Part 1- My initial project design

The first few weeks have been spent researching this project and coming up with a simple design that will hopefully enable me to build this collision detector. I've created a simple block diagram to aid me in this design.

This is my initial design. I haven't quiet yet decided on all the parts yet but I'll run through what I have so far and then go into more details as I develop the project.

The design is based on using two Arduino microcontroller systems and hardware that includes an ultrasonic sensor, a shiftbrite LED, a LCD display unit, a device to aid wireless communications between the two Arduino boards and a warning buzzer.

• The Arduino Unos: These will be the microcontroller systems used. The Arduino boards are open source, very cheap and very popular. I will delve into greater detail as I research the boards more.
• The Ultrasonic Range Sensor: This device will send out a pulse and detect the pulse being reflected back. This will detect the obstructions ahead.
• A wireless communication device will be used to transmit between the two Arduino boards. I haven't completely decided what I'll be using. Initial thoughts were a transmittor and receiver, there is also a piece of hardware called 'Zigbee' which is popular with the Arduino boards. But I am leaning more towards some sort of Bluetooth device. I will make my decision on this at a later date.
• LCD Display Unit: This will the display the distance the obstruction is to the vehicle.
• The Shiftbrite LED: This will act as a warning light, changing colours as the obstruction gets closer.
• Warning buzzer: If you haven't guessed, this will warn you as the obstruction gets closer with a serious of beeping noises. The closer the object is, the faster the frequency of the beeps.

As you can see, there aren't too many parts in the design. There will be however, lots of software involved trying to program all these devices to work in unity with the Arduino boards. My next step is to try and work out some kind of strategic plan so I can develop this board within the specific time I have been given. This project will be broken up into two. I have until Christmas to complete the first half. So I will just concentrate what I will need to do for then.