BreakScope: Eddy Current Braking Analyzer

Real-time visualization and analysis of electromagnetic braking dynamics

Features

• Dual-sensor acceleration monitoring (front/rear)
• Real-time FFT for frequency analysis
• Material characterization (Copper/Aluminum/Steel)
• Export-ready data formats (CSV, PNG)
• Interactive controls for zoom/filtering

Hardware Setup

graph TB
    A[Arduino Nano] -->|I²C| B[MPU6050 Front]
    A -->|I²C| C[MPU6050 Rear]
    D[Neodymium Magnets] -->|Under| E[Test Track]
    A -->|USB| F[Computer]

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Components

Part	Specification
Microcontroller	Arduino Nano 33 IoT
Accelerometers	2x MPU6050 (I²C addresses 0x68, 0x69)
Magnets	NdFeB N52, 10x10mm
Conductor Plates	Copper/Aluminum/Steel, 1-3mm thickness

Software Installation

1. Firmware Upload:

   cd Firmware/accelerometer_reader
   platformio run --target upload

2. Processing Setup:

   # Install required libraries
   git clone https://github.com/Customize5773/BrakeScope.git
   cd BrakeScope/Visualization

3. Python Analysis Tools:

   pip install -r Analysis_Tools/requirements.txt

Quick Start

1. Connect Arduino via USB
2. Launch Processing sketch:

   BrakeScope.pde

3. Press e to start data recording
4. Press s to save screenshots

Example Workflow

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant Arduino
    participant Processing
    participant Python
    
    User->>Arduino: Launches car
    Arduino->>Processing: Streams accelerometer data
    Processing->>User: Displays real-time plots
    User->>Python: Runs analysis scripts
    Python->>User: Generates report.pdf

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Data Analysis

Time-Domain

python Analysis_Tools/braking_analysis.py exports/raw_data/20250719_run1.csv

Frequency-Domain

jupyter notebook Analysis_Tools/frequency_analysis.ipynb

Calibration

1. Place car on level surface
2. Run calibration:

   Press 'c' in Processing window

3. Verify outputs:

   cat Visualization/data/calibration/mpu6050_front.cal

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Solution
No serial data	Check port number in portNumber = 0
High noise	Verify sensor mounting stability
Drifting baseline	Recalibrate with key 'c'

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details