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Zhejia’s Status Report for 2/4

This week, I worked on the website, specifically the introduction and wrangled with the formatting, and I worked on the proposal slides as well. We also spent significant amounts of time brainstorming over the recommendations and comments on our project idea and researching the feasibility of our project and solutions. For example, Korene and I did extensive research on the pros and cons of moving to a new project versus the validity of our use case, and solidified our justifications/explanations for our metrics, which we may not have explained well in the abstract. Additionally, we also researched various microcontrollers and compiled reasoning behind buying vs making our PCBs.

While a concrete weekly schedule has not been drafted for this week, we are on schedule with the pace of the course and ready for next week.

Next week, I hope to successfully implement resonance charging on a small scale to confirm the process and feasibility of wireless charging each key. We will need to work in the 220 lab and research the mechanism behind resonance charging, which is opposite to inductive charging.

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Ben’s Status Report for 2/4

This week I helped refine the project proposal and refine the use case. We initially thought about switching to a different project, but after some careful consideration, we decided to more clearly define the use case for our current idea. After careful consideration of multiple ideas, we decided to abandon our original I2C connected board and switch to BLE instead. I researched a variety of BLE capable microcontrollers, comparing factors such as size, ease of programmability, price, and availability to settle on the Seeed XIAO BLE. I also looked up the spec sheets of the switches we were planning to use (Cherry MX) and recorded key dimensions to aid in the search for parts. Finally, I tried to find similar projects online to see how we could improve on what’s already on the market, but there was not really anything similar.

My progress has been on schedule since I have made good progress or finished my tasks for the week. These included refining the project scope, performing an initial survey of possible electronic components we would need, and adding my contributions to the powerpoint.

Next week I hope to read up more on the BLE implementation on the Seeed XIAO BLE so I can be ready to program when the parts come in. Additionally, I hope to have the remainder of the parts decided and ideally ordered so we can begin prototyping as soon as possible.

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Korene’s Status Report for 2/4

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?

This week I solidified with my teammates of our project idea and ensuring our project requirements and use case are valid in order to continue. Continuing forward I started researching how Bluetooth Low Energy works in regard to client and server connections. I completed my status report for the week, the team status report, and slides for the proposal

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule?

Progress is a bit behind in terms of researching BLE  I plan to do more research on how BLE works and also figure out what other footprints would be necessary for the PCB and if we need one. In terms of assignments, I am doing my part to be on track with assignments.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

Completing a picture of logistics is crucial and having a draft of footprints and other parts needed in order to also determine how large our keys will end up being.