PROTOTYPING CONTINUES…..
Our prototyping this week was based on the deliverables we had promised during the previous week's presentation. The deliverables for the training kit were to have a working power supply system, a working video system and a complete casing made out of wood. For the vein finder they were to come up with a circuit design, have the image processing system working and a 3D model of the system. The neonatal monitors deliverables were to have a complete circuit design and functionality of the sensor in detecting neonatal parameters.
On monday we met as a group to divide the work evenly between ourselves so we get the work done faster and efficiently. I was assigned to work on the Laparoscopic training kits lighting system, the vein finders power supply system and the respiration sensing mechanism. So firstly I hunted down all the sensors in the design studio that could be used to monitor respiration. I found an EMG sensor , 2 different kinds of force sensors and an accelerometer. I first started working on the EMG sensor. I first had to go back to research to see how I could implement this sensor to measure respiration rate. I discovered that diaphragmatic EMG could work. I then began setting up the sensor and got it to work. Then I also did research on what type of power supply the vein finder would need depending on the components.
On Tuesday I began testing the EMG sensor. I Had a lot of problems getting it stable because it had a lot of voltage fluctuations and was picking up a lot of noise which would make it hard to get proper readings for respiration rate.Brenald then helped me to get it working by discovering the source of the high noise. I ended up spending all day trying to get it to work properly.
On Wednesday morning I started working on the vein finders power supply circuit. I developed a battery powered circuit for this. In the afternoon I continued working on the EMG sensor. It still continued picking up noise from the environment then I finally decided to let it go and try a force sensor.
On Thursday morning I worked on the force sensor and developed a code for it to translate its readings to respiration rate. I had some glitches in the code but our TA Brenald helped me find the glitch and the force sensor finally worked to measure respiration rate. In the afternoon my group members and I then decided to meet up and put all the work we had done separately together. We connected all the circuits and came up with full projects. We of course had issues with the neonatal monitor circuit because the sensors started picking up noise and also experienced issues with the vein finders image processing in the microcontroller.
Lastly on friday we worked together as a group to ensure every circuit is working. We put a different resistor and added a capacitor to our circuit and sensors started reading proper values, we set up our Camera and display for the laparoscopic training kit and got it working. We also created a cardboard design to fit in our components for the vein finder and had it working. In the afternoon we then had presentations on all our 3 prototypes and added more deliverables to deliver the upcoming week.