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🟢 Progress This Week
Cloud Computing & Central Server Architecture
- Researched AWS services (API Gateway, S3, SQS, EC2, Lambda, DynamoDB, RDS, SNS) and their interactions.
- Designed a layered architecture with AWS services for image uploads, ALPR processing, and watchlist queries.
- Explored SQS for asynchronous processing and caching strategies to handle high loads and avoid bottlenecks.
- Documented the complete system flow for implementation.
Web Application Design
- Finalized the tech stack with Andy:
- Backend: Node.js with Express.js
- Frontend: React with Ant Design
- Storage: DynamoDB (real-time watchlist), RDS (structured match history)
- Designed core use cases:
- Authentication (JWT-based login system)
- Watchlist management (add, remove, view plates)
- Notification center (email alerts via SNS, UI-based alerts)
- Designed REST APIs with interfaces
▶️ Next Steps
API Design & Review
- Design API endpoints for the central server, focusing on data ingestion, ALPR processing, and watchlist matching.
- Review API endpoints for the web portal based on team feedback and refine where needed. Know issues:
- Each user should have their own watchlist –> update
/watchlist to support look-up by user ID
Database Design
- Decide between DynamoDB vs RDS for different use cases.
- Design database schema for central server watchlist storage & web portal authentication.
Use Case Design
- Finalize Use Case Details
- Define the full flow for each core use case (authentication, watchlist management, notifications).
- Add alternative flows to ensure edge cases are accounted for.
- Send finalized use case flows to Andy for UI design adjustments.
System Architecture Documentation
- Create a block diagram for the central server.
🚧 Challenges & Open Questions
- Potential performance trade-offs in database selection (DynamoDB vs RDS) for different use cases.
- EC2 vs Lambda for ALPR layer.
