Group6

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Revision as of 21:08, 2 March 2008

Executive Summary

This section is much like an abstract and summarizes the entire report

Introduction

This section should include an introduction of the product and a brief description of group members (i.e. who was responsible for which sections or tasks)

Before Disassembly Section

The DeLorme Earthmate GPS PN-20 is housed in a waterproof, impact-resistant rubberized casing. The unit’s dimensions are 2.43” W x 5.25” H x 1.5” D and it weighs 5.12 ounces. It has 75 MB available storage for user-uploaded maps and a proprietary Kalman filter for enhanced GPS accuracy. The unit’s accuracy is less than within 15 meters and has a 0.05 meter/second steady state velocity accuracy. The STMicroelectronics chip technology with SiGE front-end and DeLorme’s firmware allows for faster acquisition times and exceptional signal retention. The warm acquisition is about 15 seconds and the cold acquisition time is approximately 60 seconds. 2 AA batteries are used to power the unit for up to 22.5 hours of use or it can use an included travel power kit. The unit’s display is a sharp high-resolution 2.2” transflective TFT color display.

The Earthmate GPS PN-20 can store waypoints, tracks, routes, and the base map data in its internal memory. Maps can be saved to the internal memory or the removable memory card. The unit can be used to save or gather information about a map object, such as name, latitude and longitude, elevation, and additional comments. Objects can also be marked and saved as waypoints.

-Chase Howard
General notes about the product (it's condition, how it works, how many parts, types of materials, etc)

General Accessories for GPS

Safety Strap- This device allows for the GPS unit to be safely carried without dropping it. The strap firmly attaches to the GPS unit and loops around the users hand. The strap then has a slider that can be pulled up to the wrist to tighten the strap to the users wrist size.

Safety Strap

GPS Charger with Outlet and Car Extensions- These accessories charge the battery of the GPS unit. They allow for charging anywhere that an outlet is accessible, or for charging in the car through the cigarette lighter.

GPS Charger

USB Connector- The USB Connector is used to transfer data and information to and from the GPS unit. Data recorded can be uploaded from the GPS to a computer and vice versa.

USB Connector

Portable Package Kit- Contents included various charging equipment for the GPS unit. These contents were; 8-pin-to-Mini-USB Connector, Lithium-Ion Battery and Charger, LCD Protective Film, A/C Adapter, USB to Mini USB Cable, 12-volt Adapter for Lithium Ion Battery Charger.

Portable Package Kit

Disassembly Procedure

Document each step to disassemble the product
How difficult was each disassembly step?
What types of tools were required to perform this step?
Include a picture of each disassembly step

The first step in the disassembly process we took was the removal of the back battery cover. To do this there are two screws that can be removed by hand since there were metal loops attached to them as shown in the picture to the left. These metal loops are there for the wrist safety strap, but are large enough for the user to manually grab and turn the screws. This step is required for the operator to do since the back cover holds in the batteries. Therefore the difficulty of this step is very easy and requires no tools.

After the removal of the back cover, there is an opening left where the batteries of the GPS unit are located as shown in the picture to the left. Also this picture shows the location of where the usb connector for file transfering to a computer. In the picture it is the eight small metal sensors at the top of the unit.

The next step taken in the disassembly of the GPS unit was the removal of the back half of the enclosing case. This step must be completed from the back of the unit since the heads of the eight small screws are located there. In order to get to four of these screws, a small Philip's Head screw driver must be used since the screws heads are embedded in holes in the outer case and not directly on the surface of the case. The screws do not need to be taken out in a specific order but a thin screw driver is necessity for removal. This step was also fairly easy and the amount of caution that is needed for this step is minimal.

After the screws are removed and the back half of the case is seperated from the front, the only connection between the two are a series of wires that can be manually disconnected by hand. This step requires no use of tools, but must be done carefully since the mechanics of the inside of the GPS are fragile. There are three seperate connections that need to be removed. The picture to the left shows the back of the front half of the unit, the 1GB memory card and the computer reading accesory. The memory card is slid into the cover of the memory card slot so that the metal strips of the card is faced out.

After Disassembly

Part Table, including:

Part number
Part name
Number of parts of this type
Part material
Part manufacturing process
Image of the part
CAD file for selected parts

Assembly

Document each step to reassemble the product
How difficult was each assembly step?
What types of tools were required to perform this step?

After Assembly

It Still Works!

Despite the disassembling of the GPS unit, and our groups lack of experience doing anything like this before, we managed to put the unit back together and have it work at full capacity. It's not often you are trusted to do this type of project, and we are just thankful that along with the knowledge we gained, we also do not owe Dr. Cheng $500.00 for a new GPS! Once the unit was all back together, we ran through some uses of it and made sure that we had a working unit that did everything it did before we performed our "surgery" on it.

Concluding Remarks

This project was a very intriguing one. It's not often you get a project to do with such autonomy to it. We decided that probably the most interesting thing to do with the GPS unit was the suggested disection of it. We weren't disappointed either. It was amazing to us that despite the amazing capabilities of the unit, it was no more complex than that of an old model Nokia cell phone excluding the computer. Like we said before, it's not that common to be able to play with the inner workings of an expensive piece of equipment and this project allowed us to do that. Along with the disassembling of the GPS unit, that WIKI facet was a great part of the project as well. Getting to present the information we recorded in a coded format on a web page is an interesting way to show what you have done. It was a little bit tricky for us but we learned as much about WIKI as we needed to present an effective project. Overall we would say that this was a successful project and should be continued.

William Haydt

References

APA Style You must use this format (It's easier than MLA, so don't worry).

Guide to Writing Wiki Code

The beauty about Wiki is that if you don't know the code, you can steal it from someone's page that does. Feel free to click the "edit" links or tabs to view the code for sections or the pages respectively. Be weary about wrecking havoc on another's page. Each page can be rollbacked to a previous verison and your username is linked to all changes. Although you might think it's cool to go through and insert "MIKE RULES" throughout the page, I'm sure Dr. Lewis would not be pleased.

Here's a few tips on writing with Wiki:

This is a bracket "[" "]"

This is a brace "{" "}"

To create a new page/link within Wiki:

Double brackets, page name, double brackets
Typing in a new page name will automatically create a page, which when clicked, you can then edit.
Whatever name you first type in is the name of the page. You can't change page names, only create new pages. Think before you create a new page.
Don't worry about slashes or anything, all pages are located in the same directory. If I wanted to create a page called "MAE 277 Template" the code would be ''MAE 277 Template'' Note: Brackets are italicized to prevent creating a new page.

Your table of contents is created automatically.

1,2,3,4 are level 2 sections
1.1, 1.2, 1.3 are level 3 headers

To create headers:

Section titles are wrapped with two equal signs ==My favorite header==
Bold headers within a section are wrapped with three equal signs ===My not-so-favorite header===

Asterisks indicate bullets. Be sure to put each asterisk on a new line.

Here's one
Here's two *Here's three, but its not on the next line

Bold text:

Start line with "b" in "<>". Be sure to end the line with "/b" in "<>" if you don't want the whole paragraph to be bold.
Surround text to be bolded with three " ' " marks on either side. Or highlight the text and click the "B" button on the toolbar.

Italics:

"i" in "<>". Don't forget to end with "/i" in "<>"
Highlight the text and click the "I" button in the toolbar (It will put four " ' " on either side).

This is a broken link media file caption

Media tags are indicated by "Media:", images by "Image:" Broken links in red. Case is not important. Use the toolbar to get examples if you're not sure.

Spacing is werid in wiki. Single return does nothing.

Double return (blank line), breaks the line.

Triple return (two blank lines), puts an extra blank line between lines of text.

"br" in "<>" will break lines. They can also be used to separate section headers.

Finally, use the "Show Preview" button on the bottom of the page to see how it looks before saving. It will allow you to catch and edit your errors without having to edit the page again. Just don't forget to save it when you're really done.

This is an example table

See help page for more information on the syntax.

**This is the table title**
This is Column Header 1	This is Column Header 2	This is Column Header 3
This starts Row 1	Width values (pixels) in header are used to designate the width of the column for the entire table. Text will wrap but it helps to control the layout. Height of the row is determined by the row's largest content	A return and single vertical lines separate columns in rows. A double vertical line is necessary if you don't break up the text for cells.
This starts Row 2	"br" in brackets break lines. Wiki sometimes ignores blank lines.	Some html tags can be used, but not many. Notice the align equals center tag at the beginning of the row. It centers the text in the first two columns, but doesn't work for the third column. I don't know why. Adding the tag again to the beginning of the cell in question will center the text.
This starts Row 3	Image tags are in this format: Double brackets "[[" Image name \| = Vertical Line The following order is not important, as long as each is separated by a vertical line: Horizontal position (left, center, right) Thumb (to create clickable thumbnail that links to fullsize image), don't include to make a fullsize Size denoted in pixels (if desired) You can add a caption if there is a thumbnail Then close with double brackets "]]" Broken links show up in red. File:This is a broken link 150px Here's where you can view any uploaded files	This is thumbnail This is a resized image, not a thumbnail, but notice you can still click on it to get the full size.
This starts Row 4	Notice the repeating code for every row? It's important. A vertical line and a dash indicate the start of a new row. An exclamation point indicates the first column. You can put the entire row onto a single line, but it's easier to read if you break it up. Again, wiki usually ignores new paragraphs.	Make sure to end the table correctly (vertical line and closed brace). Not doing so might still display the table, but nothing that comes afterwards.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 	<br><br>The Earthmate GPS PN-20 can store waypoints, tracks, routes, and the base map data in its internal memory.  Maps can be saved to the internal memory or the removable memory card.  The unit can be used to save or gather information about a map object, such as name, latitude and longitude, elevation, and additional comments.  Objects can also be marked and saved as waypoints.
-<br>Chase Howard<br>
+<br>-Chase Howard<br>
 General notes about the product (it's condition, how it works, how many parts, types of materials, etc)