MICHIGAN  STATE  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE  OF  ENGINEERING  

Fast  Track  Safety  and  Security  System  Proposal  

Sponsor:  ArcelorMittal  Facilitator:  Nihar  Mahapatra  

Trevor Emeric | Bingyang Wu | Lauren Poole | Jazmine Gaymon  

2/20/2015  

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS  1.   Introduction  ....................................................................................................................................  2  

2.   Background  .....................................................................................................................................  4  

4. Conceptual Design Ranking  ..............................................................................................................  8  

5. Proposed Design Solution  ................................................................................................................  10  

7. GANTT Chart  ..................................................................................................................................  13  

9. Project Management Plan  ...............................................................................................................  15  

Project Timeline  ...............................................................................................................................  15  

10. Estimated Costs/Vendors  ...............................................................................................................  16  

11. References  .......................................................................................................................................  17  

 

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1. INTRODUCTION  

The ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor Long Carbon (IHLC) Plant is located in East Chicago,

Indiana. The Environmental, Health, and Safety Manager will be Mr. Cliff Barnett. The aim of

this project is to design a new entry gate that will aid traffic flow, improve security, and reinforce

safety while entering the ArcelorMittal factory grounds. Ultimately, the delivered product will

have a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader, employee database, a controlled gate arm,

and video recording.

Security, whether referring to computers and electronics or car and parking lot security,

has become a prevalent problem within society today. Despite the best efforts of some, breaches

do occur. Furthermore, in our large metropolitan cities, parking has progressively become more

of a concerning issue. While the number of parking spaces is not increasing, the number of

visitors has increased exponentially in many large metropolitan areas. This is a two edge sword

in which the increased people traffic is important to revitalize and support our metropolitan areas.

However, if there are not enough safe and secure areas in which people can safely leave their

vehicles, these individuals will not continue to frequent these cities. Thus, the goal of the Gate

Security Project is to provide an effective solution to secure a currently unsecured parking lot.

The new system would not only give the company peace of mind, but also the employees.

The proposed new and improved design will not only utilize existing devices, it will

place them in more user friendly locations. Since the same readers are used widely in many

plants throughout the United States, employee education will not be needed. However, one

improvement that could be made is to include a second camera near the current reader device.

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The second camera would then record the face of all employees that use the entrance. Being able

to identify false entry attempts will be beneficial to the company.

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2. BACKGROUND  

Researching back to the fall of 2010, a project of this complexity has not been completed

by a design team. There are individual components (RFID, Bluetooth, Motor control, etc.) that

have been completed however none as complex as what is being proposed. Many of the projects

that have been completed in the past have dealt with using a database of some form. For example,

in Fall of 2014, a team developed a Point of Sale Grocery Cart which stored product information

in a database which then could be accessed using a smartphone app.

A product that could benefit this type of design is the Arduino microcontroller. The

Arduino is a microcontroller that runs off a Linux based Operating System (OS) which is open

source [1]. Since the operating system is very versatile, programs can be written in multiple

programming languages (C#, Python, C++, etc.). Since the Arduino has built in buses on the top

of the microcontroller, it will allow for ports to be used, and data to be extracted from.

Current gate security systems consist of gates that are manned by individuals in a gate

booth. This becomes very expensive for companies and parking lots. The money that is spent to

have someone staff the booth for over 15 hours a day can be saved by replacing this form of

staffing by an automatic device. This is especially true and usable in secured business parking

lots, where employees carry identification cards that emit RFID signals.

An RFID reader consists of an antenna that receives the signal emitted by the card, or key

tag. The beauty of this device in the real world is that the line of site has no effect [2]. As long as

an employee is in the preset range, reader dependent, the card can be read and employee

identified. In the case of The Gate Security Project, the user will not need to get out of the car,

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open a window or be troubled in anyway entering the building. Not only is this an efficient

process but is hassle free.

The servomotor is a very small and compact motor, but is very efficient at delivering a

large amount of power. The motor is made up of circuitry built inside the motor as well as gears.

The gears aid in making the motor very efficient. The servomotor also allows for control of

forward and reverse motion [3]. Since the gate will be moving up and down, the servomotor is

the best choice of control. The Arduino bus provides a 5V power source as well as a ground pin.

When writing programs these pins will be the “triggers” to allow control of the motor.

Lastly, public and business concern with these designs is safety. When a car drives

through the gate, it should not go down prematurely. This also holds true if someone walks under

it while it is going down. Not only can a car be damaged, but someone can be injured. Safety will

be one of the top concerns with designing the gate. A sensor will be added on the gate control

pod to verify nothing is in the closing path once the gate is open.

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3. Objectives and Design Specifications

The scope of the project is to develop and streamline the employee entrance to the

ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor Long Carbon Plant. The final design is not expected to be full size,

but it is one that can be scaled and then implemented in the real world. Combining a RFID reader

with a servomotor via a microcontroller, employees will have a secured parking lot with

employee restricted access. The new system will still use traditional badges, so the cost per

employee will not increase.

The overall design of the gate housing, gate and gate house will need to be rugged to

withstand harsh weather conditions. The ever-changing seasons associated with the Chicago area

inclusive of wind, rain and snow puts a beating on all components outside. The gate will need to

also be strong enough that it won’t be blown around or snapped in these various conditions.

The applications developed for the microcontroller will be critical to the overall success

of the device. If any part errors out or fails to initialize, the whole interface will go down and

need to be rebooted. The device will be able to be remotely accessed allowing for reboots in the

case of an emergency. The first application will consist of reading the RFID from an employee’s

badge, the second will check the database, then call the motor. After the motor has been called

the next application will ensure the path is clear before the motor returns to its starting position.

The added caution when opening and closing the gate will ensure no injuries resulted from

carelessness.

The additions that will be needed for smooth operation will be a Wireless Access Point or

Ethernet run. This connection will be essential for the programs to access the SQL database and

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verify employees. Along the same line, the use of a wireless IP camera while recording, being

able to view in live time and transfer files to the server (FTP). Secondly, a power run will be

needed to power the RFID Reader, microcontroller and camera. The motor will be powered by

Arduino microcontroller bus and the server will be internal to the building and not be near the

gate house or gate.

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4. CONCEPTUAL DESIGN RANKING  

Criteria Weight

(%)

Arduino/Wireless IP Camera Raspberry Pi/Bus Camera

Operational

Functional: A description of how the proposed device will benefit the company and how well it would interface.

Acceptance: A validation for how well the solution would be received by the company, user, and the public's’ perspective.

30 This system will work very well since it will use many devices that are used widely in today’s society by both home and business owners.

The system will be user friendly since it will be able to be accessed remotely and the camera will be more robust.

Score: 30

This system will not work as well since the Raspberry Pi and Bus Camera are more limited in overall operation.

This system would not be accepted very well since the user experience would be challenging for a person with average technical skills.

Score: 26

Technical

Technology: The amount of technology and support needed. The practical use of the proposed technology within the company

Knowledge: Evaluation of the needed expertise for each step of the project, as well as maintenance.

30 The technology used in this design would be considered “state of the art” currently. The Arduino is very robust in customization and accessibility. While the IP camera has an infrared interface allowing for better night vision.

The expertise that will be needed will be very minute. Many of the small problems that could be faced will be able to be fixed with a quick reboot.

The technology used in this design is older since the camera is recorded off the bus. When the camera is connected to the bus there is no opening for other devices to be interfaced. Making the design not only limited, but will be much larger to accomplish the task.

The expertise to fix a problem with this design will be much more technical because the manager will need to track down which microcontroller is experiencing the problem in order to fix it

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Score: 26

Score: 20

Economic

The overall cost for the proposed design and the amount the business will recoup.

30 300+

Score: 25

350+

Score: 23

Timeline

Amount of time to deliver the proposed solution effectively.

10 5 to 7 weeks

Score: 10

6-8 weeks

Score: 9

Rank 100 x> 91 x> 78

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5. PROPOSED DESIGN SOLUTION  

The proposed solution for the Gate Security Problem will be built with the components

that have been discussed above. The decisions are made based on feasibility and the overall user

experience. The gate design selected will require housing for the microcontroller and servomotor.

The housing will be a durable material that will be able to handle the adverse weather, preferably

steel, which will further be discussed with the sponsor. The sponsor has agreed on using the

MATRIX RFID Readers to allow ease of access for all employees on entrance.

The applications loaded on the microcontroller will communicate wirelessly to the

company’s database server. The server will receive an identification number and log the times of

entrance. Two tables will be created on the server; one for employee numbers and one to track

the number of entries and time of entries into the lot. The same server will accept incoming files

(via FTP) of video that has been recorded at the entrance.

On the same gate housing, a sensor will be placed in line with where a car would be

detected upon entrance. As discussed above, the sensor will insure the safety of all entering

intentionally and the unintentional entrances into the lot. This will not only protect the company

from being sued for unintentional injury, but will also protect society.

The overall nature of the project is based on a more expensive Arduino microcontroller.

With the robustness of the more expensive controller and larger libraries in C, it will successfully

be able to run the server communications and programs. This will also allow for a quicker

development of the programs needed for a successful prototype. The Raspberry Pi is a very

comparable unit to the Arduino, but it does not offer the extensive C libraries and robustness

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offered by the chosen microcontroller. The chosen microcontroller will allow for a streamlined

process that is not only technical but also user friendly once placed in production. The overall

design concept can be seen in the figure below:

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6. FAST Diagram

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7. GANTT CHART

 

 

 

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8. Risk Analysis

 

Risk Event Performance Cost Schedule

High The program will obtain and relay to the server false information which will give access to unauthorized people.

This would be extremely unacceptable as it is not only jeopardizing company information but also employee safety and car safety.

This would be very costly to the company because employees may not have a space to park. Strangers could have access to information not secured overnight.

The schedule would need to be pushed back at least a week in order to fix the problem and conduct rigorous testing of the device.

Medium If a program were to malfunction, the gate would stop working and employees would not be able to enter the lot.

This would be unacceptable as employees would not be able to park the car, get into work, and conduct their job on time. They would end up arriving late that day.

The budget would not be affected. But the overall cost to the company could be greater if employees can’t get into work and do their jobs.

The schedule would be pushed back a few hours to get the gate running again but then a few days to verify functionality.

Low During the installation of the devices and microcontroller a part could be damaged

The overall performance of the device would not be affected. However the security of the parking lot would be delayed.

The cost would be small due to the low cost of the device.

The schedule would be pushed back from implementation roughly a few days due to ordering parts and then installing them.

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9. PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN  

Personnel Non-Technical Role

Trevor Emerick Project Manager and Documentation Prep

Bingyang Wu Website Development

Lauren Poole Lab Coordinator

Jazmine Gaymon Presentation Coordinator

Personnel Technical Role

Trevor Emerick SQL Database, General Help with all components

Bingyang Wu Video Monitor

Lauren Poole RFID Reader Input

Jazmine Gaymon Servo Motor Controller

PROJECT TIMELINE ● Pre-proposal – Feb. 6th ● Website Creation – Feb. 2nd-3rd ● Design Brainstorm – Feb. 9th–12th ● Parts Ordered – Feb 13th ● RFID Application – Feb. 16th - Feb. 19th ● Server Setup – Feb. 19th-23rd ● Motor Application Feb. 19th-24th ● Video Streaming/Storage – Feb. 28th - Mar. 4th ● Full interface – April 15th ● Full Prototype – April 15th ● Fine Tuning – April 15th – 20th ● Design Day Presentation – May 1st

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10. ESTIMATED COSTS/VENDORS *Small scale design

Product Cost Vendor

Arduino Yun 75.95 Mouser Electronics

Servo Motor 13.99 Digikey

Logitech HD Webcam C310 32.12 Amazon

Es)mated  Cost  

Arduino  Yun  

Servo  Motor  

Logitech  HD  Webcam  C310  

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11. REFERENCES [1] http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction

[2] http://www.rfidjournal.com/site/faqs#Anchor-How-7638

[3] http://www.jameco.com/jameco/workshop/howitworks/how-servo-motors-work.html