CAREER EPISODE – 3

a) INTRODUCTION:
Road speed limits are used in most countries to set the maximum or minimum speed at
which vehicles may legally travel on particular stretches of road. Different zones have
different speed limits. Many of the drivers are unaware of these limits. This project aims
to make the drivers aware of speed limits of different zones by displaying the speed limit
when the vehicle enters a particular speed zone.

CE3.1
Dates: May 2015
Duration: 4 months
Location: Chengannur-689121
Name of the organization: College of Engineering
Position Title: SPEED ALERT SYSTEM

b) Background:
CE3.2 Nature of the overall engineering project : Speed limits are variable and they are
normally indicated on a traffic sign board. But in most cases, they are ineffective. Drivers
who are tired or otherwise distracted may allow their speeds to drift above the maximum
allowed for that road. Others may inadvertently miss a traffic sign alerting them to a change
in the speed limit, such as when entering a build-up area. So there must be a system to alert
the drivers while traveling.

CE3.3 Objective of the project : This project aims to monitor the local speed limit on a
road and to alert the driver if the vehicle’s speed is exceeding the local speed. A signal
corresponding to speed limit is transmitted from sign board at particular radio frequency
range. The receiver unit placed inside the vehicle receives the signal transmitted from the
region section. An alert signal will be provided if the vehicle’s speed is exceeding the local
speed limit on that particular zone.

CE3.4 Nature of your particular work area : This system comprises of mainly two
sections: region section and vehicle section. The speed limit of a particular zone is
transmitted to the vehicle in the region section. The transmitted limit is processed and
displayed on the LCD display in the vehicle section. The microcontroller processes the data
and the speed limit of the particular zone is displayed on the LCD display. The speed to be
compared is also fed to the controlling unit. The controller compares the current speed of
the vehicle and speed limit of the particular zone. If the current speed of the vehicle is
greater than the speed limit of the zone, an alert signal is provided. An alert signal is also
provided when the vehicle enters each zone. I have to develop the program to facilitate the
controller to identify the speed.

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CE3.5 Organizational structure chart : Guided by [Link]. Deepa Susan Jacob,
and coordinated by Prof. Liju Philip, this project was done with the help of
3 other colleagues

CE3.6 Statement of your duties : Developed the entire program that support the processor
and test successful in the project.

b) Personal Workplace Activity

CE3.7 Technical details of the work : Different speed limits corresponding to different
zones are encoded using HT12E encoder. It is an encoder IC of 2^12 series of encoders.
They are paired with 2^12 series of decoders for use in different applications. This encoded
data received by RF receiver are decoded using HT12D decoder. PIC
microcontroller(PIC16F873) is used as the controlling unit. The Program Memory and
Data Memory have separate buses so that concurrent access can occur. It has a 13 bit
program counter, capable of addressing an 8K×14 program memory space. It has a 4K ×
14 words of FLASH memory. RF transmitter & RF receiver along with buzzer.

CE3.8 How you applied your engineering knowledge and skills : With the knowledge
in MPLAB IDE v8.88(MPLAB IDE is a software program that runs on a PC to develop
applications for Microchip microcontrollers and digital signal controllers), Proteus 8
Professional(Proteus developed by Labcenter Electronics, is a software with which one
can easily generate schematic captures, develop PCB and simulate microcontrollers),
OrCAD(OrCAD is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design
automation (EDA). It provides a complete environment from initial schematic to final
artwork), PICkit 2(The PICkit 2 Development Programmer/Debugger is a low-cost
development tool with an easy to use interface for programming and debugging
Microchip’s Flash families of microcontrollers) and topics in my academics on
Microprocessor helped in achieving the project a success.

CE3.9 The tasks delegated to you and how did accomplish : Attain knowledge in KEIL
MicroVision([Link] The µVision IDE combines project
management, run-time environment, build facilities, source code editing, and program
debugging in a single powerful environment. µVision is easy-to-use and accelerates your
embedded software development. Develops the entire program and executed it.

CE3.10 Any particular technical difficulties/problems and how you solved them :
Integrating the program with the processor and attaining the results from the Radio
receivers and converting the same to the processable values to obtain the displayable
results. Ultimately identified the results on each section and integrated with precision
results in an efficient Speed Alert System

CE3.11 Strategies devised by you including any original or creative design work :
Initial program is developed for only identifying the results, I added more features which
tuned to identify multiple parameters from the receivers. This was achieved with the help
of my project partners and project coordinator.

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CE3.12 How you worked with other team members : Shared the overall project into 4
section which has, development of program, develop the PCB board and soldering of parts,
installation of RF receiver and transmitter section and Integrating the processor and
burning the coded program into it.

d) Summary
CE3.13 your view of the overall project : Speed alert system using PIC microcontroller
was designed, developed and made working properly. When the vehicle enters a particular
speed limit the four bit data corresponding to the limit of particular zone is received and is
displayed on the LCD display. The buzzer beeps when the speed limit of a particular zone
is displayed. The current speed of the vehicle is compared with the speed limit of particular
zone and an alert signal (buzzer beep) is provided if the vehicle speed exceeds the limit. A
voltage analogous to the vehicle speed is given.

CE3.14 how the project fared in meeting the goals/requirements : Finished the project
on right time and successfully evaluated and obtained the results The project was evaluated
under code EC805 (CUSAT University) and obtained 275 out of 300.

CE3.15 How your personal role contributed to the project : The knowledge acquired
from subjects like Microprocessor, Network theory and Design, MATLAB etc.
helped me to successfully complete the project.

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