Rowan McCune was an integral part of the Dynamic Brake Light team. Rowan made valuable contributions to the project through designing the Hall-Effect sensor system, becoming proficient in his soldering technique, and preparing intuitive presentation materials.
Rowan's more impressive contribution to the Dynamic Brake Light was his designing and testing of the Hall-Effect sensor system. The Hall-Effect sensor reads magnetic fields to track wheel rotations, which are in turn used to calculate distance traveled and current velocity. Rowan exhibited his CAD skills with a robust pair of housing for the Hall-Effect sensor and the magnet caddy. Rowan designed an effecting script to read the Hall-Effect sensor, featuring tailored baseline adjustments and optimized operating frequencies. Rowan used the sensor reading script to help Roman Tagliola integrate the sensor readings into the display module's informative UI.
Rowan demonstrated his soldering technique during final assembly, where he soldered the turn signal LED arrays onto dual-sided copper plated boards, ensuring minimal wiring in the LED module housing and consistent, robust electrical connections.
Rowan was tasked with making custom acrylic cutouts to fit the turn signals. To accomplish this task, Rowan determined the best combination for our scenario required the acrylic to be sanded and the tops of the LEDs to be grinded flat. These two design elements together created effective turn signals that are bright and resemble chevrons.
The logo present on PDR and CDR presentations in addition to the display and LED modules is Rowan's design. The three circles filled with varying shades of red represent the dynamically controlled LED arrays. The geometric design is reminiscent of logos such as the NASA insignia and the Star Fleet delta emblem.