User:CFernandez/ENES-100/Bicycle turn signal

Week 1 Narrative
For my first project in ENES-100, myself, along with Asad Gillani, Eldrick Kinmakon, Arien Motaher, and Kevin Szostak, have been tasked with creating a turn signal for a bicycle. Seeing as the Bicycle turn signal project was my first choice (primary interest), I was pretty excited when I realized I was chosen to work on it.

During our first team meeting the group familiarized ourselves with one another, brainstormed for general ideas of what everyone would like to see from the project, and gauged individual interests. After the brainstorming was completed we can up with some basic areas of the project that were going to require attention- I decided that I would task myself with looking into lighting. Knowing that a turn signal would require some form of lighting, I decided that even a basic knowledge of the different options we have available would be necessary.

When trying to decide which form of lighting would be ideal for the project, I came up with some pros and cons of the options I found, and concluded that LED's (light emitting diodes) would be the best choice.

Week 2 Narrative
My second week on the bicycle turn signal project saw me continue my research into the lighting aspect of the project, as well as dabble a little in the interface aspect of the project.During week one I looked over the 'basics' of lighting in regards to the turn signal- mainly with an emphasis on which options were available, and what would be cost effective. After deciding LED's were the most feasible option, I decided that during week 2 I would task myself with researching the form factor of the LED components, as well as specifics such as their power draw, and how they will best interface overall with the project.

Initial brainstorming had me believe believe that I would simply be able to hook up numerous LED's in the form of arrows using a breadboard as the interface, find a casing to cover them, and this would be able to work as a display. After researching what a breadboard is, it became apparent that while this idea would technically be possible- it would not provide the most logical mounting for the LED's themselves and wiring such a project would not be ideal. The breadboard, while maybe useful for proofs of concept, ideally should not be viewed as a component for a finished project. A breadboard itself is simply a small reusable unit designed to allow the flow of current- acting as a circuit; circuits found in finished electronic projects are usually tailored specifically to that project. The particular bread board I am using during the process of this project is a solder-less board- this poses its own issues in terms of connection between points. There are breadboards that allow you to solder components such as LED's to the board, which lead me to the idea of creating an LED matrix as the display.

When looking into the form factor the LED's should take, and after realizing the solder-less nature of my breadboard, I realized that the long stem anodes and cathodes of the LED's I had on hand posed an issue. Due to the long legs of the LED's causing their form factor to be somewhat flimsy, I decided surface mounted LED's would be ideal for the project. Surface mount LED's are are LED's designed with the specific purpose of being affixed to to a PCB (printed circuit board) by way of soldering. At this point I discussed materials with professor Dolge to see what components were readily available, what would need to be created, and what would need to be ordered. After receiving his feedback, I decided that ordering a pre-made matrix would allow for more time to research the interfacing of the breadboard, matrix, and the Arduino that will be feeding the instructions.

Week 3 Narrative
The third week of the bicycle project saw me take on many different tasks. One of the first things I did was gather project updates from my team members; Over the course of week one and two I assigned myself numerous tasks as well as help guide my team mates in partaking in tasks that would push the project forward. Once I gathered updates on the progress my team had made, I compiled all of our information (including my work from weeks prior), and crafted a brief presentation that would reflect the work accomplished thus far, and outline the tasks still left to be completed. With a tentative list of tasks still in need of completion, I conferred with my group and decided that having a prototype of the blinker was the task that required the most attention. I would spend the remainder of the week attempting to have the same amount of lights that would light up on a matrix lit up on a bread board, as well as having a push button set to activate it.

In preparation for having the breadboard and LED's working in tandem I cordoned off all the required material, and made sure a viable power source was in place. Initially there were issues having even one LED light up as there were weak connections points on the breadboard, and many slots were very difficult to penetrate (probably lending to the difficulty).

Week 4 Narrative
''During week four my group had a very basic prototype for the turn light signal. The purpose this prototype served was to help in choosing the dimensions the final product should take, as well as decide the shape and placement the LED's would take. My contribution to the initial prototype was deciding what surface the LED's would be affixed to, how the LED's would be mounted to said surface,and how many LED's would be used for the the turn signal.

Knowing that this was a very early prototype and numerous adjustments would need to be made, I knew that access to the LED connections would be paramount, this is why the rear of the surface was left open rather than construct something that would enable it to be closed. Simple, easily attainable materials were used for the sake of time, with plans to implement more permanent solutions later on ''