Weekly Progress Reports (see sidebar), the Gantt chart, and this Project Management page should be printed out before meetings with the sponsor and instructor.
All team members should be able to explain all items on the progress report.
Place a "*" at the beginning of the title of the active week Progress Report (see * in sidebar).
Overview of Project Context
Creating an ability to measure the speed of microorganisms in a laboratory environment will enable large scale observation of these organisms and their behavior in the ocean
Project Objectives
Concisely list and prioritize the project objectives and constraints
High Priority Objectives
Calculate the relationship between pump frequency and water velocity.
Keep Plankton in the camera field of view (FOV), measuring their velocity (around 1mm/s)
Create uniform laminar flow to optimize region where organisms swim
Need to find a solution to put plankton in the chamber without spilling water
Second Priority Objectives
Create mesh or other method of containing organisms in the flow
Easy method of inputting or retracting organisms from the flow
Other Constraints and Issues
Regions should be defined properly -- small regions(too many walls) will bring difficulty in estimating the velocity profile while large regions may lead to a turbulent flow
Choose pump based on design of flow and chamber
material and construction of chamber
Sinking of organisms
WOW Design Solution
Automated system: image processing on plankton and feedback control on the flow velocity to keep plankton in the field of view
Risk Reduction Objectives
Figure out the optimized size (hydraulic diameter) and location of the chamber that enable the laminar flow condition for the plankton.
Figure out how to calibrate flow velocity with respect to pump frequency as well as the optimized method to estimate the flow velocity.
Intermediate Milestones
Chamber design to enable laminar flow condition
Pump selection and calibration
Individual Component Analysis Topics
Yuling: pump and flow calibration
Teng and Damien:
laminar flow simulation (Reynold’s number and chamber size)
chamber wall friction
chamber material
Kimi: image processing
Intermediate Milestones
Identifying meaningful intermediate milestones is a critical for effective project management. Together with your sponsor identify such milestones, and specify specific performance requirements you aim to meet at each milestone.
Set up communication between camera image processing, pump, and microcontroller (end of week 2)
Prototype chamber design (end of week 2)
Finalize chamber design (end of week 3)
Machine platform components and finish assembly (end of week 4)
Calibrate camera pixel, pump speed (end of week 5)
Write and test feedback control code (end of week 7)
Test system sensitivity and controller robustness (end of week 8)
Make poster and powerpoint for presentation (end of week 9)