This week I dedicated my time to reading through a wide variety of datasheets, tutorials, and forum posts for managing the NRF24L01 chip (especially paying note to pins and wiring and tutorials for communicating between two chips). However, we will need two RPis to test and debug the code – as a stopgap until we can either get a second RPi 3 B+ through ECE or order one, I plan to use an RPi 2 as the second communication node.
Unfortunately, we ran into a number of unforeseen bugs and issues related to running code on the RPi. As a result, we have fallen behind schedule on circuit fabrication, and have not yet been able to test a number of our components.
We also had an unexpected issue wherein both the communication chip and the display we had planned to use needed to use the RPi’s Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), as the display screen we had found was designed to fit over the RPi like a case. I have been, and am still looking for, a small (~3.5 in) screen that can connect directly to the RPi display bus. Most of the available options in this domain appear to be RPi proprietary large screens, but the search is ongoing. If we do not find such a screen, we may need to figure out some form of workaround to ensure both of the systems that require the SPI can function rapidly and consistently.
I have also identified a shock switch that we can use to test with our system. We should be able to place in an order soon.