Part I

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Theories/Concept of the Design Class Volume Monitoring System with Automatic Influx Adjustment is a reliable circuit that takes over the task of counting the number of individuals inside a room very accurately. When somebody enters the room, the counter is incremented by one. When somebody exits the room, the counter will count down by one. The total number of individuals inside the room is displayed on the two 7-segments. Individual Counting is simply a measurement of the individual traffic entering and exiting offices, malls, sports, venues, rooms etc. Counting the number of individuals helps to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of employees, floor area of an organization, and even the monitoring of the people inside. Individual counting is not limited to the entry or exit point of an establishment but has a wide range of applications that provide information to management on the volume and flow of people throughout a location. A common method for counting the visitors involves sharing human auditors to manually tally the number of individuals who pass by a certain location. But human-based data collection comes at great expense. Our project aims to automate the counting of individuals with the use of a detector called Light-Dependent Resistor which makes it more reliable and efficient. The use of human auditors is redirected to other functions which makes a more productive system. Another feature of this project is its automatic adjustment of the system’s volume according to the number of people inside the room. To be able to understand more about the project below are some notes and explanation of how each equipment will be used to contribute to the success of this project. For this project, the Laser will be used as a transmitter, and the Light-Dependent Resistor will be used as the receiver. The resistance of an LDR decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity. It will be the main ingredient for the whole project to achieve its goal. The laser will be put on the entry point, when an obstruction gets in the middle and the LDR doesn’t receive a light signal, the counter will increment by one. This, then, will trigger the microcontroller to do its work. Microcontroller continuously monitors the sensor, when any object or person passes through the sensor then the light rays falling on the sensor are obstructed, this obstruction is sensed by the Microcontroller. When sensor is obstructed, the Microcontroller will increment the counter by 1 in the display (count up or count down). All the components needed to be able to complete this project are readily available in the market and the circuit is easy to build.

The 7-segment will display the current number of individuals inside a specific place. The value displayed is based from the individuals entering and exiting the said place. 1.2 Previous Research and Studies One of the previous studies we’ve researched that is related to our design is the Car Parking Monitoring System Based on a Wireless Sensor Network. Our design monitors number of individuals while this monitors cars. It monitors the occupancy of vehicles within car park or roadside environments, each parking space features a wireless vehicle detection sensor which feeds back occupancy information to the NI LabVIEW GUI Program, and this displays the vehicle occupancy in real time and stores data for statistical analysis. This can then be uploaded to an online server for external access for on the move parking and for car park owner information to improve the efficiency of the car park.

The aim of the project said above was to develop a car parking monitoring system, with a view to designing a suitable prototype and with multiple vehicle detection sensors; the final product was desired to provide simple installation, operation and high reliability, whilst ensuring low cost design. The system will be aimed to be a parking solution ideal for council or private car parks as well as roadside spaces for maximum efficiency.

The solution was in the form of a vehicle detection sensor which was to be installed within each parking space, installed within the surface of the tarmac. This allows the system to be installed in multi-story and open car parks, as well as roadside spaces. Each sensor is desired to be low cost, accurate, reliable, and consume low power consumption. The low power consumption was seen as a large factor to ensure large battery life from a low cost battery. (Darren Bearne, May 2013)

Figure 1: GUI of Car Parking Monitoring System We’ve also researched about People Counting in which an article from the Irisys (thermal technology for intelligent buildings) stated that: People Counting is the key to retail analytics. If you don’t know how many customers entered your store, you don’t know how many left without buying. Conversion Ratio is the key metric: the ratio of number of purchasers to the total number of people entering the shop. Irisys People Counters offer accurate and repeatable people counting - the key to the calculation of Conversion Ratio. Irisys People Counters enable the comparison of store performance across estates and remove the mystery from performance analysis. The solution enables you to gather staff and store management performance, optimize staffing levels, optimize customer service and implement shared best practices. Achieve a first rate return on investment; implement a people counting system with an Irisys people counter. Irisys People Counters set the standard in accurate people counting: more than 100,000 are in use worldwide. (Irisys, August 2011) Seema Rao’s paper about Attendance Monitoring System Using Biometrics Authentication particularly talks about Biometric technology that involves the identification and verification of individuals by analyzing the human fingerprint characteristics has been widely used in various aspect of life for different purposes, most importantly as regards this study the issue of employee attendance. The main aim of this paper is to develop an accurate, fast and very efficient automatic attendance system using fingerprint verification technique. We propose a system in which fingerprint verification is done by using extraction of minutiae technique and the system that automates the whole process of taking attendance, the study was conducted using a quantitative approach by designing a questionnaire as the data collection instrument based on fingerprint matching biometric technologies. The survey involved 6 employees based on stratified random sampling technique. The results however show that fingerprint biometric identifier was found suitable for the employee attendance management system of the organization. (Seema Rao, 2013) This study is related to our proposed project for its automated Monitoring system, the main difference between the two is the source of input (Biometrics VS. Laser Obstruction).
1.3 Applicable Standards

According to the International Association of Conference Centres, we must design a floor plan that will maximize the room area and at the same time reflect the current best practices of quality standards in conference centre industry. Thus we must monitor the number of people inside the area. * Under Priority of Business of IACC Quality Standards: 1. A minimum of 60% (based on net area) of meeting space in the conference center is dedicated, single-purpose conference space. * Under Conference Centre Design of IACC Quality Standards:
5. Property has at least one dedicated main conference room that contains a minimum of 93 square meters or 1,000 square feet and can accommodate flexible seating arrangements. In addition, the conference center has at least three other dedicated conference rooms with no moveable walls.
Thus we must monitor the number of people inside the area. * Under Ancillary Conference Centers
35. Have at least one public entrance with a door that clearly separates the conference center from the remainder of the facility.

This area would be the ideal spot of installation of the prototype

Figure 2: Minimum # of People in different settings Microcontroller Gizduino: ATmega168 or ATmega328 • User Interface: USB Port, DC Jack, Reset Button, ICSP Port, Shield Connection Port • Debbuger Port: ICSP • Power Input: External:8V-12V USB:5V • DC Power Output: 3.3V • PCB Size: 2.7 x 2.1 inch • On-board Crystal: 16MHz and 12MHz

Part II

DESIGN SPECIFICATION

2.1 Block Diagram

Figure 3: Block Diagram of the Project The sensors will be attached near but not in the entrance or exit point in order for the officials/organizers to be excluded in the counting. These two sensors should be perfectly aligned for more precision. When any object or person passes through the sensors then the light rays falling on the sensor are obstructed, this obstruction is sensed by the Microcontroller. When sensor is obstructed from LDR 1 then LDR2, the Microcontroller will increment the counter by 1 in the display indicator. When the sensor is obstructed from LDR2 then LDR1, the microcontroller will decrement by 1 in the display indicator. The volume of the system will also change according to the number of people inside the room.

Figure 4: Front Panel of LabVIEW Program Figure 4 shows the front panel of the program used by the microcontroller, Gizduino. There are two LED-indicators for the LDR, a numerical indicator for the number of people who entered and another one for the people who left, the Fill-Bar indicates the actual number of people inside the room, numerical indicators are used to display the current voltage drop of the LDRs, and six LED indicators for volume state.

Figure 5: LDR Voltage Acquisition and Counter Block Diagram Figure 5 shows the block diagram of how the microcontroller performs its operation with the acquired data from the LDR.

Figure 6: DCBA Digital Output Block Diagram This figure above shows the block diagram on how the microcontroller sends DCBA digital output to the BCD-to-Segment Decoder.

Figure 7: System Volume Configuration Block Diagram Figure 7 shows the block diagram for the application of the project. For a certain number of persons inside the room, the volume of the system will be increased or decreased. The table below shows the configuration,

Number of persons | Volume | 0 | Muted | 1-8 | 40% | 9-16 | 55% | 17-24 | 70% | 25-32 | 85% | 33-40 | 100% |
Table 1: System Volume Configuration Equivalent

2.2 Schematic Diagram

Figure 8: Schematic Diagram Components to be used: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (7-segment) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser

2.3 Circuit Description and Operation

The circuit that is to be used in this project will be quite simple and not as complicated as other circuits. But despite the simplicity, the proponents can already see the desired outcome very achievable. For the project to work, a voltage divider circuit will be used for the sensor circuit for us to determine the voltage change of the LDR. This change will be converted into digital data that will be fed to the microcontroller (Gizduino). The microcontroller executes the design program and sends the respective output to the 7-segments. The 7-segment displays the total number of individuals passed through the counter circuit. Laser is an acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, it is a device that generates an intense beam of coherent monochromatic light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by stimulated emission of photons from excited atoms or molecules. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, and in surgery; the optical properties are exploited in holography, reading bar codes, and in recording and playing compact discs. Light-Dependent Resistor or photoresistor or photocell is a light-controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a photoresistor decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity. A photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive detector circuits, and light- and dark-activated switching circuits. A photoresistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor. In the dark, a photoresistor can have a resistance as high as a few megaohms (MΩ), while in the light, a photoresistor can have a resistance as low as a few hundred ohms. A Microcontroller is a compact microcomputer designed to govern the operation of embedded systems in motor vehicles, robots, office machines, complex medical devices, mobile radio transceivers, vending machines, home appliances, and various other devices. A typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory, and peripherals.

Part III

EXPERIMENT ACTIVITIES

3.1. Project Testing

Objective: 1. To successfully capture voltage change and convert it to digital data
2. To create a program code that will be used by the microcontroller to process the accumulated digital data
3. To finish a fully working standalone automated counter

Materials: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (LCD) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser 6. Multimeter 7. Laptop 8. Arduino IDE

Procedures:
1. Measure the maximum and minimum voltage output of the sensor circuit using the multimeter. 2. Capture the voltage change through the microcontroller Gizduino. 3. Design the program code. 4. Add the indicator for the digital output. 5. Test the automated counter in different room conditions. *If flawed, revise the program code or sensor circuit.

Questions: 1. How does the circuit capture the voltage change and convert it to digital data?

2. What will happen if the individual who entered the room left? 3. What is the advantage of using this automated counter instead of manual auditing/monitoring?

3.2. Control of System Volume Objective: 1. To be able to determine the present volume of the speaker using the value ` within a specific range

Materials: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (LCD) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser 6. Multimeter 7. Laptop 8. Arduino IDE

Procedure/s: 1. When the system is available, simulate a person to enter the room 2. Repeat step 1 until reaching 3 3. Fill the table below:

Range | Volume of the Speaker | 1-8 | 40% | 9-16 | 55% | 17-24 | 70% | 25-32 | 85% | 33-40 | 100% |
Table 2: Table of Results Experiment 2 Question/s: 1. From 0, what happens when you simulate a person to enter the room? 2. What happens to the volume upon reaching specific range? 3. Upon reaching the lower interval of a new range, what happens when you simulate the exit of a person?
3.3. Capacity Determination Objective: 1. To be able to know and regulate the number of persons in a room

Materials: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (LCD) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser 6. Multimeter 7. Laptop 8. Arduino IDE

Procedure/s: 1. When the system is available, simulate the entrance of a person. 2. Repeat step 1 until the display counter fails to count up anymore.

Question/s: 1. What is the maximum capacity of the counter? What happens when the counter reaches the maximum capacity and a person still enters the room? 2. What happens when the counter reaches the maximum capacity and a person exits the room?

3. When the counter is 0, what happens when, by any means, it is triggered to count down? 3.4. Ideal Scenario for the Prototype Objective: 1. To be able to know the conditions triggering the change in the display counter.

Materials: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (LCD) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser 6. Multimeter 7. Laptop 8. Arduino IDE

Procedure/s: 1. When the system is ready, follow the procedures accordingly. Create a motion that starts from outside of the room. The two LDRs must be blocked but not at the same time. That is, LDR A must be blocked first BEFORE LDR B. Consider this as Situation A. Observe what happens in the display counter. Record the data in the table below. 2. Next, create a motion that starts from inside the room. The two LDRs must also be blocked but not at the same time. This time, LDR A must be blocked AFTER LDR B. consider this as Situation B. Observe what happens in the display counter. Record the data in the table below. 3. Block the LDR A without blocking LDR B. Observe what happens in the display. Consider this as Situation C. Record the data in the table below. 4. Block the LDR B without blocking LDR A. Observe what happens in the display. Consider this as Situation D. Record the data in the table below. Situation | Changes in the Display Counter | A | +1 | B | -1 | C | No change | D | No change |
Table 3: Table of Results Experiment 4 Question/s: 1. In what way does Situation A change the output in the display counter? 2. In what way does Situation B change the output in the display counter? 3. Explain why Situations C and D showed such results.

3.5. Experiment on Alternate Light Source Objective: 1. To be able to know alternate light source options in case lasers are not available.

Materials: 1. Microcontroller (Gizduino) 2. Output Display (LCD) 3. Resistor 4. LDR (Photoresistor) 5. Laser 6. Multimeter 7. Laptop 8. Arduino IDE 9. Camera Flash 10. Cellphone Flash Light (White)

Procedure/s: 1. Cover the original light source (laser). 2. Imitate the light source using a different light source option (camera flash). 3. Record the results. 4. Repeat Step 2, this time using another alternate light source (cellphone flashlight). Light Source | Voltage Drop across LDR | Testing (Working or Not Working) | Laser | ≈4.96 | Working | Camera Flash | ≈4.8 | Working | Cellphone Flashlight | ≈4.6 | Not Working |
Table 4: Table of Results Experiment 5 Question/s: 1. From the light source options used, which is the preferred one? Why? 2. What are the pros and cons of using lasers as the light source? Camera flash? Cellphone flashlight?

Part IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Project Testing
Questions & Answers: 1. How does the circuit capture the voltage change and convert it to digital data?
The circuit captures the voltage change through the use of photoresistors. This kind of transducer exhibits a characteristic that its resistance is based from the light it takes. A change in resistance means a change in voltage.

2. What will happen if the individual who entered the room left?
The program interprets this as a reverse incrementing and thus, the display counter shows a decrease in the current number of persons inside the room.

3. What is the advantage of using this automated counter instead of manual auditing/monitoring?
The recording / auditing of the population on an area will be much faster because it bypassed the traditional means of monitoring (manual monitoring).

4.2. Control of System Volume
Questions and Answers: 1. From 0, what happens when you simulate a person to enter the room?
The volume of the system increases automatically to 40% of the maximum volume.

2. What happens to the volume upon reaching specific range?
Within a specified range, there is a corresponding increase in the volume. Starting from 40%, there is an increase of 15% every after 8 persons has entered the room.

3. Upon reaching the lower interval of a new range, what happens when you simulate the exit of a person?
No change in the volume shall be encountered. It will only decrement if it reaches the lower interval of the previous range.

4.3. Capacity Determination Questions and Answers: 1. What is the maximum capacity of the counter? What happens when the counter reaches the maximum capacity and a person still enters the room?
The maximum capacity of the counter is 40. The counter fails to continue to count up when the maximum capacity is reached and it won’t show any display when another person enters the room after the maximum capacity is reached.

2. What happens when the counter reaches the maximum capacity and a person exits the room?
Upon reaching the maximum, it won’t be able to count up but is still capable of counting down.

3. When the counter is 0, what happens when, by any means, it is triggered to count down?
No change shall be encountered because when a remainder is read by the system, it interprets it as a null condition.

4.4. Ideal Scenario for the Prototype Questions and Answers: 1. In what way does Situation A change the output in the display counter? When situation A occurs, the output of the display counter will increment by one. 2. In what way does Situation B change the output in the display counter? When situation B occur, the output of the display counter will decrement by one.

3. Explain why Situations C and D showed such results. When only a single LDR is blocked, the system still waits for the other LDR to be blocked. Thus, no change will occur. 4.5. Experiment on Alternate Light Source Questions and Answers: 1. From the light source options used, which is the preferred one? Why? The laser is the preferred light source because it results to a higher voltage drop across the LDR. A higher voltage drop is more preferable for the operation of the system. 2. What are the pros and cons of using lasers as the light source? Camera flash? Cellphone flashlight? Lasers result to higher voltage drop across the LDR but needs to be installed in a fixed way. Therefore, it is prone to disarrangement. The light of a camera flash is scattered so there is no problem in its installation but requires a high current to maintain a stable luminescence. The cellphone flashlight is just like the camera flash but the voltage drop across the LDR is lesser. As explained before, a higher voltage drop is more preferable.

4.6. Interpretation of Project Result

As expected of a counter, our project “counts” the persons occupying a certain area. This is made possible through the use of photoresistors. Near the entrance of the said area are two LDRs and two lasers. The blockage of light causes the display counter to increment (up or down) depending on how the scenario happened.

This blocking of light causes the resistance of the LDR to be of high value since the resistance of the LDR is based from the amount of light it takes. The change in resistance also means a change in voltage. LabVIEW processes the said change and increments the display counter by one. We programmed the microcontroller (Gizduino) and designed the VI (Virtual Instrument) in such a way that the incrementing is not only counting up. We used two lasers and two LDRs to differentiate a person leaving from a person entering the room. If the blocking of light occurred first in LDR A and then in LDR B, which means that the person who passed came from outside the room, then LabVIEW processes this as counting up. The display counter shows that there is an increase in the current number of persons inside the room. Otherwise, if the blocking of light occurred first in LDR B and then in LDR A, which means that the person who passed came from inside the room, then LabVIEW interprets this as counting down. The display counter then shows that there is a decrease in the current number of persons inside the room. However, if none of the conditions were met (i.e. LDR A was blocked but LDR B wasn’t, or vice versa), LabVIEW processes this as a null or void condition and thus, no change will be made. If the counter reaches its maximum allowable value, the display monitor stops counting up but is still capable of counting down.

The only limitation that the proponents can think of in the system is that if a scenario happened 0.6 seconds before the previous scenario happened, it will count as a single scenario. This means that a 0.6 second-interval is necessary to maintain the accuracy of the counter.

Another additional feature of the system is that the volume of speakers varies as the number of persons inside the room changes. The volume of the speakers is directly proportional to the number of persons in specific ranges.

Part V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

We therefore conclude that a binary data can be interpreted in many ways, one of which is by making use of sensors, and with sensors we were able to create a 100% working project that can monitor the number of people inside a room and automatically adjust the volume of the system in the room.

In our project, the sensor/transducer we used is a photoresistor which is a device whose resistance varies on the amount of light it receives. In relation to digital communications, we used a transmitter and a receiver, which are Laser pointers and Light-Dependent Resistors, respectively. It is considered digital because when the transmitter sends a signal to the receiver and the receiver receives this signal, it will be considered as Logic 1, and when the transmitter sends a signal to the receiver and the receiver doesn’t receive the transmitted signal because of an obstruction (in our project’s case: a person entering or leaving the room), it will be considered as Logic 0.

After performing all the possible situations that our project might encounter, we can therefore say that our project, “Class Volume Monitoring System with Automatic Influx Adjustment”, is a fully functional wireless-transmission digital project whose other feature is automated system volume adjustment.

We recommend to give an additional application, like automatic ventilation that varies according to the number of person inside a room. This project is recommended to various venues that needs a monitoring system for the number of attendees to further improve the facilitator’s effectiveness.

REFERENCES
Websites:

https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-29686 http://www.irisys.co.uk/people-counting http://1000projects.org/final-year-electronics-projects.html