Progress & Results

As an American Novelist Don Williams Jr. once said - "The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same.Yet our lessons come from the journey not the destination."

This indeed is a description of the journey that Team BASK has had during the course of this project.

Process

The purpose of this project as defined by the Problem Statement was for Team BASK to learn valuable skills applicable to the job market by desiging and implementing a Reconfigurable Computing Card (RCC).

The first step that Team BASK took was defining the problem, or in our case what we needed to do. This was done by understanding the problem.  Once all of the team members had a good understanding of what we needed to done, the team began specifying parts to meet the specifications or requirements laid out by SEAKR Engineering. 

Team BASK during the research stage did Trade Studies (for the main components) to examine the different options available to them.  Based on these Trade Studies the components were selected for the RCC.  The design of the RCC was captured on a document referred to as a Flysheet.

Once the main components were selected, the team started the schematics for the RCC.  Team BASK along with Todd Hardin of SEAKR Engineering conducted a meeting to review the hardware design of the RCC.  This was done to catch any potential mistakes in the design. The completion of the hardware design was a significant milestone in the RCC design.

After completion of hardware design of the RCC, Team BASK with the assistance of Todd Hardin began to layout the RCC onto a printed circuit board (PCB). Initially SEAKR Engineering had planned to do the layout for Team BASK, but due to time constraints, SEAKR Engineering asked Team BASK to do the layout.

Team BASK first had to select a layout software (PCB123), learn the layout software, as well as learn how to layout a PCB.  The team initially selected software (Express PCB) that didn't have the functionality or support that was needed.  Team BASK was familiar with a sister program of Express PCB: Express SCH which was used to drawup schematics.

Team BASK began software development when the board was being laid out.  Documents referred to as Flysheets were created to capture the design of software.  The completion of the Flysheets as well as the layour was a significant milestone in the RCC Design.

First Semester

During the first semester we designed the hardware for Reconfigurable Computing Card (RCC).  The results of the semester can be seen in the shematics.  To see the schematics click here.

Second Semester

During the second semester, Team BASK worked to get the Reconfigurable Computing Card built.  Throughout the rest of the semester, the team hopes to implement three separate FPGA images or programs demonstrating the functionality of the RCC.  The Three images are as follows:

1. Traffic Light Controller

2. Blackjack Game

3. Quine-McCluskey Algorithm