Department - Author 1

Electrical Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Electrical Engineering

Date

6-2016

Primary Advisor

Martin Kaliski

Abstract/Summary

Martin Kaliski is a typical pet owner. He currently houses both cats and a dog. In order to keep from having to constantly let his pets out in the middle of the night he has installed a pet door into his home. All was well and good until early one morning Martin woke up to the sound of his Pomeranian barking violently. He ran downstairs to see what the problem was. He not only found his dog standing there but also a wild raccoon. The raccoon had slipped into the house in the early morning and was rummaging through the pets’ food. Martin was successfully able to get the wild animal to leave through the way he came only to notice a few minutes later that the raccoon’s animal accomplice soon snuck out behind him. From that point on Martin refused to leave the pet door unlocked and no longer uses it. Wild animals entering through a home’s pet door is not an uncommon thing and leaves a sense of insecurity for a pet owner. Without having some way of monitoring this, a pet owner is subject to other animals entering his/her home and potentially destroying his/her property or causing harm to loved ones. The goal for this project is to produce a new and innovative way at managing pet doors. There are a few products out there that already have smart pet door technology but this project will provide an easy to use and less invasive way of monitoring which animals can and cannot enter the home. This will be accomplished by implementing some type of weight sensor that is able to register the distinct size of the animal trying to enter the home within a programmed range between 10 – 15 lbs. and from that allow access. In order to help with the cost, a pre engineered weight sensor will be used as well as already automated pet doors. The ultimate goal is to take this product and be able to add it to already installed pet doors.

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