NASA Minds 2024 Winner
NASA Minds is an annual competition focused on solving technical challenges associated with the Artemis mission. Over 40 schools participate each year, developing Conceptual Design Reports (CDR), Preliminary Design Reports (PDR), and technical papers. Teams that excel in the CDR and PDR stages receive funding from NASA to test and build their designs. Ultimately, each team must write a comprehensive technical paper. The top five teams are invited to present a live demonstration to a panel of NASA engineers. One winner is selected based on the most innovative project and best live demonstration.
I held a leadership role in driving both the detailed design and high-level architecture of our inventory tracking system. I was responsible for designing the functionality of each sub-system for REALM (RFID-Enabled Autonomous Logistics Management)
Drivers for the design include a limited budget, and the technical abilities of community college students. The projected to not only work but also meet all of the requirements
Drivers
The design was driven by a limited budget and the technical abilities of community college students. The goal was to create a project that could be fabricated and function effectively while meeting all of NASA's requirements.
Echo
Echo is our basic item localization system, designed by placing antennas around a room in predefined locations. Each antenna is assigned to a specific area, so when an antenna detects an RFID signal, we know the RFID tag is located within its area of detection.
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Each antenna operates on a unique channel. We switch between antennas one at a time using an RF relay. Data is gathered from each channel and used to create a heat map, where the hottest points indicate the most likely location of the RFID tag.
Eureka
Eureka is our second system within REALM, designed to provide more precise RFID localization, capable of pinpointing RFIDs to within 10 cm.
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Echo initially identifies the general location of an RFID tag to within 50 cm. If multiple RFIDs are detected within this range, Eureka is then used to determine the exact tag location from a pile of different tags.
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Eureka differentiates between RFID tags by measuring the signal strength of each tag. As the correct tag gets closer to Eureka, the signal strength increases.
By using Echo and Eureka together, a user can locate and retrieve an item within 30 seconds.
