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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\title{Weekly Blog}
\author{Danila Fedorin}
\date{November 2019 - May 2020}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents
\pagebreak
\section{Fall Term}
\subsection{Week 3}
\subsubsection{Progress}
There has been great progress in our group. We agreed to do one assignment
for the Senior Capstone class a day, and have been following through with
this plan. This way, we have initial drafts of every assignment very early
on, and have a lot of time to review and edit them. In essense, we have
a clear understanding of the project goals, initial drafts of many
of the required documents that we have so far, and a good division
of labor.
\subsubsection{Problems}
There have been no real problems with the team regarding the project.
We did receive unexpected grades on certain individual assignments
(seemingly indicating an inconsistent grading scheme), but
since members of the group have scored full points on an assignment,
we have a clear idea of what the next iteration of our submissions will look like.
\subsubsection{Plan}
The plan is continue to finish one assignment per day for the project.
This will keep us on track, while at the same time having enough time
to peer review with each other and other groups. Since one of the group
members is writing a thesis with our client, he currently has weekly
meetings with the client, and serves as our team's point of contact.
We plan to schedule a weekly or bi-weekly meeting with the client
with the entire group to facilitate communication, and to continue
to document the project as per the (already plentiful) information
already provided by the client, and as per the standard senior
capstone assignments.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 4}
\subsubsection{Progress}
As per our agreement, we've been steadily completing drafts of various assignments,
though not one per day (such effort is difficult to sustain with other existing
commitments). We have scheduled a meeting with our advisor to discuss the purchase
of various hardware components, and we will soon have an idea of what parts
we will need.
\subsubsection{Problems}
Like last week, there have been no problems in the group. A group member
missed a meeting by accident (due to being double-booked with a job),
though it did not inconvenience the other group members, and we believe
no action is necessary. The private git repository in which we store
our class LaTeX files is temporarily inaccessible due to internet
issues, but this had virtually no impact on the team's work.
\subsubsection{Plan}
Although we've toned down our pace, we intend to continue tackling
assignments ahead of time to stay on top of writing and proofreading.
Additionally, as described in the progress section, we have scheduled
a meeting with our advisor, and plan on purchasing components shortly
after the meeting takes place.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 5}
\subsubsection{Progress}
We have constructed preliminary designs for the various nodes and gateways
that we will have set up throughout fields. With this, we also determined
the components that we may need for the project - after a little more
discussion with our advisor, we will be able to proceed with the purchases.
Additionally, we have contacted our advisor to schedule a weekly
meeting, and are waiting on a response.
\subsubsection{Problems}
We are as yet unsure about the source of funding for the purchase of our
hardware. We have contacted the TA, and are waiting for more information.
No other issues have come up.
\subsubsection{Plan}
The plan is to continue doing the class assignments, while at the same
time doing additional research into the hardware components and mechanics
of our project. We will stick with the prescribed class schedule otherwise,
and continue to do some work on an assignment every day. The next
assignment up is the first draft of the tech review.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 6}
\subsubsection{Progress}
Our first meeting with the client took place, and we had a good chance
to discuss the expectations for the project, as well as future meeting
schedules. We agreed on biweekly meetings from now on, however, since
every member of the team (and the client!) has very packed schedules,
these meetings are not required if progress can be made without them.
By virtue of the team's work on the tech review, we have a much
clearer understanding of the details of the project, and we're at
this point only limited by access to funding.
\subsubsection{Problems}
The client has a very busy schedule, and our last meeting was actually
moved and scheduled last-minuted. Though it seems like we're on
the same frequency, so to speak, the lack of availability is somewhat
unnerving.
\subsubsection{Plan}
The immediate plan is to secure funding and start working on prototyping.
This will help us quickly discover flaws in our project and interate on
the design. We will continue our ambitious attempt to stay ahead of writing
assginments.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 7}
\subsubsection{Progress}
With the completion of the design document, the team has a good idea of
what we're going to be doing, and who will be doing what. Given our last
interaction with the client, we believe the design document closely
represents what he would want, and thus, we are expecting no
issues with getting the design document signed off. The team has
agreed to perform a significant refactor / rewrite of the design
document to address the structure and improve compatibility with
the IEEE standard. This will happen in time for the submission
of the second draft of the design document.
\subsubsection{Problems}
There are no problems in the way of our group at present, other than
the question of funding. Since we are still iterating on the design,
this question does not block us from making progress.
\subsubsection{Plan}
As mentioned in the progress section, the team intends to significantly
alter the structure (not the content) of the design document as we
currently have it. Other than that, there are no new plans since
last week, other than completing other assignments required by
CS461.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 8}
\subsubsection{Progress}
We finished the second draft of the design document this week. The rewrite
we planned was performed as we expected, and our document was rewritten in
IEEE1016-2009 format. This took a significant amount of time and work, but
the project is described in almost all of its entirety: the technologies,
requirements, and even the state machine of the fenceless collars
have been specified and discussed. The only thing that remains is the
addition of UML diagrams to the document
\subsubsection{Problems}
There are no problems this week. We are not blocked by anything other the
funding (as we have been for the last few weeks). We are waiting to hear
back from the TA, who told us they’d speak with professors regarding the
funds allocated to our group by the Senior Capstone class.
\subsubsection{Plan}
The plan is to finish the Design Document by providing UML diagrams where
appropriate, and by filling in sections marked as ”TODO” while writing it.
Otherwise, we have no plans for the short term future.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 9}
\subsubsection{Progress}
No significant progress this week. We have sent our advisor
all the required documents, including the Tech Review,
the Design Document, and the Problem Statement, and are
waiting to hear back. Personally, I also met with Dr. Winters
to talk about my Tech Review, and was pointed to several
flaws that I should fix.
\subsubsection{Problems}
We will soon be blocked by a lack of response about funding.
Since we now have a good idea of what our design will be,
once our advisor signs off on our document, we will be able to start
making purchases. However, this is impossible without funds
from CS461, since will not spend money out-of-pocket on this project.
\subsubsection{Plan}
The term is coming to an end; the main plan, at present, is
to finish the last assignment that is due on Friday (the
progress report), as well as to make any adjustments requested
by our advisor to the other documents. Personally, I also
plan on updating my Tech Review document to address
the issues explained in my one-on-one meeting with Dr. Winters.
\pagebreak
\section{Winter Term}
\subsection{Week 1}
\subsubsection{Progress}
Since the term is just getting started, the group has not made any significant progress. Late during the previous term we started using a new system for tracking tasks and the group members responsible for them. We are continuing to get familiar with this system, though no real tasks have been started / finished yet.
\subsubsection{Problems}
The only problem we're facing so far is that the weekly TA meeting is practically impossible to schedule between the 3 group members and the TA. We are looking into contacting Dr. Winters to inquire about meeting online, which will significantly simplify matters.
\subsubsection{Plans}
The plan is to start prototyping the application / software / hardware next week (week 2). The term is just getting started, and the team is settling into their new schedules.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 5}
\subsubsection{Progress}
Good progress was made by the team this week. On my end, the API server and Android Application were both prototyped, and tested together. My teammates continue to work on the collar <-> gateway communication protocol. We seem to be on track to complete all the features desired for the project by the end of next week.
\subsubsection{Problems}
It turns out that LoRaWAN requires a multi-channel LoRa receiver / transmitter. We don't have one, and can't use LoRaWAN with the single-channel receiver and transmitter that we have. This means that we will simply use LoRa in single channel mode instead of LoRaWAN for the alpha. We will attempt to get the multi-channel receiver/transmitter for the future.
\subsubsection{Plans}
The plan is to add a map to the Android application, and hook the android application to the collars and the LoRa gateway by next week. We're on track.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 6}
\subsubsection{Progress}
No significant progress to be reported; after the completion of the initial Android application prototype, I have focused on creating the poster. The rest of the team are making minor changes to the hardware portion of the project, but nothing particularly noteworthy has occurred.
\subsubsection{Problems}
No problems. As far as alpha functionality, we're good - we have an application and a server, and soon a way of communicating between the server and the collars.
\subsubsection{Plans}
We intend to get the communication between the server and the collar working by Monday, for our presentation on Tuesday morning. Other than this, the project has the majority of the required functionality. The further plans are to include a map and notifications into the Android application, and retrieve a multi-channel LoRa radio.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 7}
\subsubsection{Progress}
While working on the presentation, we managed to fix the majority of the project. We have a way for the server to write to the database, a way to display this information, and a way for the collars to communicate location information to the gateway.
\subsubsection{Problems}
We have fried a significant portion of the hardware we have. Matthew Sessions has been able to make a new prototype with non-fried hardware, but this delayed us from completing the project (we are nearly done otherwise, at least with the single-channel LoRa communication)
\subsubsection{Plans}
Over the weekend, the plan is to finish up Client <-> Server communication on the unfried hardware. After this, we can start looking into multi-channel hardware and into wrapping the LoRa library in Python, to enable the Android app to push new boundaries to collars.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 8}
\subsubsection{Progress}
Progress has slowed down a little now that the presentation week is over; I am not aware of any work done for the project. This isn't an issue, though - we are close to done, and further real progress will require further hardware.
\subsubsection{Problems}
No problems; we are waiting on hardware, which we have already ordered from the capstone management. Once hardware arrives, it shouldn't take us long to get most of the functionality required out of the project done.
\subsubsection{Plans}
We plan to meet our client on the Tuesday of next week, and discuss the current state of the project. We also plan to do more "real-world" testing of the project (i.e., integrate the GPS with the LoRa transmitter) once hardware arrives.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 9}
\subsubsection{Progress}
We have received the new transmitter, capable of multi-channel LoRa communication. Therefore, we will shortly be able to resume our work on the project. We have also met with our client ,who was happy with the project, and made suggestions to improve our presentation at the expo. We plan to integrate all that feedback into our project in the near future.
\subsubsection{Problems}
No problems at all!
\subsubsection{Plans}
As mentioned above, we plan to integrate the tips given by our client into the project , as well as resume work on multi-channel communication. We also plan on testing an experimental method for communication between our two server-bound pieces of software, which, if successful, will make our project nearly complete save for the presentation aspect.
\pagebreak
\subsection{Week 10}
\subsubsection{Progress}
Progress has been largely halted due to the coronavirus situation. The team is unable to meet, and thus, is having trouble working on the hardware and recording the demo video. We did, however, finish an updated draft of the poster.
\subsubsection{Problems}
Since our hardware is divided into several components, each of which is managed by a different person, we are having a difficult time working on the project while maintaining "social distancing". We are in touch with Dr. Winters to determine the best course of action.
\subsubsection{Plans}
We are planning on doing as much work as possible independently to minimize contact and prevent the spread of the now-pandemic disease. We can still do some work, such as updating documentation and independent video editing + voiceover, so that's the plan for the near future.
\end{document}