PROGRESS LOG
Week 13
Further research has been made to progress the team into a better understanding of how the project will be formed. The detailed interworkings of each module have been thoroughly researched so that there are no gaps in knowledge in the project. The research includes serial communication for the Wi-Fi module, python code for OpenCV, and communication lines for the camera. New block diagrams have been made to reflect the new direction of the project.
Week 12
Further research has been conducted in the direction of OpenCV. OpenCV standards for Open Source Computer Vision. It is a comprehensive image processing library with a focus on real-time applications. With over 2500 algorithms tailored for machine learning and image processing, OpenCV has the capacity to achieve facial recognition, object detection, human action classification, camera tracking, object tracking, 3D object analysis, image stitching, image filtering, red-eye removal, scenery recognition, and augmented reality overlay. OpenCV is a free and customizable library because it is a BSD-licensed product, making it accessible for businesses.
Week 11
The group is making changes to the project so that no longer will sensors be used to detect and changes in the water or get any readings to calculate the temperature, chlorine or pH levels of the pool. The new direction is focused on image recognition which will be done by using OpenCV software library. The group has started watching tutorials and have achieved a basic understanding of how the software works. A few trials have been performed on working with the software and progress has been made to begin image detection.
Week 10
The group worked on the proposal report's chapter two and made corrections to the first chapter dealing with formatting and explanations about the product. Also Prof. Ejaz has advised to find a smaller battery with less power output to make the project more efficient. The group has began looking for a better battery to fit the needs of the project and has also found some possible solar cell systems to supply solar power to the project.
Week 9
The group worked on the design of the Pool Pal and began working on the proposal report. Also made some updates to the website and added more information on the requirements tab. Now the group will begin making the report with additions to the parts and more extensive explanations on how each part will work and how they work together. The group has also done some extensive research on the possible addition of AI learning to the software to possibly add a recognition system to alert the user of any accident. This system is still just being researched and not confirmed to be added.
Week 8
Began working on design of Pool Pal using TinkerCAD. Also the group began ordering and receiving some of the parts to begin testing. Looking at how many times to test each sensor and also looking at how to make the housing water-proof. Trying to also look at measurements of the housing to see how gaskets are gonna be used.
Week 7
This is the group's seventh week and there has been a lot of progress made on the project. The idea has many sensors picked out to monitor the water and its surroundings and also the chlorine in the water. A possible change in location of camera has made the group start looking at possible options for cameras. Also Dr. Ejaz suggested some options for water-proofing the circuits of the project with gaskets. Also the group is looking in to adding solar panels to the project to extend the life of the battery.
Week 6
During the sixth week of our project, the group has been researching on how to implement two Arduino boards to communicate with each other since there will be a home console for the user to see the results from the probes and camera. Also, the group is looking into more sensors such as an oxidation sensor and a temperature sensor in order to get the level of chlorine from the pool. Dr. Ejaz has suggested that the more information is displayed to the user the more useful it will be.
Week 5
This week’s meeting with Professor Ejaz was more focused on the Pool Alert idea and discussing how the project could be built and what parts were going to be needed. The group informed the professor about different sensors that can be used for the project. Some of the sensors that can be used for the project were: infrared sensor, water sensor, two vibration sensors and an underwater accelerometer. Also the possibility of maybe having two microcontrollers for the project to facilitate with the different components. The project is looking to have a camera, a buzzer and a LED strip.
Week 4
During our third meeting with Professor Ejaz we discussed two new ideas. One was the pool alert system to prevent drownings using sensors and an Arduino with a camera. The second idea was an industrial recycle sorter. The professor wanted more research for both ideas but he was very interested in the pool alert system. He mentioned that the group needed to think of motivations which the ideas had good ones. Also the Dr. Ejaz reminded us of the Reference tab and how important it is when it comes to documentation. So the group has made an emphasis on this tab to keep all the research being done documented.
Week 3
The second meeting with the professor was productive and the group was able to get a better idea on how to look for ideas that could be project worthy. Dr. Ejaz emphasized on the requirements of the project to have both electrical and coding components to it. This gave us an idea for a possible project for tracking a car remotely and controlling some of the functions of the car in order to stop possible theft.
Week 2
This was the first week to meet with Dr. Ejaz, in which we discussed seven proposal ideas. These ideas gave an abstract idea of the purpose of the projects and also had a block diagram to accompany showing a basic logic of how the ideas would work. Dr. Ejaz went through our project ideas and some were too easy and others needed more research to improve upon the idea and make it stand out more. One of the ideas that stood out the most for Dr. Ejaz was the Roomba idea that could go upstairs on its own. The group had some reservations on this idea due to the heavy use of robotics that was going to be used for this project and a lack of knowledge of how the mechanism was going to work. Dr. Ejaz suggested to continue researching the project and possibly try to make a prototype to test it.
Week 1
Senior Design began with a meeting with Dr. Ejaz and Prof. Notash in which they explained what the course focuses on and how the class will be divided into two classes, the students in each class will make groups of two. Our group, Will and Rodrigo, were put into Dr. Ejaz's group. The dedicated weekly day that was chosen for us was Thursday. The first task that we were given was to begin researching ideas for a final project which have not been designed before or that held some unique attributes from other designs.