First Iteration
Populated first iteration of the PCB
FALCON
A Project by Bill Bloebaum, Alex Rosner, and Albert Lee
Summary
Mexican free-tailed bats leave their caves every night to form a dense stream numbering in the millions, all traveling at a speed of approximately 25 mph. To prevent colliding with each other any other environmental factors, the animals continuously use echolocation, or biosonar, to navigate. However, we still do not now how the bats are able to echolocate while flying at high speeds, or how the signals do not jam each other.
To conduct research on the subject, our team designed and built an electronics package meant to be attached to a falcon. As the falcon flies through swarming bat colonies, the package will collect ultrasonic audio and video data from the bats. The ultimate goal of this project is to better understand how bats communicate with each other and avoid collision. Eventually this data may be used to develop a communications system to control mass numbers of drones.
Documents
Open the various files documenting our progress:
- Project Abstract Project Proposal Meeting Minutes
- Design Review Proposal Powerpoint High Level Design
- Poster Final Report User Manual
Gallery
Below you can find pictures we took throughout our design and build process.
Cutting Weight
Dremeling off extra sections on the PCB
Second Iteration
Unpopulated second iteration of the PCB
Second Iteration
Populated iteration of the PCB.
Testing
Wild celebration after loading a "blink" program.
Back Board Schematic
EAGLE Schematic of the larger board.
Back Board Layout
EAGLE Layout of the larger board.
Head Board Schematic
EAGLE Schematic of the smaller board.
Head Board Layout
EAGLE layout of the smaller board.
Belle
The female Harris's Hawk currently being trained.
Mexican Free-Tailed Bat
A single free-tailed bat.
Innovative in every way.
Our project was designed to be as efficient as possible in more ways than one:
Cost
Costing only $30, the FALCON pack is easy on your wallet.
Weight
The assembled pack weighs less than 30g, guaranteeing your falcon's happiness.
Power
The FALCON pack only requires three DD batteries to be powered for a whole minute.
Surface Area
The microphone unit takes up a surface area of only 3.3 square inches.
Waterproof
Certified with an IP10 water-resistance rating.
First-in-class
The FALCON pack is the best falcon-attached ultrasonic microphone in the market.
The Team
Meet the team members and learn about their individual contributions.
The Team:
Bill Bloebaum
Bill is a senior electrical engineering major at the University of Notre Dame. Bill headed the software development of the FALCON pack, implementing high-speed data transfer from the ultrasonic microphone, programming the microcotroller, and rowing a lot. After graduation, Bill is set to work for AT&T in their Technolodgy Development Program. In his free time, Bill enjoys rowing crew, watching videos of rowers rowing crew, and buying gear to help him row crew faster. Bill rows.
Alex Rosner
Alex is also a senior electrical engineering major at the University of Notre Dame. Alex developed the hardware for the FALCON pack and designed the custom printed circuit boards (PCB) used in the various prototypes. In the fall, Alex will attend the University of Colorado, Boulder to pursue a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, specializing in signal processing. In his free time, Alex can be found giving concussions to fools on the football field, giving concussions to knuckleheads on the rugby field, and making sure his cheerleading partner doesn't get concussions anywhere.
Albert Lee
Albert has surprisingly made it this far as a senior electrical engineering major at the University of Notre Dame. He comes to the meetings.