Week #8: June 30th - July 6th

Individual Log - Zach

I began this week by diving into the final report, and began to rearrange sections according to the rubric's requirements. Moving sections from chapter two into chapter one, chapter 3 now becoming chapter 4, etc. Dr. Ejaz had recommended a few visual design edits for the website, which were done to improve readability primarily on the landing page, however, I also changed the background colors of all pages to make the website a little brighter.

Significant contributions were made to the installation and assembly manual, where most of the instructions are typed out at this point. All that's lacking are a few specifics regarding hose thread size and other instructions relative to the valve enclosure. Still plenty of room for group involvement as depictions such as images or 3D models will be preferable for this manual. One section still requires significant contribution, which would be the troubleshooting section as this requires adequate testing of both devices together, however, with the thermostat being fairly self contained except for BLE communication, most troubleshooting for the device can be included early if needed.

Following the group meeting on Wednesday, we discovered some issues with BLE connection once valve sensor code started to come together. Some research revealed this to be related to the use of PulseIn, or Pulse commands in general, as they require the system to poll for roughly 1-2 seconds for each reading.

Currently, I'm in the process of refining the thermostat's code and flow map for improved structure and readability, troubleshooting and determining what is causing BLE connection integrity issues (we have succeeded in BLE connection and data transfer, however, there are dropouts and losses at times), and contributing to the final report.

Next week should look fairly similar to this week, whereas, everything needs a few more polishes and preparation for the final presentation.