The input variables that we used were the buttons which signaled the opening or closing of the gates, and the limit switches that were used to limit how high the gate would close and when to stop when it was open. The output variables were motor open, motor close, gate Open, and gate Closed. The motor outputs were used for starting the motor when either the open or close buttons were pressed. The Gate outputs represent when the light lights up when the gate has reached either the open or closed limits. The states (Qa Qb and Qc) are the variables that gave binary representations to each of the transitions between them.
The process that was simulated in this project is a tollbooth operator pressing a button to open the booth, starting the motor and raising the arm. Once the arm reaches the top of it's range, the motor shuts off. The operator then presses the button that says to lower the gate, turning the motor in the opposite direction so that the gate closes. The motor will then shut off when it reaches the lower limit.
The process that was simulated in this project is a tollbooth operator pressing a button to open the booth, starting the motor and raising the arm. Once the arm reaches the top of it's range, the motor shuts off. The operator then presses the button that says to lower the gate, turning the motor in the opposite direction so that the gate closes. The motor will then shut off when it reaches the lower limit.
Conclusion:
This project is different from the ones we have done before it as it's the only project that we didn't just build a breadboard to represent the machine. For this project we programmed it to work as a VEX machine. The hardest part of this project was transferring the data from the table to multisim. It was quite hard for me because I am not the best at boolean algebra. My group also had a problem with wiring as it was hard to see where to put the wires from the picture we were given. Once our group figgered out how to solve the wiring problem, we were able to get the tollbooth to work . Our group did not need the schematic for this project, since the picture we were given to build the tollbooth was easier to "read" or see how to set up the wiring and build our prototype. If we were doing a similar project, I would have used k-mapping to simplify the equations instead of using Boolean algebra. My partners said that they would have taken a different path when they were building the tollbooth.I learned from this project that I still need to work on the basics of making and designing a circuit. I also learned to keep working on it and to not give up.