A small group voting system design

[Lei]

Hey, everyone:

I am trying to design a voting system for a small group of people (like
20 or less) which can summarize the voting results immediately after
each person votes. The basic idea is that each person has some kinda
remote voting pad (a pad has numbered buttons on it so that pushing one
button votes the corresponding ID) and a receiver that receives the
signals and display the results. I am just wondering what would be the
easiest way to make a system like this.

Thanks.

 

[petrus bitbyter]

Hey, everyone:

I am trying to design a voting system for a small group of people (like
20 or less) which can summarize the voting results immediately after
each person votes. The basic idea is that each person has some kinda
remote voting pad (a pad has numbered buttons on it so that pushing one
button votes the corresponding ID) and a receiver that receives the
signals and display the results. I am just wondering what would be the
easiest way to make a system like this.

Thanks.

Well,

It's like kicking in an already opened door, but these days microcontrolers
are used for this kind of tasks. They can scan a number of buttons and send
the that scan serialy to a "central" computer that counts the votes and
displays the results. The type of micro depends on the number of buttons you
want to scan and the type of communication you want to use. As for the
brand, Microchips PICs are often used by hobbyists. They come in a wide
range, are relatively cheap and you can find a lot of support for them on
the net. But there are many others. Atmel for instance sells good ones,
Motorola has a serie of micros, Zilog should be named and Intels 8051 is
very old already but its derivatives are offered by many manufacturers.

Only if you need smaller groups - let's say up to sixteen - *and* you need
only two or three buttons you can consider to use one or two digital I/O
cards in a PC. Velleman for instance sells these type of cards. You can tie
the wires of from the buttons directly to the inputs of that card(s).

petrus bitbyter

 

[default]

It's like kicking in an already opened door

Is that the same as "kicking a dead horse?"

An ideology/expression we used to use.;

 

[CWatters]

Hey, everyone:

I am trying to design a voting system for a small group of people (like
20 or less) which can summarize the voting results immediately after
each person votes. The basic idea is that each person has some kinda
remote voting pad (a pad has numbered buttons on it so that pushing one
button votes the corresponding ID) and a receiver that receives the
signals and display the results. I am just wondering what would be the
easiest way to make a system like this.

Interactive voting systems...
http://www.interactive-whiteboards.co.uk/interactive_voting_system.htm

 

[petrus bitbyter]

Is that the same as "kicking a dead horse?"

An ideology/expression we used to use.;

Hmm, my dictionary says "forcing an open door", but I guess neither the door
nor the horse will move from my kicking

A lot of people get bored when you answer "Use a PIC", but they simply
happens to be the workhorses of these days. You just need to kick them at
the right place.

petrus bitbyter

 

[[email protected]]

Since your description of the system requires:

1. Individual units
2. Keyboard or switch data entry
3. A graphics display
4. Wireless capability

The least expensive method of meeting this goal would be to purchase a
number of wireless equipped laptop computers. You program one to be the
master client, and the remainder to be dedicated slaves of the master.

The solution then becomes entirely software and no hardware development
or manufacturing is required.

Harry C.

 

[CWatters]

Hey, everyone:

I am trying to design a voting system for a small group of people (like
20 or less) which can summarize the voting results immediately after
each person votes. The basic idea is that each person has some kinda
remote voting pad (a pad has numbered buttons on it so that pushing one
button votes the corresponding ID) and a receiver that receives the
signals and display the results. I am just wondering what would be the
easiest way to make a system like this.

How about using mobile phones and text messages?

 

[roma]

Hey, everyone:

I am trying to design a voting system for a small group of people (like
20 or less) which can summarize the voting results immediately after
each person votes. The basic idea is that each person has some kinda
remote voting pad (a pad has numbered buttons on it so that pushing one
button votes the corresponding ID) and a receiver that receives the
signals and display the results. I am just wondering what would be the
easiest way to make a system like this.

Thanks.

Go there , http://members.shaw.ca/roma/two digits.html , one of each
,yes , no , undecided , a trigger or push button for each voter and a
reset for the controller .
roma

 

[[email protected]]

How can this simple circuit handle the problem of correctly tabulating
the result when two users press their buttons at the same instant?
There are several solutions, but all of them are considerably more
complex than this.

Like everything else, the devil is in the details, and digital system
design is arguable one of the best examples of this.

Harry C.