Since the last status report, I mainly worked with Amelia on completing a lot of the writing for the design report. I specifically worked on the use-case requirements, design trade studies, the system implementation for the custom PCB, the test and validation, and the risk management.
Additionally, when finalizing the components on our PCB with Tanisha, we realized that a matrix scanning implementation of the keyboard would be overly complicated and would require many GPIO pins. I spent some time researching alternatives to keyboards, since we did not want to implement a complicated USB protocol for a USB wired keyboard. When doing more research, I found that the Altera DE10-Standard had a PS/2 port which would support a PS/2 keyboard with a much simpler protocol, so we pivoted our design back to the DE10, which allowed for one PCB that will fit on the top of the DE10. This is also what I wrote about in the design trade studies section of our report.
We initially hoped to have our PCB out for fabrication before spring break, but due to our last minute changes in design and FPGA type, this will be delayed. I will work with Tanisha on the layout this week so we can have it ordered by this week. While we wait for the PCB to be delivered, I will also work with Amelia on the RTL so that we are not wasting time, which will catch us back up to schedule. I hope to complete the PCB layout by this week and start on the implementation of some of the RTL modules.