Project Name : Ultrasonic waves
Theme Name : Transport & Communication
Scientific Principle Involved: Ultrasonic waves are very high frequency waves of the order of greater than 20000 Hz. These are sound waves that get reflected very similarto the ordinary audible sound waves and produces echoes.
SONAR apparatus essentially has an ultrasonic transmitter and a receiver. Thetransmitter essentially transmits ultrasonic waves and if there is an obstacle in the path the waves get reflected back and the receiver senses this. The time taken or the duration between the transmission and reception is computed and used as below to get the distance.
Let the time taken = T seconds
Velocity of sound = 340 meter/second
Velocity = Distance / Time
Distance = Velocity X Time
Thus the distance between the apparatus and the obstacle would be = (340 X T) meters
Materials used:
Arduino
This is an open source embedded platform for building projects that require a microcontroller. It is used by both students and experts alike in numerous projects around the globe. It is accompanied with an easy to code software named arduino.
There are many different arduino boards available, out which arduino micro was chosen to be the best for its compactness and efficiency. It uses a microcontroller named atmega and a microcontroller can be assumed to be a miniature sized computer with all the memory and input output ports fabricated into a single monolithic integrated circuit (IC).
Arduino micro can be programmed easily using the arduino software and a connecting USB cable.
Ultrasonic sensors
This is a transreciever that is used to transmit and receive the ultrasonic waves. These are used to implement the principle of sonar.
We have employed two ultrasonic sensors in our project to detect obstacles in both the directions.
Vibration motors
These are miniature sized motors that produce vibration when triggered with a supply. These motors are special as the have an unbalanced load on their shaft. We have employed two of these motors to signal the user about the objects/obstacles on either sides. That is when an obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor on to the right the microcontroller sends in a signal to the right side vibration motor and vice versa.
Utility and Future scope:
Applications
285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. About 90% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries. Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle- and low-income countries.
Future scope
The following are the improvements that will be inculcated onto the device in the near future Adding voice recognition and text to speech conversions into the device using an android phone.
Adding in a Bluetooth module so that the ultrasonic data can be sent to an android phone for processing and the data can be converted to speech and told to the user.
Adding a weather proof cover to the device such that it is not short circuited even during\ heavy rains or during any water spills.
Modifying the stick to be less heavy and with hinges so that it can be bent easily.
The GPS data from the android phone can be told to user so that he can know about his present location.
Adding an extra sensor such that it is capable of telling the user about stairs and pit holes.
Name of the School: Smt. Ramkuwar Devi Fomra V. Vidyalaya, Chromepet, Chennai (T.N.)
