Category: Elinora’s Status Reports

This past week, I worked on finishing up the slides for our final presentation with my teammates and started working on our poster with Sirisha. For the web app, I cleaned up the formatting on the logs page, began looking into how to send data from the Python code on the Jetson to our Firestore, and set up authentication using Google OAuth (through FirebaseUI). I also spent some time with Sirisha trying to get necessary libraries for the CV code installed on the Jetson. 

My progress is behind in terms of testing because we have had difficulties with integrating the system, but we figured out the issue with installing the libraries and now only need the larger microSD card to be able to run the code. For the web app and project documentation tasks, my progress is on track. 

This coming week is our final week to work on the project. I hope to accomplish unit testing for the accelerometer in the car (as well as other units when the system is fully integrated) and full-system tests. Additionally, I will work with my teammates to complete the poster, final report, final video, and finalize/test the setup for our public demo. I also have a stretch goal of adding visual graphs for displaying the metrics on the web app. For now, we have decided that the logs page would be adequate for our purposes and that our time should be more focused on fully integrating and testing the system.

Over the past two weeks since my status report, I first set up the WiFi on the Jetson with the new WiFi dongle that we ordered. I had issues connecting to the ethernet in HH in order to set up the dongle initially, and had to re-register the Jetson as my device for wired internet use through CMU Computing. After that, the setup for the dongle was pretty straightforward. We are now able to connect the Jetson to a phone WiFi hotspot (or CMU-SECURE) and ssh into the Jetson remotely. 

I also worked with Sirisha to implement audio feedback and add it into the CV classification code. We were slightly delayed on this task because we needed to order another connector to account for the port differences on the Nano (we had initially planned for the speaker to connect into the USB C port on the Xavier). We then conducted a stationary test on her laptop looking away from the screen for >2s and were able to trigger the audio feedback playing through the speaker. 

For the web app, I set up cloud storage with firebase firestore. I tested adding and retrieving documents from the firestore in the web app itself. I set up hosting for the web app using firebase as well. 

My progress is mostly on schedule – I am behind on integrating data from the device into the web app, but this is because we decided to deprioritize the web app in favor of making sure the device itself works well. This upcoming week before our public demo, I will add code to store feedback data from the device directly into the firestore. After we set up account authentication, I will also add filtering of the feedback logs so that the user can only see logs for their own device. 

This week, I continued to work with Sirisha on the accelerometer and it now prints the acceleration values and estimated y velocity values. Initially, while the command “12cdetect -r -y 1” showed that the accelerometer was connected at port 68, we were unable to read the actual data from the accelerometer. We ended up having to solder our wires into the holes of one of our spare accelerometers to make the connection more direct. This soldering process took surprisingly long, but we were able to get values printed to the terminal on the Nano. I also wrote some code to estimate the y velocity based on y acceleration values (standard integration). However, this procedure is not very accurate and estimating the velocity causes drifting errors over time, which could jeopardize the feature of our project in which feedback is given depending on the velocity of the car. We are considering purchasing a new sensor that measures velocity directly to address this issue, but may considering integrating it as a stretch goal because of how much time it took to debug using this accelerometer. 

I also set up hosting of our web app using Firebase to https://drivewise-ef9a0.web.app/

Unfortunately, the WiFi dongle did not arrive until later in the week and I was unable to pick it up and start setting it up to work with the Nano. Otherwise, I am on track with the goals that I set for myself last week and our new Gantt chart. 

Next week, I hope to set up the Wifi dongle to work with the Nano, assemble the entire device and test that it still works with the power cord that we have, and work with Sirisha to send data from the Nano to the web app and display it. We want to do this using storage on Firebase. 

Here is a breakdown of the tests that I have run and are planning to run:

• Accelerometer
  • Try subtracting the average of the first 10 y acceleration readings (per run) to calibrate the sensor before estimating velocity. Then test this in 5 runs when the device is running on a table in HH to determine that the 
  • In the car, drive at 4, 5, and 6 mph to test whether the feedback is only triggered at > 5mph. Also test while the car is stationary and on for 5 minutes (making sure that the estimated velocity does not just continue accumulating). 
• Web App
  • Test that the recorded data displays correctly on the web app
  • Check that a user only views data from their device by doing 1 ride with a set device id of 0 and 1 test ride with a set device id of 1 and make different login accounts for each
  • Test that multiple users can be logged into different accounts on the hosted web app at the same time
• Jetson Nano
  • Test that the Nano is able to be powered by the car (with USB A to USB C cord plugged into USB A port on car)
• Overall System
  • Test each of our distraction cases in ideal conditions in both a stationary and moving car in an empty parking lot
  • Test each of our distraction cases (other than blinking) in nonideal conditions in both a stationary and moving (very slow) car in an empty parking lot

This week, I spent the majority of my time working on initial setup of hardware components. As a team we decided to switch from an Xavier to a Jetson Nano because the nano would require less power. Initially, we also did so because we thought the Nano would already have the ability to connect to WiFi (which I later learned is not the case). I met with Tamal twice this past week to set up the Jetson (first the Xavier and then the Nano after we switched). After initial connectivity issues, I was able to connect the Nano to the ethernet in HH 1307 and ssh from my laptop into the Nano. Since the Nano does not have the ability to connect to WiFi, I also placed an order for a USB WiFi dongle that is compatible with it so that we can use the Nano outside of the classroom when working in the future. 

After the Nano was set up, Sirisha and I met to connect the accelerometer to the Nano and test it. We ended up spending an hour running around campus trying to find female-to-female wires (like the ones that come with Arduinos) that we could use to connect the accelerometer to the Nano using i2c. We found them in Tech Spark and then needed. We also soldered the accelerometers to the posts that came with them, which solved our connectivity issues and we were able to detect the connection to the Nano with “i2cdetect -r -y 1”, which showed that it was connected on port 68. 

I also spent some time changing the dummy data shown on the metrics page of the web app to look more like what will realistically be sent/displayed. 

My progress is mostly on schedule with what I set for myself to do this week. I had initially said that I would write some initial code for the accelerometer this week, but with the setup time for the Jetson and accelerometer both being far longer than planned for, I was unable to get to that task. 

Before the demo, I hope to complete the initial code for measuring and printing the readings from the accelerometer connected to the Nano, with some additional action or print statement triggered when the readings indicate above a certain speed threshold (likely 5mph). For the rest of the week, I will get WiFi working on the Nano with the dongle and work with my teammates to test and tune the system.

This past week, I focused on fleshing out the web application with Sirisha. I implemented all the buttons that we need to navigate through the pages of the application and worked on formatting for the login, registration, and logs pages with Sirisha. I also met with Yasser to discuss what we want to have done by our interim report. Currently, we want to have the eye tracking working with a simplified calibration step for a demo on Yasser’s computer and have the web application fully working with login capabilities and dummy data. After the interim report, we will integrate the CV/ML with our hardware and display the data from the actual DriveWise device on the web application instead of just dummy data.

According to our Gantt chart, my progress is behind schedule. I did not make any progress this week incorporating the hardware components, instead deciding to focus on the web application because we’re thinking of having our interim demo not include hardware integration. This past week I was scheduled to test the website with dummy data, but we are not yet sure what we want the exact format of the data to be, so I will discuss with Sirisha and Yasser in class on Monday and then create some dummy data to test the metrics and logs parts of the web application with.

By the end of next week, I hope to complete the testing of the web application with dummy data and individually test the camera and accelerometers since I did not get to that this week.

This week, I mainly focused on translating our web app design into code with Sirisha, primarily working on the login and registration pages. I also looked into how we could use Firebase to store our login information for the web app and read through the intro tutorials on its website. I spent a lot of my time this week outside of class on the ethics assignment as well. 

I am mostly on schedule according to our Gantt chart. We had previously scheduled for me to assemble the device this past week, but we are still waiting on some ordered components to arrive. Last week I had set the goal that I would research and decide on a cellular dongle, but I decided to hold off on that task for a while since we won’t need the cellular dongle for 2 more weeks. 

Next week, I will finish up the structure of the web app with Sirisha and create and feed dummy data into the web app to calculate and display the corresponding graphics on the metrics page. Once we receive the accelerometer and camera, I will test the accelerometer and assemble the device. I will also be working on the second half of the ethics assignment and attending the ethics lecture, so I will make sure to plan ahead and reserve more time to work on tasks for the project outside of class.

Earlier in the week, Sirsha and I set up the initial structure of our web application in React over VSCode LiveShare. We programmed the frontend basics for the login and stats pages and tested that we could access these pages by clicking different buttons on the web app (like the “Login” button leading from the login page to the stats/home page). We also decided to add an additional page to our UI design in which users can access the individual log for each time that feedback is triggered from their device. Viewing this page provides users with more detail regarding the kind of inattention that they exhibited and the layout of the page is included in this week’s team status report. I spent the rest of my time this week working on the design report with Yasser and Sirisha. More specifically, I was assigned the introduction, use-case requirements, architecture, and parts of the implementation and design trade studies sections. I also briefly tested the speaker that we ordered and confirmed that it played sound clearly from a .wav file when connected to my computer. 

I am pretty much on schedule with our Gantt chart. After we decided to use a cellular data dongle instead of a WiFi dongle to send data from the jetson to the web application, we wanted to conduct more research before ordering a particular cellular dongle. Since transmitting the data to the web application is not scheduled in the Gantt chart until 2 weeks from now, I will hold off on submitting the order until we are sure. Otherwise, I am on schedule with my tasks.  

For my deliverables next week, I am scheduled to assemble the hardware components of the device and test power consumption. I also want to research different cellular data dongles and decide on one by the end of the week. For the web application, I will more fully flesh out the login and registration pages this week and potentially set up Firebase for the actual login/registration capabilities of these pages.