I finished up tweaking the code for Tarush to then call from the web app to call the tags. While before I had it so that Tarush called my function using a microchip number, I made it so that if he gives the user, I can then update all of the cats for the username. I did this by organizing all the cats informations, and then calling the function to write to the json file. Also before I was making it write to a txt file and I edited it to write to a json file. I’m also working on the cad design for the enclosure. Because the previous enclosure had some design flaws, I’m making it again in blender.
My progress is very on schedule. I’ve been working pretty hard and I just have to wait for the tags to be done. Until that is done I will cad design both the enclosure and the load cell.
I hope by next week the cad designs will be completely done and hopefully when Lucas is done with the PCBs I can then connect to them and figure out 100% the connection to them.
The most significant risk could be how long the hardware is taking to get done. That is, if the tags do not get down, the connection to the software then the web app can take a while, as we have not “ordered” our pcbs. However, we have been working on making the pcb’s ourselves, and have been working on the connection between the software and the webapp and have that pipeline done. We’re making sure to get the rest of the pipeline done (and we have) so that as soon as the pcb’s are finalized and done, we will be ready to test them.
The most we have changed is that the user now has an option to poll the tags for information. We have already figured this out, and have made it so that the web app calls the software to poll. That way it can handle both the default case (2 times a day) and when the user asks.
There hasn’t been significant changes to the schedule.
We have all been hard at work at our own parts. Tarush has finished login and registration for the user, MeeDm has finished up the connection between the webapp and the software part of the tags as well as connecting to the tags and getting information, and Lucas has the pcb’s mostly printed and we are just working on putting the components on them.
This week most of my time was spent figuring out how to integrate the JSON files we will be using to store each cat’s info with the database and how to access them. Along with that, I made sure that whenever a user registers a new cat or is a new user themselves we add a new directory in our web app for them and in each directory we have individual JSON files for each of their cats.
By this coming Wednesday I hope to have created the profile page for each of these users which allows us to access the individual pages for each of their cats. I also plan on having the graph library setup and being able to take in dummy data and display it on the page. I am expecting to run into some roadblocks regarding the graph library as I have never used it before, but I hope to still have it up and ready this coming week!
This week, the team worked hard to get through the first steps of seriously integrating the different components of the project into a cohesive data pipeline.
MeeDm wrote scripts for the RPI Hub to connect to the BLE Tags and read in service and characteristic data from them. Tarush worked on getting the web app reading the json file MeeDm’s code will fill with the sensor tag data as it streams in. Lucas got the tag dev kit advertising out and connecting to the hub via BLE.
With information actively being read by the hub through a bluetooth connection from the sensor tags and being piped to a file the webapp reads, we finally have an actual data pipeline! This week, we’ll build on top of this basic skeleton of a system and aim to have weight data from a load cell actively being displayed on the webapp in the form of a live graph. This will involve getting weight tag firmware reading values from our custom HX711 breakout board, hub software organizing those values into a json file, and the webapp reading from the file and converting the information into a live-updated graph.
This week I focused on a combination of getting firmware rolling, wrapping up PCB part sourcing, schematics, and layouts, and working with the team on integrating the full communication pipeline from BLE tag to hub to web app.
Last week, I focused way too much on setting up the ble tag firmware development environment and finishing the PCB’s at the cost of working more on the design report – I wrote the abstract did a little bit of editing, but little more than that. Luckily, several of the system diagrams and notes on hardware tradeoffs I made before came in handy in the report, but I definitely should have actively worked on it more.
What that time went into was firmware development, hardware development, and parts sourcing. Firstly, I jumped through several painful hoops getting the Keil development environment, Dialog SDK, and SmartSnippets Toolbox all working on my Mac (after a lot of time spent on stuff not working properly, I bit the bullet, bought Parallel, and set it up on a Windows VM). The result is that I can actively develop firmware for the USB dev kit as well as our future custom tags. With the LED blinking, I have the hello world I wanted to get. The tags can actively be run from a debug build and I confirmed that permanently flashing them also works.
On the PCB front, things are not as far along as I’d hoped, but still steadily moving along. The parts are all selected for the weight and rfid sensor portions, and I have completed the design of breakouts for the main chips. This just leaves the primary tag pcb left, with just a little work left to be done on getting the SPI Flash memory chip and SWD JTag done.
Finally, I used the PCB mill at my job’s office to get the prototype breakout boards cut out:
It’s great to actually have these things physically in my hands!
I have been actively chugging through datasheets for the DA14531 ble/mcu, the spi flash, the accelerometer, the rfid chip, and the hx711 adc/amplifier. Next week, I’ll aim to have the ble usb dev kit reading values from the HX711 (connected to the load cell). In other words, next week will see the weight sensing up and running and (hopefully) displaying live data in the web app.
I think it is important to mention the work I put in last week regarding the design report. Due to some issues, I had to end up writing at least half of the design report, requiring quite a bit of time from my end since a lot of it involved writing in detail about parts that weren’t my expertise. I wrote about the design requirements, all the design trade studies, the whole of project management which included the schedule, responsibilities, and risk management, as well as related work. I also spent time working with MeeDm on how we would want to use python for reading and writing data to and from JSON files to be further used by the web app.
Oct 17th – 23rd:
This week I worked on setting up the database for the users and their cats in SQLite. I also created a login and registration page where users can input their and their cat’s information like email, username, cat’s age, weight, etc. and it gets stored in our database.
I spent a bit of time with MeeDm as well designing how we wanted our JSON files to look like for storing the cat’s information as well as the directory structure for the different users and their cats.
My next goal would be to get the HighCharts graph library up and running where I will read in some of the dummy data we currently have and display them on the graphs. I’ll also spend time with MeeDm completely wrapping up and flushing out any other details left for communication between the Rpi and web app.
This week I made lots of progress on the actual coding. Tarush and I have already completely decided on how to pass files between each other. I’ve finished writing code that reads in the correct values from a json file (information about the cat and owner) then uses those values to calculate other values such as volume of food/water, which user folder to put the information into, and which cat’s file to put it into as well. I’ve then written all of those values to a text file (probably change later to json file). We’ve also finally figured out how to connect via bluetooth to the demo tag. I’ve been able to take a look at all the characteristics of the tag and can read the values. We have to finalize which characteristics to look at and how to write to it, but that part is not as bad to figure out. I would say I’m on track.
For next week, my goal is to CAD design the load cell and rfid reader, and finish up figuring out how to read and write from the tag and finish up the whole pipeline.
I worked on pretty much half if not more of the design report. Specifically, I wrote up the introduction, design requirements, the main components of the system architecture section, the Tags section of the design trade studies, the system description section, budget and ethical issues. I also formatted the document for the team. I easily spent at least 7-8 hours on this review report.
During class times, I’ve been using bluepy in more detail. Since we switched our raspberry pi, I’ve had to set things up again. I’m figuring out how to figure out how to make the peripheral’s that are a little different discoverable, but I’ve had to put that on the back burner for the design review report.
By the end of the weekend I will have the code ready to connect to the demo tags and send a simple json file to the web app. Honestly I’m still a bit behind on the actual things for the project, and that’s because I had to take a hit with the design review since I didn’t expect to have to do so much work for that.
This week I prepped mostly for the presentation. After working on the slides I practiced many times on Tuesday to ensure I was ready for the presentation.
I also worked on implementing the bluepy module in a python script. I’m waiting for the Bluetooth module to be in the lab. I’ve also done research on what procedure I would use to send a request to the tags and what format to read them in with. I’ve found some sources online that have similar iot sensors and hubs, and I’ve started modeling my code off of those.
I’ve also set up the raspberry pi 4 in the lab. I have yet to set up exactly the bluepy on this specific pi.
I’m a little behind this week, but I hope that next week I’ll be able to work more in depth with the demo tags and get some more substantial work done. I was a little preoccupied with the presentation, but next week I hope to get more done in the progress of the project.
This week mainly saw me helping the team write the design report and develop the tag pcb schematics and layouts. With the prototype schematics just about done, I am now moving on to finishing the layouts and getting the pcb’s and parts ordered. The delays to the hardware schedule currently present a pretty large risk to the project, so I am working hard to close the gap.
I also worked on getting our prototypical RFID tag antenna built using the custom 3D printed ring.
I will primarily be working on the design report with MeeDm and Tarush throughout the first half of this week while the second half will see me getting the pcb’s ordered. If there is time, I will also be working on getting Shelley operational.
Finally, the DA14531 development boards I ordered have arrived meaning that I can get firmware development properly underway. This week I will aim to at least get a “hello world” program successfully flashed to the dev board.
