May 22nd: Researching hardware

Today, I decided upon my project and started researching the hardware I'll need. I decided that I'm going to have two components: the compass and the dock. The dock will be built on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and the compass will be on an ESP32.

Total time spent: 1h

May 23rd: Script Building

I'm still waiting on some parts, so I started learning about the Google Places and Geolocation APIs. I built the basic script that the Raspberry PI on the docking device will need ot run.

Total time spent: 1.5hrs

May 23rd: PCB Design Day 1

Today, I started designing my PCB in KiCAD. A lot of the time, I was just reading datasheets to understand what parts I'll need. Most of my focus was on the power system since I want my compass to work off battery as well as USB-C

Total time spent: 4hrs

May 28th: PCB Design Day 2

I've been working more on the PCB design and have changed some choices around how I'm going to wire my sensors. I'll still have a seperate dock/compass, but the custom PCB for the compass won't have the GPS directly wired to it (I already have an Adafruit GPS, so I can save money). I'm still deciding if I want to wire the IMU as a seperate board or build it in.

I also changed some stuff in my power system. Instead of having a USB-C input on the compass, I'm going to have it charge from the dock on a three pin connector.