| Date | Progress Description |
|---|---|
| 10/13/02 to 10/19/02 | Create a preliminary Functional Description for EE419 Submitted draft copy to Dr. Huggins for review |
| 10/20/02 to 10/26/02 | Received DRT review of Functional Description. Made corrections and resubmitted to Dr. Huggins. |
| 10/27/02 to 11/02/02 | Submitted final Functional Description to Dr. Huggins and to Dr. Anakwa for EE419. First lab day on 10/31/02, researched PC104 components, wireless cards, and real-time Linux OS. Began work on System Block Diagram. We decided against a real time OS due to their complexity and time constraints of our project. |
| 11/03/02 to 11/09/02 | Researched sealed lead acid batteries, DC motors, PCMCIA hard drives, USB cameras, and PC104 modules for power consumption. Completed Functional Description and submitted to Dr. Huggins and Dr. Anakwa. We decided to run Red Hat Linux on the PC104 while we use a Micropac 535 for the lower level control. Received DRT review of the System Block Diagram and made neccessary improvments. |
| 11/10/02 to 11/16/02 | Created Software flow charts and descriptions for System Block Diagram. We calculated power consumption and decided on a proper battery capacity. We decided on all components neccessary for project completion and created a parts list. |
| 11/17/02 to 11/23/02 | Submitted final System Block Diagram to Dr. Huggins and Dr. Anakwa. |
| 11/24/02 to 11/31/02 | Thanksgiving break |
| 12/01/02 to 12/07/02 | Presentation Preparation Presentation |
| 12/08/02 to 12/14/02 | Project Proposal |
| Date | Progress Description |
|---|---|
| 1/19/03 to 1/25/03 | Installed Linux Red Hat 8.0 onto an older Pentium 166 computer. Waited to get the PC104 board and modules. |
| 1/26/03 to 2/1/03 | Attempted to install Linux on the PC104 board using the PCMCIA hard drive as the main hard drive. Linux never recognized the drive, so we decided to use a 2.5 inch IDE hard drive. |
| 2/2/03 to 2/8/03 | Attempted to install Linux on the 2.5 inch hard drive. Linux would install and boot, but not run. After many hours of installing and adjusting configurations for Linux, we discovered that Linux was incompatible with Geode processors. We decided to use Windows 2000 instead, because of stability and compatibility. |
| 2/9/03 to 2/15/03 | After establishing a stable platform to work with, we began to add the peripherals and necessary software. Setup servers at http://webrover.bradley.edu and at http://webrover.bradley.edu:8080 |
| 2/16/03 to 2/22/03 | Tested serial communication between a windows based computer and the Micropac 535. Tested H-bridge design with Pittman DC motor. |
| 2/23/03 to 3/01/03 | Continued testing serial communication between a windows based computer and the Micropac 535. Tested PWM signal from MicroPac 535 to generate signal for H-bride operation. Tested H-bridge design mounted on circuit boards with 30V Pittman DC motor and later with PWM signal from MicroPac 535. |
| 3/02/03 to 3/08/03 | Reconstruct Rover and Presentation |
| 3/09/03 to 3/15/03 | Continued constructing Rover, established moving routines, and developed user interface. |
| 3/16/03 to 3/22/03 | Spring Break |
| 3/23/03 to 3/29/03 | Continued testing Rover. |
| 3/30/03 to 4/05/03 | Tested Mobility of Rover. Started wirewrapping the circuitry for external MicroPac connections. |
| 4/06/03 to 4/12/03 | Tested accuracy of acoustic sensors. Hooked up DC-DC converter. Continued wirewrapping. |
| 4/13/03 to 4/19/03 | Wrote software to power-down the MicroPac. Unfortunately, the MicroPac cannot be powered down due to layout of the board. Continued to test acoustic sensors and develop logic for interrupt sharing. |
| 4/20/03 to 4/26/03 | Tragedy struck when it was discovered that the H-bridges were producing massive amounts of noise that spread throughout the system. The acoustic sensors could not operate properly because of the noise. Attempts to get rid of the noise proved to be useless. |
| 4/27/03 to 5/3/03 | To get rid of the noise completely, the H-bridges must be replaced with a power-amp and switching circuitry to reverse wheel direction. Created and bench tested a power-amp and switching circuitry design, but were unable to implement with the rover due to time constraints. Assembly code was written and bench tested for the power-amp. |