Week of 3/19/12

This week served as another big week to prepare for a successful water demo. We spent a good amount of time wiring all the circuits exactly as the wiring diagram showed. In the end upon placing the electronics rack into the sub, the laptop was not able to communicate with the Arduino board controlling the thrusters. Initially we assumed a problem in the wire connecting to the Seacon, but after removing the rack and trying with a direct cable it was in fact the Arduino had acquired a problem. The only conclusion to be made was maybe the board had shorted due to the metal standoffs. This was a questionable concern with the motor drivers as well. In conclusion we will switch from the metal standoffs to nylon. This will remove any uncertainty with the standoffs. The hardware demo will be postponed for the upcoming week.