This week, I completed the Individual and Group portions of the Ethics assignment. I reflected on how the design of this project affects others in a societal, economic, and global perspective. Also, my group and I had a discussion about changes in the physical design. Since we are using ultrasonic transmitter and receiver sensors, I had to change the design of this system. Before, we had discussed a microphone picking up the acoustic signal from a tapper hitting the wall of the duct. Now, a controlled voltage source will excite an ultrasonic transmitter, generating high-frequency acoustic waves that propagate through the duct system. As these waves travel along the duct, they interact with the geometry, boundaries, and internal features of the structure, producing reflections, attenuations, and resonances that collectively form a unique acoustic signature. An ultrasonic receiver positioned along the duct will detect the returning or transmitted waves and convert them back into an electrical signal. This weak signal will pass through an amplifier stage to increase the signal amplitude and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The amplified analog signal will then be digitized using an ADC, allowing the waveform to be captured and analyzed using digital processing techniques. In terms of physical build, we completed building the robot chassis using the step-by-step guide online. I cut a couple of the healthy (no defects) HVAC duct pieces so they can fit together. After the acoustic sensors were delivered, I tested them to ensure they were functioning properly. I had to build a circuit that provides voltage to the transmitter and test that voltage was collected by the receiver. I also created a structured data collection plan detailed in the linked document.
Next Steps:
- Begin healthy duct data collection using my plan
My work for this week can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TeiFjeiLWfSxhGB2HdTZP7nY7KFwsyw6Oc9VAkEphX8/edit?tab=t.0