Kira’s Status Report for 3/7

This week I focused on contributing to the design report and preparing for the implementation of the microcontroller and DMX communication portions of the project. I completed significant portions of the Architecture/Principle of Operation and System Implementation sections of the design report, which describe the overall system structure, subsystem interactions, and the intended hardware and firmware approach for the device. In addition to documentation work, I finalized my research into how I plan to approach the microcontroller control system, including how the controller will interface with the DMX communication system and coordinate the device subsystems. I also ordered the microcontrollers and the other parts we’ll need to start working on the DMX I/O. The goal was to make sure we have everything ready so we can start building and testing as soon as the parts come in. Overall I’m still on schedule, next week I’m hoping to start setting up the microcontroller environment, organize the parts once they arrive, and begin working on the basic DMX code so we can start testing communication between the controller and main body system.