Date

09 Feb 2024

Attendees

Goals

Review IC/EV historical PDRs
Review notes from IC/EV captains and chief engineer regarding PDR - DONE
Establish content requirements for solar PDR - DONE
Establish presentation guidelines for solar PDR
Optionally make a template for PDR

Discussion Agenda

Time	Item	Who	Notes

Discussion Notes

Combustion PDR
- Purpose: to present high level data analysis and justification for pursuing projects
- Not specific designs yet, but mainly justifications
- Spent 1-2 hours per system (note: were very inefficient while going through them)
- BUT 1-2 hours including Q&A is still probably a good mark for each system
  - Q&A takes majority of time
    - honing in on why designs/changes are being made
- Essentially a more detailed version of our SRR
  - Can be technical, but more in the sense of explaining justifications than going in-depth on specific parts
- Comparative analysis
  - Decision matrices
  - Why do we need to do this project?
Electric PDR
- Set team level, system level, project level goals
- Clear targets in terms of projects
- Test plans
- MVP of the system and stretch goals
- Failure analysis of things that went wrong with previous/current iteration
- High level schematics of new circuits/board designs
- Ishan - they have a BSPD, might be worth investigating
  - More integration with the mechanical shit might be worth
  - Failure analysis and recovery
Our PDR?
- Self-contained
- What we are doing and why we are doing it
- Analyze and consider all options for design decisions
- Ishan - I think it would be good to include MVP(minimum viable product) and stretch goals
  - barebones, what the system needs to go in car
General Feedback TLDR:
- PDR Mission statements (what do you wanna see?)
  - Ishan - What are we building, specifically design details starting from a high level and going down to a component level, and why we think this design is the most effective at accomplishing the goals set out in SRR (justification). A layout of the work we need to do between now and CDR that we think is reasonable.
  - Sid- Here is what we are building to address the problems we outlined in SRR. Here is our initial plan of attack (diagrams etc.) with a fully thought out justification on this design (decision matrices and comparative analysis). Here is our MVP that is regs-legal, and our stretch goals. Here are some items that we would like feedback on.
  - Roy - Honing in on justification for design changes, both major and minor, and other projects that'll require manpower throughout the next design cycle.
- PDR Official Mission: What are we building, specifically design details starting from a high level and going down to a project level, and why we think this design is the most effective at accomplishing the goals set out in SRR with a high degree of justification. A layout of the work we need to do between now and CDR that we think is reasonable: minimum viable product and stretch goals included. Analyze all potential avenues for each decision with a hyper-critical eye. Plan for testing & verification.
Next year we should make the presentations on non-workdays and schedule it FAR FAR FAR in advance

Our design goal is to build a solar vehicle that can cross 2000~3000 miles of backroad terrain in a cross-country competition.

Proposed PDR Structure

1. System Introduction / Goals (1-2 Slides)

Who are we as a system?
What is our mission statement?
What are we trying to accomplish (high-level statement).
- Can be split into general goals, deliverable-focused, and longterm goals.

2. Recap / Context from SRR (5 slides)

System Requirements (What does it have to do?)
Requirements Reasonings (Why does it have to do that?)
Note: This can be brief, as it was covered in SRR. However, since our SRRs were short without many external advisors, we felt recapping it here was useful.

3. Project / System Components

Note: Bulk of PDR is in this and next section
What are we building to solve the problems / requirements that we have defined?
Why are you building that in particular?
Note: Justify your design choices and directions exhaustively.
Comparative Analysis & Justification

1. Decision Matrix that led to this method being chosen (diagram)
2. Comparison to current method (if it exists)
3. Comparison to other possible solutions, INCLUDING commercial / off-the-shelf options.
4. Clear explanation of why selected method is best path forward for system & team in general.

4. Holistic Architecture Review

How do all of the sections work together?
What considerations have you given to integration?

5. Risk Reductions

What could go wrong?
What plans do you have to mitigate those risks?

6. Appendix

Relevant regs, supporting materials

Action items

Each system needs to have a 1-2 sentence description of that system's overarching design goal / philosophy (Mission Statement). All of them should fall under the context of the one above.

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