Similar to the last few weeks, BluePay has continued to work on our individual tasks. To save everyone time on scrolling to see what they are I`ll repeat them here. Our individual tasks are to work on the survey questions, work on getting the IRB application approved, work on the trilateration algorithm of the three BLE beacons, and to code the app on Android Studios. We`re about to finish wrapping up work on the survey questions and IRB application. A lot of focus is being put into the coding of the app! This week we also ordered more BLE beacons and another Pixel 3 smartphone to do testing in Gainesville too!

In less than two weeks, BluePay will present our QRB2 presentation. We still have some work to do before that point, however. We have to fill out our product testing form and update all of our prototype videos and slides. After the QRB2 we`ll be conducting our customer trials and working on our FDR report outline! We`re making great strides towards the completion of the project. 

This week BluePay worked a lot on all of our individual tasks. These tasks include working on the IRB application, the survey questions and protocols, the trilateration algorithm, and coding our app design in Android Studios. BluePay is moving full steam ahead with all of these tasks still as this makes up the bulk of the remaining work. This past weekend, all members of the team completed their IRB training in order to be able to oversee the consumer trial study that we wish to undergo. 

Next week will be a lot more of the same when it comes to the overall workload. We are all working hard towards our individual tasks. Next week we will buy 3 more BLE beacons and Pixel 3 smartphone to be used in the Gainesville trials. In the next few weeks, we plan to start chipping away at the FDR outline assignment because we know how much work writing these reports can be. The Gantt chart included in this post shows BluePay`s upcoming schedule and we look forward to finally being able to put everything together!

This week, BluePay attended our first Quality Review Board on Tuesday! We displayed and showed off everything that we have worked on so far in the project. We used videos to show our status on the design of the app, BLE beacon connection and POS system walkthrough. We also showed the QRB committee our project schedule and risks table. The team received a lot of positive feedback from the committee that we will apply to our project. We definitely believe that this was our best presentation yet.The next few steps of the project involve BluePay working on our individual tasks. These tasks include creating a survey, coding the design of the app into Android Studios, and testing the trilateration algorithm. The team will also look into getting our survey IRB approved. The team is going full steam ahead for these tasks so that we can begin testing as soon as possible!

This week BluePay has worked hard to make changes to the design of the app in order to meet all of the specifications given to us by our project liaison! Once we get his final approval, we will be able to implement the design into Android Studios. When this implementation is complete, BluePay can begin to test the prototype and the trilateration algorithm before running trials with participants. Next week is the first QRB event. BluePay has worked on preparing a presentation for the event this week which includes preparing short videos of the different components of the system that have been worked on so far. We plan to practice the presentation before delivering it and we hope that the coach’s are impressed with the work that we have done so far!

Welcome back! After a much-needed break, BluePay is hard at work again. We have already established a weekly meeting time with both our team coach and our liaison for the semester. In these meetings, BluePay showed off the progress that was made over the break. The team worked hard to get ahead by designing the app on Figma. In a few days, BluePay will be able to start implementing the design into Android Studios. This challenge poses the team its biggest obstacle in the coming weeks but BluePay will tackle it head on. At the end of the month, BluePay will attend the first QRB event. We look forward to receiving the panel`s feedback and to use this feedback to make improvements to the project. The team is still currently working on creating the videos and presentations for the event. We look forward to another exciting semester of IPPD!

This week BluePay presented the System Level Design Review (SLDR) to our AMEX sponsors and to all attending IPPD groups. We got very positive feedback as they were impressed with the work that we have accomplished this semester. Subsequently, we have sent the sponsors our SLDR report and they have given us their approval by signing it!

The SLDR event was the last major event of the semester and we can’t believe that its already over. The semester has flown by but BluePay was able to accomplish and learn a lot! This semester has been rewarding for all of us and we can’t wait to continue in Spring. In the coming months, we will design the user interface of the app on Figma and will begin implementing our trilateration algorithm into a real system. A screenshot of the SLDR event can be seen here. We’ll see everyone again in January!

This week BluePay delivered the SLDR peer review presentation to receive constructive criticism and feedback. We`ve taken the feedback and applied it to the SLDR presentation that we will give next week! We`ve also worked on the SLDR report and are now so close to the finish line for this semester!

Next Tuesday is the SLDR presentation where we will show American Express everything that we have worked on throughout the semester. Once we get their approval on the SLDR report, the semester will be all but wrapped up. Over the winter break, BluePay plans to work on a few of the scrum sprints in order to stay ahead of schedule

This week BluePay delivered our Prototype Inspection Day presentation! It was a great learning experience as the sets of judges watched our video demo and gave us their feedback on the overall project.

The key things we learned for the future was to mention how we plan to tackle security issues and to provide more diagrams to better show the purpose of the project. Overall, we got excellent feedback from the judges and it builds confidence for our project going into the spring semester!

In the next two weeks, we plan to learn how to use Figma, a user interface design tool. This will allow us to make the user interface of our app much more user friendly. We also plan to begin implementing the hardware pieces into our project because we finally received the Pixel 3 phone! BluePay will work on creating the SLDR presentation and report for after Thanksgiving. These are the last two major deliverables for the semester!.

This week BluePay has been working rigorously on our design report and prototype inspection day presentation! We have been putting the final pieces together on our prototype, including the connection between the POS backend and the app back end. We have decided to go with a presentation of the work that BluePay has worked on since giving the PDR presentation. Within our PowerPoint, we will show short clips of the app running on an emulator and of the POS system communicating with the app. We can also show the connection made between the emulator and a dummy beacon. Prototype inspection day is on Tuesday next week and we can’t wait to show everyone what we have worked on so far and to receive feedback. After prototype inspection day, BluePay will meet with a Figma tutor next week in order to better understand how to design a friendly user interface. The last major report left for the semester is the SLDR report in December and a major section of it has already been written with the writing of the design report! We will continue to use SCRUM project management and the completion status of the project should be in good shape by the time we reach winter break!

This week, Team BluePay finally begun prototyping! After all the research we’ve done so far this semester, BluePay decided on which BLE beacons and Android device we will use for the prototype. We decided to purchase Google Pixel 3’s for app testing and Blue Charm iBeacons for BLE signaling.

Each team member spent this week working on their assigned tasks for this sprint. The team decided we should prioritize the development of the app and the BLE signals because these components are most important to prototype. The app is the main focus of the project, so having a functioning app with plans for improved UI design is the first step to a successful prototype. We can already successfully parse simulated BLE signals, so our prototype will include this simulated parsing. Integration of the POS front-end and back-end will occur after the app has a basic functionality.

Next week, the team will be continuing development for the prototype, in addition to preparing our prototype presentation and submitting a design report. Since we are focusing on simulating the Bluetooth signals and Android app for the prototype, we are waiting until after the prototype is presented to integrate the hardware that we ordered this week.