This week was really exciting because a lot of the beginning stages of the code began.
This last week, including the spring break was devoted working on the pendant communication code with that I started working on an ESP 32 and testing the Bluetooth in different forms of communication that would be needed by the project. Using sample code to see how that would work before creating a fully flushed out program, I tested locally with the Bluetooth communication program for the device. After understanding the BT communication and ensuring it was actually workin, I begin working on the flash storage of the contacts and SOS information that would need to be stored on the device testing and ensuring the Bluetooth worked first and then moving onto flash and different sections. I am piece by piece assuring that they will work and then testing them as a whole. The next step will be the cell chip pinout and layout as well as the actual cell chip code.
Anika’s Status Report for 2/24
This week I continued working on the Companion app. I added a temporary logo to our app created multiple pages within the app, one for trigger preferences and one for setting emergency contacts (with more pages within those). For the emergency contacts page I did research on how to get access/permission to retrieve the user’s contacts via the app and displaying the contact information. I then incorporated this into the app so we are able to make use of the person’s contact’s that are already there. Now I need to implement being able to add a new contact in and how to store this information in our app to be sent/used by the jewelrly if necessary. I think my progress on the companion app is on schedule, but I hope to start the PCB design this week
In the next week I hope to get figured out how to save information (from our trigger settings) and pass it back through pages for the companion app so we can use that information and pass it to our actual jewelry device. In addition, I will do some more research on packages for acquiring GPS location for setting the location radius triggers.
I also want to get started and make significant progress on the necklace PCB design. In order to get this completed we need to spend time as a team finalizing components/dimensions of each component to draw up the design and get it ordered.
I have attached a video of the progress made on the app:
Anika’s Status Report for 2/17
This week we spent a lot of time figuring out the details on our design implementation. The biggest discussion of the week was figuring out how we want to connect our ring and pendant and send signals between the two. We initially had come up with communicating between the ring and pendant using bluetooth, but we set up a meeting with Professor Bain on Thursday to figure out alternative options such as an implementation involving RFID. Our discussion was very helpful and he provided insight on how to implement passive/non-passive RFID communication between our ring and our pendant. We’ve since decided to move forward with that approach.
Based on our previous Gantt chart we are a little behind, but we have since updated our chart to account for more realistic time allocated to research and coming up with a well thought out design plan, as well as figure out what components we need to order in order to ensure a smoother process later on.
This week I was able to set up and get starting on creating a companion app. I spent time familiarizing myself with Flutter dealing with setup/build issues and was able to create a Home Page for the application. I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted to due to heavy workload and athletics this week; however, I hope to add more details to the homepage and create navigation to other pages for our different application tasks like trigger settings and contact preferences. I have attached a picture of the home page below:
Anika’s Status Report for 2/10
This week we spent our time on the proposal presentations. We prepared by working on the slide deck as a team. In addition my teammates and I also noted what specific components are needed and want to discuss with our TA to request some components/order some components online. We also want to discuss the possibility of using a flexible PCB board for our project (ring). Given that our ring is small sized, we need to be able to have some flexibility with our electronics in order to shape the board into a ring, so it can later be encased in the desired material. Along with the ring we also need to discuss how we want to shape the pendant in order to be subtle and fit all the necessary components. Once we have a discussion about this we can begin to create the PCBs. In addition to the components, I plan to start working on the companion app framework on Flutter and hope to have the basic framework done by the end of this week.