Goals:

Our goals for this week were:

• Order, receive parts
• Acquire and build test set-up
• Begin build of circuit components for interfacing with peripherals

Work Completed:

This week we submitted our Design Proposal, as well as ordered and received our parts. We were also able to locate a bucket that we believe will serve as our test reservoir, that already had some of the fittings needed to mount of valve and flow meter on. Over the weekend, we continued to assemble the test reservoir, and acquired the necessary PVC components to finalize the mounting of the valves.

Adam got the solenoid valve working and powered using the wall adapter and power transistor. We will now be able to interface with the PIC. Additionally, the DC provided to the solenoid valve will be used to provide the necessary voltage to the flowmeter.

Current Challenges:

As of now, neither of us have used I2C before, so interfacing and communicating with our temperature and humidity sensor we believe will be a challenge for us both. We hope to get this protocol completed soon, as acquiring this data will allow us to begin implementing our temperature algorithm.

Upcoming Goals:

We will begin interfacing the PIC with the moisture sensor over I2C to attempt to create a connection as we have never used I2C before. Adam will be looking at this part while Christer will be working with the flow sensor and looking over the specifications for communicating with the PIC. If the connection can be made and data transmission occurs, we will then put water through the flow sensor and attempt to record some data.