DPAC

The DPAC is a EE Capstone Design project from five students at Northeastern University. All the hardware and software was designed from scratch, and brought from a concept to a fully functional product over several months. The schematics, layout, and soldering of the primary board were completed 100% by the students.

What makes DPAC special is that it will automatically set your alarm each day to the optimal time, based on your Google Calendar schedule. It connects to any home network with an 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connection, and connects to our web service which performs the computations and returns the desired alarm time.

The alarm time is calculated with an algorithm which takes into account several factors including driving distance, traffic, and weather. It will start with the driving distance to the location indicated in the calendar entry, and add a percentage of time depending on the severity of traffic and weather events. Lastly it adds a fixed configurable value set by the user to shower, eat breakfast, etc, each morning.

The clock features a 6.4″ LCD with a large easy readout of the time and other information, with a full user interface to control devices and settings.

There is also a full audio system featuring stereo 4W speakers, an FM radio, and iPod connectivity. These are driven by a Class AB amplifier giving a full and rich sound comparable to other sound docks on the market.