Design Process

Define the Problem

• Using Circuit Lab, we have to create a processing unit that acts as an early Coronavirus symptom detector. The three risk factors we have to look for are dry coughs, an increase in temperature, and lower than normal oxygen levels. If no risks are present, it shows a green light, and if there is one risk present, it shows a yellow light. If there are two risks, a red light shows, and if all three are present, then an alarm sounds.

Generate alternative concepts

• We started brainstorming on how to accomplish the task by creating a truth table and looking at previous group's Circuit Lab wiring. Different groups had different ways to solve the problem at hand.

Evaluate and select a concept

• We decided to create our Circuit Lab circuit by using our truth table as a starting point. To take into account each possible case that could happen, we used "and" and "or" statements along with switches and flip-flops to make different outcomes happen. The flip flops operate using a timer and clock.

Detail the design

• Our design starts with the battery leading to three switches, one for each risk factor. Using "and" statements, we know when all switches are "off", so a green light turns on. When one out of the three factors are present, whether it is a cough, low oxygen, or increase in temperature, only one switch would be "on", and a yellow light turns on. When two switches are "on", we turn on a red light, and when all three case are present, all three switches are "on" and the alarm sounds. The wiring is properly grounded to not short circuit the design.

Design defense

• Our design uses all of the concepts we learned about this week and combines them to create a functional project. It also uses switches to act as "if" statements for each risk factor, since there is no coding element on the website. Our project is able to turn on the correct LEDs and can also turn on the speaker.

Manufacture and Test

• To test our Circuit Lab circuit, we ran the time-domain simulation to see time intervals of the clock.

• We transferred our Circuit Lab circuit to TinkerLAB and modified it slightly to help test our design. Instead of using switches while wiring in TinkerCAD, we used "if" statements and counters in our code to act as virtual switches. The counter value changed based on the values of the input sensors (temperature sensor, oxygen sensor, and microphone/sound detector).

Evaluate Performance

• We could not find a sound detector or oxygen sensor in TinkerCAD, but other than that our circuits met all of the requirements and worked successfully!