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Blog 2017 05 05 Spring
We had a bunch of new requirements that came up out of nowhere. We designed our software to visual and present data, not send anything back the other way.
This weekend is a huge test launch that most of the HART team will be attending. All the computer scientists in our sub team will be there. I am currently torn between working on the new requirements after code freeze or continuing on with the 3D visualization. Either way, work will continue. Lights and displays on the groundstation (the box full of hardware) is now being integrated.
Huge last-minute changes due to new requirements for locating the rocket. We will be controlling the launch button which requires taking security measures into account. We had designed our software to take lots of data in and be able to handle that in any way, not send data anywhere.
This week we got our poster approved. I personally did not get much work done this week because of midterms and preparing for the launch this weekend.
During this launch on Saturday we are launching our sustainer so I will be able to see how well the live line graph actually works at a higher and faster launch. Also with the new parachute changes that are being put in can be put in next week.
My two midterms and my two quizzes. I had to study for all them took up so much time. I have to thank my great team for their support.
This week we got hit by massive last-minute scope creep. The avionics team thought that we were writing software to control the groundstation this entire time, but didn't mention it to us until yesterday: the day before we left for our second and final test launch. We have been working furiously to try to get the groundstation ready for the real launch in June, but many of our initial design parameters may have to be compromised to meet these new requirements.
We are leaving to Brothers this weekend for the second test launch. After the launch, I plan on continuing to work on the new groundstation control portion of the code. We have met all of our requirements, and were simply polishing our stretch goals at this point, so I plan on personally halting all work on those stretch goals and working with the avionics team to make sure they are ready for the final launch.
The day before we left for our second test launch, the avionics team revealed to us that they were expecting us to control various aspects of the groundstation. For example, lights, LCD, and the launch button. This is an enormous last-minute change in requirements. We designed our software from the beginning to only collect data and to be extremely stable so that data isn't lost. However, if we are controlling the actual launch codes, our primary concern becomes safety, and the parameters of our entire software package changes. Our software was simply not designed with these concerns in mind, and adding them with one month to go after eight months of work may prove problematic.
OSU High-Altitude Rocket Team