project
activities in relation to the management and delivery of the proposed system. We used eZ430-
RF2500 as the wireless development tool for the CC2500 circuit including hardware and
software those were required for the development of this system. Signal processing and
acquisition was another crucial sector of the entire project development; I amplified the signals
as the output range of the entire project was very small and it was helpful in limiting the errors. I
used the “DC/DC buck converters offer over 95% efficiency over a wide battery voltage range,
even with input voltage down to 1.8 volts extending battery life. Special Buck-Boost converters
generate a stable required output voltage, supply constant current for over- and under-input
voltage conditions, and support various battery configurations.” I proposed the energy efficient
algorithm that has been implemented along with the MATLAB. I suggested transmitting the
same size of the data packets through the source node 1 to destination node.
CE 2.3.3 Identified issues and their solutions
I identified that the guarantee of maximum time among the transmissions needed to be
managed in a manner that it guarantees the specified output and so, I used the RF timer that was
efficient and effective in guaranteeing the maximum time among transmissions. Again, the
power consumption was the identified issues throughout the project lifecycle and hence, I limited
the schedules that helped in reducing the power consumption in transmission and reading of the
proposed system and it helped in providing a reliable keep-alive system. I identified that the

reading routine should be capable of managing the wide range of the wireless sensors and must
be capable of reading the different types of the output.
CE 2.3.4 Plan to produce creative and innovative work
I designed the system to meet the requirements of providing real-time data on hazardous
environment monitoring parameters and remote controlled. I identified that a single sensor, there
are disadvantages like misinterpretation, and reduce the uncertainty, so as a solution, I decided to
improve the safety performance of the safety system, ZigBee wireless communication
technology and data fusion method is used in hazardous safety and which is feasible. Its
flexibility enables a wide application span for autonomous data collection with reliable
transmission in few sparse points over large areas.
CE 2.3.5 Collaborative work
In this career episode also, the team was comprised of supervisor, team leader and three
other team members as mentioned in the project group chart with a sublevel distribution of the
members. The Virtual Instrument for Hazardous Environment Monitoring and Control would
never be accomplished successfully, if the team members had not contributed in the project in an
efficient and effective manner. The project was vast and had many sectors those could not be
completed by a single individual and thus, every member had the different responsibility. I tried
to keep the track of the entire project and suggested the best recommendations those could allow
the delivery of the project in much efficient manner within the estimated time.

CE 2.4 Project Review
CE 2.4.1 Project Overview
I identified that the multisensory signals collected from the hazardous environment have
been extremely small such as in microvolt or mini volt range, and for every signal, it has its own
processing needs. I successfully accomplished the goal of the project that was to develop and
provide a long time span monitoring system that can be applicable in continuous and accurate
hazardous level information. It can be the specific objective in the development of an efficient
monitoring system capable of managing the hazardous elements in the industries. The project
was successfully developed and all the tracks of the project was successfully recorded with
proper documentation procedure.