Week 11: Networking and Communications
Assignments
Individual Assignment
I need to design and build one or more nodes that can communicate with each other, either through wired or wireless means. Each node should have its own identity (an address on the network or bus), and it shouldn’t just sit there, it needs to do something locally, like take an input (button, sensor) or produce an output (LED, sound, etc.). So essentially, I’m making a small system where each part can send, receive, and act.
Group Assignment
As a group, the goal is simpler but stricter: make two different projects talk to each other. That means agreeing on how we send data, making sure both sides understand it, and actually getting a message to go from one system to another reliably.
Final Project - Relevance of Networking & Communication Week
This week shifts my piggy bank project from being a self-contained interactive object to something that can exist within a larger connected system.
In my final project, the piggy bank is not meant to function in isolation. It is designed around an interaction between a parent interface (app) and the child-facing physical object (piggy bank). This inherently requires communication-commands need to be sent to the device, and responses or updates need to come back.
Through this week, I understand that I need to establish a clear communication layer between these parts. Instead of thinking only in terms of sensors and outputs, I now have to define:
Even without a fully developed app at this stage, I can simulate this system using another microcontroller as a stand-in for the parent interface. This allows me to test the core logic of:
This week is therefore critical in helping me:
By the end of this week, I expect to have a working prototype where my piggy bank can communicate with another device, forming the foundation for integrating an actual app or wireless interface later in the project.