Author: ncrownie

This week I focused on developing the testing infrastructure and benchmarking approach for evaluating whether our Focus Field system meets its defined performance requirements. I designed the overall testing methodology for each requirement and implemented several testing scripts directly into the project codebase.

I created a test for interferer suppression (tests/test_interferer_suppression_60deg.py) that measures signal levels in dB at both the input and output of the system and logs the difference to evaluate whether the system achieves the required ≥ 8 dB suppression at a 60° off-axis angle.

I also implemented an end-to-end latency test (tests/test_end_to_end_latency.py) that measures the delay between audio input and processed output to verify the ≤ 100 ms latency requirement.

In addition to writing these tests, I outlined the experimental procedures for evaluating target lock accuracy and steering error once the cameras are mounted on the chassis, which will involve repeated human trials with one to four speakers and recording the resulting accuracy and angular error. I also developed the evaluation approach for intelligibility improvements using automatic speech recognition, where baseline audio and processed audio will be transcribed using speech-to-text (STT) tools and compared to calculate relative error reduction. Overall, my work this week focused on ensuring we have a structured and measurable way to validate system performance once hardware integration begins.

My progress is currently on schedule. Establishing the testing framework allows us to immediately evaluate system performance as components are integrated, which reduces the risk of delays later in the project.

Next week I plan to verify that the testing scripts function correctly when the system is running in real time, as this has not yet been fully validated. I also plan to refine logging and output formats so that results from repeated trials can be easily analyzed and compared against our requirements. Once the system is operational with hardware components, I will begin running preliminary confirmation tests.

This week, my primary focus was leading the writing of our Design Review Report (85% of time) while the team finalized hardware acquisition. As the testing, integration, and QA lead, my role becomes most active once subsystems are operational, so being that we just received our components I don’t have any pressing physical work, as expected and drafted in our Gantt Chart. Since we only recently received the microphone array, cameras, and supporting hardware in the mail, there was limited hands-on integration work available at this stage. I used this time productively by organizing the performance validation plan and working on the Design Review. This preparation will allow us to move efficiently into the integration phase without losing time defining metrics or procedures.

Now that components are in hand, my next steps are to coordinate subsystem bring-up and begin staged integration testing. My focus will shift toward synchronizing the audio and visual pipelines, verifying real-time performance, and ensuring that early subsystem outputs align with our use-case requirements.

This week I was traveling and did not complete hands-on development work on the project. However, this time away was planned in advance and communicated clearly with my team. During this period, I stayed in consistent contact with teammates to keep up with development, design discussions, and any decisions being made. I reviewed updates and provided input when needed. I do not have new files but I maintained active involvement through virtual communication.

My progress is still on schedule overall because this travel period was anticipated and built into my planning with the team. There is minimal ramp-up needed to return to development tasks. To stay aligned, I will prioritize requirement follow-ups and prototyping support when I return.

Next week, I plan to re-engage with active development by solidifying our devices performance to make sure we are hitting our requirement benchmarks. I also aim to rescope any requirements so the team can move forward confidently into our implementation.

This week I have spent most of my efforts on the Proposal Presentation. I have also been working on finding the exact components that we will need use that are not in inventory. During this search I have found some optimization in certain products that make our hardware requirements very feasible. In some cases I even have pushed our requirements further in hopes of getting better performance. I have also spent time during my status report and the team status report.

I think I am still tracking fine but the mishap this week with group presentations did cause more time to be spent focusing on the presentation slides than expected. This in turn has taken about 2.5 work hours that could have been spent elsewhere but no extreme impedance.

By this weeks end, I want to have a list of all components that we have from inventory and all the exact components we plan to purchase so we can move past the part of questioning which hardware components are being used.