The Marconi Challenge: Who Needs the IEEE MicroMouse?

Transcription

1 The Marconi Challenge: Who Needs the IEEE MicroMouse? Dennis Silage ECE Temple University

2 The Marconi Challenge Isn t t it time for a contemporary competition? Simple may be simply better!

3 The Long Road to the IEEE MicroMouse Mouse verses Maze problem using relay logic at MIT in 1950 First IEEE MicroMouse contest in 1979 with 15 microprocessor controlled entries IEEE Spectrum 1979

4 The Long Road to the IEEE MicroMouse 8 foot by 8 foot random maze Contest continues today with the same design objectives or variations IEEE Philadelphia Section 2000 MicroMouse Contest hosted by Temple University

5 The Long Road to the IEEE MicroMouse Commercial hardware MicroMouse and even software available from several sources Where s s the challenge?

6 The Long Road to the IEEE MicroMouse Perhaps the challenge lies only in the homebrew MicroMouse TU ECE 2001 MicroMouse with electronic compass for precise, rapid turning 2003 ASEE Conference

7 Time for a new competition? Something conceptually simpler for junior and senior high school outreach? It s s a wireless world with digital communication

8 Marconi Challenge Engineer s s Week 2001 competition for high school and college students

9 Guglielmo Marconi pioneered wireless telegraphy at a wavelength of about 1500 meters and succeeded in sending a RF signal with kilowatts of power across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901

10 The Marconi Challenge for high school students is to send an IR signal at a wavelength of about 950 nanometers with milliwatts of power to a detector over the largest distance

11 The Marconi Challenge for high school students limits the IR diode power dissipation but not the optical or electronic signal processing

12 Junior high school students Educational objective: DC circuit theory simple electronics semaphores

13 Junior high school students learn about: DC currents and voltages IR diodes: V f max, I f max power dissipation schematics and construction

14 Junior high school students construct an IR diode transmitter and experiment with power dissipation

15 Junior high school students construct an IR phototransistor receiver and experiment with sensitivity

16 Junior high school students construct the IR receiver with LED or buzzer detectors for semaphores

17 Junior high school students use lens to increase the sensitivity of the IR signal

18 Is the Marconi Challenge the crystal radio experience for today s youth?

19 Senior high school students Educational objective: advanced electronics digital communications

20 Senior high school students can be challenged with advanced electronic circuit design

21 Senior high school students can be challenged with serial data digital interfacing or modulated voice

22 Senior high school students can be challenged by optical processing with mirrors and lens AP Physics, School District of Philadelphia

23 Undergraduate ECE students can use OOK, M-ary PAM, FEC and DSP to improve the IR data transmission BER

24 Even If It s RF The Marconi Challenge for undergraduate ECE students can be extended to RF and microwaves

25 A Contest that Resonates with the Wireless World The Marconi Challenge can lead to capstone senior design projects for undergraduate ECE students

26 A Contest that Resonates with the Wireless World The Marconi Challenge is simple yet complex, intriguing and interesting, and inexpensive but expansive

27 The Marconi Challenge Website: Temple University Amateur Radio Club

28 The Marconi Challenge What is needed now: corporate support and societal sponsorship

29 Acknowledgement American Radio Relay League It s s not just for Morse code anymore!

30 The Marconi Challenge Questions, Comments?