Timeline

CAVE CLIMATE MONITOR

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TIMELINE

GANTT CHART AND WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

We based our work breakdown structure (WBS) on the project requirements, and we established our timeline based off of our initial meeting with our client. Our four subsystems for our WBS include: wireless communication, hardware, physical enclosure, and power. For our Gantt chart, our primary concern was finishing the wireless communication by early February, working on secondary items next, and saving the physical enclosure for late March.

During the second semester, we updated our WBS to account for the SD card reader, DIP switches, and real time clock hardware. We also updated our Gantt chart by altering the gateway plan and delaying our 3D printed design and testing plans. Our Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) shown on the right illustrates these tasks. These main tasks consist of subtasks that need to be completed in order to completely finish the main task.

Unfortunately, we never got to testing in a cave environment because our parts were delayed and the caves were closed during the pandemic. However, we hope to test in caves later this summer if any of the team members are still around.

Click to enlarge

CONCISE NARRATIVE

October 2019:

Established requirements and met with client
Nodes and Sensors
We finished the node hardware ahead of schedule during the first semester. We decided to use Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology with an Arduino Uno microcontroller. We selected a low power climate sensor and ordered our parts.
Testing Nodes and Sensors

December 2019:

Two Node Communication

Three Node Communication

February 2020:

Adding More Hardware Components

Power

3D Printed Enclosure

March 2020:

Ordering All Parts for Final Project

3D Printed Enclosure

April 2020:

Delayed Parts

Final 3D Printed Enclosure

May 2020:

Waterproof

Finalized the Project

KEY MILESTONES COMPLETED

Project Tasks

Class Assignment Tasks

here

PROJECT CHALLENGES

Gateway Challenges

The gateway is the device that transmits the climate data from the cave entrance to the IoT. Originally, we planned on constructing our own gateway from scratch; however, constructing a gateway is a difficult, time-consuming project, and we decided to work with the capstone team whose project focused on the type of gateway that we needed.

Instead of having plans to construct a gateway, our new plan involved writing code for our nodes to connect with their gateway, and arranging a meeting to use their gateway for testing.

We wrote the code mid-March, and officially tested the gateway code in early May. Unfortunately, the client will have to purchase a gateway and set up the code with the new gateway since we did not purchase one (budget constraints).

3D Printed Design Challenges

In addition to the gateway change, our plan for when we 3D printed our enclosure and final testing date were delayed.

Our parts were delayed due to COVID-19, preventing us from knowing the final power consumption so that we could approve the final dimensions of our project for 3D printing.

2019-2020 - CAVE CLIMATE MONITOR