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Mentorship: August 2014 - October 2014
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DateHoursWhat I DidTotal Hours
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6/6/20142 hoursFirst, I was introduced to the two types of tracking devices, one that my mentor installs into buses and commercial trucks, and another that he installs into cars. Along with my mentor we disected one of the tracking devices so I could better understand how the device transmitted data from the vehicle to computer servers and onto his tracking website. 2 hours
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6/8/20143 hours 10 min.My mentor allowed me to borrow one of his tracking units so I could test it out in my own personal car. After having installed the unit into my car, I was assigned homework, which was to find out what each metal input's job is. Having installed the tracking unit in my car, my mentor setup an account for me on his tracking website called Sygmatrack. After creating an account for me to use, he selected the unit that was in my car and began setting it up so it could be used. 5 hours 10 min.
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6/9/20143 hoursI was given a thorough tour of the tracking website Sygmatrack by my mentor. He explained to me what each button does and what to do if something didn't work. I was also taught how to view the tracker replay which is a feature that shows the route a particular vehicle has driven on a certain day and time. Along with the tracker replay function, each unit records and transmits data such as fuel consumption, speed, battery voltage, and distance driven. This data is organized into charts and graphs where you can view your vehicle's daily statistics and performance. 8 hours 10 min.
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6/11/20141 hourI was assigned homework, which was to create a brochure that outlines how the tracking unit functions, how to install into a car, and how much it costs. My mentor also wanted the brochure to contain information on how you can view your driven route and all the information transmitted by the tracking unit on the Sygmatrack website. My mentor and I took pictures of the tracking unit from all different angles and took screenshots of certain functions on the Sygmatrack website to be used in the brochure.9 hours 10 min.
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6/13/201450 min.Having completed the brochure, my mentor and I reviewed it and made some changes to the text and pictures. We also imported the official Sygmatech logo into the brochure and made sure everything was done correctly. I e-mailed my mentor a copy of the brochure so he could get it professionalized.10 hours
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9/7/20143 hoursI interviewed my mentor and afterwards talked about the GPS units and how they are transmitting data from the vehicle to a satellite. He showed several SIM cards that he had just received through mail that he was going to install in new units. Him and I discussed where the unit would be able to transmit data from and why. The SIM cards that he currently has installed in all of his devices only work in the U.S. and Mexico. He told me that another SIM card could be installed into his units and they would be able to function anywhere else in the world. After discussing that, I talked to one of my mentor's friends Mr. Alex Weiss who has worked with GPS technology along with my mentor for most of his life and also taught Physics at Cal State Fullerton. I interviewed him over the phone and we discussed all of the different applications of GPS and what he did when he was contracting with the military to develop tracking systems for missiles and torpedoes.13 hours
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9/25/20142 hoursOn Wednesday the 24th of September, Apple released an update to their iOS8 operating system. My mentor updated his iPhone 5s the next day and was not able to restore the original Sygmatech tracking application he had had on his phone the day before, instead he got another version of the application that was specifically designed for use in the UK. So my mentor called me over and we tryed deleting the application and re-downloading it from the app store, we called Tom Smith, the programmer who lives in London and asked him what to do, we even just tryed shutting off for a minute and then turning it back on but that didn't work either. The next day, my mentor texts me and says that all his phone needed was good night's sleep. The original application was restored.15 hours
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9/27/20142 hoursOn Saturday the same week, I was called over to see if it would be possible to run Sygmatrack, the main tracking website, on an iPad mini. My mentor and I fiddled with the iPad for about an hour seeing if we would be able to download and install Microsoft Silverlight onto the iPad so the tracking program could run. After about an hour and a half we concluded that it wasn't possible to download the software neeeded to run the tracking program.17 hours
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10/4/20143 hoursOn October 4th my mentor called me over to assist him in installing a slighlty more advanced tracking unit compared to what I have into his car. First, he gave me a rundown of how he planned to install the unit, including its location, where it was going to get its power from, and how we were going to access the area of his car where he wanted to put the unit. After that, we began removing the fabric molding inside the trunk of the car in order to give us access to the car's battery and rear fuse box. Next, we folded down the rear seats and began loosening some molding by the rear window of the car in order to find an open spot under the molding to put the unit. Following that, we had to identify a fuse we could use that was active while the car ran but shut off when the car is off. We decided to use the fuse for the rear sunshade and began running the units wiring from the rear window down into the the side of trunk. Finally, we hooked up the black wire to the car battery's negative terminal and the red wire onto the fuse and started up the car to see if the unit was functioning properly. Sure enough, the unit came online and was ready to track the vehicle.20 hours
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Independent Component 1
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10/15/20142 hoursDel Shindell and I began programming a set of five new LMU-3030 Cal Amp teacking units. He had insert one into my car and test to see if it worked or not. It didn't, so we sat down at his computer to figure out the problem. He used several online programs that he has accounts on to find the tracker and diagnose the problem. After not having found a solution, he emailed his tech support in the UK for an answer to the problem.2 hours
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10/18/20142 hoursI began this session of mentorship with interviewing my mentor for my second interview. Afterwards, my mentor and I began working on setting up a unit by inputting its information to a website that organizes all of the trackers and different accounts my mentor has setup. We inputted the SIM number into the program and entered the trackers info. Once this is done, the tracker will be able to send tracking data to the specified account and my mentor will be able to track it.4 hours
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10/21/20141 hourDuring this hour I was with my mentor, we discussed some problems with the tracker that was in my car. When I drive to school and home, sometimes it will track me and it will send the information to the server and sometimes it won't work at all. We checked the device itself for any problems but found nothing, so my mentor told me that he is going to consult with his tech support guy Tom Smith in the UK about the problem and see if he can come up with a solution.5 hours
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12/2/201430 minMy mentor and I got together and discussed some problems that were occurring with the tracker inside my car. We took a look at the replay of Dec. 1st drive and the detailed reports of my Monday morning drive. We concluded that the tracker lost connection with the cellular network and was therefore not able to send data to the server.5 hours 30 min.
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12/19/20142 hoursOn Friday, I was talking with my mentor about moving over his vehicle tracking asset to a teacking account called the Apple account. The Apple account is what I use to track my own car and it's where my mentor keeps inactive units. Now with my mentor's unit on the same account as my mine, I can track him also now. We also discussed granting me Admin access to the Sygmatech database and allowing me to make changes to accounts and send commands to units.7 hours 30 min.
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1/4/20141 hourToday, I worked with my mentor on securing a date and time to go and visit a car dealership that is searching for a GPS tracking company in order to provide trackers for their rental cars. I received a contact about a month or so ago from my mom that works at a dealership, so I've been trying to get a hold of her and today I finally got into contact with her. 8 hours 30 min.
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12/20/20142 hoursMy mentor and I were working on setting up a visit to a car dealership in order to sell tracking units. For the past week, I have been working on trying to setup a date to come and visit Sharon, the finance manager at Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario. 10 hours 30 min.
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1/8/20152 hoursOn Thursday, I visited a man named Hans Molin who I contacted a month ago and scheduled a meeting with. He works with automatic braking a nd safety systems for commercial trucks. While I was at his office in Santa Ana, I got a full tour of the company, introduced to the products developed there, and I was given a recap of the company's history. After that, I interviewed him for about 30 minutes and then talked with him about my project and cars.12 hours 30 min.
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1/10/20155 hoursToday we met a woman named who works as a finance manager at Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario where she is in charge of the dealership's rental car fleet. First we began by preparing 15 units for installation by testing each and every one, making sure they transmit properly and power up. Secondly we setup an account through the company's server to store data collected from the 15 units so that Sharon can view the vehicles. Lastly we worked for several hours installing all the units into the cars and making sure afterwards that they worked properly.17 hours 30 min.
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1/13/20151 hour 30 min.Today my mentor and I were investigating a problem with the tracker in his car where there were 6 minute intervals in between transmissions. First, we took a look at the daily detailed report that is generated automatically after driving and we found no problems. The illustrated replay though showed that my mentor's car was started at 11:06 A.M. but the unit didn't send out its first transmission until 11:11 A.M. We consulted our tech support in England and the guy said that there was a problem with the server and that it would be fixed the next morning.19 hours
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1/15/20151 hourToday my mentor and I talked about going and visiting Mr. Molin who works at a company called Bendix that manufactures cameras that aid truck drivers in keeping inside their lane and avoiding accidents with vehicles in front of them. The reason behind the visit is to secure an order of cameras for one of my mentors van fleets.20 hours
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1/27/201530 minutesToday I sat down with my mentor and discussed meeting with Mr. Molin next week and what we were going to say to him. We also talked about my mentor's trip down to San Diego to supervise the installation of some units in to buses.20 hours 30 min.
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1/28/20153 hoursToday my mentor and I drove down to the city of Orange to go fix problems with some of the units inside a couple buses that my mentor tracks. My mentor began by testing each and every unit's power supply with a multimeter to check and see if they were receiving enough power. He then ran through several tests with the units to see if they transmitted properly or not.23 hours 30 min.
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1/29/20153 hoursMy mentor and I sat down this afternoon and talked about what steps we are going to take following my Lesson 2 presentation and the conclusion of the Independent Component. My mentor revealed to me today that he has been secretly working on a project for the past month which involved trying to get a buyer in New Orleans who might purchase 20 or 30 units in order to be able to track his bicycle fleet. What was significant about this revealing was that My mentor said he would help me try and implement it into my final 1 hour presentation. We then went on to discuss how I could improve on what I did this past week and what I should continue to do in future presentations.26 hours 30 min.
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2/5/20154 hoursToday my mentor and I drove down to Santa Ana where we met Mr. Hans Molin, the product manager at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems where my mentor and him negotiated a deal over fifteen cameras that will be installed in some of the buses that my mentor tracks in San Diego. After finishing the deal we stopped off at Odyssey bus yard where we had to check if one of the buses was online or not. My mentor spoke with the head mechanic who told him that the unit would be installed later tonight and that the bus would be up and running the next morning.30 hours 30 min.
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2/6/201530 min.Today I talked with my mentor about the cameras that a client in San Diego might purchase for his vehicles and we checked to make sure bus 42 was back online. 30 min.
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2/11/20151 hourToday I worked with my mentor on purchasing batteries for some tracking units that he's going to send to Louisiana to be installed on rickshaws. I was also given a rundown on how the new units work. The new units are water-resistant and shockproof so that they can withstand pretty much anything while they are in use. In the coming week or two I'm going to help my mentor install SIM chips into the units he has at his house and also help him register them with the Sygmatech tracking system.1 hour
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2/12/20151 hourToday my mentor and I began testing of the two new units that my mentor purchased. In order to test them, I had to walk up and down the street with the two units in my pockets. While I was doing this, my mentor stayed by his computer to see if the units were updating their locations every 30 seconds. After several tests, we were able to get the units working perfectly.2 hours
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2/16/201530 min. Today my mentor and I worked on configuring the new tracking units that he received last week so that they could be powered by a 12 V external batteries. My mentor had me walk around the neighborhood to see if the units would register the voltage of the external batteries.2 hours 30 min.
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2/18/201530 min.During my mentorship today, I worked with my mentor on formulating questions for my Interview 3. After making and reviewing the questions, we took a look at the replays of the two new units that my mentor purchased to identify any imperfections. 3 hours
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3/26/20152 hoursToday my mentor and I worked on setting up the fences that were erased during a server reset. During this time, my mentor had me setup the School fence and the Home fence while he setup the fences for the bus and truck accounts.5 hours
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4/4/20152 hoursMy mentor and I worked on a new flyer that we would give to potential customers. We selected pictures from the desktop program and the iOS program to use on the flyer.
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4/9/20155 hoursMy mentor and I got together on Thursday to fix some problems with the tracking system and to make business cards for me. Following our work on the tracking system, we drove around Chino in order to make some cold calls to transportation or trucking companies that are nearby. 12 hours
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4/10/20158 hoursAfter making several cold calls with some transportation companies in Chino, my mentor and I visited Sunset Pacific Transportation to try and sell my mentor's tracking system. We spoke with the company president Josh Craig and explained to him that we track vehicles for several other bus companies in California and that the system is very reliable.20 hours
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4/11/2015-4/13/201510 hoursFor these three days, my mentor and I worked on securing a deal with one of our neighbors up the street. The neighbor that we spoke with manages a fleet of commercial trucks in the Ontario/Upland area. To give him a feel of the system, my mentor and I setup a unit for him to use in his wife's car. We then created an account for him to use on the system and went to go install the unit in the car. After doing all this, we gave him a flyer with some information regarding the tracking system and how it works.30 hours
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Independent Component 2
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2/11/20151 hourToday I worked with my mentor on purchasing batteries for some tracking units that he's going to send to Louisiana to be installed on rickshaws. I was also given a rundown on how the new units work. The new units are water-resistant and shockproof so that they can withstand pretty much anything while they are in use. In the coming week or two I'm going to help my mentor install SIM chips into the units he has at his house and also help him register them with the Sygmatech tracking system.1 hour
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2/12/20151 hourToday my mentor and I began testing of the two new units that my mentor purchased. In order to test them, I had to walk up and down the street with the two units in my pockets. While I was doing this, my mentor stayed by his computer to see if the units were updating their locations every 30 seconds. After several tests, we were able to get the units working perfectly.2 hours
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2/16/201530 min.Today my mentor and I worked on configuring the new tracking units that he received last week so that they could be powered by a 12 V external batteries. My mentor had me walk around the neighborhood to see if the units would register the voltage of the external batteries.2 hours 30 min.
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2/18/201530 min.During my mentorship today, I worked with my mentor on formulating questions for my Interview 3. After making and reviewing the questions, we took a look at the replays of the two new units that my mentor purchased to identify any imperfections. 3 hours
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3/26/20152 hoursToday my mentor and I worked on setting up the fences that were erased during a server reset. During this time, my mentor had me setup the School fence and the Home fence while he setup the fences for the bus and truck accounts.5 hours
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4/4/20152 hoursMy mentor and I worked on a new flyer that we would give to potential customers. We selected pictures from the desktop program and the iOS program to use on the flyer.7 hours
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4/9/20155 hours My mentor and I got together on Thursday to fix some problems with the tracking system and to make business cards for me. Following our work on the tracking system, we drove around Chino in order to make some cold calls to transportation or trucking companies that are nearby. 12 hours
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4/10/20158 hours After making several cold calls with some transportation companies in Chino, my mentor and I visited Sunset Pacific Transportation to try and sell my mentor's tracking system. We spoke with the company president Josh Craig and explained to him that we track vehicles for several other bus companies in California and that the system is very reliable.20 hours
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4/11/2015 - 4/13/201510 hoursFor these three days, my mentor and I worked on securing a deal with one of our neighbors up the street. The neighbor that we spoke with manages a fleet of commercial trucks in the Ontario/Upland area. To give him a feel of the system, my mentor and I setup a unit for him to use in his wife's car. We then created an account for him to use on the system and went to go install the unit in the car. After doing all this, we gave him a flyer with some information regarding the tracking system and how it works.30 hours
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4/15/20156 hoursMy mentor and I took another trip down to Sycuan Casino in San Diego in order to replace 3 faulty tracking units in Buses 41, 42 and Van 2. We spent several hours trying to find out where the unit in Van 2 was. We had to take out the entire dashboard until we found the unit embedded in a spot we would never expect a unit to be. We then cut the wires going to the unit and then wired the new unit and placed it in a more accessible spot. Once the unit had power, we checked our tracking application to see if the unit registered as IGNITION ON when we started the van up.
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