Other Projects

Non-comprehensive list of projects without detailed information.

Confidential Projects

I have also designed and implemented some systems relates to encryption and digital communication that I cannot disclose the details on this page. What I can say is that they are used in the North American government.

Personal Projects

BMW E46 Computer System (2009)

E46 is one of the best cars to be hacked. It's not too old: it has a bus wire called I-BUS where most of the inter-component data transfer occurs. It's also not too new: the system is not too complicated. So I put together a computer system using MacBook Pro, modified Xenarc 700TSV touch screen, GPS, iPhones, TomTom, etc.

MacBook Pro talks to the car via I-BUS with my small program. As a result, I can read/record the real-time statistics like coolant temperature, light states, speed, rpm, etc., and even manipulate the electronics form the computer.

Relayed power system is implemented: the computer system awakes automatically when ACC is on; consumes no power, otherwise.

I installed a rear roller blind to prevent glares on the touch screen and rear screens.

Things the system can do right now:

• Real-time tracking with Google Maps.
• Real-time stats reading, parameter modification.
• Local videos, DVD, YouTube, Live TV (via SlingBox Pro-HD in my room), Internet radio, etc.
• Anything MacBook Pro can do like browsing a web.
• Automatic rear-view cameras.
• Logging speed, rpm, temp, location, time, etc. for visualization (see the image below). This works well with the geo-tagged photos taken during a trip.
• Making a hands-free phone call (TomTom + iPhone).
• GPS navigation (TomTom, also possible on Mac).
• Control iPhone using the steering wheel buttons.

AR.Drone Optical Flow Analysis for Autonomous Flight (2010)

This video shows how my autonomous flight algorithm sees the environment.

DIY Book Scanner(2011)

Single-camera solution for book scanning. Thick textbooks can be scanned without taking them apart.

It's fully automatic. My image processing algorithm automatically detects how the book is placed, corrects the distortion (in 3D space), and crops the pages.

Mellotron Simulator (2011)

Mellotron is an electro-mechanical instrument from the 60s used by The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc.

This simulator is written in Objective-C and uses OS X's Core Audio library.

Class Projects

Hoverboard Project (2011)

MIPS Style Pipelined CPU

Two MIPS style CPUs are designed and implemented on a FPGA boards. Simulators and assemblers are also created.

Elevator System I

Elevator system using TTL chips and a stepper motor.

Elevator System II

Elevator system using a microcontroller and a stepper motor.

Copyright © 1997-2010 Yutaka Tsutano.