Category: Clarence’s Status Reports

Accomplish

This week (mainly the week before Fall Break), I worked a lot on our Design Review Report which we’ll talk more about in our Team Status Report. Personally, I picked up all of our ordered components from the ECE Receiving office and began soldering together our ESP32 with a pin header and our LiPo battery chargers to their cables so we could begin testing. I confirmed that our ESP32-S3 is functional with some simple Arduino Example code and was able to confirm that our ESP model has the OV3660 and not the OV2440.

 

Progress/Schedule

I think we may be a little behind due to our lack of progress during this Fall Break.  However, all our components are set to be put back onto schedule with a little extra work next week. In regards to the 3D CAD, I might save that for later in the semester and focus on prioritizing ESP and firmware. However, I will start gauging rough measurements for the 3D enclosure.

Deliverables

Next week, I hope to assist Jayden and Ankita with the firmware and experimentation. In addition, I want to also start planning what we want the 3D enclosure to look like and how it’ll be attached to the hat. I also want to place orders for some caps for us to work with.

Accomplish

After preparing for and presenting our Design Review Presentation on Monday, I researched the smaller/cheaper hardware components that our project may need. Since last week we decided on our project’s main stars (ESP32, 2000mAh LiPo battery, microSD), this week I needed to make sure we had all the components necessary in order to fully integrate in the end. This includes connectors, switches, buttons, breadboards, and other electrical parts for testing/integration. In addition, I reached out to TechSpark and a backup option for 3D printer access so I could be sure we had printing capabilities for our eventual CAD enclosure designs. I’ve begun learning basic 3D CAD in TinkerCad and digging into the optimal ways to attach modules onto the physical hat.

Progress/Schedule

Progress is on schedule. All major components will arrive soon to begin hands-on development. Then I can also begin soldering our LiPo chargers together and the pin header to ESP and measure dimensions for enclosures.

Deliverables

We have started on the Design Report and will have it complete by next week (because it is due). Also hope to deliver simple CAD designs and circuit diagrams.

Accomplish

This week I nailed down the specific components for CapSure’s build. I put together a Bill of Materials in a Google Sheet, cataloging suppliers, part links, and unit costs, and worked through the associated Purchase Forms. While researching the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3, I confirmed the Sense variant integrates an OV3660 camera module and a digital MEMS microphone on-board, which saves us from sourcing and wiring separate peripherals. For storage, I settled on a High Endurance microSD card, since standard consumer cards aren’t rated for the sustained write cycles that continuous video/audio recording demands and tend to degrade quickly under that kind of load. I also ran rough power budget calculations, estimating roughly 400mA average current draw for the system, which is what led me to spec out 2000mAh rechargeable LiPo cells to hit a reasonable runtime target. Separately, I realized our original use-case requirements were functioning more like design requirements, so I restructured them accordingly. For instance, the video/audio quality requirement shifted from a hardware-specific spec (“480p 15fps”) to a functional one (“identify a person at X distance and understand speech at X distance”), with the original spec repurposed as the design requirement it was actually describing.

Progress/Schedule

We’re mostly tracking on schedule, though the ESP32 order is a mild risk. Amazon’s had the shipping at an estimated arrival in early-to-mid October and that was if the order was placed today. To use that dead time productively, I’m planning to get ahead on firmware architecture and wiring diagrams, and start sourcing smaller components (buttons, switches, wire, breadboards) so we’re not blocked once the ESP32 lands.

Deliverables

This week’s goals: finish placing the remaining parts orders, track down where to get the smaller components on campus, and start ramping up on basic CAD tools so I can get familiar with TechSpark’s 3D printing workflow for the enclosure. We’re also aiming to have the Design Review Written Report ready to submit.

Accomplish

This week, I did deeper research into the exact components we need and ensuring their compatibility with each other and our use-case requirements. I’ve created a Bill of Materials Google Sheet where I am brainstorming components and sourcing their links and prices to eventually submit through the Parts Order Form. Our main SoC will be a ESP32-S3 module where I’m currently looking at the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense because it already houses a camera and microphone.

Progress/Schedule

Our progress is on schedule.

Deliverables

Goal is to have a great amount of the Design Review deliverables finished within the next week.