Project Update
Our project description remains the same:
“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.”
Progress Report
The month of March began with a few roadblocks for our engineering team. With the help of one of our advisors, we were able to contact other engineers who work at the St. Vrain Innovation Center, where our class is held. One of these engineers addressed a problem we had with our software in relation to hardware development. In this process, we discovered that our electronic components were unable to handle the magnitude of coding functions we were attempting to run, which one could compare to trying to fit a large package into a tiny mailbox. After realizing this, we decided to find larger components for all three systems of our project which then resulted in our designing team dividing and conquering in two seperate coding, and component research and development to find the most efficient and cost effective path.
As the month has progressed, each of the development teams have received their ordered parts and begun coding and programming. One team has finished putting together all three parts of our rescue system and has begun coding while the other team has put together parts of their code and their components. These teams will reconvene in early April to have a system update. Sustainability has also begun designing a new generation of cases for each of our upgraded parts. The goal is to decide on one design and create with a fully developed system to present at the annual CU Design Expo on April 28th. Along with this, we have scheduled meetings with the local SWAT team to run system tests in the field.
CU Design Expo
This month, the team began preparations for our presentation at the CU Design Expo on April 28th. All senior design students in our class are required to present their final projects at this event, which will also help provide our team with additional feedback and practice before EurekaFest. Communications and administration teams are hard at work in preparing the posters and presentation slides for both events, while the design team is steadily moving towards our goal.
Goals for the next month
Communications Team
Update Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts regularly
Making preparations for the CU Expo & EurekaFest
Finish the BRD system logo with outside help
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 & the CU Expo
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 April
Design Team
Decide on one design to integrate into a fully developed system for the Design Expo.
Run system tests in the field with the local SWAT team
Continue emailing people to ask about checking over the code
Continue to build the design and check/fix any bugs