This week, I worked on getting parts for our Jetson Nano. The most important piece of hardware for meeting our requirements is the camera to go with our board. After some research, I decided to go with a SoC board by e-Con Systems specifically made for the Jetson Nano. I researched and compared factors such as the connector (and thus communication protocol, which affects latency), the size (is it appropriate for an embedded system? does it look intrusive?), the resolution (how much resolution do we need per image for accurate feature extraction?), and finally, the frames per second (how much information do we need to make dynamic gestures?). Unfortunately, the camera won’t be arriving for another two weeks at least, so some parts of the testing may be delayed for now. I hope to continue on with trying out some Jetson demos by borrowing a webcam from the inventory and working with that for now. Luckily, familiarizing myself with the Nano is not a super pressing task – the next task that is dependent on it isn’t due for a few weeks.
Aside from learning camera lingo, I also made a rough draft of our block diagram for the hardware specifications. We have shopped and submitted purchase forms for most of the hardware listed on this image. It took some time for us to find hardware that specifically works with an embedded system and looks sleek. In terms of purchasing parts, we are on time. We started our Gantt chart a little earlier than we should have (we didn’t realize purchase forms didn’t open until this week), but otherwise we are on schedule.
I also worked on collecting some data for each of the hardware and putting them into slides for our design review in a week.
Another factor is the missing microSD card. We just placed the order for it and we can’t set up the Nano without it.
By next week, I hope to have the microSD card and start setting up the Jetson. I will also talk to a TA about possibly borrowing a webcam for now to start setting up some demos on the Nano. I will also be working on the design review slides and presentation next week, and that will be another deliverable.