Author: jbyrnes

The main risk that we see right now is the PCB not working well for our project, which is being managed by putting in this order early enough that we can edit the design and get another PCB when we see what we don’t like about this design.

There have been no changes made to the design of the system or to the schedule.

A was written by Carson Swoveland, B was written by Twain Byrnes, and C was written by Gary Bailey.

Part A: Our product can work in a variety of environments around the globe. It can track location anywhere around the world with an open sky by using satellites from several different countries (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou). In addition, the lack of any emitted signals means that it can still be used even in countries with more stringent requirements on radio spectrum use. Areas with limited or unreliable power infrastructure can still be served using the energy harvesting functionality.

Part B: Our product solution meets cultural needs surrounding privacy and data control. In cultures such as American culture, where a strong emphasis is placed on individual autonomy, the watch becomes a valuable tool that aligns with these cultural values. Our watch meets these needs by storing all data locally on the device. This feature directly caters to cultural preferences that prioritize autonomy and control over one’s information. Users from such cultural backgrounds may be more inclined to adopt a tracking device that respects and aligns with their cultural values of safeguarding personal data.

Furthermore, this local storage prevents real-time tracking and cloud-based sharing, aligning with cultural norms that prioritize the privacy. Landhopper meets this cultural need by offering a tracking solution that is not only functional, but also respects and aligns with the cultural values of privacy, autonomy, and control over personal information.

Part C: Due to the fact that Landhopper has an on-board energy harvesting system, the environmental impact of continuously using it is minimal: no external power input is needed to keep it operational for long stretches of time. In terms of the manufacturing process, Landhopper is as environmentally-friendly as electronics can be. In our prototypes, we have taken care to use the least toxic resources possible, such as lead-free solder for the circuitry and PLA for the case. While it is inevitable that there are negative environmental impacts from the manufacture of electronics, the manufacturers of several of the core components used in Landhopper (STMicroelectronics and U-blox) have made commitments to minimize their carbon emissions.

The biggest risk we see right now is the timing on the shipping of necessary components. We have accounted for this as part of our general shipping time / slack in our Gantt chart, but we will mitigate similar future risks by attempting to figure out what we need earlier, and by utilizing Slack to communicate these needs earlier.

We did not make any specific changes to the existing, but we decided to make a design decision on our battery system: we will move forward with a LiPo battery. The only costs from this are in purchasing one such battery.

There have been no changes to the schedule.

For this status report, we were asked to answer additional questions. A was written by Twain, B was written by Gary, and C was written by Carson.

Part A: Our product solution addresses a critical need in the context of public health, safety, and welfare. The prolonged battery longevity ensures that individuals, especially those engaged in outdoor activities or requiring continuous location tracking, can rely on the device for an extended duration without the concern of sudden power depletion. Simultaneously, the watch’s emphasis on user privacy safeguards individuals from unauthorized access to their location data, mitigating potential risks associated with personal information exposure and contributing to the psychological well-being of the user. By prioritizing both functionality and privacy, this GPS watch contributes to the overall well-being of users, aligning with the broader goals of public health and welfare by providing a secure and dependable tool for personal tracking without compromising privacy or safety.

Part B: The most prominent existing solutions to the issue of a user wanting to keep track of their own location history involve sending the user’s location data to a companies who have stipulated in their privacy agreements that they are free to sell the data to others as they wish. To many people, this is an uncomfortable arrangement, as over time, more and more fears surrounding “big data” and data-selling arrangements like this have become prevalent. Our watch addresses this issue, as it allows the user to track their path while all of the data involved is stored on the watch itself, without ever being uploaded to the cloud.

Part C: Current watches that integrate both GPS and energy harvesting technology are very expensive (e.g. the Garmin Instinct II, which sells for ~$400). Other watches that have GPS technology (e.g. the Google Pixel Watch, at ~$200) don’t integrate energy harvesting, and thus have limited battery life as a result. Landhopper’s feature set is specifically designed to fill the niche of a wearable but long-lasting GPS, while trimming out features like Bluetooth and phone connectivity to avoid expensive transceiver modules and additional processing requirements.

The most significant risks we see right now are with the energy harvesting and its interaction with the GPS. The energy harvesting method we intend to employ may not be as efficient as we were hoping, since we were unable to find the correct kind of piezo tile, and generally we would not expect to get the same results as the paper. We are managing this risk by looking into alternative sources of energy harvesting. The other risk that we see right now is that GPS is a very finicky system, and we are worried that the voltage jumps from the piezo tiles will create a large amount of noise that may throw off the GPS signal. This is also being mitigated by looking into other potential sources of energy harvesting.

No set changes have been made to the system as of right now.