Laser Integrated Digital Turnstile

Project Name: Laser Integrated Digitized Turnstile

Team Name: The Cool Coders (Team #56)

Members: Jeremy Quintana (EE), Cameron Napoli (CSE), Raymond Wang (CSE)

Mentor: Professor Henry Lee (EECS)

URL: http://srproj.eecs.uci.edu/projects/laser-integrated-digital-turnstile
 

Goal Statement
The goal of this research is to introduce and create a wireless optoelectronic device that monitors the real-time flow of people or objects through any given entryway or pathway. This embedded device will be connected via the TCP/IP network stack and can be clustered on a WiFi network. The devices will be paired to a back end web server that will handle the collection and aggregation of data, calculations for reporting, updates to the database, as well as handling requests from the GUI web application. Users will be able to interact with the devices through the web application to retrieve their data analytics. This will provide clients a cheap and effective alternative to current applications of turnstiles and count metrics.
 

Background
          The Laser Integrated Digitized Turnstile offers an innovative way to monitor pedestrian traffic through an establishment using optical sensors. Each device will incorporate laser optics and an embedded system that will all interconnect wirelessly to a web-based user interface where the traffic can be monitored. Its applications fall under the concept of Internet of Things, where it can function as a wireless mechanism for use in data mining for commercial business settings. This data can provide the macro-level congestion times for an establishment and also provide case studies of specific entrance and exits from person to person using timestamps. This idea can be commercially used by many establishments who wish to monitor the flow of business and correspondingly make adjustments to achieve optimal results. There can be other uses by means of security and privacy where the amount of people in a building, sector, or room can be monitored in real time through a wireless user interface such as a computer or mobile device.
          The forerunner of this concept comes from expired patent US20030179127, also known as People Counter, where it introduces a local device to monitor the entrance and exit of people through one entryway. We wish to build on this technology by integrating this concept into wireless communications while developing a physical architecture that is able to measure multiple people passing through one entryway simultaneously.

Approach
          To build this system, we utilized microcontrollers, photodetectors, laser technology, and a server in conjunction to form a network of devices that can be monitored collectively through a web user interface. For the hardware design, we started with using an Arduino Uno MCU board as the core of the architecture. We used photodiodes with optical filters focused around infrared wavelengths as the sensing input of the device. To pair with the sensor, we have red laser planted on the opposite edge of an entryway to function as a passive tripwire pairing with the photodetector. To diverge from the expired patent technology, we wanted to make an Internet of Things device with wireless applications. This device will use a wireless interface to connect to a network server that can pair with multiple devices simultaneously. Users can access the devices through a web-based application and change the settings and configurations of each device to suit their needs. Through the web-based application, users can also customize reports to provide the data analytics that may be beneficial to their business and needs.
         We would like to explore methods of scaling the system and obtain feedback on what the needs of small businesses are. This device has potential to be developed as an integration for larger scale business metric systems. Developing subsystems for larger software systems currently on the market has proven to be a successful model for developing software applications and breaking into the market with new technology. To clarify how successful the integration software model is, we can look at the software for the Sonos speaker. The company developed integrations for all the major streaming platforms (Spotify, Soundcloud, Pandora, …) and now it is one of the most successful commercial speaker companies on the market. Once our technology is proven, we would like to explore making a similar attempt at designing our system to integrate with current business metric solutions and find a niche that needs to be filled.
 

Team Members & Responsibilities

Professor Henry Lee: (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)

-Faculty Advisor

Jeremy Quintana  (Electrical Engineering)

-Team Leader

-Hardware Development

Cameron Napoli (Computer Science & Engineering)

-Backend Server Development

Raymond Wang

-Webapp Software Development
 

Gantt Chart

Implemented Technologies
Hardware
-ESP8266 D1 Mini NodeMCU Development Board
-TI OPT101 Monolithic Photodiodes for sensors
-D1 Mini Lithium Battery Charging Board
-EBL 18650 Li-Ion Rechargeable Batteries
-5mW Red Laser Diodes
-Arduino IDE in C language to code the physical device
     -HTTP Request for communications to the server
     -WiFiManager for easy WiFi configuration
     -DeepSleep for power conservation during idle times
-Solidworks for 3D enclosure design
-3D printed enclosure using Fused Deposition Modeling Printer
     -Polylactic Acid biodegradable thermoplastic

Backend Server
- MySQL Database
- Python
- Flask Web server
- AWS for server and database deployment

Frontend Application
-Bootstrap v4.0
-AngularJs v1.X
-ChartJs
-Gulp
 

Physical Device
Part of the design features an internet connected device to monitor traffic through a specific region in space.

Virtual Portal
System users can access their data through a web application portal. This allows them to view their live data & report metrics.

Applications
This device can have applications in private and business settings. These include home security and retail data analytics. In addition, this device can have applications with car management and parking. These include traffic and parking monitoring. The general system structure for all applications is detailed below.

Future Improvements
-Implemented a feature that can distinguish multiple persons or objects at the same time. Possible methods:
     -Multiple sensors with an algorithm
     -Camera sensor
     -Laser scattering sensors with different wavelength spectral responsivities
-Using laser scattering detection instead of direct laser detection for ease of installation
-Batter improvements to increase power efficiency
     -3V3 voltage regulator to prevent power loss in built in step down regulator
-Better deep sleep cycles with GPIO interrupts to maximize battery life
     -Save data in RTC memory to prevent memory loss during sleep
-Use of IR lasers instead of red
     -More discrete and aesthetically acceptable
-Laser modulation
     -Modulate laser receiver and transmitter to completely filter out noise for better sensitivity

References
[1] Weinand, Hans-Theo. People Counter. 2 July 2002.
[2] tzapu, WiFiManager, (2015), GitHub repository, https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager
[3] yoyoerx, 6mm Tilt and Rotate Laser Diode Holder, (2017), 
     Thingiverse, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2721351