Carnegie Mellon ECE Capstone, Spring 2019 – Michael You, Sid Lathar, Benjamin Huang
Ben’s Weekly Update Apr 14-20
Soldered the protoboards and the components to be used for the construction of the system on the bicycle. Obtained the necessary equipment and supplies for the final connection. Designed the wire “bus” for communication between the systems on the front and the back of the bicycle. Measured out the various parts of the bicycle with Mike to determine how to arrange everything, designing the mounting system “box” and the necessary ports.
Improved the collision detection algorithm to make it significantly more stable. Now measures velocity over longer periods, allowing for better robustness and better response to errors.
Tested the 3 LIDAR system using a single I2C bus, by modifying addressing of individual LIDARs. Made use of the LIDAR enable lines to allow the Pi to restart the LIDARs as necessary.
Implemented the accelerometer for detecting braking, instead of using the reed switch/timing combination as the response time of that was too slow for brake lights. The reed switch/timing combination remains just to measure speed. The Arduino was necessary to read the analog accelerometer, so it paid off to keep the Arduino in the system even though it was technically not necessary, because of its ability to read analog inputs.
Modified the communication protocol between the Pi and the speedometer Arduino to make it more robust.
Worked with Sid to design the app interface and determine what features should be included, especially testing hooks.
