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BYOE - DIY Handheld Video Game Console

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies Division Technical Session 4: Bring Your Own Experiment (BYOE)

Page Count

6

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41175

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41175

Download Count

442

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Paper Authors

biography

Iftekhar Basith Sam Houston State University

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Dr. Basith is an Assistant Professor in Engineering Technology at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX. His research focus is in Engineering Education, Automation and Robotics.

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Paul Paschal Sam Houston State University

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Abstract

As of 2021 there were an estimated 3 billion people worldwide playing video games [1]. A significant percentage of those 3 billion people were high school and college-aged [1]. Video games are becoming a normal sight around the world. In the past decade, the world has seen the introduction of budget-friendly SBCs (Single Board Computers), microcontrollers, 3d printers, and massive contributions from the open-source community. [1, 2, 3, 4] This has made the design and implementation of a DIY handheld video game console more affordable and realizable. The main component of the project consists of an SBC, an operating system to run on the SBC, a HID (Human Interface Device), a power system, a 3d printed case, a display, and speakers. The SBC used in this project is a Raspberry Pi 4B, however almost any other Raspberry Pi SBCs will work in this project (design considerations need to be made when using a Raspberry Pi SBC of a different form factor). The operating system used is known as Lakka, which is a lightweight Linux distribution used for retro gaming. However almost any Raspbian based OSs will work. The HID used is made using stripboard, conductive silicone pads, a ATmega32u4 microcontroller, PSP joysticks, and an Arduino library known as the Arduino Joystick Library. The power system utilizes the IP5328P, which is a fast charge power management SOC (System on a Chip) that handles the charging and discharging of lithium batteries. The SOC can supply up to 3.1amps at 5 volts, which is enough for this project. Four 3200 Mah 18650 lithium-ion batteries wired in parallel are used with the IP5328P. Using 4 high capacity 18650 lithium-ion batteries allows for a long console runtime. The flow of power is controlled by a latching circuit that utilizes a P-FET. The P-FET can connect and disconnect the power using a tactile switch. The 3D printed housing was designed in Autodesk Fusion 360. The 3D model was sliced with Cura and printed using HTPLA filament. HTPLA filament can be heat treated in order to withstand much high temperatures. 3D prints were printed with 1.75mm filament and a 0.4mm nozzle. Brass inserts for screws were used and were pressed into the model using a soldering iron. The display is a 5-inch TFT LCD that uses a 40 pin FPC connector. The raspberry pi will send a display signal to the LCD via DPI(RGB888). The speaker system consists of two 16x9mm rectangular micro speakers. The sound system is still a work in progress, driving micro speakers requires special attention to filtering out low frequencies. Perceived audio will be low if this is not done.

Basith, I., & Paschal, P. (2022, August), BYOE - DIY Handheld Video Game Console Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41175

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