My partner Casey Caddell and I designed and prototyped a device
similar to the artist's conception at right. The HDCU is a microprocessor
based solution to hospital time studies. It functions by storing
statistics on the activities a subject does during a day and then downloading
it all when returned to a charging stand. It's equipped
with a serial communications port for interfacing into a custom software
package designed with National Instrument's Labview. The firmware
architecture of the HDCU is designed to accommodate most desired applications and
can track up to 256 different activities.
The HDCU is built upon a 68HC11 mircoprocessor supplimented with a real time clock
and extra RAM for data storage. The user interface includes four function buttons,
a numeric keypad,
a 2x16 backlit LCD display, and a bidirection serial communications port.
One of the most challenging aspects of this project was solving the ergonomics
issues to make the device marketable. Color, weight, durability, and size are all
almost more important than the actual technical solution. We conducted surveys and
made several trips to local hospitals to aid our design work.
You can download the assembly code here
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