Team Name
LightHouse
Timeline
Summer 2021 – Fall 2021
Students
- Dipika Giri
- Dhruv Patel
- Parker Skinner
- David Trimino
Sponsor
Shawn Gieser
Abstract
The LightHouse project was developed to give the average house owner a reason to keep lights up in the house year-round for decorations and ward off anyone who found keeping lights up after holidays a problem. The problem was the constant hassle of having to put up holiday lights every year and removing them each time. LightHouse was created to give the owner the control of changing the lights to match the current holiday or just have a cool design around the house year-round. The owner would not have to remove the lights, they would simply change the colors to match the time of the year, a permanent holiday lights solution. We hope to make a product that can handle all the needs that the user would want such as management of the lights and able to create what they want.
Background
Lights are extremely popular in the United States and even more so during the holidays. Most Americans use the lights to light up during the Christmas time. They put up the lights only to take them down after Christmas ends. Our sponsor, Shawn Gieser, wanted a way to make this is a permanent way to keep lights and not have to deal with HOA problems or take them down. Our product allows users to keep the lights up all year long; it is not only hassle free for the consumers, but it will also allow them to create designs for other holidays such as Independence Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. It is a great business product; users will be using the web application all year long and can create their own projects. Our team is very excited to work on this project. We all enjoy playing with lights colors and design patterns. Our goal is to make the web application user friendly and fun to play with.
Project Requirements
- Ability to run patterns that the user wants
- A controller, web interface, which is mainly what the user will see and here they will be able to run, select, and add patterns
- The controller should also be able to select new patterns to run
- Ability to add new patterns to run on the lights
- A designer/programmer portion which is mainly for allowing the user to access and control LEDs
- Ability to create static patterns, single color from hex code or a selection wheel
- Ability to create moving patterns, 20 default, predictable patterns that repeat throughout a certain time interval
- Ability to utilize music to create patterns that change over time reactive to the music
- Ability to connect to the controller via the web server to create and then push patterns to it
- Create a test product that is to be used by the customer, Shawn Gieser
System Overview
The system will essentially consist of three layers: an application layer, middle-ware, and the hardware layer. The two layers Application and Middle-Ware are separate layers as both accomplish and handle different aspects although all taking place in the pi itself. The user layer’s function is to deal with the presentational and interactional functions in regard to a Dispatcher, Store, Action, and View. The user layer will be using a flux architecture. The middleware with input validation of the user, and to process the JSON objects and translate them into readable code for the LED lights. The validation step is essential to ensure the information being sent to the LED lights is valid. The hardware layer is responsible for displaying the LED lights to the user’s preferences.
Results
Future Work
To have a over a 100+ patterns for the user to choose. As well as the ability to have users make or design their own patterns to share with other users. Music base patterns is also a desire to have in the future
Project Files
Project Charter (link)
System Requirements Specification (link)
Architectural Design Specification (link)
Detailed Design Specification (link)
Poster (link)
References
Ken Herman. Texas lawmaker wants law defending holiday lights, decor from hoas.https://www.statesman.com/news/20181221/texas-lawmaker-wants-law-defending-holiday-lights-decor-from-hoas, 2018.
Christmas Lights Etc. Ul standards for Christmas light strings. https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/pages/UL-Standards-for-Christmas-Light-Strings.htm, 2020.
