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Thor here again! This week is my last week of working over the summer. The components we were waiting for came in, and Owen and I worked on assembling and testing them Tuesday. 

This is the front and back of our newest PCB design. We have 5 neopixels running across the middle of the board. On the back are some graphics and all of the names of the students who have contributed to the CATS CI.

We ordered 3 boards and the components to go with those boards. I began soldering the components by hand because the lab we usually use is closed for the summer and the professor who helps run it had to deal with orientation. Even the surface mount components were soldered by hand.

That speck on my first finger is an 0603 package 20pF capacitor. It is .06″ x .03″. I soldered two of these using a soldering iron to the board. A reflow oven is definitely preferred, but it was still a learning experience.

This beautiful component is a surface mount ATMEGA328P microcontroller. We are using this to drive our neopixels and the piezo buzzer on the board. The Pi will send serial bytes to the ATMEGA and it will respond by turning on the lights and buzzing when we need it to.

To program the ATMEGA chip, we have six holes in the PCB labeled “ISP1”. These are the ISP pins, just like on an Arduino. They are used for programming. Two pins are for power and ground, and the other 4 are MISO, MOSI, SCK, and RESET. This makes it easier for us to program the chip instead of using the Pi to program it. We can just plug the PCB into the Arduino that I was using to test the serial communication and program the chip while it is on the PCB.

Owen helped me finish soldering and we began to test our device. I had code that I used when I tested the serial communication using a USB cable between a Pi and an Arduino, but this was a different application because, as I have recently learned, USB is different from TX and RX, or RS-232. We had to figure out how to modify my code to work for our devices. My code sent and read strings across the USB cable, but we had to change it because that was not working for RS-232. We read about making the string into byte arrays in the code, which is what string is converted into before it is sent. To make it even easier, we just decided to send one letter or byte at a time. We also had to change which ports were to be used for the communication in the code. Before, I was using the /dev/ttyACM0 port on the Pi, which is the USB port. We read that /dev/ttyAMA0 would work, but it wouldn’t work for us. It turns out that the Pi 3 is different, and ttyAMA0 is used for Bluetooth on the Pi 3. There is another port, /dev/serial0, which is the serial port we needed. There is also a /dev/ttyS0 which is the same thing, but the /dev/serial0 is preferred because the former is not as reliable from what we read. So if anyone is reading this and is dealing with a Pi 3 and needs help with a TX/RX connection, this could be the solution.

This is the new Pi code for the serial communication. We set up the communication with /dev/serial0 with a baud rate of 9600. Then we send the letter L after 3 seconds and E after 7 seconds.

This is the new Arduino code for the ATMEGA chip. It checks the message sent to see if it is an L or an E. An L triggers the login light and sound which flashes green and plays the chest sound from the Legend of Zelda like I talked about before. An E triggers the error code which are red flashes and a buzzing. The colorwipe function originally made each light in the row flash on one at a time. It now flashes all the lights on when each note is played. Having all the lights come on helps to see the light from inside the box. There was an idea about make the cover for the box translucent because the lights are very bright.

Once we were able to get the ATMEGA chip working properly, we tested the EEPROM and the temperature sensor. Owen got the temperature sensor working so if the Pi is overheating it can alert someone. I was able to flash a .eep file onto the EEPROM. The shunt jumper we have on the board is connected to the EEPROM pads to allow for write protect. Putting the shunt on allows data to be written to and read from, and taking it off only allows reading from. When I first tried to flash data, it failed and we puzzled at it for a little. Then Owen remembered that the write protect was not on. We had not soldered the shunt jumper header on so Owen placed a wire from one pad to the other while I flashed the data and it worked just fine. The only thing that we didn’t get to was soldering the auxiliary connectors and the shunt jumper header on the board. Everything else worked from our tests, and we were so glad it did. Owen is ordering all the rest of the CI’s semester funds-worth of boards and components so that we can begin to assemble a lot more of them. When that time comes, we will definitely need to use the reflow ovens.

This summer has been very helpful for me. When I first joined this CI in the spring, our supervisor met with us to ask us about our goals for the CI. I said that I wished to learn more about how electronics work outside of class and how to program in the different languages that CATS uses. I learned about the electronics side for sure this past semester and a little about programming. I thought it was awesome and weird that I was able to program an actual device instead of making a program in class that prints “Hello world” to the screen. Over the summer I was working with an Arduino and had to learn about Arduino code, which is somewhere between C and C++. The Pi code for the serial was also in python, so I learned a little about that as well. I can’t say that I can start and finish a program in those languages by myself, but I can somewhat tell you what they do. I enjoyed working with the team in the spring and I have enjoyed working with Owen over the summer. We high-fived many times on Tuesday as everything started working, and I am so glad to be able to say that it works. Now our goal is to get the device onto machines and possibly implementing a Particle Photon instead of a Pi, but that is an idea for a later time.

This is Thor signing off!

It’s Thor again!

Last time I posted, I had edited our PCB to include an ATMEGA chip and a new ethernet port for an easier connection to the keypad. My idea of how big the ethernet cable is compared to the board was off, so the design was not good.

I had the ethernet port facing down the PCB (toward the right in the picture). This would have caused a problem with the cable and the piezo buzzer, so Owen redesigned the PCB. 

This is the picture from OSH Park showing what the new PCB would look like after manufacturing. The ethernet port is now turned to the right to not interfere with any components and there are 5 neopixels in a row in the middle of the board. The code to implement the strip is just a simple upgrade to the code for the one light that is on the board now. In the bottom left corner is the piezo buzzer. We are switching to a surface mount buzzer. In the bottom right corner are a few holes labeled “ISP1”. These will be used to program the ATMEGA chip on the board to avoid any problems programming it using the Pi.

I now have 11 days left of employment on the CATS device for the summer. Hopefully we can get the PCBs in and then it will be crunch time when I start soldering and assembling.

Until next time!

This is Thor again, back with some more summer news! Since the last post, it has been a little slow because of waiting for the order to arrive so I can assemble the new boards. Last week I was able to have the Arduino control the successful login sound and light. I have now coded an unsuccessful sound and light. All it does it beep and blink red, but the Arduino is able to read in a string sent serially by the Pi. If the Arduino reads in “login”, then the successful code runs and if it reads in “error”, the other code runs. This way, we can have different sounds and lights set up to execute at different times when certain actions occur. The Pi can sent string serially and then continue on with the code while the Arduino takes care of the light and sound. This will prevent interruptions in the Pi code so the keypad can function at a fast pace. On the new PCBs, we have the serial connection between the TX (transfer) and RX (receive) pins on the Pi and Arduino. They will have to be tested when we assemble them because I was only testing the connection over a USB cable. Only the RX from the Arduino and the TX from the Pi are going to be connected, so that the Pi can send strings to the Arduino. We do not need to send anything back to the Pi. The Arduino also runs on 5V logic while the Pi runs on 3.3V logic. The Arduino can handle and understand the 3.3V signals coming in from the Pi but vice versa would need a voltage divider. To simplify the hardware, we are not going to have the Pi receive anything back from the Arduino for now.

Once the shipment of parts arrives, we can assemble them and hopefully our devices work the way we intended so we can begin installing them on machines if time permits.

Until next time!

Hey guys. This is Joshua McMillan, and this is your week 6-7 blog post.

So, the adventures of creating a fully functioning machine access tracking system continues. We have faced some challenges but we faced them with a sense of determination that knows no bounds. The hardware team produced the final design of the electrical enclosure in solid works. 

One of the biggest challenges for the hardware time was vanquishing the forces of darkness that seemed to be halting our progress on the 3-D printing of our electrical enclosure. The fruits of our labor seemed to fall short of glory.

^This was our second attempt at printing the enclosure.  However, on the third attempt,  Stefan was able to overcome our problems by printing the enclosure at his place.

TADA! This enclosure is looking good! The front and side pieces were laser-cut out, and the enclosure is now only missing the electronic parts.

In other news, many of the parts that were required for us to finish our machine access tracking system finally came in. These parts included a 250 foot cat-6, 1kohm resistors, an Eeprom and temperature sensors.

The software team has developed an optional two-factor Authentication system. However, there are a few lines of code are giving us trouble. The lines 50-52 are not executing correctly.

The SQL Machine Table was designed for the two factor Authentication system. If the machine Int is 2, the Pin and ID is required. If it is 1, the PIN is mandatory. If it is 0, then no keypad is required, just the ID.

USER SQL

ID | PIN | OPT

1 | 1111 | 1

2 | 2121 | 0

3 | 4123 | 1

4 | 6134 | 0

Hello interwebs!

My name is Thor, and I am a new member of the CATS Creative Inquiry squad. I am majoring in Computer Engineering, and am part of the Hardware team for the CI. I met Owen last year, and he wouldn’t stop bugging me about joining his CI so I decided that it would be a great way to gain experience with circuits, which is a huge passion of mine. It’s been an honor meeting the rest of the team and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it for this short amount of time.

These past few weeks have mostly been a learning and research experience. I’ve had to learn how everything connects and what all the components on the Raspberry Pi and our PiHat do, so I have a better understanding of where the traces on our PCB should go. Another big thing I have had to learn is how to work KiCad. Working on it makes me realize that I am actually contributing to how the design will turn out, and that’s been an awesome feeling.

So far, I have helped with redesigning the footprints on the PiHat board. We are also changing the LED on the board to a Neopixel to add nicer color effects. I was in charge of researching this and a diode that could be used to supply the correct amount of voltage to power the Neopixel.

The Hardware team hasn’t had too much on its plate since the beginning of the semester, but Software team has definitely been busy. They are a good group of guys who have been working hard on this project. I can’t explain what they have been doing very well, but I know they are still working on getting the other card scanner to work with our cards, the requirements.txt file, and the audio features.

I got a chance to see the admin panel being worked on, and it is looking good right now. We are able to add admins to the database now, so that seems to be going very well.

I believe that covers most of what has been going on (and what I actually understand as of right now). I think this semester will be a challenge but it will definitely be worth it working on this team.

Until next time!

Maurice here,

We’ve got lots of plans for this new semester of work.

Brad and company on the web interface team got a webpage up and almost running and ready for putting lots of great content into it. They plan to have a login page working very soon (in a few days).

Giandre and software team are making lots of plans to fixing some behind the scenes infrastructure to the computer. We’re doing this by squashing any bugs that pop up and creating things such as requirements.txt and config files. Giandre is also planning on implementing audio feedback. Not really any immediate goals for this, code upgrading is kind of a work in progress always.

Brice and the hardware team are working on stuff such as a secondary hat for the Pi, making a new sturdier housing, and collaborating with the software team on getting the cheaper scanner to work (which is a personal project of mine). Getting the cheaper scanner to work is important to me because it will shave off lots of cost for each unit. I can taste the solution to getting it to work, we’re just in the process of getting in touch with HID (the card and scanner manufacturer) with getting everything finalized. Hopefully we’ll have more insight into the solution in the next few days.

That’s all I can really think of for this week,
Go Tigers!

Hello my friends and welcome back to a New Year with new expectations about how the Clemson (Machinery) Access Tracking System (CATS) project will continue for the Spring of 2017 semester.

This year the creative inquiry team decided to take a new approach on how we wanted to separate the tasks for the project. We ended up creating three teams that consist of Hardware, Web Administration, and Software (Raspberry Pi Coding, SQL server components, and more…).

Over Christmas break of 2016, one of the members of the team decided to take a Raspberry Pi home to fix a problem or bug that the needed fixing. This one problem was having the Invalid PIN re-entered if the user had entered an incorrect PIN. Not only was this issue solved, but the member added a signal interrupt that lets the system lock the user out if they have not typed in something within a certain time or if the card is no longer being read, for now this timer is set at 7 seconds.

With that being said, there are a few goals that the three teams are going to tackle this semester.

Hardware

• Redesign Housing
• Solve Connectivity Issues
• Improve User Interface and Feedback
• Integrate Relay Into Design of PCB
• Integrate Physical Safety Features such as Captive Ends for Power Supply

Software

• Complete Unit Testing
• Improve Quality of Code
• Fix/Reduce Bugs Found
• Implement the Software Development Life Cycle
  • This step will be put into effect when the team gets close to the finished product
• Implement *Optional* Two-factor Authentication
• Add Audio Effects

Web Administration

• Home page with Administrator Login
• Database Calling
• Machine Control Panel
• Data Metrics Panel

That is all for this week’s blog. Thank you for your time. Hope to see you all back soon.

‘We’re the CATS Team and we approve this message.’

Week 11 was a very busy week for the Creative Inquiry team. After all of the 10 weeks of prior work it had finally paid off. The trip began with an exciting car ride in the Blue Gem (2003 Honda Odyssey with a faulty baby blue paint job) which was then followed by a plane flight to Boston.

The first day in Boston was open for the first half of the day and it allowed us to explore the city. It was absolutely amazing to see the sight of the big city (especially coming from Clemson, South Carolina). We had also toured around MIT campus to see the Makerspaces that they offered.

Pictured above is a photograph of Owen from the team. As a young boy he had always dreamed of visiting the big city as he lay in the fields in the rural county of Anderson, SC. He imagined what it would be like to see the concrete jungle of concrete and glass, and on this day his imagination was a reality.

Moving on to that night the team went to the social and mingled with the other schools that came to ISAM. A lot was learned about the other projects and Makerspaces that are going on at Universities across the world.

The following day was the first day of the conference where everybody had their presentations about selected topics for Makerspaces. All of the presentations were very well done and expressed things that are working now and other things that aren’t quite working with different Makerspaces. A lot was learned and will be incorporated into the Clemson University Makerspace.  The team also had their first night of the poster presentation which went phenomenally. Many of the other guests were very interested in the prospects of our project and were happy to hear about the Clemson Makerspace.

For the second day (Tuesday) of the conference there were more presentations about some new topics that were just as interesting as the last. During the middle of the day we took the opportunity during lunch time to tour Formlabs. It was a super cool visit to see a company we have been following for some time now. They showed us some of the newer things they have been working on as well as the awesome workspace they have in MA.

After the tour the team had a few more hours before the presentation and Giandre was asked to find some more Makerspaces around campus. He managed to find a few but they were closed. Among all of the spaces that were explored one of them really stood out to Giandre. As he rounded the corner of building E35 he began to experience a weird feeling of stomach discomfort.  There was an odd sensation in the air, an almost electric feeling. He knew something wasn’t quite right. He held back all feelings of fear and decided to continue on down the corridor towards the source of the paranormal behavior. When he arrived at the door of E35.112 he was stricken with pure terror as he stared straight into the eyes of a ghost. He managed to photograph the entity before he turned and ran as fast as he could back to the conference room.

He told us the door was locked and that there was no way to get into the room. It wasn’t until he showed us the photographs that we truly understood what he saw that day.

All in all it was a fantastic experience for us to experience ISAM. The team really got a lot of good feedback on the CATS project and potential improvements for the device. We also learned a lot about improvements that can be done for the Clemson Makerspace. We are all very thankful for ISAM as well as Creative Inquiry for helping fund our trip to Boston for this conference.

Hey Fam, For Clemson.

Hello!

Week 10 was basically a culmination of many things coming together. We’re finally being able to finalize things for ISAM and even realize our goal. The software team was able to connect to a MySQL server in order to use it for authentication, and the hardware team got our PCB boards printed and delivered. We also finished the poster that we will have on display at ISAM. At this point it’s a process of getting our alpha product put together and ready to display. Goals for this week are finishing plans for ISAM, prettying up our design, and getting our code to run indefinitely, intuitively visually, and ideally bug free. We were able to get our code to run indefinitely and our code hasn’t had any issues thus far, so we’re excited for a successful showing at ISAM!