Weekly Minutes Log
5/2/2020
Course Introduction
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Dr. Ejaz sends an email to all of the summer 2020 senior design class. In his email, Dr. Ejaz set up our first zoom meeting to go over proposal guidelines, proposal expectations, partnering among students, and for the students to ask any questions in regards to senior design. The emailed was scheduled, via zoom, for Thursday, May 7th of 2020. The expectation on the email was for all of us to get into the call, participate, and ask pertaining questions to the proposal.
5/7/2020
First Group Meeting
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The zoom meeting started on time. After welcoming everyone to senior design, Dr. Ejaz set up the expectations, read over the syllabus, encourage us to work effectively and efficiently as possible. In addition, Dr. Ejaz provided us with advice on what, where, and how to start searching for information on regards to our proposal. Prof. Notash was given the opportunity to present his insight on the proposal process. Prof. Notash reinforces Dr. Ejaz's statements. One thing was made very clear, the students are to participate, take notes, and track their individual and group process. Senior design is supposed to be a fun semester, but without losing sight of the proposal ideas. Dr. Ejaz wrapped the call by grouping up students who did not have a partner. Then, Dr. Ejaz and Prof. Notash discussed which group would be under the direction of which instructor. The last-minute 'housekeeping' topic wrapped up the call and both professors allowed time for last minutes QA session.
5/9/2020
Project Ideas
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An email was received from Prof. Notash requesting the teams to provide him with three proposed ideas. The ideas needed to be sent to the professor before the zoom presentation meeting that is scheduled to happen on Thursday, May 14th at 11:00 AM. The proposal ideas will include a block-diagram, a description of the project, and a budget. The description needs to be specific on why the submit, who is going to benefit from it, and what is it intended to do. The team got on the phone to discuss proposal ideas. The pros and cons of each potential idea were evaluated. Some ideas were disregarded and others were agreed upon. Overall, a consensus was reached on which ideas to email Prof. Notash for presentation.
5/14/2020
Presenting Proposal Ideas
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The zoom meeting started on time. Each group volunteered to go first, second, and so on. Our team presented last. The format of the meeting was for each team to present then, other teams of students will ask questions, provide feedback, and make suggestions on the ideas presented. Prof. Notash encouraged everyone to participate, to provide feedback, and to engage in other group presentations. Prof. Notash also provided his feedback after each peer gave their feedback. The feedback provided by our peers and professor was very valuable for our proposal ideas. Lastly, Prof. Notash asked the teams to rank their ideas from most liked proposal ideas to the least. Meeting ended with Prof. Notash giving the group closure, and requesting time for him to evaluate the ideas, and selecting the proposal idea that each team will take the task to make a reality.
5/20/2020
Selection of Smart Blinds
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An email was sent to our team in regards to the three proposed ideas. Prof. Notash highly recommended the proposed idea of Smart Blinds. The email included suggestions on our next steps of the proposal process.
5/28/2020
Setting the Next Meeting
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Email received from Prof. Notash with feedback on our progress. The feedback prompts our team to request a zoom meeting with our professor. Prof. Notash agreed to a zoom meeting set for Monday 6/1/2020 at 4:30 PM. The meeting request was to clarify the feedback, expectations, and ways to make sure our team was not focusing on the wrong things.
6/1/2020
Group Meeting and Feedback
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The meeting started on time. This zoom meeting covered the following touchpoints. Available resources for the students in the proposal phase. Prof. Notash availability, and ways to communicate with him before any document is submitted. To make sure the team is on the right track. Documenting the work, time, and effort put in each part of the proposal. Instruction on how our final document should look as when the group turns its final proposal in July. The process of resubmitting any design changes to the proposed idea. This includes a slight modification to the design, or anything for the matter when it comes to the design. Discuss access to Valencia Campus testing, printing, and facility- main point, the testing equipment. Prof. Notash was very positive, open, and provided us with significant feedback. Prof. opened the meeting to follow up questions from each individual, as well as, the group. Concerns were also exposed to the Professor. Then, the professor reviewed, allow students to provide feedback, and he gave his feedback on each group website and the website content. Lastly, Prof. Notash encouraged each group to set up weekly goals, update timelines, the website, documentation. There were no further questions. The zoom conference ended.
6/3/2020
Team Meeting & Further Questions
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Prof. Notash accepted and opened a canvas chat conversation with our group since our group had a few follow up questions on regards to clarification, direction, and expectations on updates. Some of the key points brought up on this chat was the following ; The next step for the proposal (Power budget). Proposal specifications and how should the session look like. The weekly updates. Prof. Notash kindly responded to our team concerns, providing our team with great suggestions, resources, and provided us examples of documentation.
6/14/2020
Preparing for the Next Meeting
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The team received an email from prof. Notash. The email is for each group to participate on a ZOOM call, every Monday, starting on Monday, June 15th, 2020. The meeting asked for each group to dedicate 30-35 minutes to go over any questions, concerns, and to also complete the following tasks before the ZOOM call. The requested list is below:
1) Component research status.
2) Proposal Document - Important to have already started inputting information under each chapter, especially, Abstract and Chapters 1 & 2. So be ready to demonstrate any work and updates for these chapters.
3) Have addressed all the issues and recommended changes for websites in the past two weeks.
6/15/2020
First Re-Occurring Monday Zoom Meeting
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The zoom meeting started on time at 3:30 P.M. This meeting covered the following topics: Set up clear expectations on how to proactively communicate with Prof. Notash since available mediums are not actively monitored 24 hours. For example: Canvas chat, discussion board, or email have to be arranged prior with the professor. Then, the team discussed with prof. Notash the power budget (sent via email), the specific findings on our research for each module, and the modules compatibility with the team's design. Furthermore, Prof. Notash suggested providing a quick 'back to the top' button at the bottom of each web page on the website. Next, Prof. Notash advised the team to review (if needed) any adjustments to the power budget calculations. Lastly, the meeting ended by discussing the website, report, and the adding of an additional system into the project design. The professor provided feedback on each of the above items, and the team will analyze the recommendations and implement them based on the suggestions made. Prof. Notash recommended to start purchasing some of the components and to move on to the implementation phase while the team continues to work on the proposal document. The team presented some of their concerns with adding an entirely new system incorporated into the design. The recommendation of an entire new system including auxiliary sensors in addition to the added humidity and temperature sensors. The auxiliary sensors, compiled into what we now call the "weather station", is for external use. This conflicts with the team's proposed design and scope for an entirely indoor solution for an "IoT" solar-powered automated blinds with custom settings and additional features. The team agreed to do more research and to find a way to implement this suggestion to fit with the design and scope of the existing project in lieu of photo-responsive blinds. Because of the time, the team agreed to end the zoom meeting with prof. Notash and will reach out to the professor via email for any further roadblocks or clarifications.
6/18/2020
Following Up in Canvas Chat
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The team met with Prof. Notash via canvas chat with the meeting starting on time at 2:00 P.M. The team had prepared some questions to ask the professor for advice on, given his experience with the methods used in past groups. Among these questions included fixing the formatting of the report so that it is congruent with the template when viewing the document as a guest and not just when editing the document. The professor advised the team to reach out to past groups for feedback. Following this, the team stated it was in the process of sourcing and buying the more well-researched components and asked the professor what he recommends would be the best use of our time as we focus on completing our proposal and drafting the soft copy of the report. Prof. Notash responded to this question by asking about the progress made on the addition of the new "weather station" system to be included in the design as suggested during Monday's zoom meeting. The team had re-vocalized some of the issues, as time was short Monday, such as staying within a reasonable budget and scope for the project, the original ambition and design behind the project before and after the suggested modifications were made early on, and the issue of time remaining in the proposal phase. The professor insisted that it would be in the team's best interest to include this new system into the proposal before it is suggested during the presentation by the members of the committee. This meeting concluded with the team needing to conduct further research and re-visit the prospective budget, focus, timeline, power budget, engineering requirements, and several other aspects of the proposal to accommodate this new system. Prof. Notash was thanked for his time and advisement. The meeting ended at 2:50 P.M.
6/22/2020
Work In Progress
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The group met with prof. Notash via ZOOM which the meeting started on time @ 3:03 PM. Prof. Notash evaluated the team's progress. We touched upon the major pointers about our progress. Those points were 1) Proposal Report 2) the website, 3) progress log with weekly meetings, and 4) status on the additional weather station design. The proposal report is still a work in progress: The team discusses with Prof. Notash the challenges with aligning the report, and how it looks distorted when it is made public on the website. The team also reached out to other groups and asked how these groups overcame this challenge. Our team is working on some of the alternative ideas given by other groups that had the same issue. A big thank you to Prof. Notash who provided our group with a crash (3 minutes) course on alignment, spacing, and page breaks. The website: Prof. Notash will like to see our weekly progress on the website. The suggestion comes from allowing the group to ask's questions before our weekly zoom Monday's meeting. These real-time updates include the other points previously touched on. The progress log, the weekly meeting, and additionally to add the power budget. The enhancement of the design: The group is going to work on adding the weather station. Once the group completes the research on the enhancements, the engineering requirements, the block diagram, the power budget, and the budget will be updated with the added information. Furthermore, Prof. Notash set the expectations for the upcoming week. The group is fully engaged in meeting the demands of the design. The group would like to thank Prof. Notash for his advisement, and continual feedback to improve upon our design.
6/29/2020
Revisions Regarding the Report
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The meeting started on time (via Zoom). The group presented a progress report on the following items: 1) Website 2) Progress log 3) Block diagram 4) Power budget & 5) Proposal report draft. This presentation included the addition of the power station. Prof. Notash asked if the document presented on today's call were accessible to view on the website? The answer was yes. Then, the draft proposal report was discuss. The discussion included chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5. Chapter 3, per Prof Notash, will take place in the second phase of the project. Prof. Notash provided feedback for the report. The group needs to include pictures or figures from the similar or existing projects and products. Another recommendation made by Prof. Notash was strongly recommending to include the Engineering requirements and the power budget on the report. For chapter 3, Prof. Notash advised for a short team biography, and expand on detailed information required in chapter 3. The team asked several final questions and Prof. Notash answered them.
7/8/2020
Canvas Chat Clarifications Conference
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The team met with professor Notash via canvas chat. Professor Notash agreed to meet with us from 2:00 PM until 2:30 PM because we needed clarification, to set expectations, and had some follow up questions for the final proposal report since our group did not have the weekly Monday meeting with professor Notash. Professor Notash started the meeting on time. The group asked the following questions. Q1) Do we include a tentative schedule for phase 1 and phase 2 in the report? Q2)For presentation since it was mentioned, do we know if it is going to be virtual or on-site? To follow up on that then, how long is the presentation? Q3) Does the half-hour include time for Q/A or should we aim for a half-hour without allotting time for a Q/A? Q4) Should we omit owned components from the budget? Q5) Will you be able to go over our finished report and provide us feedback before the submission deadline? We want to make sure everything in the report exceeds expectations before we submit The professor responded \ follow up to the questions asked. A1) Phase I is complete... However, a tentative Phase II will need to be developed and added. A2) Due to COVID-19, college does not allow any on-site activities... Everything is online at this time. Typically, each group is given about half-hour to present and at times with Q/A session. A3) You should consider a total of 35-40 mins max. This time, however, might be slightly different since there is a large number of groups presenting... Would recommend focusing on 35 mins max. A4) For the presentation only, you can create a separate table for owned components and an approximate $ figure. A5) Is your document finished? If it is, forward today or latest tomorrow and I will take a look. This is a busy time so don't wait till the last minutes.
7/9/2020
Proposal Pointers & Presentation Preferences
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The team received a couple of emails from Prof. Notash. The first email received by Prof. Notash was about extending the deadline for the group's final proposal report. The deadline moved to Sunday, July 12th to allow the professor more time to provide feedback for the groups. In the second email, Prof. Notash was asking the groups if they had a preference on which date the groups wanted to present their proposal to the committee. Our group responded to the email to Prof. Notash with a preference to present on Friday, July 17th.
7/11/2020
Last Minute Minutes
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The team received several reminder emails from Prof. Notash. The first email provided our team with some initial feedback on the final proposal reported submitted to Prof. Notash on Thursday, July 9th. The feedback was considered and the relevant changes were made to the final proposal reported before re-submitting the finalized hard-copy of the report. The second email included the following vital feedback for the group's final proposal report. The group needed to include a new section with the Fall semester timeline and schedule in Ch. 3 under the Budget Section. By Tuesday, July 14th, Prof. Notash requested from the groups a soft copy of our presentations for him to review, and provide us (the group's) with constructive feedback. The fourth reminder email included presentation dates and order for all groups. Proposal Presentations will be on Thursday & Friday, July 16th & 17th. Also, by the end of the day on Sunday, July 12th, each team's website should have all live documents up to date for the Communication Department (review panel) to review all documents. Final Proposal Presentation is going to be via ZOOM. Prof. Notash suggested to each group to be organized, each team member should know what they are presenting, and to not take more than 30-35 minutes to present. The groups should also allow for 5-7 minutes for the panel to ask any questions. In the last email, Prof. Notash included an insert from the course syllabus. The insert was about proper research citations and labeling them correctly to adhere to the IEEE standard and to avoid Plagiarism.