Prototype Presentation

Proposal for RFID Card Project
Title: Customized house
Idea: Concept is to control the house using an RFID Tag.

I wouldn’t say I wasn’t prepared for the presentation but I think I could’ve added a few more points to clear what exactly I am doing for my final Project. I’m designing an affordable version of Smart Homes using an RFID Card. Just like Smart Homes this house will have loads of cabling going round the house. My house for this project will be made from Card board. The house will look something like the picture below.

Exhibitions

I spend the day in Central London visiting a few places.

1. The Curve – Barbican

The curve was purely and interactive project. The curve was based on several projections and all of them had sets of speaker which were playing different radio stations. As soon as one would walk in front of the screen the system could define the figure and draw a red line around the shadow of one on the screen. Depending on how close one was to the screen or walking in a direction left to right/ right to left, the radio stations changed. Several people could walk into one screen but then I don’t know how that would work as there weren’t many people around for me to see how the radio stations would crash into each other all at the same time.

2. Under Scan – Trafalgar Square

Because I went to Trafalgar Square around 4-5pm so I didn’t get a very good video of the work that was displaying there. As there was still some sunlight around, and the work was based on projections on the ground, the movement in the video can’t be seen properly. I personally feel that the projection is of a saved film/ clip that keep on repeating rather than it being interactive with the movement around cause by humans walking on the ground.

3. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer - Haunch of Venison London

Less Than Three

The gallery only exhibiting 7 pieces of work held a very attractive interactive art work. It was based on light and sound. You would say a word into a telecom and lights would turn on and go round in their designed shape and then you would hear the word back but with a different pitch of volume. It was called ‘Less Than Three’ and described as LED strips, 2 intercoms, computer dimming racks.

Pulse Tank

This was a tank that contained water in a dark room described as Ripple tank, heart rate sensors, solenoids, computer, spotlight, custom software and hardware, pump and chlorine.
The tank hand sensors around it which detected the heart beat rate and made ripples in water according to it.

4. Lisson Gallery – Edgeware Road.
The Gallery was under maintenance so I couldn’t have a look at the work the gallery was holding.

under Scan and Less Than Three Pictures

Under Scan

Less Than Three

Video

Coffeecation

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-5hlOsnnU&NR=1

The Video coffeecation is purely interactive as well as engaging. It’s like an open blog/diary. Anyone who visits the restaurant can write what they desire to, any anyone sitting on the same table can go through it later. The idea is very exciting and attractive. I personally would like to visit a place like that, read what others have written and share how I feel at that time too.

Videos all from youtube.com

Sadi rfid project HUE – leave and plate project

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CdQ7zI_EphI&feature=related

I think this video is the most interesting video of FRID that I have come across because they have presented in a good layout, one can’t see the mess of wires and other stuff they might have used. As the video is in Chinese I didn’t understand a word but what I did guess from watching it is that, the leaves in water create different noises. The leaves must have a chip inside them and once they are in water they chip triggers off and makes the already saved tunes on the chip.

'Full Moon' SADI RFID Interaction Design Project
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yMDz5xAkltU&feature=related
Though this is a casual video but seems like a radio tuner to me. The lady uses her RFID card to activate some kind of recording.

Working Seven Segment Display

Circuit with one Switch

Final sketch of my mini project

Circuit Map

Projects based on RFID

Takeawayfestival 08 - RFID projects

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PvN56qMZxCY

The project that I like from that video is when you touch your Oyster card to the RFID card Reader it takes your picture and Displays it on the second screen. I think the designers are using RFID as a switch which activates when the card is scanned and takes a quick snap and delivers it to the second screen.

Takeawayfestival 08 RFID - overview 1

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FfGTJcBm6B8&feature=related

The video contains details of what RFID card is, how it’s used and where it can be used.

My Rough Idea for Final Project

My influence is from the Book:

Making Things Talk
By Tom Igoe

ISBN-10: 0-596-51051-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51051-0

Project Title: Reading Tags in Processing

Page number 308-315

The project is based on FRID reader, where once the RFID chip is scanned through the reader, it activates the lights of the room and once the reader cannot read the tag it turns the lights off.

The project is in quite detail.

I am planning to design a RFID card reader which would display the results on a screen.

What is RFID?

RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification.

RFID is a scanning antenna with a transceiver and a transponder.

The short form refers to small electronic devices that consist of a small chip and an antenna. The chip on average is capable of carrying 2,000 bytes of data or less.

The RFID device has the same purpose as a magnetic strip on the back of a credit card or ATM card or a bar code; it provides a unique identifier for that object/person. And, just as a bar code or magnetic strip must be scanned to get the information, the RFID device must be scanned to recover the identifying information.

The common problem with RFID is that the reader collision occurs when the signals from two or more readers overlap.

RFID technology has been available for more than fifty years, but is in use more today than it was five decades ago.

Some differences between RFID and Barcode are:
· RFID are more expensive than barcodes.
· RFID tags have read/write capability (Oyster Card), whereas information cannot be added on barcodes.
· RFID tags can be read at much greater distance than barcodes.
· RFID tags work faster than Barcodes.

Thinking about the technology being secure would be the next question and the answer to that is No. The invasion to an RFID only requires an appropriately equipped scanner.
I guess this is where chip and pin comes in. The only way to keep the chip and data safe is to add a pin/ password to it.

RFIDs have many uses, such as animal/human tracking, credit-cards, keeping track of heavy duty containers and many more.

RFID inside a living body (animal/human).

People have been implanting RFIDs inside them for various reasons. The chips are cased in such a way that they don’t react or irritate but moves around under the skin. The size of the RFID chip which is inserted into the body is usually the size and diameter of a grain of rice, which is inserted with a hyperdermic-type needle.

Image from http://blog.makezine.com/rfidtag.jpg

Seven Segment Display

http://www.electrofriends.com/articles/8051_programs/seven_seg/7_seg_pin_config.gif

Sketch 1

Black box is the touch sensitive case.

Every time the button is pressed, message appears. This will require no sensors (less coding).

I can use the switch code for the button on the box and link the screen with the button.

Mini Project based on Arduino

For the mini project I will be making a touch sensitive box which will display a message or a word once touched. For this project I’ll be using a seven segment display screen and a motion sensor. The sensor will be attached to the box so every time one picks up the box a message will appear.

The box will hide all the wiring, no USB connection will be visible, and as this is the requirement of the exercise. The idea is to engage the user with the design.

For wireless technology such as Bluetooth, Infrared there is another type of Arduino but I’ll be using the old technology of Arduino as I don’t require my Arduino to be wireless.

Purpose of the project is to get back into the Arduino and try new codes for ourselves. Try the sensors and come up with something small but realist.

The only interactivity in the mini project will be to pick the box to see what comes up on the display screen.

What is Arduino?

According to www.arduino.cc/ Arduino is an open- source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino is a simple physical computing platform based on input/output board.Arduino can be connected to software’s like Macromedia flash, Pure Data, Processing, Supercollider on your computer. The programming language used for Arduino is C/C++.Arduino software is an integrated development environment cross platform Java application which acts as a code editor and is also able of transferring firmware successively to the board.

Experimental Media Journal

“Sensors allow for the representation of a physical sense within a constructed digital equivalent reality.”

Experimental Media is a combination of two level 5 modules of the degree. Fusion of Maverick Machines and Network Aesthetics, together taking it up to a higher level is Experimental Media.
Maverick Machines was based upon physical side of the computers whereas; Network Aesthetics was about creating an application which was network based.
Ideas for this module are following:

1.Use oyster card technology and make a reader using Arduino board.

Function: Use it in hotels/cruises etc. A card is given to every customer and all their food bills/drinks/shopping, inside the hotel/cruise can be added to it and before departing you pay the bill by showing the outstanding balance on the card. The card would contain your details such as name, room number and receipt numbers of all the bills.

2.Attach a wireless camera to remote control machine and view the scene through your computer.

Function: Attach a wireless webcam to a remote controlled machine such as a toy and programme it so I can view whatever the webcam can see. Take it to another room and see what others are doing without them knowing. The remote controlled machine doesn’t need to be a toy it can be Arduino based on four wheels which are controlled by a remote/ Wii remote. Attach sensors to make it more interesting. The result will depend on the quality of the camera and distance, as there are a lot of interferences in the environment. Example, Mobile phones.

3.Create an interactive screen

Function: Use the screen as tablet and create a pen for it. So instead of having pen tablets I will be using pen on the screen or use the pen on projections.

As the university is taking part in the bid for the Olympics, we are offered to design any program that can be valuable in Olympics. If the design is complete and of any good, it will be funded and will be taken for the Olympics. I think this is a grand opportunity to be taken account off and a great boost for the CV.

My idea for the Olympics is based on the security of the people.

Everyone that enters the arena should be given a tag in form of a bracelet, which is tightening to their wrist. The bracelet will have the name and block/seat number written on it. The tag/chip inside the bracelet will also contain data such as the name, block/seat number but this is not it. The chips will have sensors in it. The arena will be full of camera and with the cameras the sensor detectors can be placed, every detector covering a certain distance. If a person can’t be located through camera, the next option to find the person would be sensor detector. The detector will detect the sensor and show the position in the arena. The entire detector will indicate who is in a certain distance. So for instance one needs to find where seat number 603 is, all the detectors will show the numbers of the tags in there distances and seat number 603 can be located through the bracelet.

All of this will be shown on a large screen or many small screens depending on how the viewer wants it to be.

Book references: ‘Computer in the Art Room’ by Catherine Mason
‘Making things Talk’ by Tom Igoe
Recommended web links: www.gis.net/
http://mazine.ws/
RjDjme on www.youtube.com
Takeaway Festival on www.youtube.com
http://www.thishappened.org/