TFG: Design and implementation of a wearable system for livestock

Today, the use of monitoring systems is widespread in society. However, it is not common to see them in animals.

This end-of-grade work aims to design and implement a wearable system for cows, horses, sheep and goats. Thus, the farmer can know the state of the animals and their location. Taking into account the signs and characteristics that occur in this type of animals in situations of interest, the system has several sensors: a microphone, a temperature and humidity sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, an air quality sensor, a gas sensor to detect diseases and a GPS.

Thanks to the information of these sensors it is possible to know when the animal is sick, has problems walking or even the period of heat of the females and later the time of delivery.

Finally, all data is sent to the farmer to make decisions on the farm, improving the welfare of the animal and increasing its productivity.

For the development of the system, the complete hardware design and implementation was carried out, in addition to the realization of a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) for all sensors.

TFG:DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN LOW-COST WIRELESS PROSTHETICS ARM

This final project focuses on the field of robotics aimed at developing automated prostheses, helping to recover part of the lost mobility of people who need it. More specifically, it will focus on analysing and designing a wirelessly controlled robotic arm, which will serve as the basis for future projects at the B105 Electronic Systems Lab.

To this end, a preliminary study was carried out of the technologies currently used to develop a robotic arm, extracting which components can be used to carry out the movement and control of the arm, what considerations must be taken into account to design the different parts that make it up and what prototypes currently exist, extracting their characteristics to try to find a way to improve them.

Once the previous study had been done, the design of the arm was carried out, where the way to control it, the type of wireless communication, the motorization to be used and how it is fed were chosen. After this, we have chosen the components that best suit to meet the specifications requested, the modeling program has been used to design the parts, the materials used to build them, and the type of manufacture used to make them. It has been concluded that the parts must be manufactured by 3D printing, that Bluetooth will be used as technology for wireless communication, and servomotors to motorize the system.

Afterwards, the connection has been made, the design of the pieces by means of a 3D modeling program and the subsequent manufacture of part of them by means of 3D printing. A mobile application has also been developed to control several servomotors and check the wireless connection between the arm and the mobile, in addition to having created several integration files on the board to check the operation of the components.

Then different tests have been carried out, using the software created, where different components have been connected, and it has been checked whether they work correctly or not.

In the end a complete functionality has not been achieved, but a partial functionality has been achieved where it has been possible to connect by means of Bluetooth the mobile and the arm, to move two servomotors, with which two fingers have been moved, and the battery has been controlled by means of a series of leds. Several problems have also been found with regard to the power supply of the servomotors and the reception of data sent by the board that controls the servomotors to the mobile.

TFM: Development of a vehicle monitoring system based on NB-IoT technology

Nowadays, several European cities are looking for ways to regulate their internal traffic due to the high concentration rates of pollutants present because of vehicles. These concentrations cause hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in Europe per year, so it is beginning to be considered as a risk factor for its citizens. In most of the cities that implement some type of restriction, the regulation of this traffic is carried out by establishing a fixed low emission zone controlled by cameras.

Amidst these stringent environmental regulations aimed at curbing emissions, classic car dealers face a unique set of challenges. Many classic vehicles, cherished for their historical value and design, often fall short of modern emission standards. This poses a dilemma for enthusiasts and collectors who wish to enjoy these timeless automobiles while adhering to evolving environmental policies. As cities across Europe intensify restrictions on internal traffic to mitigate air pollution, the demand for classic cars that comply with new emission norms is on the rise.

For classic car dealers, adapting to these regulatory changes is crucial. Platforms like classiccarsforsale.pro play a pivotal role in connecting buyers with environmentally compliant classic cars. By emphasizing models that meet or exceed emissions standards, dealers can cater to a conscientious clientele seeking both nostalgia and environmental responsibility. Moreover, these online marketplaces enable dealers to showcase their curated collections to a global audience, transcending local restrictions and reaching enthusiasts who prioritize sustainability alongside their passion for classic automobiles. This shift underscores the resilience of the classic car market in navigating regulatory landscapes while preserving its cultural and historical significance.

In this context, the aim of this work is to provide an alternative to the conditions for access to these restricted zones, which are generally based on the Euro standard met by each vehicle. Thus, a device has been developed that connects to the vehicles by means of the OBD II standard, obtains its geolocation and transmits the acquired data using the NB-IoT technology. The purpose of these data is to obtain an estimate of the emissions produced by vehicles individually and based on actual traffic data, with which to regulate the access to the restricted zone. To this end, the COPERT emissions estimator has been incorporated based on speed data with a half-second time interval. This provides an opportunity to create fairer driving conditions based on the particular emissions of each vehicle within the restricted zones. In addition, it allows the creation of dynamic zones that can be a palliative for the border effect that could occur with a fixed zone. With this change of perspective, we can restrict more or less the traffic depending on the pollution situation in the city. Another improvement is the regulation of other pollutants like carbon monoxide or methane.

The developed system is powered by the vehicle battery, uses OBD II through the CAN bus or the ISO 9141 to communicate with the vehicle and obtains the location using a multi-constellation. A PCB has been designed that integrates three modules that carry out the tasks of communicating with the vehicle, transmitting the data to a central server and establishing of the geolocation of the vehicle; as well as a microcontroller in charge of the coordination between these elements and communicating with the user through commands.

A vehicle ECU simulator has been developed in order to debug the system and check that the data obtained are related to the expected values without the need to be permanently connected to a real vehicle during development. The objective was to create a simple simulator that would implement CAN bus communication and could respond to requests from an OBD II port.

Several tests have been carried out with the developed system on board a vehicle during a real journey. Their results allow us to see a distribution consistent with what was expected in terms of the concentration of pollutants emitted. Thus, we have empirically proven that the concentration of pollutants increases on narrow and slow roads and decreases on wider roads. From these tests the correct functioning of the final system and, therefore, the fulfilment of the objectives are confirmed. The result of a test made with a Euro 6 diesel car can be seen in the following picture, where we can see the NOx estimated emissions.

TFG: Development of a system for motion analysis

Obtaining information about the motion of an object has many applications in today’s society. Large industries such as cinema or videogames use motion capture technologies for their development. Motion capture systems collect the information that allows to know the acceleration, speed, orientation and position of an object.

The development of MicroElectroMechanical Systems or MEMS by the end of the 1980s has increased the use of accelerometers and gyroscopes to increase motion capture. That led to the development of Inertial Measurement Units with a small size, resulting from the combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes. This miniaturisation enabled the use in other applications, like augmented reality, 3D animation, navigation, video games and sports . Another of its features that stands out is that it does not need an external reference to be used, resulting in a simpler implementation.

In this graduate thesis, a system has been developed that can collect the data generated by an IMU, store it and then dump it into another system for analysis. Some criteria were needed to be established, so the design is focused on been small and low power consumption. For the development of the system, a hardware design was made, followed by the implementation of the software. Finally, some test were made to evaluate the final result.

TFM: Design and implementation of a gateway node based on LTE mobile communications for a Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) research has recently become a key element in the Internet of Things (IoT) concept. These networks use autonomous devices, also known as nodes, whose purpose is to gather information from the environment and transmit it on the internet. We may classify these nodes into two categories: sensor nodes, which extract information from diverse environment parameters; and gateway nodes that transmit this information outside the network.

The main goal of this thesis is the development of a gateway node based in fourth generation mobile communications (4G). This gateway node has been developed both at hardware and software level and should be integrated in a wireless sensor network at future stages.

The hardware for this project is based in a previous design of a modular PCB developed at the B105 Electronic Systems Lab. Some modifications have been introduced in the original design in the power supply, RF and voltage shifter blocks in order to complete a functional prototype. The software architecture has been completely designed and implemented from the very beginning based on YetiOS – an embedded OS developed at the B105 Lab – including a specific API for the module and diverse connectivity functionalities such as call features and TCP/IP communication establishment.

Each hardware and software module has been tested separately and also operation of the whole node. In addition, system performance was evaluated measuring three parameters: consumption, latency and throughput, which are critical in the deployment of a practical application for the node.

The obtained results are discussed at the end of the document, comparing them to the original objectives and finally some working lines are proposed to continue with the node development.