Gantt Chart

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eai7JoKS4-SE4TRvY1x45reza-LFdrIwurMMRec_IkI/edit#gid=398706816

1/12 Scale Team Introduction

Team members
 Henry Xie - Team Lead

Track and Rail
David Sales - Track Team Lead
Kenny Strickland - Track Team Member - Superway Project Tresurer
Ali Bootwala - Track Team Member

Controls
Nasrat Haidari - Controls Team Lead
Thomas Nguyen - Controls Team Member
Kenny Anagon - Controls Team Member

Cart and Pod
David Chen - Cart Team Lead
Byran Ho - Cart Team member

Project Scope
Our sub-team within the Spartan Superway Project is responsible with the development, advancement, and production of the small scale Superway model. Our goal this semester is to build on last years teams progress by expanding the track to a larger size and developing a controls system which will allow us to run multiple carts on the scale model. This model will also be used to demonstrate the use of the Superway system and its potential in the future. The Superway project is meant to create a automated public transportation system that can take you where ever you need to go without making several other time consuming stops. 

This year our team plans to expand the small scale model by making it a modular design such that parts of the track can be removed and replaced easily without additional modifications to the track. This will also be easier to model in a controls system since it can be modeled as a grid. This grid system can then be modified by like a train simulator game where parts can be removed and replace depending on that block location's needs. 

The carts team will be responsible for building more carts and modifying the electronics a bit to incorporate a WiFi module rather than a Bluetooth XBee module for ease of use and the number of units a single WiFi router can support. We would also like to perhaps research and design a new bogey system which more closely resembles the intermediate scales bogey. If that is not possible then a more reliable one should be designed as well. One problem of the previous semester's bogey was that it got caught on kinks in the rail system. Since our new track design will be a modular design we will still inevitably have these imperfections in our track and thus need slight modifications to improve reliability. Bogey modifications will also need to incorporate the possibility of traveling on inclines at stations to simulate a cart coming down to a station to pick people up.

The controls team will have the greatest task of all and that is to design a sensing system for the carts to avoid collisions with each other and other objects. They also have the task of creating the first prototype for the controls system that tells the carts where to go and the route they should take. One function we would also like to add is a user interface using an app to call for a cart to take you to another location. These are just a few of the tasks the controls team will have to work on. Since this is the largest part of the small scale project everyone will be working with or on some parts of the controls system.

Scale Model Proposal

Team Roster

Henry Xie - Team Lead - Skills: SolidWorks, C++, OpenCV, Java

• Organize the production of the small scale track for the Spartan Superway, will also assist in programming and guiding the team to follow the vision of this project

Track and Rail Team

David Sales - Track/Rail Lead - Skills: AutoCAD, Inventor, C++, Machining, Arduino

• Organize the design and production of the track\rail system

Kenny Strickland - Track Team Member - Team Treasurer

• Organization, distribution, and explanation of CAD drawings

Ali Bootwala - Track Team Member

• Responsible for helping design the track and creating deliverables list of materials

Controls Team

Nasrat Haidari - Controls Lead - Skills: Programming and Design

• Responsible for designing controls and sensors for the track system which includes cart location, and collision avoidance

Thomas Nguyen - Controls Team Member - Skills: SolidWorks, C, OpenCV, Design

• Programming control system

Kenneth Aganon  - Controls Team Member - SolidWorks, Arduino, C++, Machining

• Assisting in programming controls for carts

Cart/Pods Team

David Chen - Cart/Pods Lead - Skills: CAD Drawings and Machining

• Lead in design and production of small scale carts, and creating new carts

Bryan Ho - Cart/Pods Team Member - Skills: C++, Arduino, SolidWorks

• Assisting in design and production of small scale carts

Small Scale Power - Sub-group from Power team

Ivan Servin - Small Scale Power Lead - Creo, AutoCad, C++, Machining

• Responsible for solar and wayside power of track

Brian To - Small Scale Power Team Member - Skills: MatLab, Python, Arduino

• Design and a power management of small scale track

Allen Wai - Small Scale Power Team Member - Skills: Arduino, Welding, MatLab

• Design and production of wayside power for track

Proposal Narrative

This year there are a few things that I want to get accomplished with the small scale track. Below are a each of the sub team division and the goals I have for those teams.

For the track group, I would like them to work with the small scale solar and power team to design a modular track system which can be laid out into a grid. Each component such as turns, stations, forks, and straight aways would be design with a standard unit length such that components can be easily swapped out without modifications. This would make the track virtually infinitely expandable as long as we have materials and space. This would also make modeling the track in our controls system more easily due to the grid modular design. It would essentially be similar to a “train simulator game” where tracks are laid down in units.

For the controls group, I would like them to start doing object oriented programming for the carts. This can be easily done by programming in Java or C++ and programming then using classes or objects. Currently we have a problem with positioning but if we use a grid modular design we can estimate a carts location within each cell rather than getting its exact location. Collision avoidance could also be done by foreseeing which there the cart will be next and letting the one who's going straight, or going faster go first. This can be done by reducing the speed of the cart going second. Furthermore, as another safety precaution, the proximity sensors will sense if the carts are in close proximately with one another and will reduce the speed accordingly. The controls team will also be responsible for designing the carts circuitry and programming which most likely will use the original Arduino board, however a wifi chip may be needed instead to use a WiFi router as the communication system since for its speed and ability to communicate to multiple devices, this can be done by creating a server and client system using web based applications. Lastly if we we could create a reliable local positioning system, we could use it to represent our real life GPS positioning system so our control system would be more applicable in the real world. Not only that, based on our research for a local positioning system, if we are successful with that, we would also be rich, since that's the next big thing.

Finally for the cart and pod team, I would like them to redesign bogey slightly so it uses the same arm mechanism that is on the intermediate cart rather than the shifting wheels. The other goal for the cart team is to also produce at least three carts for this project for demonstration purposes, and if we have the resources perhaps up to 10 if we have the resources and the controls system up and running.

There is a lot of work to do for this project and with a team of 9, we have a lot on our plates. This is mostly what we plan to do, and as you can see there aren’t as many task for the track/rail and cart/pods group, this is because I plan on completing those tasks early so we can seriously develop the controls system for this project. Once completed it can then be implemented on the intermediate scale project whenever it is ready for it in the future. I would also like to note that these are the goals, however I, and everyone in the group, would like to work on different parts of the projects. This will help with integration of the different parts of the project while still maintaining groups with a focus in their sub-division.

Deliverables

By the end of this project our we would like to deliver a working model of the small scale system with multiple carts and a functioning control system. If really successful we would also be able to deliver a reliable local positioning system and a plausible control system that could be applicable on an intermediate scale system.

Sketches or Drawings

Figure 1. Sketch of how the grid system would work.

Figure 2. Flow chart of command center and cart communication prototype

Schedule

Currently we are in the design phase, we will mainly be redesigning the carts to have a bogey that more closely resembles the intermediate scales bogey. At the same time we would also be planning out the track design, since we already have a station designed and fabricated from the previous year we may base our unit length on that station and build upon it to avoid spending unnecessary time on the designing just the track. Since our main goal is the control system for this project we would start planning out our software are programming early. We would generally spend part of the first semester understanding the old code when we get the source code and start programming as soon as possible. The second semester will be used to fabricate the actual model and then implementing all the systems together and fine tuning until its silky smooth.

Budget

We do not yet know the budget for this raw material since there is material that has already been bought by last years year’s small scale team however we would need money to buy several Arduinos and their WiFi boards, motors, speed controllers, and a computer to be used as a server.