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AS Coursework

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AS Coursework:
Intro
Aa
Ab
Ac
Ad
Ae, Ca
Af
Ag
Ba
Bb
Bc
Bd
Be
Bf
Bg
Bh, Bi
Cb, Cc
Cd
Ce
Cf
Da
Db
Dc

These pages give examples of the type of work you need to do for each section of your project and report.

The examples come from many different projects. They can not be combined to make an AS Report!

The codes like Aa, Bd, Cb are used for marking your work. These are each worth 2 marks if you complete them properly and don't leave out important work.

Section A is for planning, design and most importantly - write a good specification including planned tests.
Section B is for building subsystems, testing the inputs and outputs and explaining how the subsystems work.
Section C is for testing the complete circuit and most importantly - complete the planned tests from your specification.
Section D - Make sure you have a good Bibliography. Otherwise no more writing is needed but marks are given for ...

Good Photos.
Clear Diagrams.
A Fully Labelled Circuit Diagram.
Good Spelling.
Good Punctuation.
Good Grammar.
Well Organised Report.
Good use of Technical Language.

AS Ideas

Projects must solve a problem. Projects must contain at least three active devices.

Some Recent AS Project Titles

Amplifier Overload Prevention
Audible Seatbelt Warning Device
Audible Warning when a Door is Opened
Audio Amplifier Overload Detector
Audio Amplifier with Bass and Treble Control
Audio Phasing Effect
Automatically Turn On Car Headlights with a Buzzer Alert
Bath Water Level Sensor
Battery Voltage Tester - Audible Output
Board Game Random Number Generator
Capacitance Meter
Car Alarm
Cat Food Dispenser
Combination Lock
Computer Cooling Fan
Computer Fan Controller with Overheat Alarm
Control a the Temperature of a Greenhouse
Cooling Fan for Xbox 360
Count Model Car Laps
Dalek Sound Effect
Disable a Smoke Alarm for xxx Minutes
Door Mat Pressure Mat Alarm
Door Not Closed Alarm
Door Open Alarm
Doorbell with Sound Effect
Egg Timer

Egg Timer with Buzzer
Electronic Dice with a Seven Segment Display
Fish Bite Alarm
Fish Tank Temperature Controller
Game Show Buzzer System with Contestant Recognition
Garage Intruder Alarm
Greenhouse Heater Controller
Greenhouse Light Sensor with Alarm
Guitar Tuner
Fish Tank Light Control
Frozen Road Alarm
Headlights - Alarm to Tell a Driver to Turn on the Headlights
Headphone Amplifier
Human Reaction Timer
Ice Alarm for a Car Driver
Intruder Detector
LED Pulsing Lights
Left and Right Indicators for a Bike Including Sound
Light Activated Rear Cycle LED Lights
Metronome
Moped Speed Limit Warning
Motion Sensing Security Light
Music from a 4017 chip
Overheating Fish Tank Alarm
Pelican Crossing Lights Controller
Refrigerator Temperature Alarm

Remove Vocals from Stereo Music
Seismograph
Sending Text Over an Audio Link
Sending Music or Data Over a Light Beam
Sending Music or Data Over an Infra-red Beam
Sending Music or Data Over an Ultrasound Beam
Small Animal Detector / Trigger a Trap or Camera
Smoke Alarm - (didn't work well)
Sound Activated Switch
Sound to Light Converter
Sparring Round Timer
Speedometer
Street Light Controller
Temperature Based Fan
Tilt Sensor
Timed Parking Lights
Timed Porch Light
Timed Stair Lights
Timer up to 99 Minutes
Traffic Lights Controller
Two Way Intercom
Ultrasonic Proximity Alarm
Visual Door Bell for the Hearing Impaired
Vivarium Temperature Controller
Warn the Driver if the Headlights Should be On

Practical Investigations

Not all the projects above have obvious or sensible practical investigations.
Here are some fairly straightforward practical investigations that might be useful in some of the projects ...

How loud does the sound need to be?
What is the output voltage of the Electret microphone for normal speech?
What is the best buzzer audio frequency to use?
What is the resistance of the LDR at XXXX Lux?
What value is XXXX Lux?
What is the resistance of the Thermistor at XXXX degrees?
How long does it take to boil an egg?

More Project Ideas

Measure Temperature And ...

Generate a warning for ...
garden frost
fridge too warm
freezer is too warm
fish tank temperature outside a safe range
vivarium is too warm / cool
Control ...
a computer cooling fan
a greenhouse heater
a conservatory heater
a hedgehog hibernation box temperature
Many more similar examples

Measure The Light Level And ...

Warn a driver. The headlights should be on.
Turn on lights when it gets dark such as ...
Car headlights
Street lights
Porch light
Tropical fish tank
Generate a warning when the light beam is broken for ...
earthquake detection
tilt or acceleration measurement
intruder detection

Build a Timer To ...

Sound an alarm for a fixed short time
Time eggs
Time up to XXXX Seconds
Control a marine buoy flasher
Dispense food for animals
Automatically water plants
Time intermittent wind screen wipers
Keep musicians to the correct tempo
Make a frequency to voltage converter for use as ...
a rev counter
a speedometer

Build an Astable ...

to produce an audible tone for a ...
Door Bell
Various Warning Sounds
to produce metronome pulses
to generate more complex musical rhythms
Build an astable and count the pulses to ...
make electronic dice
create random numbers for playing board games
make a timer up to 9 or 99 seconds
make a timer up to 9 or 99 minutes
make a general purpose logic controller
count model racing car laps
keep score for a cricket match
Build an astable and use it ...
to time a traffic lights controller
to time a pelican crossing
to deter animals from entering a garden
to replace the mechanical flasher unit in older cars
to vary the delay on windscreen wipers
to help a musician tune a guitar
to make a bat deterrent - vibrates when it's dark (check to see if this is legal)
to make bike indicator lights, perhaps with an audible warning

Build a Sound Sensor And ...

measure how loud the sound is
reduce amplifier gain if the output is too high
create an intercom
create a baby alarm
modify the sound
bass / treble / volume
wah wah and similar sound effects

Use Switches And Logic to ...

Trigger a bicycle alarm
Trigger a pram alarm
Light a passenger seatbelt warning
Sound an alarm when someone attempts to break into a vehicle / tamper with a bicycle / pram
Remind the driver that the headlights have been left switched on
Remind the driver that he/she or a passenger is not wearing a seat belt
Alert a person who is hard of hearing that there is someone is at the front door
Determine which contestant in a quiz pressed first
Sense motion and sound an alarm
Sound an audible warning when a door is opened
Detect a fish bite
Detect bath water level and sound an alarm
Detect rain and turn on the wind screen wipers
Pump out a boat's bilge water

Measure resistance To ...

Estimate soil water content and control irrigation
Get position information from a potentiometer

Measure Time To ...

Discover human reaction times
Find capacitance in an RC circuit
Find inductance in an RL circuit

Measure Voltage To ...

find the pH of a solution
determine the state of charge of a battery

Build Amplifier Circuit/s ...

to amplify the output from a portable iPod/CD/MP3/minidisk etc. player to operate a loudspeaker
to control the level of bass and/or treble in an audio signal
to remove vocals from suitable audio tracks
and display the output level
and produce an overload warning
to produce a loud warning sound
for a guitar practice amp
to produce reverberation, fuzz, wah wah, frequency division, envelope control, ring modulation and other sound effects
to combine together audio signals (mixer desk)
to make a sound activated switch
to flash lights in time to music

Other Ideas - Hard to Classify

Bus roll alarm - reduce passenger puke
Control a stepper motor used to
dispense pet food
Beam audio along a light or LASER beam
Computer to computer communication using
Infrared
Fibre optics
Audio
Ultrasound.