Download Final Report - EE Senior Design

out. It would be convenient for users to have a quick method of checking whether or
not they have properly exited from the lab, as this would save them the time of walking
back to the lab. It could also save their research group money by letting them know that
they are being billed even though they are out of the lab.
To address these problems, we proposed the idea of a main display located
outside the cleanroom in the Stinson-Remick lobby. This would display a list of the
users currently working in the lab, a list of the “Super Users” for the week that have
spent the most time for the week using the cleanroom, and a plot of usage activity over
the past several hours to monitor activity. In addition to this main requirement, we
decided to implement NDNFinfo, a convenient virtual portal to the Notre Dame
Nanofabrication Facility. The main page of the NDNfinfo website shows a list of users
who are currently working in the cleanroom. To the side, a list of the ten users who
have logged the most cleanroom time for the day and for all time is displayed. The web
site also has a “graphing central” area, which allows a cleanroom-registered user to
create an ndnfinfo account, and to create custom groups of users from a list. Creating
groups gives the user the option of easily making customized graphs and reports.
Cleanroom usage can be plotted for each user of the group for each day of a selected
time period. In addition, one can plot machine usage over a certain time period,
organized by user or machine. We supplemented the network with an Android app.
The Android and iPhone apps allow the user to check current lab users, top users,
machine statuses, reservations, session histories, and plots of machine activities. We
believe that when implemented by the department, NDNFinfo can greatly increase the
efficiency of the Nanofabrication facility.
3.2 System Requirements:
Originally, our primary goal was simply to be able to display the names of
current users on a monitor outside of the cleanroom. The secondary goal was to create
extra functions like listing top users and showing machine statuses and to have a web
site that could interact with our display system. As we worked through the design
process this semester, we realized that we needed to maintain an organized database
for record storage if we were going to be able to list top users or create any sort of
useful reports. As we created the database, added to it, and improved upon the original
design, we realized that it had much more potential to be useful than we had originally
planned.
Ultimately, we decided that our system should be able to accurately keep track of
cleanroom usage logs and actively track current users in the lab. If it has been shut off
for a period of time, it should be able to read in back-logged emails, and correctly
modify the database to accommodate for missed log entries so that it is easy to turn on
or off without losing important information. The web site should be user-friendly, and
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