Introduction and Background
It is usually very traumatising for homeowners in the event of house fires. Loss of property and life are the most likely outcomes associated with house fires. This situation is worsened if the homeowner is not insured or his insurance policy is limited to specific fire damages and causes.
In Australia, due to the high prevalence of bushfires, high quality smoke detectors have become an essential part and a compulsory fitting of every household in the country. This is necessary measure adopted to ensure safety of the occupants, and to minimize damages in case of house fires.
A typical smoke detector is designed to intersect smoke particles. When smoke particles interfere with the path of light to the sensor, the sensor circuit sequential sets up an alarm irrespective of what caused the smoke. Thus, smoke emanating from cooking or incense stick could set off the alarm. This makes it quite difficult to distinguish between false or actual alarms. As a result, this can contribute to alarm assumptions, which may lead to great damages in cases of fire.
What if there was a product that could overcome these issues and simply did the job it was intended to do, making it useful and less annoying? Our Smart Smoke Detector has been designed and built to satisfy the needs and requirements of a typical residential household. According to the National Fire Protection Agency, a well-chosen and working smoke detector will increase the chances of surviving a fire. This is because in case of a fire out break alarm goes on its occupants may have at most 2 minutes to evacuate.
Smart Smoke detectors will allow customers to evade the smoke detector and to reduce the annoyance of the alarm. The alarm will still sound only this time by the use of a heat detector, sensitizing the homeowner of a potential fire problem. Approximately after 1 hour, a squeak will sound alerting the user that the smoke detector is being re-activated.
Moreover, we will also have a peep to alert the user that the backup battery level is low. This report examines extensively and pinpoints the expected process that Global Engineering will follow to achieve a working prototype of the smart smoke detector.
Project Plan
The goal of this project is to assemble a Smart Smoke Detector with a smoke detour system. This will be a more inventive and improved adaptation of the conventional smoke detectors obtainable in the market. The main objectives are for this project are to be completed in time successfully and the final product to be marketable globally.
In order for success to be realized, the team must take into account every aspect extensively to reduce possible failure risks. Consequently, it is crucial for the team to come up with a comprehensive project plan that will take into considerations all the project risks as well as the project completion timeline. This prior planning will ensure that the product is built in an efficient and effective manner enhancing its marketability.
Global Engineering outlined the tasks necessary to build the final product while formulating the project plan. This project plan outlined the expected duration of the tasks n which Global Engineering could achieve optimum results. We used Gantt charts in our planning to facilitate the visual display and relationships of these tasks and their timings. Through Gantt chart predetermined project tasks timeline we could schedule resources and staff workloads as efficiently as possible.
There are diverse requirements for every task; some tasks need others to be completed before they could be started, while others require employment of a specific knowledge and skill to achieve the complete it, etc. The team defined the project tasks based on various factors and concerns of technical and financial matters.
It is most crucial in planning the project to make sure that the end product is priced appropriately, marketable and acceptable by the community. These concerns are enumerated below:
- Conducting market survey to ascertain whether or not the there is a demand for the product in the community. It is worthy to obtain feedback from current smoke detector users and firms selling smoke detectors. This survey will assist in setting a standard product cost and ascertaining how much people are capable and willing to pay for this product once they are mounted in their homes.
- In estimating market price for the new Smart Smoke Detector, Global Engineering will have to form a cost budget for construction of the product. Consequently, comprehensive product architecture required to be studied; the study will involve the varying of individual components on both cost and performance basis.
- Constructing, trying and validating the prototype to ensure that all of the product specifications are met and obtainable. This is conducted so as any fallacies and inadequacies in the prototype can be fixed before the production stage, and to confirm that the Smart Smoke Detector adheres to current safety standards.
- Developing a marketing and sales strategy which will deal with product promotion, advertising and preparation such as producing banners, brochures and setting up a booth for Trade Fairs.
Global Engineering convenes every week to keep members informed on the progress of the project. This meeting also gives the chance to all team members to communicate project concerns and search for support and guidance from other colleagues. In addition, it will assist in identifying any unforeseen risks, hence allowing the team to make decisions and implement action plans to mitigate delays which may arise. These meetings will also operate as a support system for the team to attain its goal and ensure a quality product is created.
Budget
Budgets are very important while undertaking any project and usually determine its success. Budgets usually involve higher estimates than actual costs in order to cushion against any uncertainties or miscellaneous costs such as labour and materials fluctuations.
These unforeseen problems can be caused by inadequate research during the initial concept development and architectural design and research stage of the project. In addition, there may be disagreements among members and may result project delays and additional expenses i.e. salaries and rentals on usage of labs which result to variances in the budget.
There are a number of methods to combat such uncertainties which is inclusive of costs cutting wherever possible during the early stages of a project. Secondly, carrying out extensive research to avoid testing failures, i.e. a certain component might not work, or the circuit as a whole might not work the way it was expected. This will enhance thorough product knowledge prior to the commencement and agreement among members. Consequently, these measures will ensure timely completion of the project within the budget.