Overview

The project was designed for Ecotrust Canada, an enterprising nonprofit whose purpose is to build the conservative economy. The objective of the project was to create a monitoring device that could survive aboard a fisheries vessel while being powered by the boats batteries. The data required was up to four video feeds, GPS coordinates, on board equipment status sensors and RFID scanner data. To achieve this, a PC based system was used with a microcontroller interface for analog and digital IO needs. The main challenge of the project was fitting everything into a case that would prevent water ingress, provide some vibration isolation, interface easily with existing sensors and cameras and be as physically small as possible. A big consideration was ease of manufacture; each revision was easier and cheaper to produce and left the customer very happy. My duties were to source and locate the electronics and connectors, as well as being responsible for several revisions of the case design.

Results

Created a solution that was smaller than the competitions

Designed for ease of manufacture

Designed case to prevent the ingress of water

Used vibration dampening to prolong device life

Interfaced with a microcontroller for additional IO

Used a custom sheet metal enclosure for a professional look