Overview

Week 5 marked the official transition from conceptual research into formal hardware and software development. Building on last week’s infrastructure setup, the team kicked off the physical design phase, steadily advanced the core codebase, and initiated supply chain planning.

What We Did

• Altium Project Initialization: Formally launched the hardware design phase by initializing the VertexShell project in Altium Designer. We established the workspace, imported our validated schematic symbols, and set up the design rules for the upcoming PCB layout.
• Codebase Development: Continued building out the core logic within our central GitHub repository. Focus remained on structuring data parsing pipelines and refining the integration between the sensor drivers and the primary application layer.
• Bill of Materials (BOM) Kickoff: Started compiling the official Bill of Materials. We began identifying specific manufacturer part numbers for our core components (CO sensor, IMU, and LoRa module).

Key Decisions

• Adoption of I2C as the Primary Sensor Bus: We officially selected I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) as the standard communication protocol for our sensor suite (CO sensor and IMU). This allows us to connect multiple peripheral devices using only two shared lines (SDA and SCL), vastly simplifying our Altium PCB routing and conserving valuable microcontroller GPIO pins compared to SPI or dedicated analog configurations.

Challenges

• Footprint Verification: Initializing the Altium project required meticulous cross-referencing of component datasheets to ensure custom footprints match exact physical dimensions, preventing costly manufacturing errors during fabrication.

Next Steps

• Complete the preliminary schematic capture in Altium and begin component placement on the board layout.
• Integrate and test the first live sensor-read logic on the hardware development kit.
• Finalize the first draft of the BOM for internal review and cost optimization.