Rules: Projects must be done by groups of up to 3 students. Each group will demonstrate the project and submit a report. The report must consist of

1. Title Page
2. Summary of the project
3. Precise Problem Definition and assumptions
4. Solution Approach
1. Hardware design
2. List of components used
3. Software design
5. Assembly code
6. Results obtained
7. Conclusions, summarizing what you learnt in the project.

The projects are described below. The specifications are loose, giving considerable freedom to the students to make suitable assumptions and arrive at more precise specifications. You must state your assumptions and describe the precise specification of the project in your report.

All the components required for the projects may or may not be available in the lab. You may have to procure some of them on your own. This is part of the exercise!

Simple scrambling techniques will suffice. For example, if you wish to transmit a byte b = b7 b6 b5 b4 b3 b2 b1 b0, you could scramble the bits as b3 b2 b1 b0 b7 b6 b5 b4.

Assume that a periodic analog signal (say a sinusoidal signal) of frequency f in the range 100 Hz to 10,000 Hz is available. The exact frequency of the signal is not known. We wish to find the exact frequency (or time period) of the signal. We shall use the ADC on the HC08 kit to convert the analog signal to digital format. Assuming that the signal has no DC bias, the number of times the signal crosses the zero value in a second will help us in finding the frequency of the signal.

I suggest that you generate the sinusoidal signal using off-the-shelf components (say opamps, resistors, and capacitors, or other TTL circuits). This will avoid the use of signal generators.

A simple burglar alarm system is to be installed in a bank. It is a gadget that will be fixed on the locking system of the bank’s treasury. If a burglar beams his (or her) torch on the lock, an alarm is to be raised. We will need a simple sensor to detect the light from the torch. (You see, the bank turns off the normal lighting system in the room, so that the burglar is forced to use a torch.) You can use any simple sound alarm system in this experiment.

A stop clock with a digital display is to be constructed. The display is in MM SS format. The clock can be set to some value, say 3 minutes and 45 seconds. After setting the clock, we can press a "go" button, and the clock will begin a count down. When the time reaches 0, the clock stops. The digital display is to be refreshed every second.

Assume that morse coded input is available as a digital signal input. Assume 0V = no transmission, positive pulse of 1 clock duration is a dot, and a positive pulse of 3 clock duration is a dash. Thus, a ".-" will be transmitted as 0101110. Signal always returns to 0 in between symbols. Your system must accept such a signal, convert it to ASCII, and display it on a 7-segment display. Restrict the characters to A-F. Use six 7-segment displays and scroll the message if it is longer than 6 characters.

Your system should be capable of generating square waveforms, triangular waveforms, and sinusoidal waveforms of any desirable frequency. You can use analog components such as OPAMPs to shape the square waveform into triangular waveform.

Develop the experiment on Roulette game into a full project with appropriate keys for user interface. The user must be able to bet on LEDs of his/her choice, play the game, and look at the scores on a digital 7-segment display. Assume that the score can reach up to 99.

If you wish to propose a different project, talk to your lab instructor and get his approval. The project must use the HC08 microcontroller kit and associated hardware/software. You can choose applications from the areas of computers, communications, power electronics, power systems, or control. See the following cites for ideas!