Josh Ryan's Capstone

For my capstone, a friend and I worked together to build a series of devices we called nodes that would sync together in a mesh system that would allow people to communicate with each other without the use of cellular service, mainly focused on people who enjoy the wilderness, where service may be spotty depending on location. To do this, we used the basic software of an open-source project, mixed with added elements like a GPS antenna and our own cases to store everything in.

This capstone taught me a lot about building a product and the engineering process for perfecting one. While I’m not sure I want to pursue a career where I have to invent new things, this experience building my own invention will help me find new creative ways to solve problems. This project also taught me how to store and analyze different data points to better understand how the nodes were working and what we could do to improve reliability.