Technical Design

ENGR 103 - Spring 2016
Freshman Engineering Design Lab

“A Pill in Time”

Project Design Proposal

Date Submitted: April 05, 2016

Group Members             Luke Hanner, lah364@drexel.edu

                                         Mercedes Wesner, mew344@drexel.edu

                                         Katherine Bagdon, kjb343@drexel.edu

Technical Advisor          Dr. Richard Knight, knightr@coe.drexel.edu

Abstract:

The motivation for this project is to create an app that reminds people to take their medications when necessary.  Since the app will run separately from the Android calendar, it will save the user from crowding up the calendar with excess items.  At the end of this project, the app will be produced to remind people when their pills must be taken.  This is after the long, difficult process of coding, testing and debugging the code for an Android app.  The Android Development Software will be needed in order to write the code.  The final deliverable will be the new app, after completing all the major tasks of development.

1        Introduction

The goal of this project is to create an easy-to-use app which will remind the user when to take his or her pills. People live very busy lives and are always on the go, therefore they often forget to take their medication. This app will be designed in a way that after the user inputs their information, it will automatically remind them when to take their pills. There will also be other various features, such as reminding the user how many pills to take; whether to take with, before, or after a meal; and when it is time to order more pills.

In order to complete this project it must be planned out, coded, and tested. Learning how to code an app will be a large part of this task, along with continually testing it out and making sure it works. There may be technical challenges along the way with getting the code to produce what is intended. The desired outcome of the project is the working app which will remind users when to take their pills.

2    Deliverables

At the conclusion of this project, the final product will be the app that has been created.  This app will be able to remind its users when they must take their pills.  It will do so without interfering with their normal calendar notifications.  The goal is to present a completed app that includes all of the functions that are expected of it and outlined in this design proposal.  The final code will also be presented to explain how the app runs, it will be able to be demonstrated in the final presentation.  

3       Technical Activities

In order to complete this project, there will be three major tasks which will need to be accomplished. The first task will be to figure out the features that should be included in the app. Next, the code will need to be designed in order to make the app work. Lastly, the app needs to be tested to make sure it works.

3.1      Planning

To be successful when working on any project, planning is always the first and most important task. Everything that needs to be done must be planned out and thought about before tackling it. For this specific project, there are a few things that must be planned out. After deciding on the features that the app will have and how they will be accomplished, the code must then be planned out. This includes the design of the program, functionality, and coding.

3.2      Coding

This project, creating an app, is done so by coding all of the desired features. This can be a long and rigorous process which is why the planning is so important. Each individual aspect has it’s own specific part of code. The code will be developed in the next ten weeks and must be tested along the way.

3.3       Testing

The last step in the technical activities is testing, it is just as, if not more, important as the other processes. After planning everything out and creating the code, it must be tested for functionality and accurateness. This step will also need to be done throughout the process to make sure everything is going as planned. The coding will be the area with the most potential technical difficulties. That is why the testing is so important, to make sure everything is working properly and easily. In the end, the final test should be the working app, as long as everything goes as intended.

4        Project Timeline

Table 1: Sample freshman design project timeline over the ten weeks of this course.

	Week
Task	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Coder Download	x	x
Interface Design		x	x	x
Learning Code		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Code Writing			x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Testing						x	x	x	x
Final report preparation								x	x	x

5        Facilities and Resources

During the course of this project it is necessary that there be computers to be used for coding.  Each computer will have a copy of Java SDK 8.7 to coincide with Android Studio. The free resources on Code Academy along with other internet tutorials on Java programming and app design will be used.

6        Expertise

In choosing to make an app, the skill of coding, specifically in Java, is an important skill that will be needed during the course. Android’s development software will be the program used, which runs on a java based platform. Since the app is being made for medication reminders, various research about medication and when it should be taken in references to meals will also need to be done. 

7      Budget

When creating an app, it can be done without spending any money at all. If the created app wants to be submitted to Android to be added to the Google play Store, some money will need to be spent. In order to submit an app, the creator must become a registered Android Publish which costs a $25 fee. In order to create a basic app, such as the one in this project, this will be the only money involved.