Final Exam - Spring 2007 (rough draft)

Visualizing the Invisible

Since the final exam period can get a bit monotonous if everyone is presenting exactly the same thing, we are going to have a bit of variety in the final exam work and visualizations. Half of the class will investigate sound levels in EVL. Half the class with investigate electromagnetic fields around various household appliances.

I will be supplying the probes for this activity.


Sound Levels in EVL

    In this activity half of the class (5 people) will work together to collect sound level data throughout the main floor of the lab (i.e. the part that is on the second floor of ERF), and then each person will visualize that data on their own. This data will  be collected on an irregular grid based on the various sound levels you find, so more detail can be collected near areas of changing sound levels; the floor tiles make a nice grid. There are lots of machines in the lab that typically generate noise, and we have two anechoic chambers where the audio levels drop below measurable levels, so there is a range of levels in the lab. There are also issues of sound levels at different heights in the lab, so the final datafile generated should have x, y, z coordinates. Since those sound levels are static, this group will also look at how those background sound levels when all the phones in the lab ring. This group may also want to look at the affect of the paper shredder, or the Xbox/wii/PS3, etc.
     We have an existing map of EVL that was generated during a previous version of the class where the students mapped out wireless strength in the lab. That map can be used here.
    As an aside, the anechoic chamber can also be used to measure how loud your cell phone ring is, or how loud you can shout.

maps of evl from a previous class can be found at http://www.evl.uic.edu/rlk/evl/index.html

This part will involve: Davey, Ipaguirre, Handley, Balman, Iyer


E/M fields around common appliances

    In this activity half of the class (6 people) will break into three groups of two, and each group will measure the E/M field around a common household item to see what the field looks like. This field will be measured on 3 axis (X, Y, Z for each location.) By default the items to be measured are a microwave oven, hair dryer, and CRT monitor but if there is something else interesting that a group wants to measure that should be OK as well. The E/M field will be measured on a more regular grid. Each person will then create their own visualization based on the data.
    Please do not microwave the sensor.

This part will involve: Kamineni, Tran, Uphoff, Bhatt, Grace, Vishu

By the beginning fo the final exam period each person should create a web page of their results including the source code and executable to run their visualization as usual. Again as usual everyone should send me a 320 x 240 jpg snapshot for the web.


In both cases, the various groups should get together ahead of time to plan out the data collection. The audio should be collected either in the evening or on the weekend. when people are not around The E/M data could be collected during the day but it ma be easier during the evening or weekend.

last revision 4/5/07