Project Update
Our project is intended to help search and rescue crews in a natural disaster situation. This system, also named as Beacon Rescue Drone Systems (BRD), has a total of 3 parts working together. The first part is a handheld GPS beacon device called the Baby BRD. This device will be a cheaper alternative to most personal GPS beacons, with replaceable 9 volt batteries and an easy to use interface. With the flip of a switch, the Baby BRD can locate itself and ping out the signal every few seconds. Our second part, known as the Mama BRD, is a receiver and transmitter which will be stored on a universal drone attachment that picks up the signal from the Baby BRD and amplifies it out to search and rescue crews. The amplified signal will be received by a master station called the BRD Nest and placed on a map interface, so search and rescue crews can more directly see the coordinates and terrain of the person(s) in distress.
In order to improve our project more and to test the 3 parts, we will be meeting with actual search and rescue crews in the near future to run field tests. These tests will give us important information such as signal strength, battery life, and full system cooperation.
To connect the different variables of this project in a fluid development process, our team had changed our organization system. Our team has adopted the Agile Scrum technique, through the CA Agile Central website, which is used by companies such as DigitalGlobe and Boeing. This allows the team to break down the workload into individual portions while efficiently moving the team through due dates.
Mid-Grant Technical Review
Each team had assigned tasks and responsibility in preparing for the MGTR. Communications and administration teams have been hard at work in preparing the printed agenda, flyers, posters, handouts, presentation slides, and sending emails prior to the event. The design, sustainability, and finance team prepared the BRD prototypes and rehearsed for the main group presentation.
After the MGTR presentation, we set up tables for the attendees to have specific Q&A with the different teams. Based off what the attendees saw and their feedback, the team will make adjustments to the BRD System.
Goals for the next month
Communications Team
Fix the technical issues with Facebook page not showing up for certain people and post updates regularly
Fix the technical issues with the website to get it up and running properly
Create a new Twitter account since there were some technical issues with the old account
Update Instagram regularly
Get word out to the community
Administration Team
Reach out more to community for help with the project design
Send emails to professionals for additional help with the project design or code
Provide an additional hand with managing the social media accounts
Plan out a community event for fundraising
Finance Team
Work with the design team to purchase more materials
Plan to spend $2000 by the end of February
Design Team
The sustainability team is combining with the design team for additional aid
The main goal of the month is to start testing the electronics & email people to ask about checking over the code.
Finish the drone attachment and the baby BRD beacon designs
Setting up coding and design prototypes for Mama BRD and BRD Nest