American University of Sharjah

College of Engineering
Department of Computer Engineering
NGN 110 - Introduction to Engineering
Developed by Dr.A.R.Al-Ali, Ms.Lalitha Murugan, Mr.Suresh Radder & Mr.Naveed Nawaz

Introduction to Computer Engineering

Objectives:
™ Introduce students to basics of computer engineering concepts and models.
™ Explain and demonstrate the functioning of an autonomous mobile robot system.
™ Demonstrate a FPGA based Electric Train Collision Control System.
™ Illustrate to students how to perform remote monitoring, controlling and supervising of home appliances
through the internet using World Wide Web.
Application No. 1 – Autonomous mobile robot system

Fig (1) shows the main components of an autonomous mobile robot system. The autonomous mobile robot system
consists of five sub- systems namely: Sensor subsystem, Robot motor drive subsystem, Interface subsystem,
Power subsystem, and Host processor subsystem.

Far left IR sensor

Far right IR sensor

Left IR sensor

Right IR sensor
Fig(1). Autonomous mobile robot system
Hardware components used:
Personal Computer, Autonomous mobile robot system, Mini Dragon, Micro-controller development board
Software components used:
Image Craft C (ICC) compiler and downloader software are used.
System Overview:
The sensor module consists of four infrared (IR) sensors designated as the far left, left, right, and far right sensors.
Each module consists of an infrared emitter and a detector. The emitter provides an infrared signal. Upon reflection
from an object, the detector senses the infrared signal. The detector can sense an obstacle from 5 cm to 40 cm.
The object detector cannot sense an obstacle if it is within 5 cm. The robot motor drive subsystem has two servo
motor driven wheels. The servo shaft is capable of traveling in the order of 180 degrees. The interface subsystem
consists of a prototype circuit board to link all electronic components together. The power subsystem provides off
board power from an external battery. The host processor subsystem consists of a Mini-Dragon board and a
microcontroller development board.
Procedure:
1. The algorithm of an autonomous mobile robot system following your hand will be shown to you.
2. The software code is written using C programming language and a set of C library functions using the ICC
Compiler.
3. The executable file is downloaded to the microcontroller using the downloader software.
4. The robot movement can be tested practically in the lab.

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Application No. 2- FPGA based Electric Train Collision Control System

Fig (2) shows all the components of the Altera DE2 development board. It is used for learning digital logic,
computer organization, and FPGAs. A FPGA is called Field Programmable Gate Array. The FPGA can be programmed
using the VHDL - Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language.

The Altera DE2 board can be used to design a FPGA -based Electric Train Collision Control system. This design can
be used with any Metro system to avoid train collisions. The Dubai Metro systems are being built using electrically
controlled relays.

Output LED’s
Output
LED’s
Input
Sensors

Fig(2). The Altera DE2 Development Kit

Hardware components used:
Personal Computer, Altera DE2 Board.
Software components used:
Quartus II 8.1, Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL)
System Overview:
The track layout of a small electric train system is shown in Fig (3). The small electric train system comprises of
two virtual trains – Train A & Train B, Five Sensors, Three Switches and Four Tracks.

Fig( 3) Track Layout with Input Sensors, Output Switches and Tracks
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The five sensors are used as inputs and they provide signals indicating the train’s exact position. The functions of
the controllers outputs are: to control the power to the tracks, the direction of the trains and the position of the
switches on the tracks. However, this system cannot control the speed of the two trains.
Procedure
1. The two virtual Trains- Train A and Train B have a common track called Track 2 as shown in Fig (3).
2. Suppose that the Train A is at Switch 3 and it moves counterclockwise. Also, assume that Train B is moving
counterclockwise and is at Sensor2.
3. When Train B enters the common track (Track 2), Train A must be stopped when it reaches Sensor 1 and
must wait until Train B has passed Sensor 3.
4. Now, Train A will be allowed to enter Track 2, and Train B will move toward Sensor 2 thus avoiding any
collisions.
5. The input sensors are identified by toggle switches as shown in Fig (2).
6. The outputs are identified by the red LED’s and green LED’s to confirm the directions and positions of the
two trains as shown in Fig (2).
7. The software code is written using the VHDL and is downloaded to the Altera DE2 board.
8. The video simulation shows the system performing the collision control for the two virtual trains.

Application No. 3 -Remote Monitoring and Control of Home Appliances

The WWW can be used to control home and office appliances, and industrial applications such as chemical plants,
petroleum projects, steel fabrication industry, etc. The control operation can be done either from your home
computer, office computer or through a mobile phone with internet connection. This experiment is designed to
demonstrate that systems can be supervised remotely using the university’s local area network (LAN) and the
gateway to Etisalat. The LAN consists of computers, switches, routers, cables and gateway interface to the service
providers.

Hardware components used:

Computer, NI-DAQ USB 6008 (National Instrument’s USB based Data Acquisition device), Relays, Decorative light,
Bell, Internet access points. The PC consists of microprocessor, Memory, input/output ports, display and large
storage devices such as floppy drives, hard disk, CD-ROM and DVD. The NI-DAQ USB 6008 has analog-to-digital
converters, Digital-to-Analog Converter, Digital inputs and Digital outputs ports.
Software components used: Internet Explorer 2, and Lab View V8.2

Laptop with wireless connection to internet

Server with NI-DAQ

Internet
Client

Relays
Decorative light
NI – DAQ USB 6008
Bell

Fig(4). NI-DAQ USB 6008 connected to the Decorative Light and Bell

NI-DAQ USB 6008 is plugged into the server computer and is connected to input terminals of the relays, and the
relays output terminals are connected to the decorative light and bell units as shown in Fig (4). Client and server
machines exchange information through the web (network) they are connected to.

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System Operation:
At the server machine, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or the Front Panel is developed using Lab View V8.2. A
snap shot of the GUI is shown in Fig (5).
1. The Graphical User Interface is used to turn ON/OFF either the decorative light or the bell. Clicking on
the light button can turn ON/OFF the decorative light.
2. Clicking the light button on the front panel generates a digital ON/OFF signal (0 volts or 5 volts) at the NI-
DAQ USB 6008. This digital signal activates the corresponding relay which in turn, switches ON/OFF the
decorative light.
3. Client machine can also get a snap shot of the front panel at the server, (See Fig (6)) by browsing the file
Light_Bell_Control.html using internet explorer.

Fig(5). Front panel at Server Fig(6). Image of Front panel at client

Procedure to test web based control system:
1. Open browser in the client machine.
2. Browse the link http://server_name/Light_Bell_Control.html
3. Click light button to either turn it on/off .Click on Bell button to turn it on/off.
Answer the following questions:
Application No. 1- (Autonomous Mobile Robot System):
1. List the main subsystems of the autonomous mobile robot system.
2. How many pairs of infrared sensors are available in the autonomous mobile robot system? Name all of
them.
3. What is the range of the IR detectors used in the autonomous mobile robot system?
Application No. 2- (FPGA based Electric Train Collision Control System):
1. What are the components of the small electric train system? Name all of them.
2. How many inputs are used in the electric train system? Where can you locate them on the DE2
board?
3. What are the three main functions of the controllers output?
Application No. 3-(Remote Monitoring and Control of Home Appliances):
1. What are the basic building blocks of the NI-DAQ USB 6008?
2. What are the devices used to exchange digital or analog signals between computer and external systems?
3. Is it possible to control processes through a computer connected to web?
4. What are the major components of local area networks?
Lab Report
Lab reports should be typewritten (word processor) with a font size of 12 using only one side of each page. Hand-
written reports are not acceptable. It should be handed over to the NGN 110 - Professor of the following week
before the beginning of the class.

Each informal report should contain:

1. Cover page - Title, Date, Names & ID’s of all in your group, Section#, Lab Instructor– Ms. Lalitha Murugan.
2. Abstract – A 100 –word paragraph- brief summary of the objectives, results and conclusions.
3. Table of Contents- Various sections in the report with page numbers.
4. Introduction –Background information about the application demos, purpose of the experiment etc.
5. Question responses – Answers to all of the above questions.
6. Conclusions – Conclusions are judgments made on the applications demos.

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 NGN 110
American University of Sharjah Spring 2009
Dr. Fadi Aloul
College of Engineering (Coordinator)
P.O. Box 26666
Sharjah, UAE

Components of Lab Reports in NGN 110

1. Title Page
This is the first page of the report. It contains: (a) course name and number, (b)
Experiment title, (c) names and I.D. #’s of Team members, (d) the Lab Instructor’s
name who assigned the work, and (e) and submittal Date.

2. Abstract
This is a 100-word paragraph that includes a brief summary of the objectives,
results and conclusions of the report.

3. Table of Contents
The table of contents includes the various sections of the report with their
corresponding page numbers within the report.

4. Introduction
This section states some background information about the topic, the purpose of
the experiment, scope of the study and applicability of the expected results.

5. Results
The Results section contains those facts or answers that you obtained in your
experiment/demonstration after all necessary corrections and calculations are
made, either from direct measurements or calculations based on measurements.

6. Discussions of Results
In this section, the writer provides the foundation upon which his/her conclusions
will rest. Under this heading the writer will comment upon the validity of the results
and make comparisons with typical values for the measured parameters.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions are judgments made on the results mentioned earlier.
Recommendations are suggested based on the conclusions.

8. References
List of all references stated within the report. References may be listed in either
alphabetical order or numbered in the order they are cited within the report

9. Appendix
This section allows you to include all data collected, sample calculations, data
forms, and other information that is important to the report but may not be
included within the body of the report.