The design packet (V1) is now attached to this post (a few days later)! Integration is continuing. We should be wrapping up integration in the next few days and then do testing and then we will be all done. We had the final presentation this past week which we think went well. designPacket
Kira’s Status Report for 4/25
This week I focused on final preparation and controller fabrication. Ella delivered our final presentation, and beforehand we did a full dry run to make sure everything we needed to cover was included and flowed well. I worked on the controller by laser cutting the enclosure and soldering the components, although it still needs to be fully wired up. I also cleaned up parts of our motor integration code to make it more organized and reliable moving forward.
Based on the testing we have done so far, the individual subsystems are working well on their own. The focus mechanism functions properly in isolation, the controller accurately reads both analog and digital inputs, and those inputs are successfully sent to the main system to control brightness and color. We also tested the pan mechanism separately and it performed as expected. However, full system integration is still in progress, especially the tilt mechanism, which still needs to be connected and tested with the rest of the system. We also have not completed a full end to end system test yet. So far, no major design changes have been needed, just small improvements like refining the code. The next step is to fully integrate all components and verify that the entire system works together as intended.
Team Status Report for 4/25
This week, our team focused on finalizing both our presentation and key parts of the system. Ella presented our final presentation, and as a group we did a full dry run beforehand to make sure everything was clear and covered all the important points. We also discussed as a team our schedule for the remaining time we have to work on the project.
In terms of overall progress, we’ve successfully tested several subsystems individually, including color mixing, controller input/output, the focus mechanism, and pan movement. These results show that our core components are working as expected, which puts us in a good position for full integration. However, we still need to integrate the tilt mechanism and run a complete system test to verify everything works together. Moving forward, our main focus as a team is completing integration and performing full system-level testing to ensure reliability.
Chloe’s Status Report for 4/25
This week, I helped Ella, who was the presenter for our final presentation, prepare. Also, I worked on the final report. My progress is on schedule, since all we have left to do is finish putting together the tilt mechanism and completing our testing for the light. In addition, we need to finish soldering our wires once the lengths that we need are finalized and finish assembling our controller. Next week, I hope to finish the final report, final poster, and record the video for our demo. In addition, before the demo day, we will have everything put together and working.
Ella’s Status Report for 4/18
This week I made more fabrication progress. I installed foam to the focus motor and got the base of the light laser cut. I fit the pan mechanism and the arms into the box and got them working. I soldered all of the motor drivers and their associated circuits (capacitors, etc) and fit them into the box with long leads so that we can connect each circuit’s data wires to the microcontroller. I screwed the microcontroller in place and tried to screw the power supply in, but realized that I cut the holes in the box to fit M3 bolts but the power supply takes M4 bolts, so I’ll need to drill the holes out a bit more or fix the power supply to the base in a different way. Chloe and I fed the wires from the head of the light through the cable harnessing, and the head of the light is ready to mount. The next step (mounting the head of the light and testing the tilt mechanism) has been stressing me out SO MUCH for SO LONG and I am very worried about it but I will do it soon (in the next few days). We are slightly behind where we wanted to be but we will work this week to catch up and also we have next week to really pull things together if needed. I really wish we had more of the project complete for the final presentation, but it is ok and we will present what we have so far.
Chloe’s Status Report for 4/18
This week I worked with Kira to get the faders hooked up to the light for RGBW and brightness control. For this step, I wired the current drivers with the correct power rails and to the PWM pins on the arduino. Also, I soldered connections for the 50W light so that we could replace the 100W light. In addition, I soldered our wires to extend their length for the final assembly and hooked up power rails for the motors and microcontrollers. My progress is currently on schedule, since all aspects of the light and power distribution system are ready to go for the final assembly. I have started helping with assembly of the base and controller. Next week, I hope to have more components of the light control system soldered onto protoboards located in the base of the light and have the wires run through the arm of the light.
As I’ve worked on controlling the light and the power distribution system, I’ve had to learn a lot about how high power LED chips work and the power requirements that come with that. Before this project, I had only ever worked with LEDs like neopixels that come with a spot for a data pin. However, since this COB LED is voltage controlled, with each color of light needing different voltage and current requirements, it made the control of the light much more complex. In addition, I had previously been able to hook up my lights to standard power supplies, but the large amount of power the LED requires taught me how to distribute larger amounts of power and nonstandard voltages. To acquire this new knowledge, I read up on the documentation of the products, consulted webpages of existing lights, looked through webpages/forums of other people who have used similar LEDs before, and used Google to find out quick facts.
Team Status Report for 4/18
Currently, the main risks are still integration and timing, especially making sure the LEDs, motors, and controller all work together without unexpected issues. Debugging delays or needing extra components last minute could impact our timeline. To manage this, the team is continuing to integrate and test each subsystem incrementally before combining everything. A key change this week was fully switching to current drivers for the LEDs now that they arrived, which allowed us to finalize the LED setup and made color control more reliable and easier to integrate with the Arduino. No schedule changes have occurred since last week.
Our planned tests are focused on validating full system performance once integration is complete. We have made strong progress assembling the motor systems, so we are close to beginning testing. We plan to verify pan and tilt by recording motion to check rotation angles, test focus by adjusting the lens over distance, and confirm RGB and brightness control through the controller. We will also measure motor noise using a phone decibel meter and check latency by comparing controller input to system response. While full testing hasn’t been completed yet, we are much closer now that the main subsystems are coming together.
Kira’s Status Report for 4/18
This week, I focused on finalizing the controller code and continuing fabrication of the system. I soldered several controller components, laser cut an initial version of the controller box, and revised the CAD model for an updated version that I plan to cut soon. I also worked with Chloe to hook up the LEDs and verify they functioned correctly by sending controller inputs over DMX and confirming proper color mixing.
As I designed, implemented, and debugged these systems, I had to deepen my understanding of DMX communication and how the controller input actually translates to output on the LEDs. I also got more comfortable with hardware debugging and improved my skills in soldering, laser cutting, and CAD. Most of this came from just working through issues as they came up, testing things piece by piece, and adjusting based on what was or wasn’t working. Working with others also helped a lot in figuring things out faster.
Additionally, I continued preparing the system for full integration. Next week, I plan to work with Ella to connect and test the motor in a similar way, and to finalize the main body code so everything can run together. According to our timeline, I’m currently on track.
Team Status Report for 4/4
Currently, the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of the project are finding out that we need more components and either not having the budget to order them or not being able to order them in time. To manage these risks, we have backup plans for the major systems of our light. Some changes to the design of the system included running the LED off a current driver with a PWM pin instead of having only the voltage changed on the inputs. These changes were necessary to make the integration with the Arduino simpler. This added the cost of the current drivers, and we used the extra budget we had for these. No schedule changes have occurred since last week.
Some tests we are planning to run include tests for the angle of rotation, brightness of the light, noise levels of the motors, and movement of the focus mechanism. We have not run any tests so far, but we plan to run tests once we are further along in integration. To test our pan and tilt, we will record the pan and tilt motion of the light with our phones to verify the angle of rotation. To test the focus mechanism, we will shine the light on a surface up to 10 feet away and move the focus lens back and forth until the light is focused. To test that the light has RGB control and brightness control from the controller, we will move the faders that correspond to red, green, and blue and ensure the light changes as we expect. To test for noise levels, we will run the light with various pan, tilt, and focus patterns and check the noise level with a decibel meter on our phones. Finally, we will test by recording the light whether or not there is a delay from when signals are sent at the controller to when the light reacts to those signals.
Chloe’s Status Report for 4/4
This week I connected the step down converters for our light and revised the power diagram to power the 50W light instead of the 100W light we originally received. This is because it is more compatible with our current drivers. I also did research and placed an order for current drivers which also include a PWM pin for control of our light from the Arduino. I also prepared slides and materials at the beginning of the week for our interim demo. My progress is on schedule since we are still working on integration and fabrication together this week. Next week, I hope to get the LED connected to the Arduino and have control over DMX from the controller to the LED. In addition, I hope to have everything that is already fabricated to be able to run off the power supply we have, so things can slowly be put into the base. If we are able to finish the fabrication and integration of everything in the head of our light, then I also hope to begin soldering the components together.
I have already done some preliminary testing. My testing has included verifying that there is RGB and brightness control of the LED, that the fans of the light and power supply are below 50 dB, and that the power draw of the components is as expected. In addition, I have checked that the voltage and current of the objects matches what we expected to receive from datasheets. For future testing, I will verify that the cooling, light and power system meet our design and use case requirements, I will conduct the tests described in our report. To ensure that the light is bright enough, I will check the lumens output with a light meter app on my phone. To check that the light has RGB control and brightness control, I will run different color combinations on out controller and visually inspect that the individual red, green, and blue LEDs can all be controlled. In addition, to test that our cooling system meets the design requirements, I will check with a decibel meter on my phone that the noise level is below 50 dB Finally, to check that the power system meets the requirements, I will check that all the components are able to run with the power supply and that it is able to run for at least 2 hours.