Microship Status 11/12/93

Steven K. Roberts

In This Issue:
Triumvirate Meeting Report
Final Comment On Road Width Limit
Thoughts On Micro Network Hardware
Tadpoles At Sea
Lab Security System
Cdt Status Report
Triumvirate Meeting Report

I inhaled pizza and beer last night with the division managers and John Studarus, and we actually managed to stay moderately focused on the subject at hand despite tidal forces to the contrary. In short, we concluded that the triumvirate should be in the loop on all my communication with involved students, and they need to get to know everyone well enough to help match people to tasks. This requires significant commitment, since they will have to learn just about everything about the Microship as it evolves rather than narrow their foci to single subsystems. If you're involved in the Microship in any way, please communicate with them as much as possible about your interests, special knowledge or resources, progress on your projects, problems, and anything else. At the moment, I'm able to be involved with all active projects... but then... there are very few underway and they are in the early stages.

The important thing here is that I *not* get so busy being a manager that I no longer have time for engineering, sponsor relationships, and writing.

Again, just for your reference, they are:

Electrical Engineering: Dan Perry
Mechanical Engineering: TJ Tyler
Computer Science: Jim Effros

Final Comment On Road Width Limit

I think we've pretty well nailed this issue: we will limit the boat in road mode to 8-foot overall width. The legalese in MS-11/10 notwithstanding, there are a lot of roads out there other than Interstates... here's Frank Araullo's follow-up message:

I called DMV this afternoon, and they said that max width is restricted to 96 inches on all California roads.

Besides, we have to think about other countries, and 8' is enough of a vehicular standard for vehicles sold worldwide that it is probably safe. Case closed.

Thoughts On Micro Network Hardware

As I mentioned in the last report, the I-squared-C interface on the PIC processors is limited to a trifling 400pF bus capacitance, which is not very interesting for inter-system use. I spoke with Charlie Faddis near Seattle last night, and he outlined the multidrop architecture he has been using for years with 8051 and DS5000 processors. It's nice... a single line, pulled low through 470 ohms by the TxD line of the host, routed around to the satellite processors accompanied by ground. At each site, a pair of transistors handle inversion, and anybody can pull the line up to initiate a transfer (once the right to speak has been bestowed by the master). It's a master-slave set up, with the master role passed around as a token. Each board has a letter designator, and each message begins with a couple of synch characters (==) followed by originator address, target address, printable string, and a carriage return. This is simple, and allows easy human access to the net. (In our case, the high-level protocol will have to be broadened to allow asynchronous requests and peer-to-peer chitchat, which of course introduces the need for collision-detection... though we could use polling to solve that problem.)

Charlie is sending more info on the hardware layer, which is simple enough that we may adopt it for the MCS network. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I'm studying PIC specs and still pondering the advisability of using this as the standard controller platform.

Tadpoles At Sea

John Studarus from Computer Science is now working on the Microship's file server, which will be a Tadpole SPARCbook, repackaged and stowed in the engineering section. This unix machine may also be the boat's link to the Internet, though we do have some stable software already that allows the Mac to run POP sessions via the Qualcomm OmniTRACS terminal. Having a variety of paths available is desirable, but complicates everything!

Anyway, if this architecture shapes up, it will add robustness to the high-level on-board network and provide plenty of server space -- as well as a brand of hackability familiar to the huge population of unix-C gurus out there on the Net. I'll periodically update you with developments in this area, or comments directly from John that might better justify the need for yet another computer on board!

Lab Security System

I suppose it's unwise to publish details about one's security system, but I do want to thank Jeremy Heath for spending a couple of hours here today wiring this. We now have very touchy sensors all over the place, with violent and dangerous responses to unauthorized intrusion. I'll sleep better on those nights when I actually leave here...

Cdt Status Report

I'm going to try to keep a log of the "Clearly Defined Tasks" that fall outside the purview of focused projects -- those random items that I periodically post here in the hope of finding volunteers. In general, this approach is working, but during the management soiree last night we did observe that it may be more effective in some cases to redefine "volunteer" as a transitive verb, if ya know what I mean...

Still, I like it best when someone responds spontaneously to a help request -- if you want to get to know other participants better, collect a bit of glory, and bask in the satisfaction of having nudged this mega-project along, please contact me about ANY item that you feel equipped to handle. Below, for reference, are the 26 CDTs I have listed in these reports, with the status of each noted. In future issues, I will ONLY list new ones, those that are still open, or those that have been recently completed. (Note that this only includes tasks I'm opening up to the group, not my own epic TO-DO list. You don't want to see that, believe me...)

CDT-1: Seaweed Canyon shop Cleanup. Completed 10/23 by Mark Jones, James Gerken, and Steve Roberts
CDT-2: Status report archive printing (ongoing) Being handled monthly by Frank Araullo
CDT-3: Extract GPS fixes from Traxar Completed 10/28 by Anthony Wei
CDT-4: CD library organization Completed by James Gerken, Sok Sun Chang, and Steve Roberts
CDT-5: Manufacturers literature filing (ongoing) Some help from Andrea Woo, more required to catch up
CDT-6: Acquire scale Completed 11/9 by Dave Wright
CDT-7: Dura-Point test on DOS machine Completed 10/28 by Frank Araullo
CDT-8: Pack and ship MV packages <H2><open></H2>
CDT-9: Pack and ship Tadpole SPARCbook *cancelled*
CDT-10: Lab cleanup before general meeting Completed
CDT-11: Install lab security system Completed 11/12 by Jeremy Heath and Steve Roberts
CDT-12: Set up Linear Recumbent Completed 10/28 by Dave Yao and Frank Araullo
CDT-13: Coaxial cable order from West Marine <OPEN>
CDT-14: Strobe light acquisition <H2><open></H2>
CDT-15: Buy name tags for general meeting Completed by Andrea Woo
CDT-16: pick up folding table for meeting Completed 11/5 by Trang Luong
CDT-17: pick up food for meeting Completed 11/6 by Trang Luong
CDT-18: Trailer width legal limit research Completed 11/10 by Frank Araullo
CDT-19: Tufram and Everslide info Source provided by Dave Berkstresser; info requested from mfr
CDT-20: Pneumatic system calculations In progress by James Gerken
CDT-21: Bring FTP site up to date Completed 11/11 by Steve Roberts; ongoing updates required
CDT-22: Complete table of weights for buoyancy calculations In progress
CDT-23: Acquire NMEA-0183 document Enroute from Frank Sharp
CDT-24: Build and test solar still for backup desalinator
CDT-25: Research legal lighting requirements


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