ME218C: Terman Pond Flotilla

Where the A and B quarters of ME218 focus on C programming and basic analog and digital circuits, the focuses of the C quarter of the 218 course sequence are communications and assembly language.

The C quarter project,en titled the Terman Pond Flotilla, pits two teams of 6 players against one another in a race to fill the opposing team's goal with water. Each member of the team uses a single controller (the "helm") to control a single watercraft. All helms and watercraft must be interoperable, i.e. any given helm must be able to control any watercraft. Interoperability is achieved through compliance with a class-wide communications standard, which was drafted by the class as part of the project. All of the helm-craft communication is performed wirelessly, and must conform to this standard.

In order to determine which controller controls which boat in any given game, or 'Engagement,' an electronic serial number stored on an iButton is read by both the craft and the helm. They must then locate each other over the wireless network and verify that they have read matching serial numbers. Team affiliation is determined by the serial number that is read. The pairing between a craft and a helm is unique and exclusive for the duration of any Engagement.

In addition to communicating between the helm and the craft, both devices must also listen for and respond to commands from the 'Admiral', an entity that acts as referee for the Engagement and has the ability to start and end the game, enforce penalties, change the 'active' goal, reset craft, and ask about the current state of the craft.

The full game and design specifications are available here, but a brief summary may be useful in understanding the project. All craft must be 1.5 x 2' in footprint, with no limit upon vertical size. All watercraft must be capable of navigating around the playing field, and scoring for their team by delivering water into the opposing team's goals. Craft that violate the rules of the Engagement, or which are rammed by defenders on the opposing team while attempting to score, may be 'stood down' and ordered to stop all drive motors and pumps on board for a period of 10 seconds.

The helm for each craft is required to be man-portable and to utilize at least three different sensing modalities as input from the user. Teams were encouraged to design helms that would make the operator look foolish while using them.