To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Kongsberg, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) is planning to arrange a light show in the city using drones. To realize this project, KDA has requested a route planning software for drone swarms. The software should allow a drone operator to plan routes for a drone swarm containing 2 - 50 drones (or more). The drones should be programmed to illuminate structures in the city using a graphical interface with flat or topographic maps, and otherwise be able to avoid colliding with any obstacles or other drones.
In the first sprint the focus was on planning. Therefore we planned out the project outline, and created a lot of templates for documents that we need going forward. There was also a big focus on getting good user stories, and getting these approved by the customer so we could derive some requirements and start working on the software.
Sprint 1 was dedicated to preparing for the first presentation. We spent a lot of time getting a full overview over what we needed to documente and talk about. The other main things we spent time on was getting the outlines of risk management for both project and product ready, and adapting the user stories based on feedback from the customer.
This week we held the first presentation. It went great and we got some good feedback from our examiners and supervisors. One thing that has been missing in our project this far is a proper structure because we were waiting for access to Azure DevOps, but since it was taking a while we made a temporary Trello board which has helped tremendously with getting a good overview of what needs to be done.
For sprint 3 we have finished a draft for components, and started drawing up an architecture using "model-view-controller". We also nearly finished our website. So despite sickness in the group we managed to be very productive and effective.
Several do-over exams and meetings have made working on Hivemind challenging. Despite this, we have been able to accomplish several tasks, specifically regarding Azure devops. We have defined Azure pipelines, both for automatically pushing website changes to both the university's web server and our own, and for automatically building Hivemind's code documentation and pushing this to the web as well. We've also started using the Azure sprint boards, and the Azure wiki.
This week the group has been working a lot together to complete tasks that require the whole team's attention. We have finally been able to define a very specific minimum viable product (MVP), and adjusted the requirements accordingly. We have also done another iteration on the project risks. We have looked at several software architecture models to find one that we feel fits well with out product. Finally, we have had a photoshoot to have matching profile photos, as well as a few group photos.
This week we have set up a common development environment with virtual machines, making sure the whole team uses the same tools and dependencies with the correct versions. We have started programming components that can be developed in isolation, and we have the beginnings of Hivemind's user interface. Hivemind's software architecture has also been further developed, and we are at a stage where we feel it accurately depicts out product. In addition to this, we have started defining the product risks, and we have begun defining an algorithm for route planning.
During this sprint the team has focused on putting together the documentation for the second presentation. During this process the group has also worked on finishing the components and interfaces. In addition to this, there has been a large focus on making sure there is a clear red thread in the project development.
This sprint of the project was cut short as most of the group members had an exam on thursday. Therefore the sprint solely focused on preparing the second presentation. In order to achieve our desired standard for the presentation, we commited additional hours in the weekend for rehearsing. Because of that we felt a celebration with pizza was well-deserved
The first part of this sprint went to presenting the second presentation. The other part went to planning and starting to program components of the Hivemind software. Additionally we did some planning for the end report that is to be delivered in May.
For the easter sprint we decided to work from home, so everyone was given tasks to perform that they could do alone. Everyone therefore had their own component of the Hivemind software they were supposed to complete before we met again after easter.
In the course of this sprint, we managed to reach a significant milestone by successfully developing all the components for the MVP. This accomplishment marks a step forward in our project timeline and paves the way for the next stages of development.
For this sprint, our main job was to get the MVP up and running by connecting all the different pieces. But, as it turns out, fitting everything together took more time than we thought it would. So, we've decided to spend a bit more time working on defining our interfaces, just to make sure everything runs smoothly going forward. Alongside this, we put in some solid work on our literature review and started on our final report.
This sprint we began coding some of the more complex modules. This inlcuded developing a 3D visualization feature and a timeline interface for our GUI. On top of that, we had the opportunity to present our work to a visting delegation from the Lublin University of Technology. They were interested in seeing how we at USN approach our bachelor's projects. Besides these tasks, we also put some effort into researching automated testing, with the aim of incorporating this functionality into our project.
In sprint 14, our goal was all about wrapping up the Hivemind software. We had a few components that had been developed, but that were yet to be integrated. We experienced a few problems trying to get everything to function with each other, but as we came to the end of the sprint, we saw the whole software coming together nicely.
For sprint 15 our goal was to finish all the writing for the final report. This way we had plenty of time to go over it again, making sure it's as polished as possible. In addition to this some group members did some finishing touches on the Hivemind software. We also made an overview over who did what, mainly for the technical part of the project.
The grand finale. This sprint was all about two main things - getting our EXPO stand ready and perfecting our final presentation. For the presentation, we decided to take inspiration from product launches in the tech industry, starting with a strong sales segment and diving into a more detailed technical part later. We rounded it all up with a summary and a statement about why our team was a good fit for this project. Our strategy paid off and we received excellent feedback from our audience. And with that, our project comes to a successful close! We'd like to express our deepest thanks to our supervisors, examiners, family, and friends for all the support and feedback they've given us throughout the project.
