Help me choose a topic for school electronics project!

[FenderBender]

Hello,

You guys might remember me asking some questions about power supplies in regards to a presentation I made for my electronics class in school. This is a high school course.

I have been assigned another project, though this one wont be due for a month or two, though the standards are still pretty low.

If you want to see my previous project, here is the LINK to the download: http://ge.tt/9FTnjfE/v/0?c

You will need Powerpoint. Please note!! The presentation only makes sense if you actually hit "View Presentation" otherwise it's a mess of stuff. Keep clicking to advance the animations.


For the real question,

This is a pretty low leveled course, in the sense that all of our assessments are open-book and the teacher is fairly lenient, though he does actually know what he's talking about. I'm looking for ANY suggestions. I like the idea of audio, since it is a subject I have experience in, in regards to electronics. Perhaps the history of audio reproduction. (ie Tubes->Transistors->Chip Amps-> Switching Amps) And then generally how everything works....

But I'm seriously open to ANYTHING. I wouldn't suggest FPGA design or any fancy-shmansy stuff like that...but something relate-able.

Any ideas?

[dcel]

Report on the first "transistor amplifer", ie how the man that did it discovered that it had gain.

Chris

[Psi]

Microcontrollers!

You can show how basic logic can be done using logic gates worth around 50 cents a chip.
Then explain how microcontrollers have changed everything and how a $2 IC can do things that would require a room full of logic gates.

[mtkaalund]

What about a microcontrolled amplifier ?

I personerally like that idea, perhaps I going to do it some time in the near future 

But good luck with the project 

[Psi]

What about a microcontrolled amplifier ?

I personally like that idea, perhaps I going to do it some time in the near future 

But good luck with the project 

haha, so like  ADC --> MCU --> DAC  and the signal gets amplified in software?

That could be quite interesting, bit pointless but definitely interesting.
You could even use one of the micros that has built-in 200x gain on the differential adc channels.
So input signal could be ultra small.

[slateraptor]

Microcontrollers!

You can show how basic logic can be done using logic gates worth around 50 cents a chip.
Then explain how microcontrollers have changed everything and how a $2 IC can do things that would require a room full of logic gates.

I'm with Psi on this one. A crap ton of history to talk about, and it has that grandiose powers-of-ten feel that puts things into perspective.

transistor --> logic gate --> flip-flop (SSI) --> mux/adder (MSI) --> alu (LSI) --> cpu+peripherals=uc (VLSI)

[dcel]

VACUUM TUBE (VALVES) --> transistor --> logic gate --> flip-flop (SSI) --> mux/adder (MSI) --> alu (LSI) --> cpu+peripherals=uc (VLSI)

Everyone forgets to start with the first active device, the humble vacuum tube. The transistor was what started the elecrtonics evolution. Without its discovery, I wouldnt be typing this.

Chris

[T4P]

VACUUM TUBE (VALVES) --> transistor --> logic gate --> flip-flop (SSI) --> mux/adder (MSI) --> alu (LSI) --> cpu+peripherals=uc (VLSI)

Everyone forgets to start with the first active device, the humble vacuum tube. The transistor was what started the elecrtonics evolution. Without its discovery, I wouldnt be typing this.

Chris

Neither would i .

[mtkaalund]

haha, so like  ADC --> MCU --> DAC  and the signal gets amplified in software?

That could be quite interesting, bit pointless but definitely interesting.
You could even use one of the micros that has built-in 200x gain on the differential adc channels.
So input signal could be ultra small.

No, not the signal being amplified in software, but more the control of the amplifiers gain is controlled in software.
A little like Dave is doing in his PSU design. 
And if he want to, he could take a look on some DSP, where he could do some digital filtering, which is fun to play with

DSP Producents:
http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/dsp/home.page
http://www.analog.com/en/processors-dsp/processors/index.html
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=DSP-DSC_HOME&tid=vandsp
http://www.ceva-dsp.com/

Magazine for DSP and fpga:
http://dsp-fpga.com/

Tutorial for DSP:
http://www.bores.com/courses/intro/chips/index.htm

IIR filtering:
http://www.kapik.com/publications/rcpapers/XGao91b.pdf <-- PDF Warning
http://cnx.org/content/m10025/latest/ An introduction to IIR filter
http://www.lavryengineering.com/white_papers/iir.pdf An another introduction to IIR filter <-- PDF Warning

UPDATE:
FIR filtering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_response Wiki page for FIR filters
http://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/fir/basics A basic introduction to FIR filters
http://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/fir FAQ for FIR filters
http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/Digital-Filters-FIR-IIR Design of FIR filters
http://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/~op205/3F3_5_Design_of_FIR_Filters.pdf Design of FIR filters <-- PDF Warning
http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v26/v26-12.pdf Introduction to FIR filter design <-- PDF warning
http://arc.id.au/FilterDesign.html an FIR filters calculator

[FenderBender]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.

I must say, I've always been an analog guy, so this MCU stuff is still a little foreign to me...but I'm quite interested in expanding my knowledge. The thing I liked abut making a presentation on power supplies is because I knew a lot about it.

So, perhaps another question I have is: Do you guys know any good literature that might help me understand the progression of digital/logic circuits and how they work?

Right now all I have is an Aruduino. I kind of wish I got a Pic Kit 3 and a Pic...though I guess I still can. My income is pretty shite these days.

[vk6zgo]

haha, so like  ADC --> MCU --> DAC  and the signal gets amplified in software?

That could be quite interesting, bit pointless but definitely interesting.
You could even use one of the micros that has built-in 200x gain on the differential adc channels.
So input signal could be ultra small.

No, not the signal being amplified in software, but more the control of the amplifiers gain is controlled in software.A little like Dave is doing in his PSU design. 
And if he want to, he could take a look on some DSP, where he could do some digital filtering, which is fun to play with

DSP Producents:
http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/dsp/home.page
http://www.analog.com/en/processors-dsp/processors/index.html
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=DSP-DSC_HOME&tid=vandsp
http://www.ceva-dsp.com/

Magazine for DSP and fpga:
http://dsp-fpga.com/

Tutorial for DSP:
http://www.bores.com/courses/intro/chips/index.htm

IIR filtering:
http://www.kapik.com/publications/rcpapers/XGao91b.pdf <-- PDF Warning
http://cnx.org/content/m10025/latest/ An introduction to IIR filter
http://www.lavryengineering.com/white_papers/iir.pdf An another introduction to IIR filter <-- PDF Warning

UPDATE:
FIR filtering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_response Wiki page for FIR filters
http://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/fir/basics A basic introduction to FIR filters
http://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/fir FAQ for FIR filters
http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/Digital-Filters-FIR-IIR Design of FIR filters
http://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/~op205/3F3_5_Design_of_FIR_Filters.pdf Design of FIR filters <-- PDF Warning
http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v26/v26-12.pdf Introduction to FIR filter design <-- PDF warning
http://arc.id.au/FilterDesign.html an FIR filters calculator

The last generation of hearing aids before they went fully digital,used this method.
The Audiologist could test a patient,& program gain,frequency response,dynamic range,etc,into the device.
When they needed to be repaired,the Tech could access this information & check that the program was still correct.
When I was fixing them,we hadn't completely "closed the loop",& you had to do an acoustic sweep & compare it visually with that shown on the PC for that particular aid.
The chip that did all this was just an anonymous blob on the board!

[damo]

If you're an analog guy, maybe you should take a look at the old magnetic amplifier. It actually sort of fits in between the valve and the transistor and is easier to construct than either of those. Maybe you could actually build one as a demo

[FenderBender]

Analog in the sense of discretes vs microcontrollers. But that's interesting.

[bearman]

How about a NiMh battery charger.   You would have to learn about the various modes of charging them.  Constant voltage, constant current, delta time, delta temperature and delta voltage charge charicteristics.

This would involve several sensor types that you would need for monitoring each of these battery charging characteristics.

B

[adept]

Make an 8 bit NAND register from 8 D flip flops. You can even get fancy and add in enable pins, 0 pins, or anything else you think is useful. A whole 8 bit register is only 10 74HC00 Quad NAND Chips away! If you want to REALLY impress the women, make a 4 bit decoder from the 7400 IC series. You will want more than NAND because it gets excessively complicated using only NANDS after a while.
Anyway, it is way too cool that your high school offers that. My school doesn't even offer electronics as a dual credit at the university. I started the electronics club at my school, so I know lots of easy projects. For example, use a dual opamp to make a light following robot. (about 10 bucks from parts at radioshack...) Or a laser communicator using photocells and opamps. But yeah, have a heck of a lot of fun doing this project!