Gator Waves began this week by preparing for Prototype Inspection Day, which was Tuesday, March 22. On Monday, the electrical engineers were able to debug the issue with the DAC and FPGA connections so that the striker rod could be fired using the FPGA. This was showcased at PID, along with the work the mechanical engineers have completed so far in manufacturing the final assembly. Feedback from the judges of the event was mainly positive, with some requests to include MATLAB simulations in the appendix of our presentation, as well as to discuss real-world applications.

Moving on from the event, the mechanical engineers spent the week manufacturing the base plate, getting more solenoid covers 3D printed, and ordering four additional linear rails for the final design. Next week, they will focus on completing the z-brackets and solenoid bases, 3D printing the remaining sensor mounts, and assembling the available components. The electrical engineers worked on testing the controller with the moving striker rod, continuing work on the PCBs, and integrating the power supply with the final design. On Friday, the controller was finally debugged to the point that it properly responded to the position input from the encoder. Moving forward, focus will be shifted to fine-tuning the controller, testing the power supply with an LDO, and getting the PCBs ordered.