Bachelor’s Dissertation: My 1st Thesis Experience

I’m studying Applied Physics (Hons.) with Microelectronics as my minor at Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM). During Semester VI and VII, the students are required to writing the dissertation as the requirement for the graduation. I wrote the thesis entitled ‘Seismic Seiche Detection using Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) Module’. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azwani Sofia bt Ahmad Khiar became the coordinator while Dr. Affa Rozana bt Abdul Rashid became my lecturer supervisor. And this is my experience writing the thesis.

To prepared the students for the dissertation, for my course we must taking Honours Seminar and Research Methodology subject during Semester V. I didn’t understand what was the differences between these subjects. Simple to say that Honours Seminar prepared me for the thesis viva voce and Research Methodology prepared me for the thesis writing. These subjects didn’t require me to sit for the exam, just present my work with a team of several friends during the class. During Honours Seminar class, 7 friends and I writing report about ‘Time Evolution’ with Dr. Ernie Suzana bt Ali as our supervisor while during Research Methodology class, 3 friends and I writing journal entitled ‘Marital stress: A survey among the middle-class people in Nilai, Malaysia’ where we need to distributed the questionnaire to the people as the data for analysis. Surprisingly, my Research Methodology journal became the best article in the class and will be recommended to be published at any website journal !

Thesis during Semester VI was all about the proposal. Meant that I must initiated the dissertation by having a title, a lecturer supervisor, and some sketch on how to doing research during Semester VII later. Selecting a supervisor was done during the end of Semester V. After the first meeting with Dr. Affa, I suggested to wrote about ‘Tsunami Detection via Wireless Alert System’. The idea to choose this topic came from a senior thesis entitled ‘Automated Flood Control System using Radio Frequency (RF)’ where he placed a detector on one side and a siren on the other side, connecting these using radio frequency module. Based on my experience during Semester V, I took a month to prepared the thesis proposal where I must read a lot of related internet articles to put in Literature Review topic of the thesis plus some suggested circuit implementation I found in the internet to put in Research Methodology topic.

It was time for thesis proposal presentation. 2 examiners (actually they were the supervisors to other friends’ thesis) will saw for my stand before letting me to doing the experiment later. After the presentation, quite disappointed I felt because they want me to change the dissertation title as my suggested circuit looked impossible to become the efficient tsunami detector. A month more I spent to re-initiate my thesis proposal with a new title, ‘Seismic Seiche Detection using Radio Frequency’. This title ensured me to use the same circuit as the seiche effect is not aggressive as tsunami impact and the people have a time to run after the circuit sirens.

The university set the allocation for every student was RM500. For USIM microelectronics and engineering student, the nearby places we could got the electronic component were a shop at Seremban, Negeri Sembilan and shops along Jalan Pasar, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. If you know any shop that sold electronic parts and chips near Nilai, Negeri Sembian, please inform me.

Materials	Equipment
Arduino Uno	LM7805 voltage regulator
	LM358 IC
	BC548 transistor
Piezoelectric Sensor	230V AC to 5V AC Transformer
	Piezoelectric Buzzer
16x2 LCD display	Light Emitting Diode (LED)
	5k Variable resistor (VR)
	Ceramic capacitor (22pF, 0.1μF)
GSM SIM900A	Electrolytic capacitor (10μF 16V, 100μF 25V)
	Resistor (100E, 330E, 2.2kΩ, 5.6kΩ, 10kΩ, 33kΩ, 100kΩ, 1MΩ)

Actually, the table shows the final materials and equipment that I used to build my circuit. I also bought RF module, encoder and decoder integrated circuit (IC), 9V batteries with its holder, bridge rectifier, crystal oscillators, switches, and ATMEGA microcontrollers. I bought these components based on what I had seen on the internet. The GSM module formerly was an additional part to my circuit before it became core when RF failed to install while about Arduino I just bought without knowing it could replace ATMEGA microcontroller.

Final, succeeded circuit diagram. Before this, I planned to separate the circuit into two where the piezo vibration sensor and 3 water probe circuits connected first to encoder IC and RF transmitter module while Arduino Uno’s inputs connected first to RF receiver module and decoder IC. That’s why this project named ‘….using RF’, because the circuits separated into two and were connected using RF signals. GSM module also not included at the early stage.

The installation began during early Semester VII. I’d spent my semester holiday by reading Arduino book, but nothing progress. Blurred with what happened, my friend suggested me to attend an Arduino workshop. Although the workshop doesn’t help me too much, the workshop gave me initial leap advice, “The easiest thing to get the code is just copy-paste from the internet.” From the basic knowledge I got from the workshop, I struggled searching Arduino code related to my project for weeks. Furthermore, this workshop convinced me to use GSM module because they told that the price for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) SMS is less than the standard charges. So, I kept ATMEGA microcontroller as it was not in use, and just utilizing Arduino Uno easily. The dissertation title now became ‘Seismic Seiche Detection using Radio Frequency and GSM Module’.

Arduino Hands-on Workshop organized by MyDuino at Shah Alam, Selangor.

To filled up Research Methodology topic of thesis, first I decided to test the circuit in terms of efficiency. Both the transmitter and the receiver circuit were supplied with the voltage ranging from 0-5V. The readings of efficiency were taken from an encoder data output pin and a decoder input pin using the multimeter, same as what the senior did in his thesis. Next, I tested the minimum working voltage for the GSM module, the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the buzzer to function properly. Later, I tested the maximum communication for the RF signal to travel from the RF transmitter module to the RF receiver module. These tests should be done by running the circuit during ‘high seiche’ and/or ‘earthquake’ stage, where the buzzer will be siren. However, I still couldn’t get the Arduino code during this time, but data were successfully collected. Just supply the power source without running the circuit.

Working principles: three seiche detectors labelled as low (5m from water), medium (10m from water), high (15m from water) along with seismic sensor sent the signal to Arduino Uno to trigger the messages on LCD and SMS through GSM module. The buzzer will buzz if in high seiche (water reached 15m at the embankment) and/or earthquake condition. Actually, I want to send the detection wirelessly using RF before becoming like this picture, just long wire.

Input Type Triggered from the Sensor	GSM Module SMS Text
Vibration	“EARTHQUAKE”
Low Seiche	“BEWARE SEICHE”
(Low + Medium) Seiche	“WARNING SEICHE”
(Low + Medium + High) Seiche	“DANGER SEICHE”
Vibration + Low Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE ! BEWARE SEICHE”
Vibration + (Low + Medium) Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE ! WARNING SEICHE”
Vibration + (Low + Medium + High) Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE ! DANGER SEICHE”

The condition when GSM module texted SMS.

Input Type Triggered from the Sensor	LCD Display Message
Vibration	“EARTHQUAKE”
Low Seiche	“BEWARE SEICHE”
(Low + Medium) Seiche	“WARNING SEICHE”
(Low + Medium + High) Seiche	“DANGER SEICHE”
Vibration + Low Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE”, “BEWARE SEICHE”
Vibration + (Low + Medium) Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE”, “WARNING SEICHE”
Vibration + (Low + Medium + High) Seiche	“EARTHQUAKE”, “DANGER SEICHE”

The condition when LCD displayed message.

Input Type Triggered from the Sensor

Vibration

Vibration + Low Seiche

Vibration + (Low + Medium) Seiche

Vibration + (Low + Medium + High) Seiche

The condition when the buzzer buzzed.

The thesis viva was near, but I have some function problems with the RF module, the encoder and the decoder IC. Idk why, eventually I managed to remove these parts from my circuit. Removing these meant that I’d lost a lot of data for Research Methodology topic, plus Literature Review topic become lesser making my dissertation thinner. Removing also caused my thesis changed its title to ‘Seismic Seiche Detection using GSM module’. Then, the only test left for Research Methodology topic was the minimum requirement voltage for the three electronic devices. By this removing, I have to replace with long copper wire to connect the detectors to the Arduino, and I found the code for this type connection. Hence, the circuit was successfully functioning but in not my expectation. You may help me to fix the Arduino code for connection ‘HT12E -> RF Tx -> RF Rx -> HT12D’ in comment column.

The circuit was under test in the laboratory. Actually, the installation process was at my home. I only came to the lab to did what I cannot did to the circuit at home.

Viva voce date came. For my case, I needed to present to the same examiners who examined me during the proposal with the circuit available. This year, as the government cut the university’s allotment, we had an alternative to print the poster in 8x A4 paper instead of A1 because the paper cost cannot be claimed. Now, guess what happened? The 2 examiners thumb up my project! The appreciation not only came from those 2 lecturers, but also from all lecturers who had visited my board. They also gave some recommendations which will be useful for who wanted to develop my projects later, i.e. my juniors. One of the recommendation I would like to share with you is implement a lot of this circuit along the coast of Sabah and Sarawak for weather broadcasting rather than seismic detection because the South China Sea wave is strong there.

I also included verse 41 from Surah al-Rum in the presentation since I know the examiners liked Nash proof.

Now it's time to hardbound. Printing shops nearby university offered the service of hardbound the thesis expensively. So, I decided to did it at shops nearby Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor since they offered the service cheaply, including the laser printing in a short time! Total cost of 3 copy of my thesis was almost RM50 less RM3. After filled-in some forms, I eventually sent 2 copies to the thesis coordinator while I kept the remaining one for remembrance.

To hardbound, the university required me to print in 80gsm A4 paper with hardbound. My dissertation has 30 pages, excluding the cover, the preface, table of content, and some list of tables and abbreviation. Must be printed in 2 copy.

Semester result displayed. I got 'A' for this subject! I was shocked because my pages was thin and there were little format errors in my writing. 'Thesis' is also a subject, then you must score this as it could increase your grade point better than other subjects that contributed much to the semester's Grade Point Average (GPA). Since it has 6 credits, getting 'A' for this subject brought 24 grade points rather than other subjects that have 3 credits which brought 10 grade points.

My chief course lecturer, Dr. Azman bin Hashim @ Adnan really liked my project. He seriously wanted me to continue this such project by pursuing further studies in Master. Btw, during the time when this post was composed, I having internship in a company that utilized Arduinos. If the company wanted to spared me as worker in the end of the internship, I hope that he could accepted my condition. Verily, there was not only one way to contribute to the development of Arduino in Malaysia. But, I still kept in my mind to further studies until I grab Doctor title in future for some reasons I perforce to took it perhaps.