Well, it’s been four weeks since I started my internship here at the University of Utah. Time really flies by. This week, Sean and I did a lot of work on the communication aspect in the network. We created temporary cardboard compartments for the sensors and then spread them out across the campus. We tested their ability to daisy chain between each other to send all of the temperature data to the central computer. We ended up adding another node to the network, but could not get the node to chain with the others.
I also finished the code to extract that data and graph it. The data will then be used in Sean’s program, which created a data map of the network. Sean’s code will create an HTML file of the map, which can be added to a website so live viewing of the network is possible from your phone or any other device.
The team also started to think about the mathematics of the network. We would have to find a way to calculate the location of a leak based on the network readings. If we were to simplify the situation a lot, we could use a similar equation to that of the center of mass equation. We only need an approximation but this is too simple and I will be working with some of the mathematics majors to hopefully come up with an equation that includes variables like wind direction and speed.
The weekend of week four consisted of resting and sleeping for me. I drove around downtown Salt Lake and just had a look around. Salt Lake really is a nice place. It’s crazy that we only have two weeks left.
This is a great comprehensive project. The creative problem solving and team work you are describing is excellent.