KraZe_EyE

Cameras can captured infrared light better then our eyes can. Some IR led's that light up the eye without causing bright spots (use scotch/masking tape) would help w the low light. Also the camera should have macro capability, little flower button, so you can get in real close. Taking apart a scanner or photocopier and stealing the lens will give you macro capability by placing it the correct distance from your cameras lens.

Weather station w/ both a display and can be accessed remotely(it sends updates to twitter for example) my one classmate made a decibel meter with multiple ranges and a nice display. Best advice; take something from your life and automate it or complement it with some automation/digital control/display.

Personally Id put sensors on the door handles to tell which side they are coming from(in or out) and use the in conjunction with another sensor that reads whether the door was opened or not(to prevent false positives). So you need 2 AND gates to monitor the coming and goings of the people and a COUNTER for the number of people. And we dont do the foot work for you on this, come back w/ some ideas/schematics

you wont be able to accurately sync multiple circuits to the micro second or anything. but within the NEMA string that the GPS outputs is a timestamp thats atomically accurate from the satellites.