Memorandum 

Date:               March 23, 2014

To:                  Professor David G. Michelson

From:              EECE 380’s L2D4 Group

Subject:          Update on Orbcomm Design Project

This week we were working on the sensors and the Orbcomm programming. The hardware group had most of the sensors working well and the software group kept learning about the Orbcomm system following the lab tutorials. The goals of this week were building the sensors and familiarizing the Orbcomm system.

Software

This week we kept learning about the Orbcomm system. We worked on the flash file system and bash scripting. From the lab sections, we learned that the DemoAppFFS gets GPS location and stores that position in FFS. We modified the code in DemoAppFFS with Orbcomm specific commands to save inputs and send emails. Moreover, we created an email filter in our Gmail account, created a ‘.forward+orb file’ in the home directory and aggregated mail using Bourne shell. The goals of this week were achieved and we will keep working on the Orbcomm system next week.

Hardware

This week we purchased sensors, solar panels and some other electronic components. We had most of the sensors working properly. Specifically, the air temperature sensor, the water temperature sensor, the rain sensor, the pressure sensor, and the solar panels function well. Moreover, we built two timer circuits with variable resistors that control the frequency of a pulsing led. This way, we could have the buoy flash the led depending on the depth and distance from the coast they are. The tasks of this week were completed and we will be work on the wind sensor next week.

The goals of this week were achieved. The goals for next week will be working on the wind sensor, the multiplexer and Orbcomm system.