Team 04: Taha Tareen, Jamie Jacobs, Stephen Garrett, Woodard Williams,Allen Eyler, Robert Morris, Carl Coppola, Eric Jackson. Progress Report IRobert has been working on the FLUENT CAD design of the outer shape of the fish body. He has been comparing these designs based primarily on drag values found throughthe use of the computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT. Robert then discussed the most promising designs with the rest of the team to consider such factors as manufacturability and component fit within the body. As the body shape has been nearly finalized, Robert will shift his focus to the design of the caudal fin and control surface(s), and will assist the rest of the team in the manufacturing and testing processes.Eric, along with Carl, Bob and Allen, has been reviewing the GUI code, as well as the circuit components, in order to familiarize himself with their purpose and function. The main tasks he has been working on include testing the various methods of fabricating the body in order to determine if they fit all of the criteria for the fish. This includes things such was water resistance, buoyancy, and ease of deconstruction/reconstruction of the fish body. Once the ideal fabrication methods have been determined, he will verify measurements and will be in charge of supervising the construction in the machine shop.Carl has spent a ton of hours looking up parts and places to get them, and had ordered most of the parts required for the body before spring break. Those parts have come in andhe, along with Bob and Eric, has already headed down to the machine shop to start on constructing the body. He has found out that more parts need to be ordered and has submitted the purchase order. Additionally, he has come up with new ideas of implementing and constructing the desired body style with the machinery in the machine shop, and has also helped update the Gantt chart and parts list documentation. Once all the parts are in and body construction has continued, his main task will be to aid in the modification of existing code and development of the code needed to incorporate the newelectrical components. He will also be helping, when necessary, in the development of thenew PCB and in the construction of the fish body down in the machine shop.Taha has been working on the Digital Signal Microcontroller to be placed in the PCB design for the Robotic fish. He is responsible for the circuit integration and programming of this microcontroller. So far, he has laid out a circuit on a protoboard and is working on beginning software modification, so as to allow for circuit testing and debugging to be carried out, after which it will be given to Jamie and Woodard for use with the PCB. He has also looked at the code and is in the process of learning how to modify it with the current microcontroller.Jamie is currently awaiting the DSC programming to begin. She has ordered all known parts to be needed for the PCB once it has been designed and received. The current pin connections and placement of the components that will be transferred to the new PCB have been designated. She went through the current gerber files and identified where all of the current pin connections would be transferred to and also added the known PWM output that will be used for the servo. The plan is to transfer as much information from the original PCB gerber file (as per Dr. Tan’s request) and make the necessary changes and additions. Therefore, she (and Woodard) will be using the ExpressPCB software 03/20/2009Team 04: Taha Tareen, Jamie Jacobs, Stephen Garrett, Woodard Williams,Allen Eyler, Robert Morris, Carl Coppola, Eric Jackson.with which the first PCB was designed. Jamie has currently familiarized herself with the software so that when the information is ready she will be able to quickly and efficiently design the PCB.Woodard is currently working together with Jamie on the PCB design, and is analyzing and becoming more familiar with the Gerber files. In addition, he is studying, with Jamie,the connections and paths of the current PCB in order to help with the transition to the new circuit board. He has also been assisting Jamie convert the pin connections of the current microcontrollers to those of the 40-pin digital signal controller that will be used. Woodard has been in constant contact with the technical representative of the HAB-sensor company to acquire the necessary data and specification sheets, so as to ensure that this expensive and pivotal sensor does not get destroyed. Also, he has been assisting other members of the design team with their specific delegated tasks. Stephen Garrett has been assigned to work on the C-code for the DSC microcontroller. Tounderstand and develop new code, Stephen performed research to refresh his previous knowledge of the C-language. Also, Stephen evaluated, understood, and presented a section of code from the previous robotic fish design in the weekly group meeting. An experimental circuit was developed on a protoboard (see figure) to test the microcontroller and learn the pins. Code was written and programmed into the microcontroller. Minor, yet time-consuming implementation problems were overcome so that the new robotic fish components could be easily added to the circuit board. In the next few days, Stephen plans to update the code from the last fish and test new components (servo, HAB sensor, etc.) with this code. Also, Stephen continues to carry out his role as Webmaster by developing and updating the team website.Figure: Experimental Setup for
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