EEL 4924 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN (SENIOR DESIGN) PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT 27 JANUARY 2011

SMART PRESENTATION REMOTE

TEAM MEMBERS

Margaret G ARVAN

Samuel S MITH

PROJECT ABSTRACT
The Smart Presentation Remote will be a remote control to enable those giving presentations using software packages such a Microsoft PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org Impress a novel method to control their presentations and have access to extra information while presenting in a small, handheld hardware package. The remote will feature the ability to advance back and forth through slides in a similar manner to commercially-available remotes allowing the presenter to easily set the pace of their presentation. It will also have an integrated MEMS accelerometer that will be used to control the mouse cursor, allowing the presenter to interact with the presentation without moving to a computer. The most important feature that will differentiate our product with other solutions is a small LCD screen on the remote that gives the presenter information pertaining to time management, slide number, and additional notes pertaining to the current slide not visible to the audience. The Smart Presentation Remote will be implemented with an Atmel AVR XMEGA microcontroller. This microcontroller will interface with an LCD screen, Bluetooth module, and accelerometer. The host computer will run software to communicate with the device over Bluetooth. The initial target host platform will be Microsoft Windows 7 running Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010. Compatibility with other host operating systems and presentation software could be implemented if time permits. The device and host will implement communications over a Bluetooth serial COM port to allow both compatibility with a wide range of devices and ease of development.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 2/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

CONTENTS
Abstract........................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Preliminary Design report ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 27 January 2011 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Project Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Features and Technical Objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Concept and Technology Selection ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Flowcharts and Diagrams..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Division of Labor .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Gantt Chart .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Cost Objectives .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 References ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Materials and Resources.................................................................................................................................................... 10

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Block Diagram .............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Division of Labor .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Gantt Chart .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 3/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

INTRODUCTION
Presentations made with Microsoft PowerPoint and similar programs have become an important part of modern life for virtually all cases in which information needs to be effectively conveyed to an audience, whether in a conference room or in a classroom. In all cases, the presenter must control the flow of the presentation in some way. In most cases this is done by standing in front of a computer and using a mouse and keyboard at a fixed console. In many cases, a presenter can give a more exciting and immersive presentation if he or she has freedom of motion during the presentation. The Smart Presentation Remote will enable this and provide a better experience for both the presenter and the audience. A number of commercial presentation remote solutions already exist. A trip to any electronics store will reveal that simple remotes that only allow the presenter to advance and reverse slides can be had ranging in price from $50 to $100. While these remotes are easy to use and meet the needs of many people, power users continue to demand products with more features. There are presentation remote applications that run on smartphones like Android and iPhone. These applications add integration with the presentation software and enable features impossible with simple remotes such as being able to view the notes page for each slide. These applications, however, require an expensive smartphone to run on and rapidly deplete the phones battery. As a solution, we offer the Smart Presentation Remote, a discrete presentation remote that provides advanced features and integrates with popular presentation software.

FEATURES AND TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES

The Smart Presentation Remote is the fusion of a hardware remote with a host computer server. Listed succinctly our technical objectives fall under the categories of hardware specifications and host computer software. We also provide a comparison of our product with existing commercial solutions.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 4/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

REMOTE HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS AND POWER CONSUMPTION

Our product will integrate a number of electronic components into a compact form factor. One feature of the remote will be the ability to control the mouse on the computer. This will be accomplished using a triple-axis accelerometer which provides a digital-14 bit output signal via a 4-wire SPI or IC interface. In standard operating mode, the accelerometer consumes approximately 650 A and runs at 3.3 V. We will be using a Rayson BTM-182 Bluetooth module to interface with the host computer over a virtual COM port interface. Bluetooth was chosen as it is both relatively simple to implement and compatible with a wide range of computer systems. The Bluetooth module runs at 3.3 V and consumes 58 mA of current during transmission at peak power, while consuming far less during other operations. A distinguishing feature of our product is that it has an on-remote display. The LCD display on the remote is a Nokia 6100 with 128x128 resolution. The Nokia 6100 LCD module consumes 324 mA at 3.3 V. Our microcontroller will be the Atmel AVR Xmega (ATxmega128A1). This chip was chosen because it has a large number of USARTs and consumes a minimal amount of power. It can also be easily programmed using a free GNU-based toolchain. The Xmega consumes 18.4 mA at a nominal supply voltage of 3.0 V. Finally, we will have a laser pointer on our handheld unit. This will be separated from the rest of the electronics and will have a simple analog circuit controlling it. As we have not yet determined what type of laser diode to use, power consumption is unknown, though most laser pointers consume no more than 10 mW of power. We expect our device to be able to run for several hours on standard AA or AAA rechargeable batteries.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 5/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

HOST COMPUTER SOFTWARE

The host computer will run an application to receive data from the remote and convert this data into keystrokes and mouse movements to control the presentation. Additionally, it will process information from Microsoft PowerPoint and send it to the remote. Microsoft provides a robust and extensive API to communicate with PowerPoint using the .NET Framework. Our driver software will be written in the C# programming language using Microsoft Visual Studio to best take advantage of these APIs. Communications will take place over a virtual COM port implemented by the Windows Bluetooth stack. Using this framework will allow us to rapidly interface our host computer with the microcontroller utilizing techniques similar to those covered in our microprocessors applications course. While our device will initially only be compatible with the Windows operating system and PowerPoint software, we plan to design and document the communications protocol in such a manner that our product will be easily adaptable to a wide range of operating systems and office software packages. Theoretically, our serial protocol will be completely platform agnostic and could be implemented on any platform implementing a Bluetooth stack.

COMMERCIAL ALTERNATIVES
A number of commercial alternatives currently exist to the Smart Presentation Remote. A number of manufacturers make simple 2.4 GHz remotes that simulate key presses to advance slide, blank the screen, and perform a number of other very basic functions in PowerPoint. While gyroscopic computer mice have existed for over ten years, the interface was made popular by the Nintendo Wii game console controller. A number of guides exist on the Internet for using a Wii controller with a vibrating structure MEMS gyroscope add-on (Wii MotionPlus) as a gyroscopic mouse that can be used to control PowerPoint. There are applications for both the iOS (iPhone) and Android mobile computing platforms that allow presenters to view some parts of the presentations on their mobile phone with extra metadata such as slide notes and timing while giving a presentation. Our research has not uncovered any discrete device that that enables this functionality. This will differentiate our product from all commercially available solutions.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 6/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

CONCEPT AND TECHNOLOGY SELECTION

The technologies chosen in our project have been carefully considered to provide the maximum possible user experience and also provide ease of development. We have chosen to implement our project using Bluetooth. Bluetooth is the standard interface for wireless peripherals on modern computer devices. It is also relatively easy to implement using a small radio interfaced with a microcontroller. We have chosen the Atmel Xmega as our microcontroller. We chose the Xmega because it has an abundance of USARTs and has high quality free development tools. To control the mouse we chose to use an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope based upon the success of this technology in the Nintendo Wii. We chose to use Microsoft Visual C# and the .NET Framework to implement the software because it offers a rich software library and integration into Microsoft PowerPoint. This will enable us to integrate our remote driver directly with Office. No additional conversion steps before launching PowerPoint will be required.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 7/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

FLOWCHARTS AND DIAGRAMS

Remote

BMA180 Triple Axis Accelerometer

Serial

Atmel ATxmega128A1 Microcontroller

Serial

Nokia 6100 LCD (128x128)

Rayson BTM-182 Bluetooth Module

Serial

Laser Pointer

Computer

Windows Bluetooth Stack

Microsoft PowerPoint

Office API

Serial API

Bluetooth

Remote Driver Application

Windows API

Mouse Pointer Control

Figure 1 Project Block Diagram

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 8/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

DIVISION OF LABOR

Margaret Garvan Preliminary Research Purchasing Components Documentation Initial Component Testing Microcontroller Programming Driver Programming Board Design Housing Design Manual Assembly Testing and Debugging Final Presentation
Table 1 Division of Labor

Samuel Smith 50 50 50 50 30 80 50 50 40 50 40

50 50 50 50 70 20 50 50 60 50 60

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 9/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

GANTT CHART

COST OBJECTIVES
We expect to spend no more than $500 on our project including materials purchased for testing purposes. The target price for the final device will be around $100.

REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Bluetooth Module http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/BTM182.pdf ATxmega128A1 Product Card http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4298 Office Development in Visual Studio http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vsto/default Nokia 6100 LCD Driver http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/Nokia%206100%20LCD%20Display%20Driver.pdf Nintendo Wii Controller with Accelerometer and Gyroscopes http://www.nintendo.com/wii/console/controllers Kensington Wireless Presenter Remote http://us.kensington.com/html/11189.html Apple Keynote Remote for iPhone http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote-remote/id300719251?mt=8 Android PowerPoint Remote http://www.pptremotecontrol.com/

UNIVERSITY OF FLORID A ECE EEL 4924C SPRING 2011

PAGE 10/10

PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

We have currently purchased the following products from Sparkfun. We expect the final device to have similar, but not necessarily identical components. It is likely we will have to purchase a gyroscope in addition to these parts.

1 - $34.95 - WRL-09977 - Bluetooth DIP Module - Rayson BTM-182 1 - $29.95 - SEN-09723 - Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - BMA180 1 - $34.95 - LCD-08600 - Color LCD - Breakout Board 1 - $24.95 - BOB-09546 - XMega100 Breakout

Subtotal : $124.80 Shipping/Handling : $11.78 Grand Total : $136.58