College project help

[El_hen]

Hello,

I am in my 3rd and final year of college for Electronics Technologist Diploma. I have a project to work on starting next January 2015.

I would appreciate your help choosing a simple project that DOES NOT involve Micro-controller.

First let me start by saying this:
- There no more than 15 people in each class. No one shows any interest in working with a partner at all. All students reside considerably far away from school so meeting up off school hours is not an option (based on previous experiences)
-We have absolutely no outside classroom support from teachers nor tutors
-The project does not have to involved a high level of complexity (which is excellent)

Here is some of the ideas I have in mind:
1- Mixer (using a PLC Siemens S7 200 cpu) I was thinking of having writing a simple code which could give you 3 to 4 options to make mixtures of any kind of liquid like paint for example.

2- Alarm System (using a couple sensors perhaps I can simulate a room with doors and windows which can be used to trigger alarm)

3- AM transmitter and receiver (perhaps build a transmitter and receiver from scratch and be able to modulate a signal that can be demodulated by the receiver like voice, as simple as that)

Please help me out by brainstorming. The point is to demonstrate the project works and that involves some of the knowledge learned in school. This is not a project that is going to provide me with a job in the industry, I just want to get the mark and be able to graduate.

Thank you everyone!

 

[cowboybob]

Welcome, El_hen, to ETO!

I would assign to your list of options an order of increasing difficulty of 2, then 1 and then 3.

But before I suggest anything, it would be useful to know how you would assign the degrees of difficulty.

Also, what area(s) of your learning most captured your interest? Might as well select a project that has, at least, the appearance of fun...

 

[DerStrom8]

You say you want a project that demonstrates what you have learned in class, but you have not told us what you have learned. How are we supposed to help you there?

 

[crutschow]

Do you have a preference whether the project is primarily analog or primarily digital?

 

[misterT]

1- Mixer (using a PLC Siemens S7 200 cpu) I was thinking of having writing a simple code which could give you 3 to 4 options to make mixtures of any kind of liquid like paint for example.

If you can combine that idea with a color sensor (RGB leds with light intensity sensor) which reads a color sample and then mixes paint that matches the sample ("close enough").. then you have something impressive. (And from your post, I think you can do it, not easy, but the work is doable for you I think.)

 

[El_hen]

To answer some of the questions above, I have learned a number of high level languages like C, programs like PLC, LabView, Xilinx-ISE a lot of Analog circuits (amplifiers, transformers, AC to DC etc) Electric motors, Logic like Binary counters etc. AM FM modulation, transmitters receivers just to name what comes to my head right now.

I would like to involve some some wireless data transfer in my project for example using a wireless Modem, perhaps collect some data which can be transfer to a computer which then updates the stored information. So here I think I will be using sensors to activate or trigger, data collected to be transmitted wireless and add some programming to the update of the data collected.

I will say I will have not much preference on being more analog than digital but, I am trying to avoid the use of a Micro-controller since that is not my strongest skill.

MisterT your idea sounds very nice. To be honest with you I have never heard of the color sensor before so that means I will have to do a bit of a research about it ( I am on it) Thanks a lot.

I will wait for more of your input guys

 

[dr pepper]

A paint mixer using a colour sensor demonstrates your ability to program a step 7, which is usefull for industry, and the colour sensor would also demsontrate your ability in electronics - sounds like a good idea.