Christian Tejada
Luis Luna
JC Mantilla
Assignment 4
Engineering Design Lab VI
Kinetic Bluetooth Earbuds
Section 1
Each member of the group was assigned a specific portion of the project’s report. The
Kinetic Ear Buds consists of three major portions that must be tackled in order build a
quality project. These include the kinetic charging portion of ear buds themselves, which
was researched by Christian Tejada. The Bluetooth/wireless portion of the ear buds,
which must effectively communicate with a device in order to reliably provide sound to
the end user which was taken care of by JC Mantilla. Finally, arguably the most
important aspect of the ear buds, the sound/speaker aspect, which was researched by Luis
Luna. The ear buds must deliver superior sound all while including the kinetic wireless
and stylish capabilities.
Percentage of
effort towards this
assignment
Christian Tejada
Luis Luna
JC Mantilla
33.33 %
33.33 %
33.33 %
Section 2
Overview
Miniaturized versions of normal ear buds with Bluetooth capability powered by the same
technology in Kinetic watches. This technology uses kinetic energy such as a shake or
any other movement to oscillate weights. These weights produce a magnetic field around
a coil of wire, which essentially generates a current. Because of this a small battery can
be placed in the ear bud housing and charged throughout the day with any movement.
This gets rid of wires, moves us closer to a more wireless future, and can be worn as a
fashion accessory. With an increase in wireless technology, artist such as Dr. Dre have
invested in creating fashionable audio pieces. The kinetic ear buds will do just that.
Kinetic Energy
To begin, we must understand what kinetic energy is. Kinetic energy is simply the energy
produced through motion. If this energy can be harnessed, as it is through wind and
water energy, the ability to produce electricity on a small scale is possible.
To harness the kinetic energy into usable electrical energy we must use the concept of a
movable magnetic field through a loop to produce an electric field thus producing
electricity in the coil. With this we can charge a battery through daily movements and
power the Bluetooth communicator thus effectively retrieving the sound to play through
the speakers.
Kinetic Charging
Kinetic charging already exists in watches, namely Seiko watches. The watch has an
oscillating weight that moves back and forth which ultimately, through induction, charges
a capacitor which charges a reserve battery powering the watch days at a time.
This technology can be used in ear buds to power the Bluetooth receiver/communicator.
As stated below, Bluetooth is a lower power-consuming device, thus creating enough
wattage through magnetic induction shouldn’t be too hard.
Kinetic Charging Diagram
Below you will see a diagram of the charging mechanism used in Seiko’s watches. This
ultimately will be the working mechanism in the prototype earbuds. An oscillating
magnetic weight will have to be placed through a coil to induce the electric field.
Bluetooth Technology
Introduction
Bluetooth is a standard for short range, low power, low cost wireless communication that
uses radio technology. It has been utilized among portable devices to create a small
wireless network establishing connectivity among them thus replacing the utilization of
wires and cables. Depending of the network main goal, Bluetooth can be implemented to
create scatternets or piconets. Piconet
consists of one master device and up to
seven slave devices. The smallest piconet can be compounded of only two devices. On
the other hand, scatternets can be created by implementing a Bluetooth bridge between
two or more piconets. To achieve the project’s goal a piconet will be implemented since
there will be only two devices involved: the first one is the music player device and the
ear buds. Additionally, Bluetooth version 4.0 will be implemented since it is a growing
technology that is already running in Android and Apple devices. Its advantages will be
of great use for the project.
Piconet Networks
As stated before, piconet networks consist of a master and at least one slave. The device
which initates the process of creating the piconet is designated as the master. Furthermore,
to start forming the piconet network, two additional steps are necessary. The first one
involves the inquiry phase where the master invites other devices to join it to form the
piconet. The master sends a standard packet (ID) through different channels, then it starts
listening for response packages from potential slave devices willing to join the network.
When the master receives an FHS (frequency hopping sequences) package, which
contains the clock and address of the slave device, it now knows what device will join the
master to create a piconet. However, to successfully establish a connection between the
master and slave devices, the paging phase is needed. This phase is in charge of starting
the communication between devices via paging process. The two processes can be
repeated indefinitely to search and connect more devices within a certain range until the
piconet reaches its maximum number of slaves allowed.
Bluetooth 4.0
Bluetooth technology has been improved throughout the past years, and nowadays, its
latest version is the Bluetooth 4.0. This version takes advantages and enhances the main
functionalities from its previous predecessors. These functionalities include the classic
Bluetooth technology, the Bluetooth low energy technology and the Bluetooth high speed
technology. All of them can be used simultaneously or separately in any device with
Bluetooth 4.0 depending on the needs of the final user. For example, sensors like
pedometers and glucose monitors will run only low energy technology, thus saving
power, cost and space within the device. Watches can use the classic Bluetooth and the
low energy technology; it will save power while collecting the data from fitness sensors
on the body and then send the data to a final device like a pc or a mobile. The
combination of each technology can create endless applications. Finally, the most
relevant features for this technology are:
-
Ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption.
Ability to run for years on standard, coin cell – batteries.
Low cost
Multi-vendor interoperability
Enhance range: 10 – 100 meters.
Power optimization utilizing high speed radio only when needed.
Improved security by enabling radio to find other devices only when data transfer
is asked.
Enhanced power control ensures limited dropouts.
-
Lower latency rates: unicast connectionless data improves the customer
experience of speed by lowering latency rates, sending small amounts of data
more quickly.
Sound and Acoustics
Sound is one of the most common methods of communication that we heavily depend on.
It surrounds us at all times from the tiniest echo to the loudest strum in a concert. Sound
is produced by vibrations. The frequency and wavelength of vibrations is what defines
the pitch of sound. Although sound cannot be seen by our eyes because it transmits in the
form of waves our ears can pick up these waves as they bounce off the ear. As the sound
bounces it enters through the outer ear canal and makes hair follicles vibrate and
oscillate. The deeper the wave travels the better the chance it has at making the eardrum
vibrate (the ear drum is one of the major parts of the ear that allow for a better perception
of sound through vibrations.) Then the middle part of the ear transfers the sound energy
which is generated from the oscillations as the waves entered the ear canal. The middle
ear focuses on the fine tuning of the sound and amplifies it. The amplification of the
sound then travels to the inner part of the ear, which is in charge of converting the energy
of vibrations and oscillations into electrical signals that the auditory nerve can then
transmit to the nervous system, which is then carried to the brain and perceived as sound.
Harnessing the Power of Sound
Sound can be transmitted through mediums such as rubber or materials with high
absorption coefficients that can easily reflect sound. Determining which materials have a
high absorption coefficient is very important to the quality of the sound because it reflects
the acoustics of the sound. In order to intensify sound and make it more personalized
headphones were invented. Its purpose was not for music, but rather to help telephone
operators connect calls. By 1985 headphones transpired to the realm of music allowing
consumers enjoy music from the comfort of their homes as opposed to going to an opera
house or concert halls. As the years passed by headphones became more sophisticated
and evolved from big bulky headsets to ear buds that were inserted into the outer ear
canal. Headphones allowed sound to be enjoyed through the developing headphones and
the quality of the acoustics developed as the technology evolved.
Types of Headphones
The different shapes and sizes of headphones that were developed through the
advancement in technology allowed for different levels of sound reproduction. For
instance the full-size headphones were developed with a bigger bulky look, but provided
a better sound quality. They also added a sense of comfort since they wrap over the head.
Some types of full-sized models can even cancel outside noise; therefore, optimizing the
quality of sound. Although these models excel in producing high quality sound, it takes a
toll in the devices battery life. Unlike the bulky full-sized headphones, the lightweight
headphones provide a better sense of portability. They are more compact, weigh less, and
are generally less expensive than the bulky sized models. Although it does provide more
mobility some quality sound is traded for its lighter weight. Another type of headphone is
the in-ear-canal with canal buds, which provide a snug fit inside the ear canal; thus,
eliminating interfering outside noise. The quality is incredible for such size, but
unfortunately when wearing for periods of time it can prove to be a nuisance.
As technology has improved so has the quality of headphones. With such advancements
and differences in sizes each type of headphone requires different amount of power. This
fact takes a toll on the device that the headphones are attached to because it leeches off
the devices battery; thus, limiting the battery life and ultimately diminishing the usage
time per charge cycle. With new functions such as blue tooth technology and wireless
adaptations, headphones have become that much more complex in structure, function,
and design. All these added features have not helped the problem with battery
consumption and as more functions are added a new question arises as to whether or not
headphones should come with a battery of their own preinstalled. This could affect the
size and type of headphone not to mention the price, but it would introduce a new
question, “Is the addition of a battery worth the investment?” It would definitely give
consumers that much more to think about when purchasing this type of technology.
References
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Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy (almost) finally ready to roll (2010). . Chatham, United States,
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The Bluetooth 4.0 Specification. Retrieved from
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Kinetic Charging
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4963259_how-kinetic-watches-work.html
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http://library.thinkquest.org/C005705/English/sound/sound4.htm
Newmann, Mike. The History of Headphones.
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Hollis, Benjamin. The Method Behind the Music. “Physics of sound”. 2013
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