PROJECT PROPOSAL

ESC472 Electrical and Computer Capstone Design Division of Engineering Science University of Toronto

Team Members: Catherine Kocia 996000740 Ren Rail-Ip 996027954 Rezwana Shermin 995306020 Cong Wang 995647448

Submitted to: Jason Foster Monday, February 6, 2012

1
1.1

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
CONTEXT

Just over a year ago, all broadcasting TV stations had to switch their analog transmissions to digital transmissions. This means that you can pick up high definition channels for free using a basic UHF TV antenna [1]. Unfortunately, currently there are many problems with HDTV antennas that receive free over-the-air (OTA) HDTV. These problems include poor range, poor signal quality, a limited number of channels, and high set-up costs [2]. By creating a positioning control system the antenna will become automatic, eliminating consumer interaction with the antenna. This will improve signal quality, decrease set-up cost and decrease set-up labour, making this a very appealing solution for consumers who no longer want to pay high cable fees for TV. The quality of over-the-air (OTA) HDTV signals is affected by many factors such as weather, terrestrial and atmospheric conditions, interference in the surrounding areas, and position and orientation of the receiving antenna. For many, the purpose of HDTV is to get the best quality picture displayed on their television set and this requires that the antenna be directed in the best position possible. Users have to adjust the position and orientation of the antenna manually which is a painstaking process meanwhile the accuracy of manually adjusting the antenna is not very accurate, especially since many users may not know where the transmitters are located in their respective cities.

1.2

OVERVIEW OF PROPOSED IDEA

The product that will be developed is a self-adjusting High-Definition Television (HDTV) antenna system. A control system will position an HDTV antenna in an optimal direction to receive the best possible signal. The challenge will be determining when an antenna direction is good or bad. This system will include the software or firmware loaded into a microcontroller with the circuit boards required to drive a rotor. Differently sized rotors will be used in order for the system to be operated with as wide a range of antennas as possible but each rotor will specify which models of antenna it will be operated with. A feedback system will be designed and implemented so that the control system is constantly checking if the signal it is receiving is optimal and adjusts the position accordingly if it is not. Furthermore, in order to minimize the time it takes for the control system to search for an optimal location for each channel, the system will remember the optimal position of a particular channel from last time so that it knows the approximate position and can conduct a shorter scan. This should save time and prevent the system from having to do a complete sweep for every channel every time. The initial proof-of-concept will be designed to illustrate that the antenna can find the optimal position for one frequency (ie. one channel). The idea will be to build a transmitter at a certain frequency and if moved around a room, the receiving antenna will be able to track its position and rotate to the optimal signal strength. The challenge will be to determine how best to analyze the incoming bit-stream and turn this into some useable input for a control system, such as a voltage. For further proof-of-concept, the team will research how digital TV tuners work including the digital signal multiplexing, compression and transmission stages. This will allow the device to

track multiple channels while connected to a television and the results will be immediately observable on screen.

1.3

STAKEHOLDERS

Figure 1 shows an overview of the stakeholders involved in this project as well as the relative importance that the engineering team feels they hold for the project.

Figure 1: Overview of Stakeholders Involved in Project

1.3.1 Users
The end-users are the most important stakeholders to consider in this project. For the selfadjustable antenna to be marketable, the benefits will be required to be immediately observed by the user. Thus, the majority of the requirements will revolve around making the product appealing enough that antenna users will switch to the self-adjusting version and cable and satellite viewers will opt for the high-quality free service that is being offered.

1.3.2 Intellectual Property (IP)

There must be some consideration taken to determine if there are any Intellectual Property rights associated with the free OTA signals being broadcasted by the networks. If so there may be some royalties that would have to be paid in order to distribute an antenna that displays these signals to televisions.

1.3.3 Engineering Team

For this Capstone project, the group will develop a hardware prototype in the field of controls, communications, electromagnetics, and antennas: a self-adjusting HDTV antenna. This project is in our area of interest and will allow us to expand our knowledge in hardware circuit

design, communications, signal process, and control. Further, it will give the team some experience in entrepreneurial decision-making processes and in developing business strategies and a marketing mix which will be necessary to demonstrate the advantages of the product.

1.3.4 Teaching Team

The project must meet the goals and objectives of the course including the development of a prototype that practices innovative, entrepreneurial, engineering design. Our prototype must be developed to serve an entrepreneurial purpose and niche. The prototype must also strive to meet the overall goals of the group and it should follow the constraints and criteria set by the members of the group. The teaching team will provide support in order for the engineering team to achieve its objectives while having an enjoyable and instructional experience.

1.3.5 Orbis Investors

The project must pursue a promising entrepreneurial niche with the potential for successful implementation in the market. The project must be convincing both in innovation and technology as well as marketability. It will be pitched to the stakeholders and judged accordingly.

1.3.6 Electronics Recyclers

Since the product will involve electronics, the engineering team must adhere to electronics recycling policies and regulations.

1.3.7 Installation, Manufacturers, and Sales Industry

This project will influence the antenna industry. Currently the antenna market is very small compared to cable. By making the use of antenna easier and more user-friendly we will grow this market. This will be very beneficial to antenna manufacturers, private antenna installation companies, as well as companies that produce and sell HDTV antennas to consumers.

1.3.8 Regulators
According to CSA, Canadian Standards Association, the following regulations should be adhered to during the implementation of our control solution [3]. The definitions of these regulations can be found in Appendix A. C22.6 No. 1-11 - Electrical inspection code for existing residential occupancies C22.2 No. 205-Mi 983 - Signal Equipment C22.2 No. 1-04 - Audio, video and similar electronic equipment C22.2 No. 68-09 - Motor-operated appliances (Household and commercial)

1.4

MARKET RESEARCH

It is not a very difficult argument to make that the television industry is a very large one. There are 13.3 million TV homes and $3.3 billion dollar in advertising revenue in Canada and the advertising revenue has been on a rising trend since 2003[4]. Further, in 2010, Canadians aged over 55 spend on average 37.1 hours per week watching television and those aged 35-49 watch 23.9 hours a week on average. Recently there has been a switch for networks to broadcast only digital channels. With this switch came the common misconception that antennas were no longer able to receive free television. However, there are digital TV antennas that can still receive these free channels, in high definition if they are offered, over the air. In addition, because antenna technology does not need to perform compression and decompression like cable TV and satellite, the signal quality is actually much better. BBM Canada reports that in 2010 92% of Canadian homes have cable or satellite, 73% are digital, and 33% are HD-equipped [4]. The Porters Five Forces Model analyses an industry based on the five forces that influence it, namely the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, and the competitive rivalry within the industry. As shown in Appendix B, our Five Forces analysis demonstrates that the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, and the threat of new entrants are low while the competitive rivalry within the industry and the threat of substitutes are high. The attractive point of the industry is that the number of buyers is massive and buyers are all end-users and do not buy in volume. Thus there is no loss in profits based on high-volume buyers demanding lower prices. Further, there exists many suppliers of antennas and the items needed to develop the controlling actuation of the antennas and finally the actual service itself is free. The biggest threat to the television industry is the advancement of free online streaming, downloads, and information. However the flaw with this substitute is that there are growing governmental regulations being drafted to limit these services (for example, SOPA/PIPA/ACTA) and that they often dont offer live content. Also the activity of downloading and streaming content is an active one, requiring monitoring and some computer ability, while the activity of turning on and watching the TV is a passive one requiring minimal effort and focus which is a pastime many people are actually looking for. The SWOT analysis in Appendix C outlines the strengths and weaknesses that this engineering team has to develop in order to market the self-adjustable antenna and evaluates the opportunities and threats of the antenna TV industry. The target market that we are aiming to sell the product to are the citizens that live in more remote areas that are between multiple large broadcasting cities. Having an antenna in these towns and cities requires constant rotation of the antenna to switch between channels and this can be an annoying task. The control system we implement would be constantly monitoring the quality of the signal being received and would adjust itself as required but only when the signal fades. Therefore, the marketing strategy we are implementing is a focused low-cost strategy in which we beat the competition on price and market to a focused audience for which the self-adjustable benefit will be immediately noticed.

1.5

BUSINESS MODEL

The product that will be sold is the control system and motor driving circuits inside a case mounted with a rotor. Multiple-sized rotors will be developed to turn different sized antennas and each rotor will specify which antenna model it can be used with. The business model that would be investigated and followed is a hardware/software model, based off the following estimations. These are all initial estimations and are subject to more extensive market research and experimentation. -Cost to build: $200/unit -Cost for distribution: $50/unit -Cost for installation: $200/unit -Average costs for support: $100/unit -Initial fixed cost to acquire equipment, buildings: $5,000,000 -Sale Price: $599/unit From market research: -32,979,362 digital cable users in North-America -18,158,229 digital satellite users in North-America -17,272,877 digital antenna users in North-America -0.5% market penetration in the first year. -10% growth per year afterwards. -After ten years, this yields a 1.2% market share.

Figure 2: Estimated Revenue Projections

Other business models that could be investigated include selling a specific antenna with the rotor system or patenting the software and selling the software as a patent to antenna and rotor manufacturers.

2
2.1

REQUIREMENTS
TEAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goals of the engineering team are to design an innovative prototype that has an entrepreneurial edge to learn new concepts and build on existing skills. The team has chosen to design a prototype of a feedback system that finds a direction for a directional TV antenna and moves to that position to improve the quality of the HDTV signal. The objectives adopted are that the prototype must be built with appropriate rotation, signal strength, cost, size, weight, regulators, speed and exposed moving parts. These objectives are determined by the constraints, criteria and metrics in Section 2.2.

2.2

SUMMARY OF CONSTRAINTS, CRITERIA AND METRICS

See charts on following pages.

OBJECTIVE Rotation

CRITERIA Full rotation

METRIC Rotation in degrees

CONSTRAINT Rotor should be able to be controlled for a full 360 degrees.

Signal Strength

High signal strength

Should pick up a minimum channel signal strength

Cost

Low cost

The cost must be comparable to conventional rotors in the market.

Should pick up channels that have signal strengths greater than 20dBm. In Bahen, the control system should be able to locate at least 7 HDTV channels. The rotor + control system should cost less than $300.00 to build

Size

Small size

Exterior Dimensions

Feedback control system should be less than 15cm by 5cm by 5cm. (Rotor can be as large as the consumer is willing to get) Feedback control system (including rotor) should be less than 10 lbs.

Weight

Low weight

Weight of the control system

REASONING Different transmitting stations are located in different locations and cities [5]. The antenna works more optimally when it is directed towards the transmitting station. Looking at a map of the transmitters [5], the TV stations can be seen to be transmitting from a variety of locations around Toronto, including Barrie, Buffalo and Hamilton. There are tools online that allow you to enter in a users location and it will tell you the signal strength of the over-theair TV channels that are available [6]. According to these tools, seven channels should be available on the UofT campus including CBC, TVO, SRC, GTN and OMNI with signal strengths over -20dBm. This is the number of channels that the group was able to receive using a UHF 4-Bay outdoor antenna [7]. Many online sites that recommend the use of antennas for receiving HDTV, will also recommend to the user to get a rotor to maximize the number of channels that they can receive [8]. A rotor allows users to adjust their large (usually outdoor) antennas more easily. A common rotator is the Channel Master CM 9521A Antenna Rotator System. It retails for $129.99[9]. By making our control system less than $150.00 we can stay competitive with current products in the market, satisfying user and Orbis stakeholder requirements. The dimensions specified are comparable to a prototype board or other microcontroller platforms to be used to implement a signal control system. The Channel Master CM 9521A Antenna Rotator System has approximate dimensions of 15cm x 15cm x 5cm [9]. The constraint has been chosen so the control system can fit inside or mounted to the side/base of a rotor. This is beneficial to users but can make manufacturing difficult. The Channel Master CM 9521A Antenna Rotator System weighs about 9 lbs[10]. Our system will add minimal weight to a conventional rotor to be competitive in the market. This should allow easier installation for users.

OBJECTIVE Regulators

CRITERIA Follow CSA requirements

Moving Parts

Enclose moving parts

METRIC CSA electrical standards C22.2 No. 68-09, 1-04, 205-Mi983, 111. Exposed moving parts

CONSTRAINT All listed CSA standards must be met.

REASONING These standards will allow the product to be successfully marketed for both indoor and outdoor antennas, and will fulfill the Orbis and teaching team requirements. This will also ensure that the product will be safe for users. The system must be enclosed so the user cannot come in contact with any mechanically moving parts. This is especially important for indoor antennas so that users, family members, and children do not get injured. This will also ensure the product meets CSA requirements. This will fulfill both user and Orbis stakeholder requirements. The constraint is about the length of time for a commercial. On average, there is a 3 minute commercial for every 8 minutes of a TV show[11]. This is about the length of time a user is prepared to wait before becoming impatient. The initial scan to find the antenna positions for all the channels can be longer than 2 min. Once the settings for each channel are saved the rotor will take less than 2 minutes to find the optimal position for each channel. Furthermore, if the signal is lost, the rotor will be able to find it again within 2 min. The quicker the control system finds an optimal location the more appealing it will be to our stakeholders.

No moving parts can be accessed without dismantling the product.

Speed

High speed

Time to find optimal signal for each channel (after 1st initial sweep).

The feedback control system should take less than 2 minutes to find optimal position for each channel.

3
3.1

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
The engineering team has some ideas of potential preliminary solutions, as described below:

PRELIMINARY ONE-CHANNEL SOLUTION PROTOTYPE

For an initial proof-of concept, a one-channel (one frequency) transmitter was built using an oscillator and antenna. A receiving antenna circuit was built that feeds into a signal processing module. This signal processing module uses filters to identify the signal at the given frequency and analyzes the quality of this signal by amplifying the signal in a two-stage amplification process and rectifies the signal to a DC value indicative of the quality of the signal. The quality of the signal is converted into a voltage that is fed to an Arduino microcontroller board connected to an Arduino motor shield. This microcontroller is loaded with software containing a control system, which uses this voltage to implement a feedback control system and rotate the receiving antenna to point to the transmitter.

3.2

ROTOR WITH FPGA OR PIC AND A/D CONVERTER

High gain directional antennas have the advantage of being able to receive with the capability of cancelling noise [12]. In the current market, these antennas are available and by utilizing their strength in detecting signals by directing beams in a certain direction from a significant distance, we can pick up desired channels. By designing an actuator control system, we would adjust the antenna to point towards the transmitters and by using non-volatile memory that is available in FPGAs, store the positions for users to have access to HD channels whenever needed. The adjustment of the rotor can also be achieved by the use of a PIC18LF2480 and full bridge PWM motor driver. This microcontroller has an A/D converter module, which would help us with the signal processing and the H-bridge would have to be connected to a motor with an encoder to measure antenna rotation. In the end, we will have an antenna set up with a rotor and our feedback system set up with a TV. If you block the signal from one direction, the antenna would adjust and find an optimal position for it. If you block the signal from this new position, the antenna will move to a new optimal position. In this way the antenna should always move to a position that guarantees good digital reception.

3.3

SOFTWARE SOLUTION IN MATLAB

A solution to watching free cable television can be achieved by connecting a USB HDTV tuner to a laptop and processing the data with MATLAB. An HDTV tuner has a built-in signal quality measurement hardware, which without any modification can be accessed. Using MATLAB, scanning control can be handled; hence the demonstration of the prototype product is very much possible without having access to high definition TV. Since the interface is a laptop, the market is expandable to a bigger market of users who watch TV on computers. To implement this solution, a large

amount of research would have to be done in USB driver software in order to access the signals generated by the USB HDTV tuner.

4
4.1

WORK COMPLETED TO DATE

PRELIMINARY TESTING AND PROTOTYPING

We have begun preliminary testing and prototyping. We tested out a UHF 4-Bay outdoor antenna [7]. We were able to receive 9 channels when the antenna was placed outside and 7 channels when the antenna was placed inside a basement apartment. Both times, the CN Tower was not visible and the antenna was not able to be positioned to receive direct signals from the CN Tower. We believe that if the antenna was to be placed higher up, there would be less signal reflections and the antenna would pick up more signals. The 4-Bay antenna is composed of an array of 4 whisker antennas, which makes it quite large. Since we will be designing a prototype control system to rotate this antenna we wanted to see how small we could get the antenna so that we could more easily build our prototype. We dismantled the 4-Bay array and left only one whisker antenna. We were still able to pick up at least 6 channels though the signal quality started going down and we would lose the channels depending on where we positioned the whisker antenna. It became sensitive to where it was located in the room as well as to obstacles in the room. The signal would be lost if you waived a hand in front of it. Also, it became apparent that the reflector attached to the back of the antenna was very useful and greatly improved the signal quality. In conclusion, using one whisker antenna should be enough for the prototype as it gave us good signal variation that we could optimize with our control system. We have narrowed our scope down to setting up a system which would demonstrate the usability of directional antenna, following the transmitter as it moves away from the beam line. To achieve this functionality, we used an Arduino microcontroller with analog and digital inputs and outputs with a motor shield capable of driving DC motors and stepper motors. Signal processing circuits were developed, which accept the transmitted signal, amplify it through a two-stage amplification process, rectify it, and finally feed the signal, now a DC voltage indicative of the quality of the received signal, into the Arduino analog input. This signal is then used by the microcontroller for actuator adjustment.

4.2

NEXT STEPS

The next steps in developing a solution for this problem will be to use TV signals rather than our own transmitted digital signals and attempt to display the signal to a TV. This will include the process of filtering the incoming signal for the right frequency based on the channel being requested. The circuits will have to be adapted and designed to operate based on different frequencies. It will also require designing a method to interact with a digital TV or a digital TV tuner to determine how to take the channel selection as an input and also develop the required cable adaptors to plug an antenna to our system and plug our system to a television.

Further research will be done to acquire rotors with high torque and low speeds that will be more useful for this application, which does not rely heavily on speed performance. This will improve the abilities of the control system as it will be able to control the system at lower speeds and fine-tune more effectively. Finally, with the acquired motor, further testing and debugging of the control software will be used in order to improve the results obtained from the single-channel prototype. This will involve developing appropriate gains for a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, which should exhibit better robustness to changes in signal quality.

4.3
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

DELIVERABLES
The following items will be delivered to the teaching team:

Prototype actuator system with an antenna for adjustment [completed by Orbis Dragons Den] The signal processing unit and actuator control board [completed by Orbis Dragons Den] Circuit drawings and layout [completed by Orbis Dragons Den] Design Decisions: component selection, prototype phases [available during Design Critiques]. Individual and Team Reflections [completed by final Capstone Due Date] Website outlining the design process and work and research completed [completed by final ESC472 submission date] 7. Rough work and circuit design process outlined in design notebook [completed by final ESC472 submission date]

5
ID

WORK PLAN
2012 2012 2012 2012
25/3 1/4 8/4 15/4 22/4

Task Name Team Formed, Discussion On Possible Design Projects Team Credentials And Vision Preliminary Experiment Pitch To Orbis Design Proposal Complete Top Level System Design Antenna Design, Purchase/build RF Subsystem Design And Implementation Control System Block Diagram Rotor Design And Implementation PIC Microcontroller Programming Electrical Subsystem Design And Implementation Mechanical Subsystem Design And Implementation Signal Processing Subsystem Design And Implementation Team Synthesis Subsystems Experimenting And Testing System Level Functionality And Performance Testing Internal Design Critique Design Revision Base On Feedbacks From Internal Design Critique New Implementation Obris Design Critique Design Revision Final Implementation Obris Dragons Den Final Design Completion Reflection And Report Completion Final Capstone Design Due Record Of Reflection Due

Start

Finish
8/1 15/1 22/1 29/1 5/2 12/2 19/2 26/2

J
4/3 11/3 18/3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

2012/1/10 2012/1/10 2012/1/19 2012/1/23 2012/1/23 2012/1/23 2012/2/2 2012/2/2 2012/2/2 2012/2/2 2012/2/10 2012/2/2 2012/2/2 2012/2/2 2012/2/21 2012/2/2 2012/2/21 2012/3/1 2012/3/1 2012/3/14 2012/3/30 2012/3/31 2012/4/4 2012/4/11 2012/4/11 2012/4/27

2012/1/20 2012/1/17 2012/1/26 2012/1/23 2012/1/30 2012/2/9 2012/2/9 2012/2/20 2012/2/9 2012/2/20 2012/2/26 2012/2/20 2012/2/26 2012/2/20 2012/2/27 2012/2/20 2012/4/10 2012/3/1 2012/3/13 2012/3/30 2012/3/30 2012/4/3 2012/4/7 2012/4/11 2012/4/26 2012/4/27

Catherine:

Rene:

Rezwana:

Owen:

Team:

Complete:

Test:

6
6.1

APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: REGULATIONS

C22.6 No. 1-11

Electrical inspection code for existing residential occupancies

Service and distribution equipment

Exposed wiring on exteriors of buildings requires a minimum 10 ft clearance from ground, but 12 ft for service conductors (511b). The solution would be implemented with the original setting of antenna left untouched. Outdoor antenna would be placed on external control system that would help with adjustment, the power line to the apparatus would be connected to the coaxial cable, already comes in the package, hence no rule will be violated.

Bonding
In order to satisfy 12-076 (concealed knob and tube wiring), the motor adjustment system intended for outdoor and indoor antenna would be covered with a box and the power cable will follow standard protocol. All wires and ground connections will be provided, as well as insulated.

C22.2 No. 205-Mi 983

Signal Equipment

General
Electrical components of signal equipment shall conform to the applicable Standards of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part II, so far as they apply, and shall be suitable for the application.

Enclosure
All live or current-carrying parts, except supply cords, shall be enclosed in a suitable enclosure. The enclosure shall be constructed of material suitable for its particular applications and shall be so designed that it will protect the various parts of the device against mechanical or other injury to which they may be exposed under normal conditions. Enclosures or parts thereof of non-metallic material shall not cause a fire or shock hazard in equipment due to susceptibility to ignition or melting by electrical disturbances within or due to deterioration from long-term thermal aging effects or exposure to the operating environment, and shall comply with the flame test of Clause 6.12.

Supply Connections
Cord connected equipment shall have a power supply cord or cord set with a grounding conductor except as noted in Clause 4.10.1. The length shall be limited to a minimum of 1.8 m and a maximum

of 2.4m and shall be in compliance with application requirements in CSA Standard C22.2 No. 21, Cord Sets and Power-Supply Cords. The supply cord shall be suitable for the type of service intended. Permanently connected equipment shall have provision for supply entry by means of conduit openings in accordance with CSA Standard C22.2 No. 0, General Requirements Canadian Electrical Code, Part II, or threaded conduit entry in accordance with CSA Standard C22.2 No. 0.5, Threaded Conduit Entries. Signal Equipment Mounted on Outlet Boxes. Signal equipment having a mass not exceeding 23 kg may have provision for mounting on an outlet box, subject to the following restrictions: (a) The means of mounting of equipment having a mass more than 4.5 kg shall be such that inspection of the supply connection shall not necessitate the removal of the fixture support; (b) Signal equipment that is provided with an outlet box mounting means and having a mass greater than 11.5 kg shall be marked as specified in Clause 5.2.

Grounding and Bonding

Grounding and bonding shall be in accordance with CSA Standard C22.2 No. 0.4, Bonding and Grounding of Electrical Equipment (Protective Grounding).

Electrical Insulation
Current-carrying parts shall be supported on heat resistant, moisture-absorption-resistant insulating material such as porcelain, phenolic composition, or a suitable equivalent (see Clause 6.15).

Attachment Plugs and Receptacles

Plugs and receptacles shall be of the grounding type and conform to CSA Standards C22.2 No. 42, General Use Receptacles, Plugs, and Similar Wiring Devices, and C22.2 No. 42P, Requirements for Receptacles Intended for Use with Aluminum Wire.

C22.2 No. 1-04

Audio, video and similar electronic equipment

Apparatus leakage
The motors used for antenna adjustment would be provided with caution label CAUTION TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, GROUNDING OF THE CENTRE PIN OF THIS PLUG MUST BE MAINTAINED

C22.2 No. 68-09

Motor-operated appliances (Household and commercial)

Enclosures of moving parts

Except for parts that are necessarily exposed during normal operation, moving parts that can pose a hazard (e.g., pulleys, belts, and gears) shall be enclosed or guarded to prevent accidental contact.

The means used for enclosing or guarding shall comply with the probe test specified in Clause 5.2.13.3 or 5.2.13.4.

Cord-connected appliances and power-supply cords

Appliances shall have a suitable length of permanently attached power-supply cord or shall be provided with male terminals of the pin or blade type that will accommodate a suitable connector for attaching a cord set or interconnecting cord. Appliances with a cord set or permanently attached power-supply cord shall have an attachment plug complying with CSA C22.2 No. 42 for connection to the supply circuit. The voltage rating of the attachment plug shall correspond to the voltage rating of the product, and the ampacity of the attachment plug shall be no less than (a) the marked current rating of the appliance or the input current under maximum normal load conditions (see Clause 6.2), whichever is greater, for appliances that operate in the normal intended use for a total of 1 h or less in any 2 h period; and (b) 125% of the marked current rating of the appliance or 125% of the input current under maximum normal load conditions (see Clause 6.2), whichever is greater, for appliances that operate in the normal intended use for a total of more than 1h in any 2h period. If an appliance is marked in watts, for the purposes of Clause 5.5.2.2, the marked current shall be measured while the appliance is loaded to draw marked watts. If the appliance is designed for use with two or more different supply voltages, the attachment plug provided shall be rated for the supply voltage selected at the factory, and the appliance shall be marked in accordance with Clause 7.6. Power-supply cords, cord sets, and interconnecting cords provided for use with appliances shall be of the types specified or the equivalent. Interconnecting cords, which are not subjected to the same adverse conditions as supply cords, shall be of types suitable for their specific condition of use.

6.2

APPENDIX B: FIVE FORCES MODEL

Bargaining Power of Buyers: LOW - Large number of buyers - No threat of backward integration - Buyer switching costs to competing brands or substitute products are high - Buyers are small and cannot demand concessions when purchasing - No large volume buyers - Buyers purchase the product infrequently - This product delivers performance for price that is not matched by other brands

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: LOW - Items required as supplies are readily available from many suppliers at the going market price - Very little differentiation between suppliers - Seller switching costs to alternative suppliers are low - There exist good substitute inputs - Threat to integrate backwards into suppliers markets

Competitive Rivalry within Industry: HIGH - Buyer demand is growing slowly - Competing sellers are active in making fresh moves to improve their market standing and business performance

Threat of Substitute Products: HIGH - Many substitutes are readily available: online news and weather, online streaming - Substitutes are attractively priced: often free - Substitutes have comparable performance features

Threat of New Entrants: LOW - The pool of entry candidates is small - Buyer demand is growing slowly so no room for new profitable growth - Industry members will strongly contest the efforts of new entrants to gain a market foothold

6.3

APPENDIX C: SWOT ANALYSIS

Weaknesses: -Engineering team doesnt have any experience bringing a product to market -Relatively small team with a tight deadline

Strengths: -The background of the engineering team matches the skills needed to design this product; we have experience in antenna theory, controls, and robotics. -Students have entrepreneurial mindset and some background in marketing and strategy to bring the product successfully to market -Strong performance in similar design projects in courses such as AER201 and Praxis

Opportunities: Threats: -Broadcasting companies are sending digital signals -Potential encryption of the free over the airwaves that are capable of being received over-the-air broadcasting for free -Commercial-free television is -Currently no HD antenna exist that is self-adjusting becoming more and more common to find the optimal signal for every station and through online streaming, Netflix, requires manual efforts etc. -There is a trend towards free television with the -Regulations with technology devices abundance of streaming and downloading websites that rotate or move by themselves? but this is a legal way to obtain free television -People are used to antenna technology -Currently option that enables you to watch live television without a monthly subscription including news, weather, and shows -Television viewers are a huge market -Government regulations threatening to eliminate the effectiveness of one of the main substitute products being online streaming, downloading, and sharing

REFERENCES

[1] Globe and Mail. Goodbye cable, hello free TV. Internet: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/gadgets-and-gear/hugh-thompson/goodbyecable-hello-free-tv/article1743762/page1/, Oct. 08, 2010 [Feb. 05, 2012] [2] About.com. All About Over-The-Air Antennas (OTA). Internet: http://tv.about.com/od/accesspries/ss/AntennaBuyGuide_4.htm, [Feb. 05, 2012] [3] CSA. Standards. Internet: http://www.csa.ca/cm/ca/en/standards, [Feb. 05, 2012] [4] TVB. The Canadian Television Industry Statistics. Internet: www.tvb.ca/page_files/ppt/Canadian%20Statistics.ppt, [Feb. 05, 2012] [5] Remote Central. Toronto & Buffalo Area OTA HDTV Channel Map. Internet: http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/index.html, [Feb. 05, 2012] [6] TV Fool. TV Signal Analysis Results. Internet: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d0b8687a5b7f3cf, Jan. 24, 2012 [Feb. 05, 2012] [7] Tiger Direct. Channel Master CM 4221HD Ultratenna 5-bay HDTB/UHF Antenna. Internet: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/itemdetails.asp?EdpNo=4481551&CatId=2767, [Feb. 05, 2012] [8] Free Toronto TV. Free TV in Toronto. Internet: http://freetoronto.tv/, [Feb. 05, 2012] [9] Channel Master Store. TV Antenna Rotate System with Remote Control-Channel Internet: http://www.channelmasterstore.com/TV_Antenna_Rotator_p/cm-9521a.htm, [Feb. 05, 2012] [10]Best Buy A Products. TV Antenna Rotate Channel Master 9521A. Internet: http://aproducts.blogspot.com/2011/12/tv-antenna-rotator-channel-master-9521a_03.html, Dec. 03, 2011 [Feb. 05, 2012] [11]Marketing Charts. Internet: http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/average-hour-longshow-is-36-commercials-9002/tns-brand-appearances-advertising-q4-2008jpg/, [Feb. 05, 2012] [12] NPS. Astronomy and Astrophysics Horn Antenna. Internet: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/butowsky5/astro4k.htm, [Feb 05, 2012]