Initial hardware design and testing

The hardware design consists of an ESP32 microcontroller with internet connectivity to send real-time sensor data to AWS IoT Core via MQTT. A 12V DC motor will be used to move the pawl on the back wheel locking mechanism. In addition, a 12V DC solenoid was selected for the front wheel locking mechanism. A dual H-Bridge Motor Driver was selected to move the motor in the clockwise and counter-clockwise direction. For theft detection purposes, a passive buzzer was selected as the alarm system when the system detects potential theft attempts. A momentary button switch was selected to confirm if the bike is placed correctly. If the bike is locked and the push button is released, the alarm system will be triggered and the user will immediately receive a notification.

For this prototype, an ATX power supply will be used to provide the required 12V to the motor and the solenoid as well as 3.3V to the ESP32, passive buzzer, and the momentary button switch. After building the illustrated prototype, the embedded software will be developed to start testing the selected electronics as well as the communication middleware between the ESP32 and the server.