ALPS Laser Projector

Table of Contents

This was the junior project for my undergraduate degree. Four of us students designed and built this project. It was later used by OIT faculty in a few highschool recruiting sessions.

Below is some marketing-style documentation for our “product.”

Background

The acronym ALPS stands for Amplified Light Projection System. ALPS is built for long-distance, high-powered alphanumeric projection applications. The system controller rotates two separate mirrors (see Figure 1) to direct a laser beam rapidly across any projection surface. This rotation occurs quickly enough to create lines and shapes with the laser dot. This phenomenon is known as persistence of vision (POV) and has been used for decades in things like flip books as a means to create motion pictures and animations.

Features

ALPS has a number of key features which set it apart from other signage systems on the market today. Some of these features are listed below.

• Visible at over 1000 feet ¹
• Text is laser-thin so that your signage will always appear crisp and clean
• Adding custom logos and typefaces is quite simple
• Advanced, quiet cooling system ensures the hardware will never overheat
• Text is entered with an IR keyboard

With these features, this system is sure to meet many of your long distance signage needs, including requirements you may not know you have yet.

Hardware Architecture

Below is an overview of the hardware components used in this project:

• 100mW green laser (yes, this will burn your skin!)
• Laser galvanometer
• TI Tiva C Launchpad (EK-TM4C123GXL)
• Yamaha RCX IR remote
• IR receiver
• MAX5322 dual bipolar output DAC for contolling the galvos
• (+/-)15V DC power supply, and various step-down linear voltage regulators
• Temperature sensors
• Plexiglass graciously donated by Basin Glass and Aluminium

Images