This week I worked on finalizing the TP load sensor, began designing the TP rotation sensor, door latch sensor, and working out plans for the overall TP sensor PCB. The sensors are progressing well, and I should have a finalized design shortly. Looking into the PCB costs, the parts needed so far would be fairly cheap (~$15 for parts for one board plus spares), so the overall feasibility of the PCB design would come down to manufacturing cost. That will be determined once I have a preliminary PCB design so I can see how many layers/the footprint it needs.
Additionally, I worked with James to begin setting up the Pi/RFID reader. One roadblock we have run into with that so far is that the API we planned to use (the only one available for this reader), does not properly build in C when we tested in on James’ mac. We are working to see if this is a Mac vs Linux issue and will try to get it to work on the Pi. The Java version of the API, however, does build so that could be possible to use if needed. Additionally, we looked into the Arduino library written for this reader, and that is another fallback we have, though it has a slightly pared-down feature set, which may not be an issue for what we are using it for.
We continue to be on schedule
Next week, I hope to:
- Ramp up designing the TP rotation sensor
- Prototype the door latch sensor
- Begin PCB designs for the TP sensor
- Continue to assist James in setting up the Raspberry Pi/Arduino w/ the RFID reader.
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