Class of 2008
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project Center: Silicon Valley, California
Major Qualifying Project: An automated system to allow researchers in Silicon Valley, California to operate remotely an optical telescope located in Alaska.
Tom Niemczycki
February 15, 2008
This is usually about the point in the term when you really start picking up the pace, and the same holds true when completing an off-campus project. We are rapidly developing, testing, and debugging code - striving as quickly as we can to get our project put together. I’ll enjoy a huge sigh of relief once all the pieces are working as a functional unit, but we’re not there yet. With all the project work going on, we’re also keeping the important MQP report in mind. With only a few more weeks left, we have our work cut out for us.
Over the last week the team has overcome some pretty challenging technical obstacles, but hit a few others as well. We were able to develop a driver that controls the telescope’s cameras and stores the acquired data in a file. We put together scripts to control functions of the telescope mount, and developed an elaborate driver program that coordinates the operation of the whole system. But, we’re still wrestling with converting our images to a proper format and writing some functions to automate the system’s operation.
Our project is heavily focused on software development, which is not what my textbooks over the last four years have been about. Rather than drawing on the knowledge that I’ve already demonstrated in homework assignments, I’m now in a position where I have to draw on the other side of a WPI education. I have to apply reasoning, problem-solving skills, and good engineering practices. These are skills that I have been honing all along in classes that emphasize creative design, and project work, team interaction.
There’s another side to this project as well - understanding and meeting the needs of the user. All along, we have been consulting with our project lead about what kind of interface she wants. The telescope system allows us to control lots of settings, but putting them all on a single interface would potentially hinder the usability of our system. So, we’re taking a minimalist approach to ensure that the telescope control will function exactly as the user wants.
Last weekend I checked out one of San Francisco’s most famous and popular landmarks - Alcatraz Island. Now a museum, the site was once federal prison for the most notorious criminals in the country. The only way to get out to the island, which is located in the middle of the bay, is by boat. Sightseers get dropped off on a small dock, from where they climb the equivalent of thirteen stories to the prison building. There, a fantastic audio tour guides them around the corridors. Visitors hear stories of how prisoners and guards lived, and about some of the most famous escape attempts. Adding to the experience are sound effects of guards and prisoners shouting from all directions, a spectacular detail that adds realism for visitors walking down the long corridors of this penitentiary. Since it was another sunny day in California, I was also able to enjoy some fantastic views of San Francisco and the Bay as well.
While visiting San Francisco, I made a trip up Telegraph Hill and up to the top of Coit Tower. The ground floor of the building is adorned with murals that depict scenes of the Bay Area from the turn of the last century. The observation deck of this famous structure offers a spectacular view of the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the weekend I also visited the Stanford University campus and went up to the top of its Hoover Tower, where I got a great view of the lower Bay Area.
Late this week my project team got word of a fantastic opportunity that we didn’t think would happen. Our project sponsor has been able to get funding and permission for the team to visit the telescope site. This means that next week we’re going to Alaska! I’m pretty thrilled about this, even though there’s a temperature difference of 90 degrees between here and there. We will go up there to deploy and test the system we have been designing - though this means that we have one less week to get the coding done and make sure it works properly. I’ll write more as the trip approaches, but for now we have to get back to work.
Until next week,
-Tom
