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    Elab Internship: Week 5 Day 3

    Week Five, Day Three

    Mars Check-In System

    Daily Goals

    Today I will rework the physical modifications to the module, reverting it back to its original, simple self. I will also tackle the WAN communication protocol that allows querying to the server beyond the confines of the local network. All associated software modifications will be done today as well to complete this development. My final goal is to deploy a "working" system of server and module by the end of the day.

    Daily Report

    I was very successful today with both the modification of the module and the establishment of the WAN communication protocol. The Module now responds to an affirmative tag with a single long led blink. A denied tag receives a flurry of five fast blinks. When the module is restarted, the LED blinks twice fast to indicate it is ready for operation.
    On the software side, I discovered that my previous use of the Ethernet Shield was incomplete. Though operational, the arduino was not able to communicate with the router for the building, and therefore stuck to communicate with machines on this side of the switch. To remedy this, I introduced three new programmable attributes to the module: Router IP, Subnet Mask, and DNS. These three additional communication protocols allow the arduino to communicate with any machine in the world, gently extending its applicability. However, these three changes have affected every program in the Mars arsenal so far, necessitating a change to the MRC and the Server. However, after much fiddling, I was able to synchronize all systems. I successfully released Mars Server version 1.0.4 with this addition and have returned the module to its original place.
    The order was placed for additional materials to begin constructing more Modules. The next steps in development is to test the server with multiple modules interacting at the same time. The system is fast, but I am concerned with its ability to handle multiple queries in quick succession. Steven has helped me develop a switchboard idea that may be the next installment to the Mars family. We will see when the parts arrive. The attendance application has been tables for later development.
    Tomorrow I will switch gears and record the video tutorial for Redstone: Electrifying Minecraft as well as create its corresponding wiki. Dr. Bill has given me access to the physics server and administrative privileges over a Minecraft-edu folder. It is there I plan to host the videos as well as the wiki entries and world downloads for the EML Curriculum.

    Hours Report

    Today: 8
    Week: 27
    Total: 160.5

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