WIRELESS BURGLAR ALARM
WITH THRU-BEAM OPTICAL SENSOR
***Remember the Project Kit for this class is sold separately***
Hey kids, tired of little brother or sister sneaking into your bedroom while you are away? How about making your own wireless burglar alarm! You will learn how to design and build the whole system yourself so you know exactly how it all works.
You will use a light-beam sensor that will trip the alarm if anyone breaks the beam. Then there are two computer chips that send and receive messages just like the internet. And of course, a wireless transmitter and receiver so you can be far away from your room and still know that the alarm went of. When you are done with the course, you will know how to design and build all kinds of things so you can experiment on your own later to improve the alarm system or better yet...invent something new! (An 8-bit wireless link!)
Students incrementally construct and iteratively refine their design of a wireless burglar alarm system with a thru-beam optical sensor. Hands-on exercises are used to develop an intuitive understanding of electrical fundamentals and the practical skill required to construct circuits on a solderless breadboard. Simple optics experiments demonstrate the behavior of lenses, focal length, and beam collimation. The students then build and optimize the optical beam sensors themselves. Several advanced topics are lightly presented such as packet protocols, CRC, RF data transmission.
This is an excellent first time Techsplorers course where students begin to see that they CAN understand technology--it isn't magic nor is it beyond their comprehension. They are guided by an experienced design engineer to understand the concepts intuitively and not to be intimidated by the mathematics and details which will come later.
The ultimate goal of the program is to instill the confidence to engage in self-directed experimentation at home to create their own inventions. This is the key to sustaining the passion for learning and creating a durable interest in technology.
More about Techsplorers Philosophy...
CONCEPT EXPOSURE:
- Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Systems Design
- Ohm's Law--Voltage, Current and Resistance
- Circuit Topologies--Parallel and Series Connection
- Kirchhoff's Current Law--Conservation of Charge
- Kirchhoff's Voltage Law--Conservation of Energy
- Data Transfer Protocol--Packet Formation, Cyclical Redundancy Check
- Snell's Law--Ray Optics, Concave and Convex Lens
- Focal Length--Beam Collimation
PRACTICAL SKILLS:
- Voltage, Current and Resistance Measurement with Multi-Meter
- Circuit Construction using Solderless Breadboard
- Electrical Schematics and Symbols
- Electrical Component Packaging and Pin Numbering
- Resistor Color Code
- Safe Battery Usage
- Wire Stripping