Project Journal for Jeannette Dieguez
Total Hours: 120.00 hours
=============== Week 15: =================
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 25thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
Today is DEMO day
With the demo complete, this will be my last entry. I am very grateful for my team and proud of all the work that we have accomplished throughout this semester. Although we had a lot of time issues, we were still able to learn a lot and apply our prior knowledge to make this idea come to life.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 24thStart Time: 7:00pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
- Regrouped in lab to finalize as much as we can before our demo tomorrow afternoon.
- Tested our system outside before the sun went away to try and test our color/people tracking and video saving method in an outdoor setting since our product is meant to be used outside.
- As we continued testing, it was clear that are system prioritized people tracking rather than color. Also that distance was a big issue in our software because we could get a lock on the ball due to its size being too small.
- most of the time was just trial and error and passing the ball at different speeds to each other and Brandon using his hockey stick to move the ball at higher while also covering the ball with the stick. We tried to cover as many edge cases that we could think of before it got too dark.
- Once it got too dark, we regrouped in lab and talked about our plan tomorrow. We talked about meeting around 1:30 to flash code and try to work on optimizing our initialization if there was time.
Tomorrow is the big day!
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 24thStart Time: 2:30pm
Duration: 3.50 hours
- since we are getting closer to our demo day, it is all hands on deck to finalize software and fix anything that may not be demo ready
- Ian and Brandon was working through servo commands and trying to optimize the speed time of the camera to track our ball as accurate as possible.
- Niki was mainly working on software and integration. I had helped with trouble shooting with the video saving. At first we were running into issues with opening the mp4 file because we kept getting a corrupted error pop up. We were able to detect some minor fixes, we could not find anything to fix the issue. Niki was able to figure out that there were two processes writing the video so the video that was saving was not the correct context. Once this was fixed we were able to open the video that was being recorded from the tracking system.
- After that I worked with Brandon to get the LCD to display more information about tracking updates like Locked and recording status. It was not too difficult, I just wrote several if statements that will send data to the Microcontroller to update the LCD Display.
- We made good progress so far. Ian, Niki, and I had to get to class but once we get back, our goal is to start testing our system outside and finalize everything for tomorrow.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 23rdStart Time: 4:00pm
Duration: 3.75 hours
- Today the main focus is to test our teams 3rd Hardware PSDR, which is to assemble a ventilation system that is turned on when the system gets too hot. I met with Brandon and Niki to try and debug what Brandon had already started with his thermistor circuit, shown in this schematic and PCB layout reference.
- unfortuantely, we may have underestimated how complicated the circuit actually was. After lots of debugging by soldering different parts by hands or conducting continuity test. We even tried to right down the certain values and follow the circuit by hand. We each had no luck and decided our time should be spent on perfecting our software before our demo on Friday.
- for the rest of the time Brandon and I worked on the servo and trying to get the speed handled while we also finalized our first draft of our ABET final team report.
- tomorrow we are going to regroup and finalize our software and keep testing our system so that we are ready for our demo on friday.
Our main focus will be on the following task:
=============== Week 14: =================
Entry 6: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 16thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
- After I placed on the larger components, I conducted another continuity test and had brandon double check the components to make sure none of the smaller components were effected
- We still had some shorts on the smaller components, but Brandon just added solder again while I handed him new components. Turns out this time our reset button wasnt soldered completely and neither were the resistors and capacitors that lead to the reset button. Once we got this fixed, we both did continuity test again and made sure everything that should be connected was and that there were not shorts. THIS WAS A VERY LONG PROCESS.
- After all the continuity and debugging was finished, we started to attemp to flash code by applying power to the ESP32 through the power supply first just to flash the code and light up our programming LED.
- Once we got that working, we were a bit nervous because this was when we started to have ESD protection issues that may have burnt out our last board. However, we decided to test our power supply again with our Power test board to make sure our voltage buck/booster work as expected. For the 5V to 3.3V regulator we supplied 5V through the power supply and tested the output voltage of the regulator before entering the ESP32 chip. It did in fact output 3.3V!
- After that we tried using the regulator with the power supplied by the 5V power jack that we plan on using for the project. Using the testing power vias, the power was still working as expected so we felt better about implementing it on our potential demo PCB.
- We got flashing to work and light the LED using our code and the reset button with the boost loader. Now the next step is to connect our servo motor and LCD display to start getting our check off
- With our server motor and LCD, it gets powered by a 5V regulator in the case that the 5V from the power jack does not fully reach the 5V. For now we are using the power supply to get the 5V.
- At first we measured the power going into the servo, but it was getting around 3V of power instead of 5V. The issue was that there was a 1K ohm resistor that was bringing the voltage down before entering the servo.
- to fix this we took of the 1k ohm resistor and bridged the connection so that the servo motor gets exactly 5V. Once the resistor was removed the power entering the servo was indeed the 5V getting supplied by the power supply.
- Time to flash the code we have that rotates the servo by the number of degrees that are inputted in. At first the servo was initiating but when we supplied inputs, the ESP32 was not providing a TX signal that moves the servo.
- After looking through the code, Niki, brandon, and I found that the set GPIO pins for RX and TX were the GPIO pins that matched with the ESP32 microcontroller devboard as opposed the RX and TX GPIO pins on the chip its self. I looked at the ESP32 pico mini datasheet (found in our references tab) and found the GPIO pin for RX is GPIO 3 and GPIO pin for TX was GPIO 1. After making these changes in the code the ESP32 should now be able to receive and transmit data from and to the UART connection. We ran the code again and the Servo was moving based on the degree inputs that Brandon was putting in! THAT IS ONE HARDWARE CHECK OFF DONE!
- Since we were on a role, we decided to get the LCD-TFT display connected and tried to get another preliminary PSDR check off. For this our LCD needs to portray the degrees that the servo is moving. We ran the code and since we had tested the code during the prototyping phase the LCD was working as expected and we were able to get another HARDWARE checkoff done!!
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- Our next step is to get our thermistor circuit working and having our cooling fans turn on when the thermistor gets to a certain temperature. After testing the circuit we will apply it on our demo board and put the project together.
Entry 5: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 16thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 3.00 hours
- manlab meeting
- Ian showed us how he got our second software PSDR working. With the state machine he got to handle occlusions and distortions by swapping from color tracking to people tracking when the ball is not in frame
- talked with course staff about our progress or at least or next step of acion
- we are experiencing mutliple issues with the solder paste from the ECE shop, we have found a lot of components that are shorted or just not soldered at all.
- Walters adviced us to use the soldering tweezers to try to remove the parts that are shorted and solder them back on
- we are running into a lot of issues with components being shorted with the bad solder paste. Brandon and I worked on removing those components and adding more sodler to them to heavily secure them.
- we are running low on few parts which makes this a lot more nerve wrecking. But we have ordered more parts through express shipping in case we need extras for anything else, if not we will donate the parts.
- Brandon and I continued to go through the board and took turns doing continuity testing for each part to see if we find any more shorts through out are components. We found a few shorts and some of the solder paste was not fully soldered because it was expired. After fixing the components and adding solder we were able to finish the circuit by adding on bigger components like our boot switch, reset switch, and pin headers for everything.
- Had to go to class after placing larger components, but brandon and I decided after class we would regroup afterwards to conduct another continuity test and try to flash code.
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 15thStart Time: 12:30pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
- met with Niki to start applying the solder paste to our new board, we decidedt to do the whole process in the ECE shop so that we can use the X-ray to verify our ESP32 pins are alligned Before we put in on the hotplate.
- I talked with a manager in the ECE shop about the possibilty of placing the ESP into the xray before soldering, but she informed me that it can only be xrayed after the components are soldered on. She also made sure our solder paste was placed on correctly just to have another set of eyes on the project before placing the board on the hotplate.
- After I placed the ESP32 carfeully onto the board, I helped niki verify where to place the other smaller componets on the board, by looking at the PCB schematic and foot print layout to make sure all parts are placed correctly
- After all the components were placed, we got some help from the same manager in the ECE shop to guide us through using the hotplate.
- first I looked up the melting point of the solder paste we were using , which was about 117 C to about 220 C, so that we dont go highly above the solder paste and potentially burn our board. Once we placed the board on the hotplate, we noticed that after it reached the melting point, the parts did not seem to be soldered and solder paste was not hugging the components as they did last time.
- We then used the oven in the ECE shop to finish soldering the parts to the board. After taking our the board we still had the same solder paste issue. It turns out the solder paste we were given was expired and was not good to use. Before we completely freaked out, we got our board to the be x-rayed and it looked like all the parts were soldered onto the board, our ESP and USB-C port were placed corrrectly and looked corrrectly soldered which was great news! After Niki and I went back to lab and I perfomed conitnuity test on all our components.
- for the most part, almost all our components passed continuity and almost all LEDs got powered on by the current going thtough it. We did get some resistors LEDs that were shorted but they are not very necessary for us to flash code. Tomorrow, I plan on asking for some insight on how to approach this becuase our main priority is to get our 2 hardware PSDRS but we are unsure if there will be another ESD protection issue that will push us back another day.
- Tomorrow we will try to get the other parts soldered onto the board and get falshing started since we know the process and we are hoping the process will be faster in setting things up.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 14thStart Time: 9:30pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
- Niki and I stayed to apply solder paste on new board to start putting new components so we can start our process for flashing since we know how to fix the issues with the boot loader and solder components. When using the stencil we used the similar techiques as past entries and decided to get all the componets needed such as th power circuit, thermistor circuit, and microcontroller circuit parts so we can use this board for our demo if everything goes well.
- When using the stencil it was easy getting the solder paste on but we kept messing up when placing componets. We tried this several times.
- After a lot of failed tries, Niki and I talked about how we may just be tired and it would be better if we complete the stencil in the ECE shop to get it xrayed right after we the ESP on the board and as we could ask for as much help as we can get since we are running out of times and boards.
- I Had already separated our components to prevent our solder paste from drying out before putting it on the hotplate so tomorrow we will just be able to take all the parts up to the shop and have everything divided and ready to go.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 14thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 5.00 hours
- no longer flashing code :(
- tried different continuity checks to determine where the issue is but it was unclear as to why the flashing code no longer worked.
- After trying to set the UART using boot switch and reset switch, we talked with shivam and Sineesh about what could possibly be the issue. They explained to us that it may have been an ESD issue since with all the changes we needed to make the ESD diode may have desoldered or burnt out. After another continuity test, we noticed that are ESD diode is not connected to the pad and it may have fried our board.
- Ian and I went to the ECE shop to try to get some guidance on how to handle our ESD issue before we completely disegard our board. They mentioned that it might even be that are ESP32 chip is fried. If no connection is coming through it would be best to start getting a new board set up with all the necessary pieces.
- When we came back to lab, updated Brandon with the news and talked about more debugging ways on how to fix our other board. We also discussed getting another board ready for a back up, we have hope for this board because we know now how to fix our boot switch issue without the trial and error that we went through last time. The Assmebly should go more smoothly once we get these parts on the board.
- pressure is on since we would only have one clean board left. However, we will try to make use of our other boards that we have used to test power by desooldering the parts if ane extra board is needed.
- While we wait to stencil the solder paste, I decided to get a start on power on one of our boards. Are main concern is to make sure our voltage regulators work and that they out put the necessary voltage needed to provide a stable 5V for the Main Power line and a stable 3.3V for the ESP. To do this Niki hand soldered the necessary pins needed to get power from our 5v power jack. from there, I soldered the necessary pin headers so that we can connect the voltage buck/boosters and test the power coming out with the test point vias that I had included in the PCB design.
- Kind of nerve wrecking when plugging in the power jack, but we use the multimeter to measure the power coming through our testing vias and we were able to reach a 3.3V from our Voltage regulator, while the power jack was connected, now we know that this works, so when our new board is finished, we can get the 3.3V into our ESP32 to flash our project code.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 14thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 3.00 hours
- met with Niraj to talk about flashing code issue to see if he had any advice on how to see why the code was not reaching the ESP through the UART. This was also ou first time working with the new Boot switch button, but Niraj said it looked fine.
- found out it was ESD diode issue that was not soldered onto the pad correctly, once Ian sent a current through the correct pads, we were able to establish a connection and activate the boot loader.
- once the boot loader was activated correctly, we had a flashing LED through Brandons code, this means that were are able to flash code to our ESP and try to move forward with our project. Once we all regroup later today we will be trying to flash code to test our servo and LCD with the ESP.
=============== Week 13: =================
Entry 5: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 9thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 1.50 hours
- After my class ended, I met up with Niki to go get our ESP checked by the technician at the ECE shop to make sure there were no mistakes when it was being soldered and to make sure all pins are aligned and that there is not bridging.
- Based on the X-ray the ECE ship technician told us that every thing looked great. THIS WAS THE BEST NEWS EVER!! Now we can start working on flashing code and solder everything that is left and hopefully get some Preliminary PSDR's checked off.
- When we came back to lab, Niki began soldering our Switch push buttons and the UART connector headers. Right after, I started soldering the pin headers we will use for the LCD connection and the servo connections, since these are the components we need for our main hardware check offs.
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 9thStart Time: 7:45am
Duration: 4.25 hours
- Got to lab with Niki, immeditaly tried to get the solder paste on, use the new cut up stencil. We matched the stencil with the PCB with our eyes and then double checked with the Microscope before apply the solder paste. We also made sure that we did not apply to much solder paste to prevent the bridging mistake we kept making yesterday. We also aligned the PCB with two other PCBs so that everything stayed aligned and there was no dipping. We were strongy determined to get this done with the lease amount of tries.
- After our first try, solder paste covered all required pads with little to no bridging. The bridges that did happen were through ground pins. This was great news because it meant we did not have to do it again and we have more time to place components on the ESP.
- However, nothing is perfect, the solder paste needded for c4 did not really get applied as well, but Niki and I decided that it was worth just manually putting on solder paste on the C4 Pads due to the fact that the solder paste on the ESP pads came out so perfect and we did not want to risk messing up the solder paste for the other pads.
- Niki went ahead and used the microscope to apply the left over solder paste to the c4 pad. This was our final result:
- Once this was done, we started to place our small components on our PCB and the ESP.
- We started by dividing all the parts by their value and using the cups that Nikki brought to make the application easier and the parts easier to find. Since we are dealing with small components, this took a while.
- Niki placed most of the small capacitors and resistors, while I placed the ESP and made sure that all parts were being places correctly by looking at my PCB design and schematic. We pushed off the diodes and LED placement just so we can take polarity into account and make sure we place all the components correctly. Brandon had ordered the LEDs so he was able to look up a datasheet to confirm the polarity of the LED. We used the same process for the Diodes to make sure the cathode was placed correctly and matched the schematic signals. After carefully placing all components with the correct connections and multiple confirmations from myself, Niki, Brandon and Ian. The next step is is to use the hotplate
- With out meeting over and the components placed, it is time to move on to the hot plate. However, since Niki and I had never used the hot plate, we were nervous about using it right away so we took a trip to the ECE shop and asked if someone could walk us through the hot plate and how to safely use it without ruining our board. The staff offered to use the hot plate for us since our PCB was ready to go but we decided to do it ourselves since we did not want to risk moving our PCB so far from the lab.
- When we got back to lab all the staff was busy with the manager meetings, which we expected, so we decided to get assistance from Luke in Team 18, who is the other team using the ESP32 and have already used the hotplate. He was kind enough to walk us through the process of using the hotplate and to keep a closer eye on the board since their PCB ended up on getting discolored.
- Here are the progress pictures I took while using the hot plate:
- GREAT NEWS! All the components passed the continuity test and all debugging LED's turned on when providing a current through them while conducting the continuity testing.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 8thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 4.00 hours
- Did research on how to use the hotplate fror the esp that we are using. and how to apply solder paste using our stencil
- Link: PCB on hot plate
Drag Soldering
- talked to shivam about best way to go about soldering our ESP to the PCB, he said to try to hand solder
- went to ece shop to see if they had any tips because there was no TAs at the time in lab. They took a look at our esp and strongly
suggested to just use a hotplate bc it would be impossible to see the pins when hand soldering.
- went back to lab to talk about game plan, and decided to move forward with using the solder paste and the stencil before
putting down the components. Also decided to just set all the components needed for the micro controller circuit so we can move on with flashing code to it if all goes well.
- We wanted t o get soolderpaste on and hopefully use the hotplate before solderpaste took longer than expected.
- ended up running out of time due to other classes, so we decided to meet up before man lab on wedneaday to try again and set a goal to have all componetns placed during man lab so we could use the hotplate with a TA to walk us through the process.
- cut stencil to try to make apply solder paste easier on the pcb to make our lives easier on Wednesday mornign
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 7thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 4.50 hours
- after my class I came back to work with Niki on placing the USB-C port and try soldering a small 0603 capacitor.
- watched a video about placing a USB-C port using drag method in soldering
Link: Drag Soldering
- Niki had placed the usb-c port and the capacitor as I handed her the parts that were needed.
- once we finish this we would be able to start testing our power for the PCB s we can move on other components on our pcb
- found that most pins are bridging and one of the workers tried to fix some of the bridging with desoldering wire
- talked to shivam about someo advice about if we should move onto another board or try de-soldering, he suggested to desolder or it can be used to debug.
- tried desoldering but had no luck and ended up damaging the USB-c port and got damageed from the heat.
- decided to just move on to the esp circuitry so we can try to get more check-offs figured out and we could get going with the preiliminary psdrs.
- we will either use the board for debuggig another part of the circuit or just toss the baord to the side and keep moving
- Brandon came to lab and we both worked on trying to get our voltage regulators working with the power supply to make sure that when it is plugged in that it will indeed give out the correct voltage before going into the esp whent testing
- labeled the regulators for future use and set them to the sides.
- looked that our pcb ports and wiring was off by a pin for the regulators, but I suggested we would just use ribbon wires to make sure the ports are connected correctly for all our voltage pin headers.
- after is when we started to desolder and damaged usb port.
- We got a software check off for our HSV racking of the ball.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 7thStart Time: 10:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
- watched videos on how to efficiently solder pin headers and SMD components so we can solder as much as we can
-insert links and what u have learned.
-started working on soldering, the tip was not coming out and we wanted to use the thin soldering tip, took trip to ece shop to get the tip off,
- once tip was off we started soldering the pin headers onto the PCB we started the solder process by applying flux and using the solder wire and the board. We each took turns practicing putting the pin headers on
- started with place header pins on bread board to create a steady base and then started soldering each pin individually.
=============== Week 12: =================
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 4thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
OUR PCB FINALLY CAME IN!
First I wanted to talk with the ECE shop about my package with the capacitors since it seems to be the last thing we need for our major components that go on the board. Turns out when the shipment came in, my package did not have a team number or a room number, my mistake :(
Now with all of our components, Ian and I were able to start dividing the components so it gets easier to hand off components or access the components when soldering onto the PCB so we can get this done as carefully but as quickly as we can since time is of the essence. When dividing the components, Ian and I realized that we were missing our Schotkey Diodes for our ESD protection, but Shivam was able to find the ones we needed in lab, so crisis averted!
Once we got all the components separated, I was able to start looking over the PCB and check for wiring issues and check all the extra ground vias to make sure they are actually connected to our ground. So far all the wires were connected and there we no noticable manufacture errors which was great!
I also wanted to check if the componets we do have loosely fit into the slots to make sure our verifcation was correct.
As for checking the ground, I used the multimeter to conduct a continuity test and was able to get really low resistances for all connected ground planes and vias. I ran out of time, so I could not actually start soldering but my next step is to come on the weekend and try to solder the power parts and check if those work and try to debug as much as I can with the multimeter and using the techniques that I learned from the links in my previous journal entry.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 3rdStart Time: 5:30pm
Duration: 0.50 hours
PCB ended up getting delayed for another day so I could not start debugging like I had planned yesterday. Also, my capacitor order said it got delivered but I never received the package but since it was after hours, I could not talk to the ECE shop for an update. I wil come by tomorrow to double check that it did in fact get delivered. Our other crucial components did end up coming in so before actually soldering I am going to separate our componets to make sure we have anything we need so that soldering could go more smoothly.
I also ended up making a mock spreadsheet so that we can keep track of our budget, so when combining all the receipts we have gotten from the shipments, we still have around $150, this gives us some room to think about actually using the rasperry pi to save the video recording.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: April 2ndStart Time: 9:00am
Duration: 3.50 hours
Man Lab meeting:
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 31stStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
Today Niki and I wanted to talk to the procurement people at the Procurement Office located in POTR 127 to get an update on our parts since time is going by fast and we want to make sure all our parts are ordered and on their way. We figured we would get a faster response if we went in person.
My main problem, was that I had received an email from procurement but they did not add an invoice or a receipt to the email so I could not make sure that all parts had been ordered. After speaking with them, they told us that all of our orders were ordered and were shipped. I could not receive an invoice yet because Mouser had not sent procurement an invoice but that was able to track the package using the PO number they provided and asking Mouser directly.
We both left feeling better about orders and found that most of our parts are coming in this week and we almost have all the components needed. My next step is to wait for the PCB to get in and separate the parts so that assembling the PCB is easier. I will also have to contact Mouser to get an update on my order.
I also decided to do some research on 3D printing resources that are provided to students on campus so we can start the printing our packaging. I found the following resources down below and sent them to Ian so he could get his design for the chassis to start 3D printing.
3D printing options around campus
-
3D Printer on Purdue Campus
-
- Available to all Purdue University students
- Located in Knoy 155
- Open 10:00am - 7:00pm, Monday - Friday
- 3 Lulzbot Mini FDM Printers
- 6 Lulzbot Taz 5/6 FDM Printers
- 1 Stratasys Eden 350V
- 8 computer work stations that have 3D design software
- 25 gram limit per student per week on free PLA material supplied by the lab
- Users can use their own material
- says it gets it done within a week, if not you would have to contact a TA
-
- this is in BECHTEL, you have to go through a training but the website gives a list of 3D printers that are available and then once the training is done you can print it yourself by picking which 3d machine u wanna use
-
- This one is just an average request form for the Purdue 3D printing website I found, you just need to upload the files and then it should prompt you to join the queue for printing
=============== Week 11: =================
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 26thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
Met with team during ManLab meeting.
A lot of bad news was received during this meeting. Turns out our PCB order was cancelled because when it was ordered, the file did not include the drill files. We did not double check before heading on break and did not receive an email about our PCB getting rejected. I went ahead and generated new Gerber Files from KiCad and made sure it had all the files that were necessary and got the approval from Walters to get the PCB ordered today. After a few issues with the website, Niki was able to get the PCB ordered again with help from Shivam.
We had also finally gotten a response from Procurement, but it was to tell us that our ESP is out of stock. Niki and I started searching right away for another vendor and they only one we had found was on amazon but it only had 5 left so we took the initiative to order two right there and then. The ESP has been ordered. Unfortunately, I am stil waiting on a response from Procurement about my order for the capacitors, but I was told that they are backed up. Again all we can do now is wait and hit the ground running once we have recieved all our components.
After all this bad news, our team had a meeting about what are next steps are and what could we get done for now. I started to work on our PSDR Check off list, so we can get it printed and posted to our lab bench.
This will allows to have a chance of checking our PSDRS and fullfilling th ABET requirements as we are mantling our project and testing all the different components befor demoing at the final end. I plan on keeping track of our progress and updating the sheet as we move on with testing once we have recieved all the necessary parts.
During this ManLab, I had also completed the second confidential Team Evaluation form.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 25thStart Time: 3:00pm
Duration: 1.5 hours
Met with Niki to confirm that parts that she has ordered and to all help with the rest of the components that need to be ordered. After Niki sent me the Bill of materials (BOM), our main concern was the size of our resistors and capacitors. The capacitors and resistors that we are using our 0603 parts, where we found out that the ECE lab does not have a lot of values for that kind of size of resistor and capacitors. After looking through the BOM, we divided up the components and started to try and find all the values we needed.
For the capacitors, I used Mouser Electronics since it had most of the capacitors we were looking for. I completed the following order form.
I was not able to find a 100uf SMD capactior that matched all our specification (0603 size, 1608 metric, cut-tape) and after doing some research, Niki and I found out that it is because for these size of capacitors to not carry that much capacitance. After talking with Brandon, he told us that the 100 uf was not really needed and if we do end up with it we can stack smaller value SMD capacitors to get the needed value.
At the end of our meeting, all part were ordered through the Precurement. Now we just have to wait for the parts to come in. I will keep sending follow up emails if possible.
=============== Week 10: =================
No work done due to Spring Break=============== Week 9: =================
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 13thStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 7.00 hours
While waiting for feedback on my PCB, I worked on the PCB verification to make sure our components will fit on the board before we order it. I ran into some issues with our footprints such as the sizes for the connectors and pin headers were to small to fit our componets. Because of this I had to make adjustment to the size of our PCB and re-wire the tracks that were affected, which took longer than expected but was completed. We are still ordering some of the components, but we used the dial caliper to measure most of the components that we are using on our prototype circuit such as the ESP32 and the relay along with verifying with their data sheets. For the parts we did have, everything seemed to match the footprints we are using.
As I was working on the verifcation, I did get some final feedback from all the TAs and they were mostly all positve feedback where no changes needed to be made. The only main changes were to keep an eye out for acute angles and inserting a GND pad through a via underneath the ESP32 so that it will be easier to soder through and access that plane. Also to make sure the mounting holes were not covered by the power planes to prevent any electric shock when mounting the PCB on our chassie. My next step is to get the final okay from Dr. Walters and order the PCB. (Current PCB can be found on our website under documents tab and the gerber files that go along with the PCB design)
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 12thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 5.00 hours
ManLab
During ManLab, I was mainly focused on getting more feedback on the changes I made in the previous entry and get some advice on how to implement extra debugging test points throughout the layout in case there are some issues when we start testing.
Notes taken from Managers meeting:
Along with this feedback, we got access to our feedback from our midterm design presentation. With this feedback, my next steps are to implement them as soon as I can so my team can order the PCB before the deadline.
List of All Midterm Design Review Feedback
After applyign this feedback, my PCB layout was the following:
Once I was done applying all the feedback, I decided to send another email to the course staff to receive some final feedback so the PCB can get ordered as soon as I can. Once I get feedback, my next step is to get the final okay from Walters and proceed with ordering the PCB.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 10thStart Time: 2:00pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
Today my main focus was trying to implement all the PCB feedback that I could remember from our presentation (mentioned in last weeks entry) so when we do receive our official feedback from the presentation I would have most of them implemented. I had a few questions about adding test points near our high speed signals that I will ask during ManLab. But other than that all of the other feedback points were implemented such as switching footprint to push buttons for the reset and boot switches, changing track widths, fixing acute angles, moving the placement of servo and UART connections ect. My next steps is to talk to Professor Walter and the other TAs during ManLab to make sure I am on the right track and apply any more feedback they can think of before we get ready to order the PCB.
=============== Week 8: =================
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 5thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 1:00 hour
Midterm Presentation Day!
We began our presentation a little late, but we were able to give our presentation as smooth as possible and got a lot of constructive feedback from our peers and the course staff that we found extremely helpful. We are going to get a set document with all of our anonymous feedback but I figured it was best to write down some of the feedback I remembered getting regarding our PCB design so I can get a head start on finalzing our design.
Main PCB feedback that I could remember:
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 4thStart Time: 4:30pm
Duration: 1.00 hours
Today my team and I met to walk through the presentation since we have it early Wednesday morning. I was in charge of wallking through the PCB Layout since I was the one working the most with it. We only met for an hour and dedicated slides to each person so they can practice what to say and possibly get feedback from other team members on how long to speak so we are all on the same page. We also took this time to upload any necessayr last mintute files to our website, such as reports and datasheets of components. We also uploaded are finished Midterm Review Presentation (can be found underneath the documents section of our website).
We also agreed to get to MSEE a little before our presenation time (9:30 am) so we can do last minute preparations and set up the laptop and presentation.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 3rdStart Time: 3:00pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
From my email (mentioned in the last entry) asking for PCB feedback, I was able to get a response from two TAs , Jonathan Lane and Xiang Li. I found their feedback very helpful and got to implementing the feedback right away, so that I can get started on my slides for the Midterm Presentation.
Summary of my feedback:
PCB layout and 3d model after implementing feedback
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: March 2ndStart Time: 4:00pm
Duration: 6.00 hours
This week is dedicated to Midterm Design Review Presentation and my main focus is to prioritize PCB design so we have a good solid rough draft before getting feedback from the class mates and course staff. Based on the finalized feedback my team got for our schematic last week I was able to get a solid start on the PCB design, as opposed to just components on a board. I started by trying to implement some of the notes I took from my last entry. I did some research on how to implement a 4 layer PCB design on KiCad and found this very helpful video on youtube.
How to Make a 4 Layer PCB in KiCad
This video walked me through step by step how to start creating a 4 layer PCB so that I can start adding traces to my components by following this guide found on the Espressif ESP32 design rules website.
Website link: ESP32 PCB Layout Design
I changed the layers setting by accesing the board set up icon in the KiCad PCB editor file. Inside the Board Setup setting, I opened the "Board Editor Layer" underneath the "Board Stackup section".
As for the other highlighted components, those are my 4 copper layers that were added. I chose these as my layers based on this recommendation found in the ESPressif link for ESP32 PCB layout design
With these new 4 layers, I was able to place components in sections depending on what they need to be connected to based on our schematic. The final result of this entry is as follows:
After finishing the first draft of the PCB, I thought it would be smart to email the course staff to see if I can get any feedback before my team has to present for the Midterm Design review. I knew it was close to the presentation day but I figured it was worth a try. If I am able to recieve some feedback, my next step is to apply it before my presentation so I can work on my assigned slides for the presentation.
=============== Week 7: =================
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 26thStart Time: 9:00am
Duration: 3.00 hours
During ManLab, our team started off with showing our progress and just to check if everyone is on track and ready to show something to the course staff.
We then had our managers meeting with the course staff, where Ian was able to show our progress with the PCB schematic and ask our questions about certain parts (mentioned in my last enrty). As they were discussing the schematic I was able to get feedback from another TA (Yuki), who advised me to take a look at the ESP32 PCB Layout criteria so that I can save some time and become familiar with how the PCB layout should be adjusted. The website she recommended helped me a lot in understanding how I should place the ESP32 chip, which is the source of our project.
The main issue she saw was that my ESP32 antenna was not following the PCB layout rule, based on the website the postioning rules are the following:
This website link below was also very helpful with other PCB layout considerations, such as Layers of the PCB and how to handle ESD protection for a 3.3V power layout.
Website link: ESP32 PCB Layout Design
From this website and the Week 6/7 Lectures slides I took the following notes so I can return to it while making my final PCB layout design.
As for the schematic, Ian explained to me that he will need to make some changes to the PCB schematic based on what Professor Walter recommendations. We will be taking out the USB-C converter and just utilize the UART bridge directly, He will finalize the schematic and send it to me so I can finalize our PCB Layout before our Midterm Review Presentation.
As for the Presentation, we also split the work for the presentation and planned on when to meet for a practice run before our presentation on Wednesday.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 25thStart Time: 10:00pm
Duration: 3.00 hours
Ian, Niki, and I met in lab tonight to mostly work on our respected parts but also ask for feeedback if needed. Ian and I are working on PCB where he is working with the schematic while I am working on the actual PCB layout based on the schematic. During this meeting Ian and I were talking back and forth about the PCB schematic and we were unsure if all the parts in our schematic was actually needed, such as the power and USB-C communication port part, so we decided that tomorrow for manlab we would ask the course staff to see what we need on our schematic and to clarify somethings about our schematic.
For right now, he sent me the schematic he was working on so I can start working on the PCB layout, keeping in mind that there are some aspects that may change after we ask our questions in ManLab.
End Result of this entry:
Once we have asked our questions and have a final set schematic, I will make the appropriate changes to the layout and add the changes.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 25thStart Time: 3:00pm
Duration: 1.50 hours
My goal for today is to fit all the components into a PCB edge cut in the most optimal way so that all wires and components can connect without breaking the circuitry. I started by writing down each part of the circuit to see what signals should be connected and which components should be close the edge of other parts of the circuit. I also wrote some Notes and questions to discuss with me team during our next meeting later tonight. These notes are mostly meant to brainstorm which parts should be close to the microcontroller.
My notes before setting up a rough draft of where parts should be located:
When I meet with my team later tonight, I will ask for their input and start placing parts into my pcb edge cut I made in Kicad.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 23rdStart Time: 7:00pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
My first priority was to change the thermistor circuit since Brandon had made some minor changes to our prototype circuit. Some of the changes included:
After I made the chaneges, I took the time to start working on the first draft of our PCB footprint based on our current schematic.
Once we passed the ERC rules for the schematic I wanted to check if all the symbols had a footprint that was associated with its schematic symbol. To check this I did the following steps to access the footprint libraries.
Now that I know all schematic symbols have a footprint assigned to it, I am able to directly insert the schematic symbols to the PCB Editor using the "Update PCB from Schematic" button found under the tools tab on the KiCad version 8 schematic editor
Once this button was pressed I got the following result show up on my Kicad PCB editior.
My next step is to start placing the PCB components on our PCB by creating a footprint layout that will allow all components to efficiently fit onto the PCB.
=============== Week 6: =================
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 21stStart Time: 12:00pm
Duration: 4.00 hours
Today, my main focus was all about making further progress on the schematic for our PCB and making sure that we’re on the right track with all the components and connections so I can start working on the PCB footprint.
Our team had also set up a meeting with Professor Walter, where he gave us some feedback on how to efficiently work with our relay and interface it with the microcontroller via UART.
One of his suggestions was to use a USB serial converter from Adafruit USB to Serial Converter for the data transfer, which seemed like a solid solution. He also recommended that we start prototyping with the actual power bank to ensure we’re getting enough power and amps for the entire circuit before we mount everything on the PCB.
As for the schematic updates, we had to make a few important adjustments. We realized that we had initially included the entire microcontroller on the PCB, when we only needed to include the ESP32 PICO-MINI-02 chip because that is what will be on the PCB.
This required changing the symbol in the schematic to reflect the correct part. After downloading the correct library for an ESP32-PICO-MINi_02 I used this website to get the KiCad schematic symbol and PCB footprint. Once that was downloaded, I used the schematic of the ESP32 Micro to match the connections from the Micro to the ESP32 chip.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 19thStart Time: 9:00am
Duration: 3.00 hours
Before ManLab our team decided to do a fast meeting as a check up on what has been accomplished and what we need to focus on. We also decided to make a change to how data will transfer from the laptop to our Micro. Instead of sending data through the USB-C port of the micro, we will connect our power bank to the micro since it has a USB-C cable. As for transferring data, we thought of going with a UART approach but and conduct some research on how to do that with our micro.
With this change, Ian and I worked on making these changes to our schematic and add the connections for the power supply and data communication bus. We also worked incorporating our thermistor circuit and established the connections and mounting holes we needed for that section of the circuit.
We also had our Man Lab meeting with the course staff. During the meeting we presented our progress on the schematic and explained the changes we were going to make for our data and power transfer. We also received the camera we will use for demoing and prototyping. With the camera, our next step is to figure out our software and how we can get it accurately by tracking a colored ball in real-time.
Ian and I talked about continuing to perfect the schematic and make sure we included all the new adjustments to make before we move forward with our PCB design and layout
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 16thStart Time: 10:00pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
I spent a couple hours conducting more research about PCB design and how to effectively create schematics based on our prototype circuit and hardware. I mostly looked at videos and articles on other PCB designs and how their schematics went into their PCB footprints so that I can get a better understanding on how to start our projects PCB schematic and what and what not to include. My next step was to start working on our PCB schematic and get a better understanding of our final prototype circuit.
Helpful links:
KiCad 7 PCB Layout in 5 Steps
Build Electronic Circuits
=============== Week 5: =================
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 12thStart Time: 9:00am
Duration: 3.00 hours
Before ManLab started, I started to get familiar with some of the PCB training information and conducted some light research on how I can efficiently get started with the PCB design, schematic and footprint. I also started to upload references and data sheets of the components we are using for the design, that can be found under the Documents-References tab of the website.
When ManLab started, team began to re-group and make a final decision on how we wanted to go about tracking clusters of people algorithms and just a check up on everyone’s understanding, to make sure we are on the same page on what the functionality of our software algorithm will be. In the end we decided to split up the tasks so that way we each work on an important part of the project so we can present and teach others in the team what progress we make starting next week.
I got tasked with PCB training since I had already started the PCB training in earlier journal entries.
We also had a meeting with our course staff to finalize our functionality description and PSDRS with the new changes that were made to our project
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 11thStart Time: 5:20pm
Duration: 0.50 hours
After discussing with the Introduction to AI professor at Purdue about some insight on AI predictive methods to help us get an idea on how to approach our software side of the project, Prof. Inouye brought to our attention how difficult it may be to track the hockey ball during game play due to its size and how fast the ball will be moving. Given that our focus is to provide accurate video tracking for post review, he suggested to use different AI predictive methods. As a team we did not want to stray to far from our original idea, so we thought it was a good idea to talk to the course staff and Prof. Walter to make sure it was okay to make this much of a change. Prof. Walter reassured us that including color tracking is very much possible, but it may be a good idea to handle occlusion by using other predictive methods.
After brainstorming some ideas, we came up with the idea of using clusters of people to handle a case of occlusion, when the ball is too far away from the video camera because it is a good assumption that where the team is, is most likely the ball is around that.
Prof. Walter also had us consider how we plan to demo our design and how that can help us focus on what algorithm we want to use so that it will work with the demo we plan on showing.
=============== Week 4: =================
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 5thStart Time: 3:00pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
I went back to the lab to start working and experimenting with Micro-python code to get a display shown on the LCD screen.
To get started I had to install a specifc driver library to Micro-Python that allows me to use det functions to experiment with the LCD display.
According to (link) the best driver for our Specific LCD-TFT device is the ili9341 driver.
To complete the installation of this driver to Micro-Python I completed the following steps:
Once I had the correct package installed, I was able to work with functions with the machine library such as Pin and SPI of the micro-controller and functions to work with the LCD display.
At first I would get the message to display, however it was displaying the letters from right to left as opposed to left to right.
After some research and looking into the library functions included in micropython_ili934x the website (ili934 display switching) explained the issue in great detail.
The main problem was that the library I installed normally displays in a 320x240 screen. This can be changed by setting the memory access control register command (MACTL) by setting the display to 240x320 which are the correct dimensions of the LCD-TFT screen we are using.
The setting of using x48 was provided in the library but was commented out by default to work with the orientation of the 320x240 screen.
By making these changes, I was able to get my text display on the LCD screen with the SPI interfaced with the microcontroller.
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 5thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
During MANLAB my main focus for today was to try and connect the correct microcontroller to my Thonny application so that I could start trying to get the LCD screen to display a simple phrase (Hello) and show that the interface between the microcontroller and LCD-TFT does work with my pinouts.
I explained to my team what my original error was (wrong micro) and Brandon offered me the microcontroller he was working with, which was the right one. I also had access to another USB cable that my laptop was able to recognize.
To connect the micro to Thonny Micro-Python, I did the following:
Once I was able to connect the ESP32 Feather V2 microcontroller to my laptop, I needed to find the correct pinout diagram and re-wire the circuit.
The two sections that are highlighted in the image below represent the microcontroller GPIO pins that the LCD-TFT's MOSI (Master Output Slave Input) and SCK (Clock) pins should be connected to for a one way connection. Compared to the original chart of LCD and Micro connections, these two sections changed.
I got these values by running the following commands on Thonny that tells us the SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) of the micro:
Also during our MANLAB, we continued to get feedback from the course staff to finalize our functionality description and PSDR's and for us to have set down ideas to start working on before next week.
The notes mainly asked us about:
We are still brainstorming for these aspects, but our goal is to have all these ideas set by next week.
At the end of MANLAB, we divided the parts that we will each complete for our Complete Analysis Report (A5)
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: February 3rdStart Time: 2:20pm
Duration: 4.00 hours
I spent this time working on the interface between the LCD-TFT display and the ESP32 microcontroller. Once we got the interface working, we can move on with using object tracking to display the status of the ball onto the LCD display. I started by connecting my LCD-TFT to the micro-controller by connecting each port of the LCD to a separate GPIO pin of the microcontroller.
I used the following Pinout diagram for the ESP32:
Based on the pinout of the microcontroller and the LCD pins, I started to wire and establish connections based on this chart:
For Reference these are the Pins of the LCD-TFT screen:
More information about how to wire and LCD screen to a ESP32 micro can be found (here)
Then I downloaded the IDE Thonny to work with Micro-Python (Getting Started with Thonny MicroPython) to start attempting to get a display on the LCD screen. However, I came across some issues. The main issue was that I realized that I was using the wrong Microcontroller. We are working with an ESP32 feather v2, and I was using an ESP32 feather microcontroller. The other issue was that my laptop was not recognizing the COM port that the USB cable that was making the connection between my laptop and the micro. This led to Micro-python not recognizing an ESP32 and I could not test any code. My next step was to request a the correct micro-controller via the component request form provided by the course staff and try getting a cable that allows a two-way connection.
=============== Week 3: =================
Entry 4: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 31stStart Time: 1:30pm
Duration: 2.00 hours
Continued working on the Software Overview report, discussed with Ian his implemention of interfacing the microcontroller with the DC motor to test how the DC motor spins before moving onto the servo motor. Also exchanged ideas on how to incorportate re-detection without relying on edge detection to improve our algorithm.
We also set up a meeting with Professor Walter to discuss power electronics, our DC/DC regulator, and any advice he had about selecting a power source before we discuss it next week in class. He showed us more about the WE-Bench TI tool and how we can input our parameters for our output and input voltages to get several ICs diagrams along with their datasheets so we are able to start deciding on the design aspects of our project. We also discussed our design and how much torque we want out servo to handle to control the movement of the camera. It will be mounted on a tripod, so he suggested to to talk to the machinist to get advice how we want to implement our mechanical design.
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 30thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
Our team went to our weekly ManLab meeting to show what we were each working on. Brandon and Niki were also working with the Color/object tracking algorithm. When showing our different implementations, we noticed we all had the same concept of HSV conversion and masking. Brandon's implementation came out to be the most accurate when tracking a colored object. The main issue we all faced was the lighting, each of use had tested under different lighting environments which ended up affecting our outputs. This brought up the concern of how our device will handle tracking in an outside environment, when the lighting is never consistent. We decided to consider research edge detection techniques to improve our tracking and view.
I researched different implementations and other factors that we should consider to make sure our algorithm is accurate and is able to participate in fast tracking. We also discussed the possibilty of re-detection when the ball is out of view or the game needs to be restarted. I found this source, that broke up different variables to think of when dealing with real-time object tracking.
Real-Time Object Tracking: This website divided Object tracking into sections such as "Choose the Right Tracker" and "Handling Occlusions" and "Optimizing Performances". With this information, I suggested to use the a similar logic to the Kernelized Correlation Filters because it provides fast and accurate tracking and is reccomende for real-time tracking. As for the Re-detection, the website talked about algorithms, such as YOLO that I plan on researching more about the logic so we can branch of these ideas for our set algorithm.
As the software lead, I took the responsibility for completing the Software Overview Report (A3) which talks about what are algorithms will include for software and firmware. I got some input from my team which allowed me to start on the report and get an idea of how our flowcharts and state machine diagram will look like.
Lastly we met with the course staff to discuss our updated function description (found in our home page) and our PSDRs. We recieved the following notes:
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 28thStart Time: 6:00pm
Duration: 2.5 hours
By following the psuedocode and flowchart I made, in week 2 entry 3, I started to work on the color/object tracking algorithm for our project using OpenCV in python. I started with OpenCv VideoCapture function to be able to use my webcam (0) or a video file for the testing of color detection. From there I set frame dimensions of what I wanted the program to portray when trying to detect the colored object. The frame width is determined by using another OpenCV function ,.get(), the function is able to get the width of the frames captured by the camera (3). The two other dimensions consist of the x-axis of the set frame and the margin of the frame. The margin of the frame determines the allowed range that the object canbe from the camera without triggering and action (moving the camera left/right)
After setting the frame, it was time to convert the color from RGB values to Hue, Saturation, and Value (HSV) values. We change these color values to get a wider range of color so that we can account for color changes in different lighting environments. To see the lower bounds and upper bounds of the orange color, I used the information I gathered about HSV and the conversion, HSV Color Model. After the conversion came the contour and masking the color based on the camera feed data. For the camera movement, I made a variable called "command" to determine where in the frame is the ball located that I thought could be used to send signals to the microcontroller and tell the servo to move the camera to a certain angle. This is just a brief explanation of the code, that you can see down below.
I wanted to get some feedback from the team before moving forward, because after the set up I had a lot of concerns about how the tracking would work under different lighting and how fast are algorithm should track the ball as it is in motion
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 27thStart Time: 5:00pm
Duration: 1.50 hours
I spent this time looking over PCB layout training. As a team, we have not decided who will be working with the PCB, but we were all curious to learn about PCB design. I was familiar with the KiCad tool, which is recommended for PCB design by the course staff, but in the sense of creating schematics for past circuit projects. I focused more on learning about the PCB editor that is also included in the KiCad tool.
The course provided helpful links to start learning about PCB design. Most of the information I read was from Getting Started with KiCad 6. This website goes into detail on what the PCB editor in KiCad includes such as, board outlines, footprints, origins, etc.
Along with the website, I watched this video How PCBs are Made that takes the time to explain how a PCB is made using the PCB editor tool in KiCad and how the editor compares to the real PCB. Once our team begins working with the PCB, I want to be able to use the design tool to get a start on how we want to design the circuit. In the video mentioned above, I found a very helpful chart that outlines the steps taken to design a circuit and which programs in KiCad can help achieve these steps.
=============== Week 2: =================
Entry 3: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 24thStart Time: 2:00pm
Duration: 4.00 hours
Today, I focused on taking the information I gathered from the videos to develop the initial logic for computer vision ball tracking. I wrote a rough draft of my pseudocode for the algorithm I plan on using for this project. This pseudocode is meant to be a basic structure of the Python code I plan on developing. This code will continue to improve as I face more constraints and challenges. This implementation only includes the basic steps used for object tracking such as frame capture, color filtering, edge detection, tracking etc. I plan on implementing more functions that work well with edge cases and motion prediction. My next step is to work with the image processing using color filtering to track the orange ball used for Roller Hockey (find specific measurement and data such recommended FPS and upper and lower bounds of different colors according the Hue, Saturation, and Value (HSV) scale). From this pseudocode, I thought it would be benefical to desgin a flowchart to visualize the software's worflow and allow me to see how my algorithm will work on a more strcutured scale.
Notes: Brainstorming Flowchart to structure the design process
 P1.jpg)
 P2.jpg)
Helpful Links Used for brainstorming the algorithm structure:
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 23rdStart Time: 12:30pm
Duration: 0.5 hours
With not much time for this meeting, I took the time to conduct research to gain an understanding of software tools and technologies that would be useful for the project as the software lead. I reviewed a few videos on ball tracking using computer vision to explore techniques for implementing object tracking in our system using OpenCV and python, since that is the language I feel the most confident in.
Video links:
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 22ndStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
Started our ManLab with a team meeting with our course director and GTA/team mentor. Based on the feedback received on our Final Report, we made changes to PSDR’s and Function Description. In this team meeting, we brainstormed with the staff and asked questions on what limitations we have for our project and picked out the equipment we will need by filling out the component form. I updated the function description and made changes to the PSDRS that you can see now on our website.
After the team meeting, I looked at the A2 assignment, which meant for the functionality components of our project. I researched multiple theoretical theories that we will use to move forward the project.
The main theories of operation that we will be using will be:
- Ball Tracking (computer vision)
- Prediction behavior Modeling : getting a lock on the moving ball, what camera will do while waiting for a signal, etc.
- Mechanical Response
- Decision Making for the movement of the servo(s): when the camera should be moved from left to right
=============== Week 1: =================
Entry 2: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 15thStart Time: 2:30pm
Duration: 2.50 hours
My team for a second time after our ManLab, where Brandon presented us with some design ideas he had for our project, and we were able to discuss some ideas we had to make the design more cost effective and more stable. With the initial design, we included a laptop where a user was able to control the zoom aspects, however we decided in this meeting that we wanted more of an automated system, so we landed on an LCD with a control panel at the eye level to capture the real time game/practices. As for the structure, we decided on a tripod on the floor somewhere on the field.
From our to do list in my previous entry, we were able to complete the following:
- Assigned team roles along with distributed the reports that each team member would complete. You can see our roles in the Teams tab of this website
- Talked and researched about which cameras we should use for our prototype and which camera will give us the best resolution for the final presentation
- I started and finished our Final Project Proposal. I turned it in by the end of the meeting
- Finalized our PSDR’s and came up with hardware and software stretch PSDR that you can view on websites Home Page
- Came up with a rough draft of our budget and tried to separate from what equipment we will borrow from the ECE shop and what equipment we will need to buy or find in our homes
- Brandon (Team member 1) offered to get a start on a team website and was able to get it up and running so we can upload our PSDRS and Functional Description to our website.
Entry 1: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 15thStart Time: 9:30am
Duration: 2.00 hours
We met for our first ManLab of the semester. We took this time to do the following:
- Took a tour of the lab area
- Met with TAs of the course to discuss our project and they asked us questions that lead to our brainstorm and fully commit to locking down ideas on how we want to structure our project and when to get started.
- As we looked around the lab, we each considered on how much we can check out of the lab so we can spend our budget wisely while prototyping
- Set up a to do list of topics to discuss in our next meeting
- Meeting goals 1/15:
- Camera type / FOV
- Research image tracking software
- Determine where tripod is positioned
- Start materials list
