Category: Team Status Reports

Accomplishments

• Design Report: Finalized and submitted the Design Report
• Hardware Setup: Completed Pi5 SSH setup and connection to the on-campus network
• UART Communication: Began developing and debugging UART communication between Pi5 and Pico
• PWM & Sensor Code: Started implementing PWM control on the Pico and sensor code on the Pi5
• All off-the-shelf components have arrived
  • Verified dimensions and adjusted CAD models accordingly

Significant Risks

• Need to get custom-cut parts fabricated after Fall Break before full assembly can begin
• UART communication and PWM development are behind schedule due to debugging and setup time for the Pico and Pi5
• Risk mitigation: Continue code testing with partial assembly and move forward on database and sensor code setup in parallel

Design Changes

• Flask + SSE alert system changed to a simplified alert system running locally on the Pi 5 terminal, as Flask integration is not necessary

Schedule Changes

• Schedule remains the same
• Team generally on track for post-break sprint code development and assembly

Global Factors

Aidan

Part A: Our system considers global factors by addressing a need to improve hardware reliability and longevity as demand for liquid cooled PCs increases worldwide. By focusing our product on providing data-driven solutions, it aims to support a diverse array of technology through a global push towards sustainability. Given the function of our product is geared towards reducing hardware replacements and decreasing energy waste caused by inefficient cooling, the end solution aligns with broader environmental goals by enhancing global initiatives towards sustainable electronics.

Cultural Factors

Jacob

Part B: The product design carefully considers the diverse interactions between the world, PCs, and human-computer interaction. This is executed by utiizing user-friendly interfaces for interacting with our product and providing transparent and functional configuration. Through training the ML model at multiple CPU loads, the end product aims to provide adaptability, respecting the global culture of PC customization and performance tuning, given the endless unique pre-existing setups. Designing a system to perform reliably under varying usage supports user freedom to tailor their machines to their own specific use cases, while maintaining the same level of protection and oversight by our product.

Environmental Factors

Kristina

Part C: One environmental consideration of our system is reducing both energy and water waste in liquid-cooled computing systems. By detecting cooling inefficiencies early, the system prevents pumps and fans from running at unnecessarily high speeds and helps maintain proper coolant flow, lowering overall power consumption.

Early fault detection also prevents thermal stress over time that can cause leaks or excess coolant evaporation in water-cooled loops. This conserves water and reduces the need for maintenance refills. In large data centers, improving cooling efficiency in this way can reduce energy usage and water waste, making the system more sustainable overall.

Accomplishments

• Parts Procurement: Ordered all major off the shelf components from the BOM
  • Waiting for deliveries before starting fabrication of laser cut plates
• Raspberry Pi Setup: Began setting up the Raspberry Pi 5 for UART communication with the Pi Pico and sensor data collection
  • Resolved hardware and network setup issues and completed initial Pi OS configuration
• Design Report and Research: Continued progress on the Design Report, refining use case and design requirements and supporting them with relevant sources

Significant Risks

• Dependency on off the shelf parts for fabrication: Same as last week, cannot finalize or fabricate custom mounting plates until we have real parts to verify mounting hole dimensions
  • Plan to begin fabrication immediately upon receiving parts to stay on track

Design Changes

• No major design changes this week. Block diagram and CAD assembly finalized last week

Schedule Changes

• Schedule remains on track at this point but may need adjustment next week depending on actual part arrival times

Accomplishments

• CAD modeling & assembly: Completed CAD assembly for testbed
• Block diagram: Finalized block diagram with added power distribution components and software
• Analysis & Research: Conducted thermal analysis and research to justify use case requirements
  • ML model research to choose specific model and plan inputs/outputs

Significant Risks

• Dependency on off the shelf parts for fabrication: Same as last week, cannot finalize or fabricate custom mounting plates until we have real parts to verify mounting hole dimensions
  • Cannot start testing of code until fan/pump, SSRs, etc. arrive
  • Plan to start ordering parts on Monday

Design Changes

• Block diagram finalized with added power components and sensor / control separation. No costs affiliated with this design change.
• CAD assembly finished to also include power components. No costs affiliated with this design change.

Schedule Changes

• The schedule was updated this week to account for delays in parts purchasing. Fabrication and code development all depend on receiving components.
• Adjusted task split for parallel development

Public Health, Safety, or Welfare

Kristina

Part A: One consideration of public health could be the system’s effect on the operator’s mental wellbeing. Frequent false alerts may cause stress or alert fatigue while reliable detection can reduce anxiety and improve confidence in system performance.

In terms of welfare, maintaining uptime prevents data loss and disruption for users who rely on the server for work. This could help the public’s mental health if people do not have to worry about losing unsaved work.

Social Factors

Aidan

Part B: Our design and product considers social factors by allowing for versatile configuration and tuning towards a multitude of real life applications. This allows the product to be used in different social and economic settings, given that each group has a different set of computing needs, and our product can be fine tuned and adapted to fit each of these groups. Additionally, our product considers alert fatigue with regards to the user and ensures that false positives are minimized to ensure the product works as intended across social groups. Lastly, the ML models and fine tuning are exposed and customizable to the specific user depending on their setup to encourage transparency in the product and solidify trust in AI-based anomaly detection systems.

Economic Factors

Jacob

Part C: For economic considerations of the project, the first thing that catches my mind is components. Our project is intended to help extend the lifetime of the system. With a longer life, the components no longer need to purchased and replaced as frequently. This in turn should save the user money.

Another consideration is the real time cost of running the system. For our use case in the datacenter or servers, they use masses of energy to power themselves. Running AnomAIy should use extremely marginal amount of power compared to the heavy load of the data centers.

Significant Risks

• Dependency on off the shelf parts for fabrication: Cannot finalize or fabricate custom mounting plates (3D printed or laser cut) until we have real parts to verify mounting hole dimensions
  • Planning to finalize component choices at the next team meeting to mitigate finalization and order all required parts to resolve mounting dependency
• Software development blocked by missing hardware: SW arch design, data collection code, and PWM control code development require sensors and Pi to begin implementation
  • Select and order temperature sensors at the next team meeting to ensure schedule depencies are met towards sensor SW design and development
  • Brainstorm and finanlize high level code skeleton to ensure smooth development and implementation once parts arrive

Design Changes

• Initial block diagram created with Raspberry Pi 5, Pico, servo, and sensor connections to aid in the development of the system once parts are ordered and design finalized. No costs affiliated with this design change.
• CAD assembly revised to accommodate sensor placements and control system mounts to aid in the development of the liquid cooling loop and ensure anticipated parts will function well with the current system design. No costs affiliated with this design change.

Schedule Changes

• No changes to the schedule were made this week