The University of the South Pacific

EE363 Mechatronics
Major Project
Automatic gate control using vision detection

Ronesh Chand S11081346

Parth Kantharia S11073898
Kamendra N Swami S11057378
Rajneel Singh S11086873

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Aim

The main aim of this project is to use the knowledge gained from mechatronics into designing a
vision based sliding gate system. The system should detect number plates and allow the user to
enter through the gate.
The objectives are to:

Explore LabVIEW software

Interface Arduino with LabVIEW
Design circuits for high voltage motor control
Program the algorithm in LabVIEW

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the following people because without their help and support this project
would not be as successful as is it is today.
o
o
o
o
o

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Dr Kabir Mamun for his guidance and constant supervision

Dr. Utkal Mehta for his guidance and help with the ARDUINO Mega controller
Mr. Binal Raj for is continuous help in lending us the components and 3D printing
Our parents for their encouragement and support
Finally we would like to thank god

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Declaration

We declare hereby declare that this project is a compilation of our own hard work and effort.
Information from external sources such as published material and online sources are properly
referenced in the bibliography. Also help from any individual is acknowledged suitably.

_______________
Ronesh Chand

_______________
Kamendra Swami

_______________
Parth Kantharia

_______________
Rajneel Singh

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Table of Contents
1

Aim ............................................................................................................................... 2

Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................... 3

Declaration ..................................................................................................................... 4

Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 7

Methodology .................................................................................................................. 8

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 9

Project Planning ........................................................................................................... 10

7.1

Gantt chart ............................................................................................................. 10

7.2

Responsibility Table ............................................................................................... 11

7.3

Major Tasks Breakdown ......................................................................................... 13

Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 14

8.1

Actuators ............................................................................................................... 14
Motors ............................................................................................................ 14

8.1.1
8.2

Transducers............................................................................................................ 16

8.3

Control Systems ..................................................................................................... 17

8.3.1

LabVIEW........................................................................................................ 18

8.3.2

Vision Acquisition Toolkit ............................................................................... 18

8.3.3

Vision Development Module Toolkit ................................................................ 18

8.3.4

Arduino interface Toolkit ................................................................................. 18

8.3.5

Arduino Mega 2560 ......................................................................................... 18

8.3.6

Spec of Arduino Mega 2560[8] ........................................................................ 19

8.4

AutoCAD .............................................................................................................. 20

Block Diagram of the overall System ............................................................................. 21

10

Design Specifications ................................................................................................... 22

11

Programming Phase ...................................................................................................... 23

11.1

Algorithms ......................................................................................................... 23

11.1.1 Situation 1 ....................................................................................................... 23

11.1.2 Situation 2 ....................................................................................................... 23
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11.1.3 Situation 3 ....................................................................................................... 23
11.2

Flowchart ........................................................................................................... 24

Software Interfacing ..................................................................................................... 25

12

12.1

Vision System ..................................................................................................... 25

12.2

LabVIEW Arduino Interface................................................................................ 25

13

Power Transmission...................................................................................................... 25

14

Programming LabVIEW ............................................................................................ 26

14.1

Interfacing LabVIEW Software with Arduino Mega Board. .................................. 26

14.2

Initializing the pins. ........................................................................................... 26

14.3

Car Detection ...................................................................................................... 27

14.4

Vision Acquisition .............................................................................................. 28

14.5

Motor Control for Gate Opening .......................................................................... 29

14.6

Motor Control for Gate Closing ........................................................................... 30

14.7

Graphical User Interface ...................................................................................... 31

Hardware Design .......................................................................................................... 32

15

15.1

Gate Mechanical Design ...................................................................................... 32

15.1.1 Structure, Mounting & Housing design ............................................................. 32

15.2

AutoCAD ........................................................................................................... 33

15.3

ACTUAL HARDWARE MODEL ....................................................................... 34

16

Real life application of the System................................................................................. 36

17

Challenges Faced .......................................................................................................... 37

18

Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 37

19

Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 38

20

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 39

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Abstract

For the mechatronics project, an automatic vision controlled gate system will be constructed. The
knowledge of mechanical engineering, with electrical engineering and proper software needs to be
used in order to construct and operate the gate. The gate system will scan and extract the numbers
from the number plate of the car and will only allow for authorized entry into the premises. The
project will make use of LabVIEW software with an Arduino Board in order to operate. Extracting
vision data from the environment is a very challenging step, but this has been made possible by
the LabVIEW kit for Vision Acquisition. The Arduino Board is very compatible with the
LabVIEW software and can be used in lots of application where monitoring and control is needed
in Real Time environment. The project results can have a lot of significant implications for the
commercial application of automatic gate control. It appears that this application and design can
be a way forward for mechatronics products when it comes to security and would be of great
beneficial in real time application where high security and efficient system of gate control is
needed.

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Methodology

The methodology of doing this project is divided into several parts, based on research, design,
analysis, simulate, implement and testing.
Research: There are basically two methods of research and can be classified as primary and
secondary methods. The primary method involves research from the library resources such as
books and journals. And the secondary method involves research from the internet.
Design and Analysis: Is where the data/information collected from the research will be used to
develop the circuitry/mechanism to complete the project
Simulation: Using software such as MATLAB, Circuit Maker etc to clarify if the design system is
functional or not.
Implementation: Involves massively in using components (actuators, transducer and controllers)
and construct the system.
Testing: Will simultaneously be done with implementation whereby the bugs in the designed
system will be identified and will be dealt with.

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Introduction

Automation and automatic control has become one of the centerpieces of research and
development in mechatronic in the pass decades[1]. A Controlling system for such event such as
operating equipment, processes in factories or even a simple door are trigged using simple detector
and trigger mechanisms [2]. This control system can answer to home security as well, as one of
the home security deals with gate accesses and control. And thus this bases this mechatronics
project.
The project is based on an automated gate system with vision recognition and verification control.
The system comprises of a mechatronics system thus, it consists of Mechanical, Electrical and
Software background. The system would include Transducers, Actuator and controllers. The main
system is control access where by the entry will be on recognition and verification of vehicle
entering. Specifically the verification of number plate of entering vehicles.
Automation system for gates is used in various settings such as residential as well as public areas
including parkings. These usually include automatic gates and barriers, sliding gates that would
prevent the unauthorized access. However, the most important concern of these installations is
safety and there are many possible hazards which are associated with these kinds of automation
such as crushing door closing, person lifting, getting entrapped and shearing.
Furthermore, these gates also open automatically when a pedestrian and animals walks from
nearby range. Opening of doors unnecessarily draws a lot of power which increases the electricity
bills.

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7 Project Planning
7.1 Gantt chart

Tasks

Week Week Week Week Week

1-4
1-4
1-2
3-4
1-2 Week
March April May May June
3-4
June

Literature review

Studying about the Vision sensors

and Actuators

Programming Process

Simulation/ Testing

Hardware implementation of the

system

Result comparison

Prototyping

Weekly Meetings

Report Write Up

10 Final Presentation

The Gantt chart was created by putting together lots of thinking and efforts. It was made sure that
all the major tasks were included in it. Proper time was also allocated to each tasks. For example,
Studying about the literature reviews of various components and softwares was given a time of
month, whereas Studying of vision sensors and actuators, Programming process,
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Simulation/testing and Hardware implementation of the system were allocated with greater amount
of time since it required major understanding and grasping skills. Moreover, programming,
simulation and hardware implementation were a very important part of the project. Hence they
were allocated sufficient amount of time.

7.2 Responsibility Table

Task

Kamendra

Parth

Rajneel

Ronesh

10

11

Legend
R Responsible

A Assist

All the major tasks were divided among the group members equally. Equal strength of work was
allocated to each group member. It was made sure that all the members understood the major
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concepts of the project. Although a single task was allocated to one particular group member, it
was the responsibility of rest of the team to assist him with the tasks. In this way, all the group
members had a fair share of understanding about each others tasks and hence everyone would
know how the project functions. For example, the building of the gate structure was the task of the
mechanical engineer of the team. In our case it was Kamendra Swami. However, all the group
members assisted him in building the gate.

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7.3 Major Tasks Breakdown

1. Studying of Literature Review
Actuators
Motors
Transducers
Sensors
Control System
AutoCAD
LabVIEW
Arduino MEGA 2560
2. Studying about the Vision sensors and Actuators
Proximity Sensors
3. Programming Process
LabVIEW modelling
Arduino MEGA 2560 LIFA code
4. Simulation/Testing
LabVIEW
5. Hardware Implementation of the system
The final hardware model should works as follows: Whenever a car was tracked in front
of the camera, the LabVIEW triggered the Webcam to take the picture of the cars number
plate, which would then be verified by LabVIEW database. After a delay of 5 seconds the
motor would move in the reverse direction and hence the gate would close. The following
materials and resources would be used in the Hardware implementation:
Gate Design AutoCAD
3D printer
Gate
Limit Switches
Motor Driver IC
Webcam
Proximity Sensors
6. Results Comparison
Reviewing the obtained results and comparing with the available
techniques to get better results.
7. Prototyping
8. Weekly Meetings
9. Report Write Up
10. Final Presentation

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8 Literature Review
8.1 Actuators
8.1.1 Motors
When it comes to motors, there are two classifications of it, AC motors and DC motors. Since for
this project, a DC motor was used, this literature review will cater for DC motor only.
Direct Current (DC) motors come in several types, for example, stepper motors, servos,
brushed/brushless motors and so forth. For stepper motor, the inputs are pulses which control the
shaft of the motor between discrete positions, proportional to the pulses. In case, if the load of the
motor is not too great, then an open loop is used to control the motor. There are lots of applications
where this type of motors is used and few to mention are in disk drive head positioning and plotters.
Moving on, the input of servo motor is a voltage value which controls the output shaft to a
particular position according to the input voltage. Servo motors can be found in radio control
airplanes to control the position of wing flaps and similar devices. Finally, the input of a DC motor
can be either voltage or current depending on the torque (speed) required.
For a DC motor, the piece connected to the ground is the stator while the piece connected to the
output shaft is the rotor. The inputs are connected to two wires, where the voltage is applied so
that the motor can turn. A DC motor operates on the basic foundation of the Right Hand Rule,
which states that if one points his/her right hand fingers along the direction of the current, I, and
curl them towards the direction magnetic flux, B, then the direction of the force is along the thump.

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Figure 1: Right Hand Rule

For a DC Motor, the torque is proportional to the amount of current flowing through the windings,
that is;
=
Where;
T= Torque
I= Current
k= Constant
The coil of wire inside the motor contains both resistance, R, and an inductance, L.
=

Voltage is produced when the motor turns, switching the current flow in the wire. The voltage
produced is known as the back electromotive force (emf) or e. When the motor rotates, its angular
velocity,
w,
is
then
equal
to:
=

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Now, this voltage generated by the angular velocity is against the voltage applied across the
terminals, therefore;
( ) =
This implies, for a DC motor, the maximum or stall torque is the torque at which w = 0 or T=kV/R.
Hence,
the
stall
or
starting
current
can
be
calculated
by:

At no load, the motor can give the maximum speed w.

8.2 Transducers
When put in general Transducers are devices that convert a signal into one form of energy from
another. The energy conversion types include mechanical, electrical, chemical, electromagnetic,
chemical, acoustic, thermal, etc.
Infrared transmitter/receiver transducers are being planned to be used for the safety problem as it
will immediately inform the controller to stop opening/closing if someone is in the middle of the
door/gate. Secondly the transducers that we want to incorporate in this project is a vision system
that is a camera device that will take shots of images at a particular rate of time and hand it down
to the controller to process.
There are factors that need to be researched on before choosing and implementing the transducer.
These factors are:

Error there is always an error in every measure but a transducer must be chosen that
would give an acceptable amount of error.
Accuracy
Repeatability
Linearity
Hysteresis
Resolution
Sensitivity

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8.3 Control Systems

An interconnection of components in order to form a system configuration to produce desired
system response is referred to as a Control system. A component or a process can be controlled in
the following way:

Figure 2: Process under control[3]

The two types of control systems are open loop control system and closed loop control system. An
open loop control system uses a controller as well as a control actuator in order to obtain a desired
output. An example of an open loop control system is an electric toaster.

Figure 3.Open Loop Control System[3]

A closed sloop control system however uses an additional measure of actual output that would
compare the desired output response with the actual output. A feedback signal is used to measure
the output. It maintains a relationship f one system variable to another by comparing the functions
and means of control is used as a difference. A more complex system has an interrelationship in
the control scheme. AN example of a closed sloop system is using an autos location in order to
steer an automobile by making the appropriate adjustments.

Figure 4: Closed Loop control system[3]

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Control systems for this project would require a sensor that can detect any particular movement of
an object or a pedestrian that would cross the gate and thus the sliding door would open
automatically.
8.3.1 LabVIEW
Short for Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench is a system design and
development environment with a visual programming language for program creation. It was
created by National Instruments for mainly data acquisition, instrument control and industrial
automation for Windows, UNIX, Linux and Ma OS X platforms[4].
The graphical programming in LabVIEW is reference as G and is a dataflow programing. The
execution is determined by the structure of the a graphical block diagram on which different
functional node wires are connected created the flow of the program [5].
It has many application of which it has its own add-on and toolkits. As for this project three toolkit
were integrated in to LabVIEW and were; Vision Acquisition, Vision Development and Arduino
interfacing Toolkits.
8.3.2 Vision Acquisition Toolkit
NI Vision Acquisition Software is toolkit for LabVIEW is for acquiring, displaying, logging, and
monitoring image form a multitude of camera types. It can be used to create application using
LabVIEW, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic .NET. this toolkit includes NI frame
grabber, NI vision system and NI smart camera [6].
8.3.3 Vision Development Module Toolkit
NI Vision Development Module is toolkit designed to develop machine vision application. It
includes hundreds of function for process acquire images, such as OCR, Pattern recognition,
distance measuring, tracking, searching & matching etc. [6].
8.3.4 Arduino interface Toolkit
NI LabVIEW Interface for Arduino Toolkit is an integrated add-on software for LabVIEW to
easily the interfacing with the Arduino microcontroller with LabVIEW. With it the control and
acquisition of data from the Arduino microcontroller is easier and steam-lined [7].
8.3.5 Arduino Mega 2560
The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller based on the ATmega2560. It set with a USB
connection, power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button [8]. Its specific feature are shown in
Error! Reference source not found. below. It can be either
powered by the USB connection or with an external power, it
can select the power source automatically.

Figure 5 Arduino Mega 2560

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This controller can be programmed with Arduino software

provided by the manufacture at the website. This board come

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with a pre-burned with a boot loader that allows uploading of new code without the use of any
external hardware programmer. It communicates using STK500 protocol (C header file and
programmable through and using C++ coding use the Arduino software.
8.3.6 Spec of Arduino Mega 2560[8]
Microcontroller

ATmega2560

Operating Voltage

5V

Input Voltage (recommended)

7-12V

Input Voltage (limits)

6-20V

Digital I/O Pins

54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)

Analog Input Pins

16

DC Current per I/O Pin

40 mA

DC Current for 3.3V Pin

50 mA

Flash Memory

256 KB of which 8 KB used by boot loader

SRAM

8 KB

EEPROM

4 KB

Clock Speed

16 MHz

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8.4 AutoCAD
CAD Computer aided design and drafting is a simple technique of working on a computer with
a CADD software in order to design and obtain drawings as well as models in accordance to
specific standards of industries and companies.
AutoCAD allows the users to draw and design objects of any shape and size. It could be used to
make two dimensional (2D) as well as three dimensional (3D) models. It is a general software that
is used to design, draft and for every engineering disciplines. For example it could be used to draw
or design mechanical parts as well as assemblies, building plans and other architectural drawings,
electronics and much more. Hence, it is one of the best softwares for any engineering profession.

Figure 6: A Sample AutoCAD design

(Yarwood, 2012)

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Block Diagram of the overall System

Figure 7: Block Diagram

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10 Design Specifications
Some of the specifications of the design of this project are:

A Push Button Switch will be used in the project that indicates to the proximity sensors
that the verification process for the human detection must commence for the opening of
the door

A Camera would be present above the door that captures the image of the person who is
trying to seek entry through the door

A Proximity Sensor would give an analogue signal as output when a person comes in its
range of detection and opens the door accordingly

The transmitter sends signal to a RX Receiver and controls the direction of the moving
mechanism, i.e. the door

In order to control the distance of how much the door opens and closes, a Limiting sensor
is used to give signals to the control unit

There would be an Emergency Stop Switch that would be used to shut down power system
if there is any hazard or malfunction in the system

In this process, digital image is created from the physical image obtained by the sensors
and the cameras. This process is known as Image Acquisition

A database system would be created that stores the image of the entire authorized
individual who is eligible to enter the building.

In order to compare the digital image obtained in acquisition process with the images
saved in the database a Comparator will be used

An actuator used for the project is a Servo motor. Upon an instruction from the controller,
it controls the motion of gears in order to open the door

As a part of a display unit LED units will be used to indicate to the person that a match
has been found and that he is authorized to enter the building. There will be two LEDS.
Different colors are used to indicate success or failure

A buzzer will be used in the system to indicate that the actuators are in function of opening
the door, and the beep will only stop once the door has completely reclosed

In order to turn or shut the overall power in a proper manner an On/Off switch will be
used. Since this is an automatic door, the system will be turned on a 24/7 basis

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11 Programming Phase
11.1 Algorithms
11.1.1 Situation 1
1. Start
2. Vehicle enters
3. The proximity sensor [1] detects movement
4. The camera gets activated and the camera take a picture
5. The grayscale image Is compared with the code in the memory
6. If the image matches then the gate opens
7. The gate opens up until the limit switch [1] gets pressed
8. The proximity sensor [2] ensures that the vehicle has passed by.
9. Once the proximity sensor detection is null the gate starts to close
10. If the proximity sensor [2] detects any movement it halts, just in case if anybody is in the
way. (avoids injuries/fatalities)
11. End
11.1.2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Situation 2
Start
Vehicle enters
The proximity sensor [1] detects movement
The camera gets activated and the camera take a picture
The grayscale image Is compared with the code in the memory
If the image does not match then the controller rings an alarm to the house hold and informs
the user.
7. If the user recognizes the vehicle he/she could open the gate wirelessly
8. The gate opens up until the limit switch [1] gets pressed
9. The proximity sensor [2] ensures that the vehicle has passed by.
10. Once the proximity sensor detection is null the gate starts to close
11. If the proximity sensor [2] detects any movement it halts, just in case if anybody is in the
way. (avoids injuries/fatalities)
12. End

11.1.3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Situation 3
Start
The user opens the gate wirelessly
The gate opens up until the limit switch [1] gets pressed
The proximity sensor [2] ensures that the vehicle has passed by.
Once the proximity sensor detection is null the gate starts to close
If the proximity sensor [2] detects any movement it halts, just in case if anybody is in the
way. (avoids injuries/fatalities)

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11.2 Flowchart

Figure 8: Flow Chart

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12 Software Interfacing
The gate is control by Arduino Mega2560 which is interface with LabVIEW for real-time control.
There were two major integration of system for the mapping of the control of the gate; first was
the installation of the vision module into LabVIEW, second was the major one which was
interfacing LabVIEW with Arduino microcontroller.

12.1 Vision System

LabVIEW only has no vision accusation and processing programs, therefore add-on development
by its creator were install for the vision system. This were;
NI Vision Acquisition software
NI Vision Development Module
These two are integrated in LabVIEW was responsible acquiring the image from the webcam,
process the image and then running it follow its optical character recognition (OCR) software for
matching and verification.

12.2 LabVIEW Arduino Interface

The interface of LabVIEW to Arduino was achieve through NI Arduino Interfacing toolkit created
by NI. It comprise with its interfacing graphical dataflow codes and a coded C++ Arduino software
to be uploaded to the microcontroller. The file uploaded LIFA located in the Arduino Interfacing
root directories contain the real time control of the microcontroller via LabVIEW.

13 Power Transmission
For the gate to moving back and forth linearly from the rotary motion of the motor mechanism has
to be installed. Transmitting the rotation motion of the motor produced when signaled by the
controller, to linear motion to control the gate motion, gears and rail mechanism would be used.
This mechanism will not only transmit but adjust the power and velocity of the motion of the gate
to the motor RPM. For gear, a gear train mechanism will be used to control/manipulate the power
& speed to be translated in such four gears with parallel shaft arrangement, one end connect to
the motor shaft and the other end gear to the transmit to the rail.

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14 Programming LabVIEW
14.1 Interfacing LabVIEW Software with Arduino Mega Board.
For our gate design, most of the gate features were controlled by the LabVIEW Software. In order
to enable the software to communicate with the Arduino Mega 2650 Board, a firmware program
code, named LIFA was downloaded from the official site and sent to the microcontroller.

14.2 Initializing the pins.

Fig 9:
Features
Input/output
Pin
Allocation.Pin
COM 3
USB port that connects the Laptop with LabVIEW software to the Arduino
Board.
9600
It is defining the Baud rate of the Mega board.
Mega 2650
It is the model number of the board that needs to be defined.
Port 2
Input pin for the proximity sensor 1
Port 3
Input for the proximity sensor 2
Port 7
Input for Limit switch 1
Port 8
Input for Limit switch 2
Port 11
Output for motor- clockwise
Port 12
Output for motor- anti-clockwise

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14.3 Car Detection

Fig 10: Loop for car detection

For this step, a proximity sensor was connected to Port 3. The sensor was connected at the main
entrance, where the car will come and wait in front of the gate. Every time, if the sensor detects an
object, it will trigger the LED and will turn on the camera. The main advantage of using this sensor
in the gate system is that it helps save electricity that might have been consumed by the camera if
was switched ON all the time. Another point to note is that this step is an ongoing step, since the
proximity sensor needs to keep on checking for car detection, therefore, the whole processed is
looped.

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14.4 Vision Acquisition

Fig 12: Image comparing

Once the Car Detection process is successful, the camera is switched on. In the acquisition process,
the camera takes an image of the cars number plate and then extracts the numbers in the form of
strings. After extraction process, the program than compares the numbers with the already stored
numbers in the database and tries to find a match. If there is a match, then the LabVIEW will give
for the gate to be opened, otherwise it will blink the LED indicating that the car is unauthorized to
enter. Moreover, at the phase, a buzzer could have been connected which could have notified the
owner or the responsible authorities of the failure.

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14.5 Motor Control for Gate Opening

Fig 13: Gate Opening

Upon the successful match of the cars number plate with the number plates in the database,
LabVIEW will then give a command to through Port 11 of the Mega Board to rotate the motor for
gate operation. The motor will rotate until it hits the limit switch 1 placed at the end of the track
through Port 7. Once the switch is triggered, the motor will stop for 5000 ms. This will allow the
driver to drive through the gate into the premises.
Note:
At this point, for safety precaution, a proximity sensor could be used instead of the delay. The
proximity sensor will relay on the real time input which will be more enhancing and safe compared
to the delay set. Also, the delay value can be varied.

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14.6 Motor Control for Gate Closing

Fig 13: Gate Closure

After the 5 sec Delay, the LabVIEW will give the command through the port 12 of the mega board
to rotate the motor in opposite direction. The motor will keep on rotating until it hits Switch 2.
This will indicate that the gate has been closed and that the car has successfully entered the
premises. The whole program is looped, therefore after completing this process; the program will
start again and wait for a Car Detection.

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14.7 Graphical User Interface

Fig 14: Graphical User Interface

Interface

Features

Image out

Shows the image of the Cars number plate currently in the trajectory. It
relates which numbers are matching with the numbers currently in the
database.

Match Found

A LED that lights every time a match has been found.

String Read

It gives an output of the numbers that can be read by the camera.

Car detection

A LED that gives the output from the proximity sensor. It lights every time
the sensor detects a Car.

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15 Hardware Design
15.1 Gate Mechanical Design
The mechanical designing of an automated gate system comprises of the follows subsections:

Structure, Mounting & Housing designing

Power transmission designing
Condition and Safety designing

15.1.1 Structure, Mounting & Housing design

15.1.1.1 Frame
The base frame from the gate design will incorporate base structure, the power transmitting rail,
housing from the sensors and rolling mechanisms. A draft as of the frame as shown in Figure 1. It
show the location of the sensor housing and gear rail for power transmission.

Figure 15 Gate Frame

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15.2 AutoCAD

Figure 16: AutoCAD Drawing

AutoCAD was used in our project to design some of the components that were installed on the
model of the gate. The design of the AutoCAD drawing is shown above. It consists of the
components such as the tracks, rails, gear and wheels. These components were then printed using
the 3D printing facility available at the University.
There were four tracks that were joined together to form a single track on which the gate would
move. Each track was 150mm long. Moreover, there were 2 rails, each with a length of 150mm.
The rails were designed in a way to cater for the gears to rotate on them. The wheels were designed
in a way that they would accurately fit on the path of the tracks.
Designing the components with AutoCAD made our work easier since, it saved time and moreover
very accurate, thus making the final product after the 3D printing, of the same size and length as
per the requirement. Furthermore, it also helped us to broaden our knowledge on AutoCAD, which
would indeed be very helpful in our future endeavors.

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15.3 ACTUAL HARDWARE MODEL

The Hardware model of the final design consisted of a gate, tracks, wheels, gear, rails, DC motor,
MEGA Arduino 2560, limit switches, webcam and a laptop. The tracks were mounted to the base.
Thereafter, rails were also screwed on the body of the gate. In order to allow the gate to move,
wheels were attached to its bottom, by inserting a shaft through its center. The gate was then placed
on the tracks and it was made sure that it moved freely. In order to protect the gate from falling
down a support was made using a piece of wood.
The final hardware design also had two limit switches at the ends of the gate. The gear was attached
to the DC motor and it was placed in such a way that it moved freely on the rails. The motor was
connected to the motor driver IC 74410NE. This was used since the Arduino board was not able
to provide enough provide that was sufficient enough to drive the motor powerfully. The limit
switches were connected to the Arduino board and so were the controlling wires of the motor.
The gate was designed in such a way that whenever a car is present in front of the gate, the
LabVIEW software would compare the number on the number plate of the car with those stored
in its database. If the number is correct, the Arduino would trigger, the motor, and that gate opens.
This would continue until a point in time when the gate would touch one of the limit switches
present at the far end of the tracks. As soon as it touches the limit switch, the motor would stop,
hence stopping the motor. This happens because the limit switch is now normally open. Hence
there is no power to the motor. Hence the car can move inside the gate at this time. After a delay
of five seconds, the gate would start to close. Yet again, the motor stops when the gate triggers the
limit switch present at the other end of the tracks.
This process would continue whenever a car approaches the gate. In case of an unrecognized
number plate, the gate would not open. In this case, a buzzer would send whereby the owner would
be informed about the presence of a car near the gate. A push button was provided. This could be
sued to open the gate manually in such situation. The final model of the hardware design is shown
below:

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Figure 17: Final Hardware model

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16 Real life application of the System

This project could be implemented in many real life scenarios. Since, the gate of the house only
opens for certain vehicles, it could add more safety to a building. It could be implemented at many
places where high security is required, such as Parliament house, banks and many other places
which permit access for only limited number of people.
Furthermore, in order for this project to work on a real life application this project it is needed to
develop it on to an embedded system, which could work without a computer. Thus, this small
embedded device with all the circuitry could then be installed at any places mentioned above. This
would provide very high security and hence solve the problem of trespassing.
Moreover, in a real life application, DC servo motor should be used in order to open and close the
gate. This is highly recommended since it uses a position sensing device, thus allowing the motor
to know the direction in which it should rotate (Agarwal, 2013). Thus it is more precise. In order
to add more safety in a real life application, vision detecting sensors should also be used in this
project. Hence it would protect the cars passing through the gate.
Thus a real life application of this project is very much possible and it could become a very
successful invention in the area of housing as well as commercial security.

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17 Challenges Faced
This project was very challenging because our group found difficulty getting a suitable controller.
The Microcontroller PIC16F877 was all being used by students of other units. A lot of time was
wasted troubleshooting on faulty boards and initiating microcontroller. However, we lost hope
with this and search for an alternative.
The alternative controller Teensy 3.0 was obtained which was completely functional, however,
when it came to interfacing the processor with LabVIEW it did not work. The LIFA in Arduino
did not support Teensy 3.0 reason being that LabVIEW does not support teensy 3.0 because it has
an ARM processor.
It was really challenging to interface the proximity sensors with the system. The sensors would
sometime work and sometimes malfunction therefore we had to demonstrate with the sensors.
The 3D printing of the hardware model took a lot of time and the technicians werent available all
the time to have our design printed out this caused our project to be behind schedule.

18 Recommendations
It is highly recommended dynamic type of vision detection de used in this application as the user
will not always be parking or entering at the same place. At this point in the time the region of
interest is static and at a very specific region. Dynamic detection would enhance the features of
the project at it would not matter where the car is parked.
Secondly, it is highly recommended that sensors be used for protection as we were not able to
interface it in our project.
Thirdly, the model of the gate was half designed and 3D printer and half made by hand. It is
recommended that the whole system be printed in the 3D printer.
The most important recommendation is that embedded systems (standalone systems) be used for
controlling purposes instead of a personal computer as this is not feasible for real life applications.

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19 Conclusion
In Conclusion it can be said that a mechatronic system had been composed and developed. A
mechatronic system can be identified by the availability of a control system, transducers and
actuators. The control system in our case was LabVIEW linked with Arduino mega. The
transducers or the feedback element of the design were switches and proximity sensors. The
actuator was a DC motor.
This project is has been a great learning experience for all the group members, we learnt from
model designing in AutoCAD, to using Arduino Mega, to flow programming in LabVIEW.
Automatic gate control using vision detection is a great innovative idea when implemented it
would get a good market value. However, our system has to be made more robust by using sensors
and with the use of dynamic vision processing.

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20 Bibliography
1. M. P. Groover, Automation, production systems, and computer-integrated
manufacturing: Prentice Hall Press, 2007.
2. G. Campion, G. Bastin, and B. DAndrka-Novel, "Robotics and Automation," 1996.
3. M. Gopal, Control systems: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2012.
4. J. Travis and J. Kring, LabVIEW for Everyone: Graphical Programming Made Easy and
Fun (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation Series): Prentice Hall PTR, 2006.
5. (2014, 29th May). LabVIEW. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LabVIEW
6. C. G. Relf, Image acquisition and processing with LabVIEW: CRC press, 2003.
7. M. . Granado Navarro, "Arduino based acquisition system for control applications,"
2012.
8. A. Mega, "2560," Internet: http://arduino.cc/it/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560,[maj. 14,
2012], 2011.
9. Agarwal, T. (2013). Servo Motor Working, Advantages & Disadvantages. Mumbai: ElPro-Cus
10. Yarwood, A. (2012). Introduction to AutoCAD. London: Routledge.

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