January 10, 2006 (1 hour):
After class today we met and talked about general team
administration. First we looked at possible team names, and then we did a lot of brainstorming
on project ideas.
For the team name, we came up with the brilliant "J Team". Obviously all our first names
are initialized 'J', and hence there isn't really any other team name that would be nearly
as descriptive.
As for project ideas, we came across several main ideas: digital host handheld
device using wireless networking, and using laser with receivers for a laser tag gmae or target practice
range. RFID fridge was mentioned but sounded very cliche so that was ruled out more like a joke. We
thought that the idea of using laser is less economical to develop and prototype,
so it all came down to Josh's suggestion of a digital host, as he had experience in being a host at
a restaurant and knew all the requirements and needs for creating a digital host.
January 11, 2006 (1 hour):
We had a meeting today to look further into our idea of a digital host.
It seems that this idea would result in much more programming than hardware interfacing, which defeats
the purpose of doing this a design project.
We also reintroduced the idea of using RFID, as suggested
by Jared, but this time implemented in a supermarket checkout lane. It turned out to be much better
compared to the digital host because of the hardware peripherals we can interface with and the fact that
none of us have really had experience with RFID and it would mean something new for everyone of us.
January 12, 2006 (2 hours):
We had a slightly longer meeting today, running over things we need
to look at now that we have decided to do the RFID checkout lane. We did quite some research on the
internet together using 3 different computers, without too much luck as far as parts go - especially
due to the fact that we wanted to have a check out cart where all the items will be scanned at the same
time, we will need a very high frequency RFID tags and transponders in order to do the job, and those
devils don't come cheap. So it was tough to decide on parts, let alone finding price estimates.
Eventually we were able to choose parts that we think were suitable, and written up the
initial project idea.
January 12, 2006 (1.5 hours):
I did some more search on my own to see if there are other parts
that could be suitable for our project. Unfortunately, just as with the group, most of the parts I found
are either extremely expensive, have a short range, or unable to read multiple tags at once. So much luck
for online research.
WEEK 01 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: The J Team came together to decide upon the initial Project ideas and wrote our
initial project proposal.
Weekly Work Total: 5.5 hour
Project Work Total: 5.5 hour
January 18, 2006 (2 hours):
We got our initial project idea back today in class, with the feedback
from professor Meyer mainly as "untractable". I could see why that would be the case - the maturity of
reading multiple tags is still questionable, and while other big companies are having teams of people
doing research on this single area, we as 4 undergraduate students really shouldn't stretch our luck too
far.
So we met during lunch and talked about alternative ideas. We even re-mentioned Josh's idea of a digital
host. Some other ideas mentioned include an RFID activated garage door, a self check out system similar
to the ones at Walmart but using RFID instead of UPC. It was obvious - the self check out idea was much
more tractable and closer to our initial idea,
January 19, 2006 (0.25 hours):
After class today we went to professor Meyer and asked for his opinion
on our new project idea. It was "tractable" and "looks much better" :) Hard work is on its way.
WEEK 02 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: This week we decided on the project that we are really going to work on. Also
got the 477 group 10 shay account working for all the group members.
Weekly Work Total: 2.25hours
Project Work Total: 7.75 hours
January 24, 2006 (0 hours):
Got word from Jared and Jenny about the PSSC. Looked over it and wondered
how they got everything done so efficiently.
January 25, 2006 (2 hours):
We had another lunch meeting today (aren't they convenient) after the
group presentation to talk about the suggestions on our PSSC. This is the
current version of our criteria.
January 26, 2006 (1 hour):
Jared sent out an e-mail informing us of the parts that we are going to
use. I talked with him about some modifications and concerns that I had, and I did some reading on the
documentations of some parts. The project is coming together and for the first time I'm feeling excited
about it.
January 27, 2006 (2 hours):
Got up early this morning to type up the remainder of the lab
notebook. Didn't think it would take that long. Luckily I woke up early and had a filler class to do all
this. Backtracking through my memory is really tough. Good thing it is only the beginning of the semester
and there is still time to get used to writing in the notebook often.
WEEK 03 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Project looking good. PSSC seems to be very doable, and I know that I will have a
big hand in interfacing with the LCD.
Weekly Work Total: 5 hours
Project Work Total: 12.75 hours
January 30, 2006 (1.5 hours):
I spent some more time looking at the
documentation of our
Microcontroller. It is over 500 pages long, so I just printed everything out and took a skim at sections
that seem to relate to our project. So far I have taken a look at the registers, the PWM implementation
and part of the ethernet interface. Number of pins to interface with are ample, and that should not be
a problem at this stage.
February 1, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Group lunch meeting today. We went through the parts we were looking
at and assigned sample request responsibilities. I got assigned with Grayhill's keypads. We also talked a
bit about different aspects of the software implementation, and possible add-ons we could do to make the
interface more appealing, software and hardware included. We decided that since this is a custommer
intensive device, we could justify ourselves using slightly more expensive user interfaces (even if we
requested them for free as samples).
February 2, 2006 (1 hour):
Did some research on keypad choices from Grayhill. Looked specifically
at the Unsealed series. I
called up Grayhill and asked for advice on selecting a part, and finally requested a sample for a 4x4
version of the 84BC1-001 series 84 Keypad. As for customizable keys,
Grayhill has kindly agreed to accompany a legend sheet
so we can design the looks of our keypad according to our needs.
Got news from Josh that he was able to sample almost all of our parts for free. Way to go Josh!
February 3, 2006 (1 hour):
Spent about 1 hour reading through data sheet of the 9S12 and the Ethernet
controller.
WEEK 04 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Decided on most parts for the project. Unfortunately we are still debating on
some parts. We received quite a lot of samples. Looking at the papers that are due next Friday.
Weekly Work Total: 5 hours
Project Work Total: 17.75 hours
February 6, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Did more part search for possible keypad parts - the sample that we
got from Grayhill was on the dull side. Started with homework 3 which I am responsible for. Took a look at
past homework - looks like I have a lot of writing to do.
February 7, 2006 (3 hours):
Group meeting. Decided on what Josh and I are to write for our homework.
This is a major check point of our project. We reconfirmed on a few parts and talked about constraints,
product comparison results based on each of our research.
February 7, 2006 (7 hours):
Major composition. Finished about 70% of homework 3. I found it tough to
write the Interface Requirements. Jared and Jen are great help on this paper.
February 8, 2006 (3.5 hours):
Group meeting to go over what we have come up with so far. Jenny and
Jared went over the paper with Josh and I... they are masters of English. My paper came back with so much
correction I felt bad for Jenny reading all of it. Thanks Jenny!
Worked on the paper for another 1.5 hours after the meeting to fix some things.
February 9, 2006 (1.5 + 0.5 hours):
Group meeting to go over our papers again. Sleep has been an
extravagance around town, but the paper was due Friday. This is not Jared or Jenny's homework but they are
helping out so much I will feel horrible if I don't fight on...
Today we also got back our revised PSSC and we are trying to acquire an additional part - a receipt
printer. Did some research and sent out an e-mail to see if we could get a sample.
February 10, 2006 (1 hour):
Did some research on the receipt printer. I mainly looked at the
TSP600 series for
reference, and the
TMP400 series
as a possible internal/integrated part. Jared an I talked about the possibility of using other types
(non-thermal) to save power but we couldn't decide due to the fact that the operating voltage of different
types (eg. dot matrix) are the same. We have yet to look for further information. Sent an e-mail to
Star Micronics to ask for more information and suggestions for
a receipt printer that could better suit our need and reduce power and cost.
WEEK 05 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Finished
homework 3,what is probably the longest
paper I've written in my life. Also decided to add another part to our project - a receipt printer.
Weekly Work Total: 18 hours
Project Work Total: 35.75 hours
February 15, 2006 (2 hours):
Talked to a guy from
Star Micronics regarding our receipt printer. We have been
debating over 2 models, the
NP-211 thermal kiosk printer, and the
NP-266slim clamshell-type thermal kiosk printer slim version, after we have decided that we are not
going to use the plain mechanism that we were looking at before. Our main concern was the size of our
case - idealy it shouldn't be deeper than a few inches. If we choose to use the slim version (NP-266),
we can cut down the depth to 4 inches, while if we use the NP-211, we will need up to 6 inches. Due to
the difference in cost (~$250 for NP-211 and ~350 for NP-266) we finally decided to use the NP-211, while
keeping the hope that we could iplement it vertically. The only problem now is, we have to place the
order with a credit card, and upon returning the whole package within 30 days, we will get a full refund.
We are not going to finish the project until early May, so I asked the guy from Star Micronics if we
could keep it till then. He said that he will reply by tomorrow.
February 16, 2006 (0.5 hours):
Todd from Star Micronics e-mailed me back saying that he can send
us all the parts and let us keep them till May. We also exchanged e-mails about some optional parts
that might help us mount the printer vertically. I placed the order, and he e-mailed me later saying
the package has been shipped. The whole package comes with power supply, and a few sample thermal paper
rolls. It is going to be professional. Todd also sent me the
full manual for the NP-211.
February 17, 2006 (2 hours):
Office hours with Josh. We figured out how to do (hopefully) all of
the power supply stuff, which is necessary for Jared and Jenny's paper. Basically, the power supply is
like a black box taking 1 raw power input and giving 2 regulated outputs at 5V and 3.3V. Inside the black
box is nothing but two power regulators regulating power from raw (7.5V currently) voltage to the required
voltages. As for our printer, it requires a power of 8-13V (as stated on the website), but we can use the
power supply that it came with directly. We thought of combining all the power supplies into one wall wart,
which will give the merchants convenience of only plugging one device into mains, instead of two. However
our TAs said that for this project it wouldn't matter, and in fact if any parts malfunction, it would be
easier to replace. Therefore we are not going to combine the printer power with our circuit power.
As
for bypass capacitors, we are going to use 0.1uF capacitors on each power pin of each IC of our design.
What a day for us Computer Engineers - new things to learn everyday about EE...
Yeah yeah.... you
can't spell GEEK without double E's...
Also look at power regulators for a bit.
WEEK 06 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Mainly stuffs with the printer. Team accomplishements: schematic and parts
evaluation.
Weekly Work Total: 4.5 hours
Project Work Total: 40.25 hours
February 21, 2006 (0.25 hours):
Received our printer today. Everything looks great except for the
power adapter that it came with. According to the
spec sheet, the power input to the printer rates at
8 to 13 V, but the power adapter rates at 7 V output. We have to figure out if this will work or not.
February 22, 2006 (7 hours):
Spent a few hours in lab today with Jared and Jenny. Most of the time
Jenny was writing her paper and Jared was trying to figure out how to work the PCB layout. I actually
learned a lot from just looking at Jared. I decided that I should help him with the PCB at some point if
he'll actually let me.
February 22, 2006 (8 hours):
Took over the PCB layout. It did take a while, but I'm glad that I
could do something to help Jared out. There were still problems with the layout - layout errors and net
list deviation from the actual layout. What is done is done - I'm going to need sleep this weekend.
Good thing we have an asian on the team.
WEEK 07 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Completed the PCB layout for the first time. Decided on power supply arrangements.
Weekly Work Total: 15.25 hours
Project Work Total: 55.5 hours
February 26, 2006 (3 hours):
Meeting with Jared and Jenny to talk over the Design Review
Presentation we are to give early Tuesday. We talked about the flow of the presentation, the things each
of us are to talk about, timing of the presentation, and also software responsibilites and priorities.
I'll be talking mainly about the PCB.
On a side note, I'll be writing the software paper too, but the template isn't posted on the website yet,
I guess I'll just have to wait.
February 27, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Preparing for the Design Review. Since I did quite a portion of the
PCB, I'll be talking about part of the PCB layout. I also anticipate talking about the software
development as well, as I will be responsible for the software paper eventually.
March 4, 2006 (3.5 hours):
Met in lab today to take a look at the new parts that arrived. Jared
will probably take care of them, so I spent most of the time learning how to work with the CodeWarrior,
which I will probably be living with for the next 2 months.
March 4, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Skimmed through the 9S12 demo board manual, and decided that I should
get a USB to serial cable. Bought one online so I can do development in my own room, instead of crowding
in the lab with everyone else. Figured that they could use the space.
WEEK 08 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Prepared for and gave the presentation.
Weekly Work Total: 9.5 hours
Project Work Total: 65 hours
March 5, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Jared worked on the schematic this weekend, and handed me over with
the PCB layout to route. I'll be trying to complete this thing as soon as possible so the team could
check with it.
March 7, 2006 (8 hours):
PCB routing marathon. Since this is the second time I am doing this,
I had much more experience and knowledge of short-cut keys and other time-saving teniquies than the
first time. Picked up from where I stopped on Sunday and basically finished ALL the routes. It didn't
take any shorter than I anticipated because our attempt to minimize the board area greatly increased
the complexity of the layout. Finished today with about 15 errors left.
(Final PCB layout,Top layer,
Bottom layer)
March 8, 2006 (2 hours):
Met with Jared to finish up the PCB layout, fixed the remaining
errors with Jared. I had to go to a meeting, and I came back seeing that Jared decreased the size of
the vias, saving us some space for routing. All I did today was provide minor contributions on fixing
the errors. (changes reflected on documents. Refer to previous entry)
March 11, 2006 (4.5 hours):
Received the USB-serial cable in mail today, started working on the
demo board so I could do something with coding for the week of spring break. Since the rest of the
J-team are not around during spring break, I hope I can get something done to help them enjoy the break
better. For the most part, I took my time today trying to interface with the demoboard. However, due to
some faults in the driver that came with the USB-serial cable, I could not get my laptop to interface
with the demoboard in Code Warrior. I have contacted the cable manufacturer for help regarding this.
(Code Warrior reports that a dll file is missing.)
WEEK 09 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Finalized PCB layout. Started working with microcontroller on demo board.
Weekly Work Total: 16 hours
Project Work Total: 81 hours
March 12, 2006 (3.5 hours):
After everything failed yesterday, I headed into lab today to use
the serial cable in the lab. For a second I thought it was working because the ethernet module was active
after reset. However, I still failed to interface with the demoboard. Out of desperation I reinstalled
all the Code Warrior and hope to see it work again. It proved my time wasted when Code Warrior said that
it cannot find the serial connection. I'm starting to suspect that there is something wrong with the
serial port and the ethernet port of the demoboard.
March 13, 2006 (2 hour):
I have decided that I cannot do anything with the demoboard for now. So
there are 2 things I can do: use another demo box that we got earlier to try cranking out some code, or
to just give up and work on something else. Jared and Josh were working on the demo box before they left
and I didn't really follow what they were doing, since I was working on the PCB routing, I do not want to
try to temper with the box. Creativity strikes and I started working on the team logo that hopefully will
appear on the system startup screen. Just a couple of simple ideas.
(monochrome bitmap)
March 16, 2006 (0.25 hour):
Exchanged individual progress with Josh and found out that he modified
the serial monitor on the demo board, and hence cannot be connected with the serial interface. Josh will
give me a BDM cable later so I can work again.
March 19, 2006 (6 hours):
Met with Jared and Jenny today in lab. We worked on some basic testing
with the demo kit with the new BDM module, to try our luck
with the Keypad. The main problem was that the pins on the Keypad was very confusing - it took us quite
a while to map each pin to what it is supposed to be. Jared had trouble understanding the way the keypad
works so I drew a diagram to explain how it works. Shortly after that it works in a somewhat predictable
manner, with the exception that the S0 pin does not work properly.
WEEK 10 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: None. Failed attempts in interfacing with the demo board.
Weekly Work Total: 10.75 hours
Project Work Total: 91.75 hours
March 21, 2006 (1 hour):
Went to lab before a group meeting I have. When I leave we were still
having difficulty with the S0 pin, so we started using port J instead. Later I learnt that Jared and
Jenny made progress in talking with the keypad.
Keypad testing code
March 22, 2006 (3 hour):
Went to lab after classes today with Jared and Jenny.
Hooked up the RFID receiver to the demoboard using a serial connection. I am really clueless when it
comes to the serial department, so most of this time I was just standing behind Jared watching.
When the RFID receiver worked according to plan, Jared hooked up the
NP-211
printer (also serial) and got it to work together with the RFID reader. A lot of progress today.
RS232 test code
RFID test code
March 23, 2006 (5 hours):
I managed to acquire a Demo kit and a BDM module for myself, for use
with the LCD so I can do some extensive testing and debugging in my room. I have everything setup on the
desk, and had some basic diagnostics to check that everything is working. After that I imported the ASM
code that I had for 362 two summers ago, made some port changes and other naming modifications, and
tried to get the LCD to work. With the BDM running at 3.3V and the LCD's logic running at 5V, we did not
have a problem 2 years ago so I did not anticipate a problem this time either. The debugger failed to
help me with problems with the Stack Pointer, so I cannot use any push, pull and rts (return from
subroutine) commands, so I hardcoded everything for testing purposes. No progress except for modifying
code for future uses.
Initial LCD test code (assembly)
March 23, 2006 (2 hours):
Jared came down to my room tonight to help me out with the LCD. We were
to work on the LCD code, but instead we decided that turning the monochrome bitmap
intro screens into binary is more important - we need some data to display
on the LCD to start testing anyway. So we started with that instead. I was going to manually convert
the bitmap into binary by hand, but Jared insisted that we find software solutions instead. We did some
research on bitmap standards, and ways to translate a bitmap file to a machine-readable binary of some
sort. After an hour of research and trial and errors I dozed off, but Jared managed to get the whole
thing translated into binary. When I woke up Jared already had the
assembly compatible format ready.
March 24, 2006 (4.5 hours):
Today I made use of the binary file
that Jared made last night and put it to test. The new code implemented
is the same as yesterday's, except for the added binary entry. Upon more testing and verification, I
decided that the wires that were soldered 2 years ago probably wasn't secure enough, and I'll need to
redo them sometime soon. Regardless, some pins that were not needed were soldered as well, increasing
the bulk of the LCD and decreasing the convenience of building the circuit. I gave up after a few hours
of fruitless efforts.
March 25, 2006 (5 hours):
I came to lab today and started making a bus for the LCD display, while
Jared desoldered the wires and soldered on a 20-pin header on the back (instead of the front, as the
wires were originally) so the LCD can mount to our packaging without wires sticking OUT of the
box. Using solder and hot glue, I made myself a bus that would connect the LCD to the circuit board. I
did quite a few tests to make sure that none of the wires were shorted or open before I left the lab.
March 25, 2006 (4 hours):
I came back to the room and reconnected everything. This time, the S3
pin would not go logic high. It always remains low nomatter what code I used, assembly or C. Midway
through the night Jared came help me out with the code. After a lot of failed attempts to put anything
on the LCD, we decided to switch to C instead of the assembly that
I originally used. Before long, I had a realization and spotted that the VDD and ground pins of the
LCD were not connected. Zero logic = no output. We decided that we will make additional connecting
wires in the lab tomorrow to try this again.
March 26, 2006 (5 hours):
Jared was kind enough to go to lab today and put together a few wires
that connects to the header on the LCD. We moved base to Jared's room since there was a meeting in my
room. From there on we hit a major milestone - I realized that the two grounds (GND from
the Demo kit and GND from the 5 volt power supply) were different for some unknown reasons. We took a
risky step and connected the two grounds together, so they now have a common ground. Finally we were
able to get some junk to display on the LCD. After more
debugging and careful calculation of the address space on the LCD's on-board RAM, we were able to print
out predicted patterns. So we started trying to add in some
graphics, namely the RFID logo (bottom). At first the compiler gave us
problems with insufficient memory space (the image was only 3KB max, but somehow the compiler gave
us a final size of 30+KB, so we could only display
the logo partially. With that done, however, we felt more
confident and did some more software intensive modifications to save memory space. Finally we came up
with the full logo, and proudly called it a night. However, we
really need to figure out why the compiler expanded the code so unconceivably. Maybe eventually we will
have to switch back to assembly. But that's for later. For now, this is the best progress we have made
in a long while.
LCD test code for logo display
WEEK 11 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Interfaced with the LCD.
Weekly Work Total: 29.5 hours
Project Work Total: 121.25 hours
March 27, 2006 (3 hours):
Worked on the software flowchart that will be needed for my paper due
this week, and possibly for the presentation this wednesday. This
is what has been done so far. Also worked on grouping similar functions together in the C code that Jared
and I worked on last night.
March 27, 2006 (3 hours):
With the basic functions I wrote, I started testing the code on the demo
kit to make sure they work in the embedded C. Unfortunately, the code didn't work, so I started stepping
through the debugger to see what went wrong. After about an hour I still couldn't find anything, so I loaded
the old code to make sure the LCD works, and it worked just fine. At this time I probably will be better off
to take a rest and look at it again later.
March 27, 2006 (3 hours):
Jared looked at the code and saw that I had the Reset signal (active low)
set low after reset - so the LCD was constantly being reset. Talk about idiots.
So I verified that all the functions I wrote were indeed working, and went on to testing character mode.
I was able to print random characters at first, but after some careful calculations things finally start to
show up at the right places. After that worked out, I wrote some higher level functions to easily print
strings and larger amounts of data. (pictures to come)
LCD test code
March 28, 2006 (2 hours):
Worked on software paper. Looked up memory map for the 9S12NE64 and started
matching ports to their external hardware. A huge problem arose: the 9S12 microcontroller doesn't have 8-pin
ports except for the Analog-Digital converter. The pins are available internally to the software, but not
physically available to interface with for I/O. Hence we are facing a problem of having to route the 8th pin
of the LCD databus to another port pin. Modified part of the flowchart.
March 28, 2006 (3.5 hours):
Team meeting regarding the TCSP tomorrow. Things in common with paper -
flowchart and hierarchy.
Updated the flowchart to more closely reflect what we have in mind, and created the hierarchy for
tomorrow. Jenny worked on the powerpoint for tomorrow so we could
prepare for it.
March 29, 2006 (4 hours):
Writing homework 10 paper. Finished the memory mapping and estimations,
along with the introduction and part of the external interface mapping. Since I had little understanding
of the ethernet proportion of the project, I spent some time talking to Jared, hoping I could write
something about the e-mail and database query functions of our pseudo code.
March 30, 2006 (5 hours):
Continued paper. Finished the software design narrative and the conclusion.
Jared and Jenny kindly agreed to proof-read my paper, and Jared is going to write the ethernet-related parts.
Helped them by explaining my logic behind some of the modules. Thanks Jared and Jenny.
March 31, 2006 (1.5 hours):
Finished up everything before turn in. Finished references and all
hot-links.
Homework 10
(pdf) has been posted on the
documents page.
WEEK 12 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Finished and submitted Homework 10
Weekly Work Total: 25 hours
Project Work Total: 146.25hours
April 5, 2006 (3 hours):
I have been in lab showing my support for the team - these few days Jared,
Jenny and Josh are mostly working on the Ethernet module. I had some input to the coding, but I couldn't
help much in the theory part. I spent about 1.5 hours in lab with Josh to help him write code to comunicate
between 2 computers, and it was quite successful.
Code for sending and receiving packets:
client side
server side main
server side thread
April 6, 2006 (2.5 hours):
Added some code to try utilizing the available memory space on the LCD.
Changed Display address to see if everything is indeed working. Everything seems to be fine.
April 8, 2006 (3 hours):
Met with Jared and Jenny in lab today. Jenny gave me a detailed description
of the LCD_update() function, and I wrote up the majority of the logic today.
LCD update function code
LCD displaying cart information
April 9, 2006 (6 hours):
We went to lab early today to work on some basic integration. Jenny and I had
our code for the printer and the LCD, and one after another we were able to put it inside the main loop
so the functions will be called according to their states. There were some problems with my LCD code at
integration due to some string problems and Jared fixed them with string copies. At this point we figured
out how to force the compiler to put large things into the EEPROM so it won't eat up all our RAM space.
Main.c (look at LCD_update())
WEEK 13 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Further development on the LCD code. Finalizing LCD_update flow.
Weekly Work Total: 14.5 hours
Project Work Total: 160.75 hours
April 9, 2006 (4 hours):
Went to lab to finish up LCD_update() code. Handed code over to Jared to
test. Most of the code works quite well.
LCD update function code (updated since yesterday)
April 11, 2006 (8.5 hours):
Stood behind Jared and Jenny while they were debugging the code. Later
worked on making ribbin cables. I had to clamp the connectors one by one, two on each wire, shrink wrap
each end. Took me a while but I managed to finish about 30 wires. After dinner, met with the team to work
on the TCSP for tomorrow. Extracted the images and put together the visual part of the
powerpoint presentation.
April 14, 2006 (4.5 hours):
Helped Josh debug the UDP code. Gained more understanding of server side
communication. I stayed behind after Josh left to play with the code a bit more until Jared and Jenny came
to take over testing the ethernet code.
April 15, 2006 (8 hours):
I Wrote the code on the server side to handle item being added to or removed
from cart. Also helped the team setup and prepare integration. For programming purposes our previous code
modules were written for convenience of debugging, and some different ports from the schematic were used.
We were confused at times but were able to put all the wires to their pins. Jared was doing most of the
modifications to the software for integration, while Jenny and I were handling the hardware part.
Server side cart handling code
WEEK 14 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: TCSP preparation, finished LCD code (finally) and got my hands into the server code.
Weekly Work Total: 25 hours
Project Work Total: 185.75 hours
April 16, 2006 (4.5 hours):
Today Jared and Jenny and I came to lab and continued with our integration.
First thing that happened was NOTHING. The LCD was the only visual proof that our project was working, and it
was not giving us anything. I have had similar experiences with the LCD before, and I suspected that it was
some contact problems. Jared and Jenny had to leave, so I stayed behind to try fix the LCD. I basically just
tested the wires for connectivity one by one, and eventually found that the clock (enable) signal was not
acting consistent. I removed the wire and clamped the head where the crimp comes in contact with the wire.
After I did that, I powered up the circuit and things were working so perfectly, the LCD that is. Other things
were not going right, for instance the database lookup, which I have no knowledge of, so I called it a night
and left.
Testing setup
April 18, 2006 (2.5 hours):
I went to lab to meet Jared and Jenny. At this point there isn't really
much I can do except helping with moving the hardware around, fixing wires and reading data from the datasheets
that Jared need. Jared was able to hack the serial chip and fix the printer during the time Jenny and I went to
class. So that was nice. Now the LCD, keypad and Printer are working properly on the PCB.
April 19, 2006 (4 hours):
Today we had our progress report. Possibly the shortest one since we're pretty
much ahead of everyone else and everything seemed to be working fine. After the progress report we prepared for
taping the PSSC video, so we got the camera from Chuck and starting putting everything together. We gave the
system one last run through before taping, and something bad came about - the RFID reader was giving
inconsistent interrupts. We tried different things to fix it but eventually the problem was fixed by
reorganizing the layout of all our components. What seemed to be an interference problem that never happend before
will hopefully be fixed when we put our design together in the box where there is an aluminum plate covering
the circuit, in theory shielding most of the interference. Josh was drilling holes on our box today as well,
and I helped filing the edges so at least it won't cut the hand. I also made use of my artistic talents and
carved some letters near the printer slot to say "PULL DOWN".
PULL DOWN on lower right corner (added 4-20)
April 20, 2006 (4 hours):
Some of us have an exam tonight, so we just met in lab before and after
class. Josh had our box spray painted black, which looks really
awesome. We taped our 5 PSSCs which was quite successful. At this point we still haven't put the whole circuit
inside the box, so it was working perfectly. Later in the day as we started putting things into the box, some
components started having irregular behavior. We would scan a keyfob and unintented keypressed were registered
multiple times, and actual keypresses were not always recognized. I suspected that it had to be one of either
a pressure problem on the backside of the keypad, or a electrical problem where the backside of the keypad was
conducting/carrying unnecessary charges. I suggested groudning the backside, but the team decided that the
problem could probably be fixed by adding an "insulating" sheet that seemed to me a packaging protection
between the keypad and the aluminum face. The irregularities seem to have died down a little, but certain
keypresses were still not recognized. Eventually I took all the wires and crimped them tighter to eliminate
any contact problems, and Josh and Jared soldered a ground wire onto the backside of the keypad. After that
everything worked perfectly, and we were able to run the system from start to finish without any unknown
problems from start to finish.
Behind the cool looking case
April 21, 2006 (3 hours):
The team met in lab today to film the full version of our PSSC video, this
time fully packaged. Everything worked perfectly and we had Nick check our PSSCs. (Video will be up shortly)
PSSC video
WEEK 15 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Helped put the whole project together! The whole RFID Xpress checkout system now works
from start to finish without any problems.
Weekly Work Total: 18 hours
Project Work Total: 203.75 hours
April 28, 2006 (2.5 hours):
I started revising my homework (hw 3 and hw 10) so the team can put everything
together into the final report. Homework 10 needs most work since a significant part of the software had undergone
change since we turned in the homework. Did some major changes to homework 10 today.
April 29, 2006 (5 hours):
Wroked more on homework 10. Finished revision of homework 10 and most of homework 3.
April 30, 2006 (6 hours):
Finalized homework 10 and homework 3 for compiling the final report. After the team
met and put everything together, helped read through the finalized version and made several changes.
WEEK 16 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Finished up the Final Report.
Weekly Work Total: 13.5 hours
Project Work Total: 217.25 hours
