Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Log [12/09/2014]

Log [12/09/2014]:
It's finals week, which is a mixed bag for most of us. Some are completely done with finals, or the end is in sight, so we have more time to devote to the project. Others are swamped and virtually unreachable. We send out our best wishes to our team, and to all other students going through the finals-week(s) struggle!

We have had some progress and updates this week so far, so here we go! 

Data:
Poster update: We did a mock presentation of our first draft of the poster that John, Erika, Daniel Canales, and Hamza will be taking to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco next week. We got some great feedback and are looking into finalized printing options.

John Cao and Erika Marrero do a review our AGU poster with Dr. Dunbar and Dr. Bering


SD Shield update: We believe it was a hardware error (or soldering problem) that caused out heartache from Thanksgiving. Using another Adafruit datalogger shield we have successfully initialized the SD card and ran a very simple example sketch.

ADC Shield update: We have been fighting with the Iowa Scaled Engineering ADC shield and being baffled by the lack of response when we run the basic sketch that comes with the library. After a weekend of confusion, we verified that one of the jumpers on the board was misarraged. With that mystery solved, it is now time to delve into the library code and learn how to use this two-in-one multiplexer and analog-to-digital converter!

VLF Update: I worked with Dr. Bering today to get to work on the OrCAD layout file. We started from the OrCAD Capture project file, specifically the schematic: where we specific the type of connector I wanted to put into the circuit. However, when we tried to look at the footprint (i.e. the actual shape we wanted for the connector and where it should go on the board) using OrCAD layout, there was a conversion error. Dr. Bering understands what happened better than I do. We'll get back at it tomorrow.

DC EF Update: I'm not smart enough to understand what Chris is doing, but he says he feels really good about the work he's been able to get done with him and Dr. Bering in the lab at the same time, so I'm excited to his end result! He also is optimistic about having a test-able device by January 11th.

Goals For Next Few Days:
- Get ADC shield for Arduino to intake multiple sensors and write to SD card shield (test using power supplies)
- Finalize poster layour
- Print poster

Written By:
Rachel Gamblin (USIP-UH member)

Monday, December 8, 2014

Meet the USIP-UH Team


Ever wonder who the future researchers of tomorrow are? What they look like? What they study and what they do after class? Well here's a psot devoted specifically to you! And anyone else who might be interested in who is behind all this balloon science.

From left to right in the photo, going through the back row, and then looping back from right to left in the front is:

Daniel Canales:
Likes biking, moutaineering, and working hard as a mule. Studying Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston.
Sikender Shahid:
Likes coding in his spare time. Arduino projects and Codecademy? Basically a pass-time for him. Studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston.
Edgar Bering:
(wait! He's not a student! ...Check him out here: http://nsmn1.uh.edu/ebering/ )
Hamza Ahmad:
DotA 2 fiend. Studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston.
Chris Bias:
Nintendo DS fiend, and an all-around jolly old chap! Best hand-writing of any guy on campus. Studying Physics and Math (double major!) at the University of Houston.
John Cao:
A guy who speaks softly, but jokes strongly. Studying Environmental Science at the University of Houston.
Erika Marrero:
Strong lady who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Studying Geosciences at the University of Houston.
 Daniel Hermosillo:
Likely to be found any given day on campus. Studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston.
Michelle Nowling:
Michelle is new to the team, but she is diving right in with her astronomy based project to be revealed this Friday. She has her very own website detailing all about the cool research she has already been apart of. We're so glad to have her on our team! Her website: http://michellenowling.weebly.com/
 Rachel Gamblin: 
A senior in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. She likes to swim and has a long term goal of competing in a triathlon before she is 25. More reliably, she tends plants in the UH greenhouse, and studies for exams in the Engineering Computing Center. Also she has a tendency to talk for long hours about the various projects she's working on, so for any questions about USIP-UH, being a SWE officer, or UH engineering in general, feel free to contact her at rbgamblin@uh.edu or at (832) 890-9731. She is (normally) very friendly, and always likes to help people out! Obligatory: She is also looking to start a mechanical engineering career in the Aerospace industry.
Megan Pina (gray UH shirt):
Likely to be found saving a dog in need or putting out a family fire any given day. Studying Geosciences at the University of Houston.