November Extra Post

   This month, my mentor and I have been working on getting several new tracking units up and going. Earlier this month, we were having problems with all of the old tracking units and were forced to ship them back to the manufacturer in Florida to have them evaluate the units. My mentor and I have also been planning for my independent component by calling  people for interviews and discussing what needed to be done in order for me to get thirty hours completed.

November Extra Post

   This month, my mentor and I have been working on getting several new tracking units up and going. Earlier this month, we were having problems with all of the old tracking units and were forced to ship them back to the manufacturer in Florida to have them evaluate the units. My mentor and I have also been planning for my independent component by calling  people for interviews and discussing what needed to be done in order for me to get thirty hours completed.

Blog 10: EQ

Carl La Russa

North

11/12/14

Blog 10

1.) "I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ."

2.) 

     a.) No, it is too specific and it won't allow the person to find enough research

     b.) Yes, it is general enough so that the person can find a decent amount of research on the the    question.

     c.) Yes, it provides the author enough room to gather a sufficient amount of research.

     d.) No, too specific, not enough breadth and depth.

3.) Who benefits most from vehicle tracking software?

Blog #9 Lesson Reflection

Carl La Russa

11/4/2014

Blog #9 Lesson Reflection

1.) I was proud of all the props and things that I brought in to show everyone during my presentation because I felt like the other presentations that I saw where not engaging with just speech and pictures. I also believe that I presented more about my actual topic and how I work with it during my mentorship.

2.)   a.) P-

       b.) I believe that I had great eye contact with my audience, I never looked down at notes or at my props and I also had good volume, everyone was able to hear what I was saying. The content I presented was also relevant towards my topic and I thought I presented a bit more about my actual topic than others did. 

3.) The props, showing everyone the actual units and the iPhone tracking application really captured everyone's attention during my presentation.

4.) I would've had a much better conclusion, I think just ending my presentation didn't cut it and I believe I was graded down for it.

October Extra Post

Carl La Russa

North 10/30/2014

October Extra Post

Here my mentor and I are examining the trunk of his car for a potential spot to  place a tracking unit. The ideal spot for  the unit would be where it would get a direct sight line of the sky and power from the car battery.  We decided on placing the unit in some carpeted molding under the rear window. 

Here my mentor and I are examining Sygmatrack for any traces of the new tracker installed in his car.  We were also trying to register the unit that was going to be installed in my car later on.

In this picture, you can see the fuse box and car battery after I removed all the plastic molding  from the trunk.  The reason we needed access to these two is because the unit needs to receive negative (ground) power from the car battery and positive power from the fuse box through an input that only operates while the vehicle is turned on. 

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

Carl La Russa

North

10/14/14

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.) What is your working EQ? 

     How does tracking a person in a vehicle via GPS affect their driving style?

      

2.) What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format. 

•     Tracking a vehicle can be beneficial to the driver because it teaches them to drive more efficiently, not to take risks while driving such as texting or talking on the phone, and to get where they need to go on time.
• Using a GPS tracker inside a vehicle will also teach the driver to maintain and respect the vehicle that they are driving as there are many GPS systems that can detect damage to a vehicle and/or report it to the owner.

3.)What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

     NPR news has published some articles related to my topic in terms the effects of GPS tracking. One article specifically talks about how parents utilizing GPS technology to track their children when they begin driving. The parents offer their feedback on the specific devices they purchased to track their children.

4.)Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My mentor is Del Shindell, president of Sygmatech Inc. a company that programs and sells GPS tracking units. At my mentorship I do a variety of things, anything from installing a tracking unit into a car to working alongside my mentor to solve issues with the units themselves. All of the things that I am doing relate to my topic because I'm learning how a tracking unit functions inside a vehicle and what kind of information its sending to the computer where the vehicle is tracked.

Blog 7

Carl La Russa

North 10/2/14

Independent Component 1 Approval

1.) To complete 30 hours for my Independent Component, I plan visiting businesses and talking with professionals that work with my senior project topic. My mentor, Del Shindell has a long list of contacts that I can pull from if I need expertise in any one area of my topic. I also plan on dissecting the two different tracking units that my mentor uses along with delving deeper into how the units actually are able to extract information from a vehicle's computer and how that information is interpreted by a computer. Finally, I plan on studying the electronics of the tracking unit along with my neighbor Steve who is an electric engineer and have him help explain to me how each and every component of the units functions.

2.) Along with actually performing the 30 hours needed for my Independent Component, I  plan on setting up a digital scrapbook where I will have pictures of my activities along with descriptions of what I am doing in the pictures. My mentor will also allow me to borrow some of his tracking units to bring to school and show to people if needed.

3.) What I plan on doing will expand my knowledge greatly on my project topic because I will not only be learning about how the actually unit functions and behaves inside a vehicle, but I will be able to talk to professionals who have worked with these kinds of devices and gain valuable information from them that I might use for future assignments pertaining to the senior project.

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

Carl La Russa

North

9/18/14

Blog 6

   1.) My mentor, Del Shindell, has worked at several companies that manufactured tracking devices for the military and for civilians. Before he started his own company, Mr. Shindell worked at Hughes Aircraft, which designed and built GPS tracking units for the military. The units were installed in torpedoes, submarines, planes, and other military machines. Del was in charge of the finances at Hughes the entire time he worked there. He rubbed shoulders with a lot of other people who designed the tracking units and other military contractors who worked at Hughes. 18 years after retiring from Hughes, Del started his own company called Sygmatech in 2003 with a couple other guys who also worked for Hughes. Del is currently the President of the company, he is also in charge over the marketing of his tracking devices. Currently, he is contracting with Odyssey Tours, a bus company located in Placentia, California and provides them with units that he personally installed in each bus that track each one of their buses. 

2.)      - How did your experience at Hughes affect how  you run your company today?

          - What were your specific duties at Hughes aircraft?

          - What lead you to get the job at Hughes?

          - Were you ever required to report to the military on specific projects or just to your own boss?

          - What other people worked with you and what did they do?   

Blog 5 Mentorship and Research Reflection

Carl la Russa

North

Mentorship and Research Reflection

1.) The process of finding my mentor actually wasn't that difficult. My next door neighbor Del Shindell, has been working with GPS systems for about 50 years and has a vast knowledge on this subject including a number of people he has worked with or met while working. Over the past two years I've been doing various jobs for him around his house but I wasn't sure where I was going to do my mentorship. I knew Mr.Shindell worked with tracking units but I wasn't if that's what I really wanted to do until I started asking him about what he did. After about a week of going over to his house and having him talk to me about he has worked with and what he is doing currently, I couldn't resist asking him if he could mentor me over the next year on his job and how his products work. He finally said yes and then began working with his devices and I even got one installed in my own car.

2.) The most important article that I've read so far has been the article on how GPS works by Business Insider. This article really helped grasp how GPS actually works and how it serves our many needs on this planet anywhere from tracking a car to tracking a missile in mid-flight on it's way to its target. The article went into depth on how the military's use of GPS is a whole lot different from the civilian's use. The military receives super accurate readings on an object or person's location whereas a civilian gets a much less accurate reading. 

August Extra Post

Carl La Russa

North

Extra Post

                   Hello everyone, I'm Carl and for my summer mentor ship I worked with my mentor on GPS tracking units and his tracking website. Him and I installed several units into neighbors cars and worked on tracking units that were having problems running. We also worked on the tracking website (below) where the vehicles that have the units installed in them can be tracked. There were several issues with the website where data from the vehicle was not being transmitted to the server so I helped my mentor troubleshoot the problem and then figure out how to fix it. I was also given homework, which was to design a brochure describing his tracking products and website. All in all I had a great time working alongside my mentor learning cool new things everyday.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

Carl La Russa

8/26/14

North

Interview 1

1.) I plan on interviewing my mentor for Interview 1 because I want to learn more about how his company runs and what he is responsible for in his company. I may also be given phone numbers or emails to people who my mentor might know that work with my topic and that I may be able to interview later on.

2.) The questions I will be asking my mentor will have to do with his responsibilities in his company and how he works with his colleagues on developing tracking units and software. I also plan on asking him questions about how he thinks his company will evolve to meet the needs of the future with technology advancing ever so quickly. Finally, I will be asking him about how him and his company plan to expand their business throughout the U.S.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

Carl La Russa

8/22/13

North

Research

1.) Topic: GPS Tracking Units 

2.) How does tracking a person in a vehicle via GPS affect their driving style?

3.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10S455hXqVUHIRBz5eQo1KssOAqNPieMLhCosPM1Ehe0/edit#gid=0

Summer Mentorship Component Blog #2

Carl La Russa

8/18/14

North

Blog #2

Mentorship

1.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fmdzlWyzenRCBV__ssFuoojPW1i-1EvZX8YWRcAE-Bc/edit#gid=472874349

2.) Del Shindell (President of Sygmatech Inc.)   Cell: (909)-576-1150

3.)      1.) How is the Senior Project setup?

           

          2.) What is the total amount of hours that you need to spend with a mentor?

          3.) Is there a final presentation you must do that explains what you've done over the course of your 

                project?

          4.) Can I attend the final presentation? 

4.) The most important thing I gained from this experience was learning the concepts on how the tracking devices transmit data through satellites to the tracking website. I believe this is important because if you're not able to grasp the concept on how something works than you won't know how to work with it.

5.) My senior project topic is GPS Vehicle Tracking. The summer mentorship that I completed along with my mentor Del Shindell helped me choose this topic because my mentor has worked with satellite tracking systems his entire life and he is very knowledgeable in his profession. Having someone who knows and has a passion for what their doing makes a big difference when working with them. Therefore I decided to work with my mentor to research and learn his profession.

Blog 1: 2 hour presentations

1.) What presentations did you see?
          

• Karate
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Radio Field Engineer
• Structural Engineering
• Auto Repair
• Auto Repair Shop
• Military Defense Systems
• Business Management
• Music Shop
• Soccer
• Architecture
• Strength Training
• Business IT
• Public Defender
• Magic the Gathering
• Programming

2.)   What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? This can be about the senior project in general, any components or about a presentation topic you saw or what they said.  

     - 1.) What are the requirements for the activities? In some of the presentations that I saw, some presenters had several activities while others only had one.

     - 2.) What are the time requirements for speaking and the overall presentation?

     - 3.) Are props / examples and professional dress optional?




3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

       From what I have seen, most presenters have been try to stall for time because their speaking portions were too short. Another thing that I noticed, was that all of the presenters spoke loud and clearly or at least tried to which helped the audience hear what they were saying during the presentation. One final thing that I noticed, was that some presenters were more engaging during their presentations which kept the audience awake while other presenters spoke with a monotone voice and did not engage their audience which resulted in the audience falling asleep.


4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

    For my senior project, I am considering doing GPS tracking devices and how they are used in transportation. My next door neighbor, Del Shindell, has worked with tracking systems for most of his life for either military use or civilian use. Today, Mr. Shindell contracts with Odyssey Tours, a bus company, in Placentia California where he installs tracking devices in their buses to monitor how long the bus has been on the road, how fast it is going, fuel percentage, battery voltage, and a bunch of other information relayed from the bus's on board computer through the tracking device and to Odyssey Tours HQ. Mr. Shindell also sells tracking devices for regular cars and has installed one in my car and his car for testing. After hearing about all this, I became very interested in how the devices actually connect with the vehicle and relay a plethora of information to a central computer. This eventually convinced me to use this for my senior project.


5. What are you doing for your summer mentor-ship?

   I will be spending time with my mentor Del Shindell learning how the tracking website works with the devices and how the devices themselves interact with the vehicles they are installed in. 

Blog 1: Senior Presentation Response

Carl La Russa

North

Blog #1

1.) What presentations did you see?
          

• Karate
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Radio Field Engineer
• Structural Engineering
• Auto Repair
• Auto Repair Shop
• Military Defense Systems
• Business Management
• Music Shop
• Soccer
• Architecture
• Strength Training
• Business IT
• Public Defender
• Magic the Gathering
• Programming

2.)   What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? This can be about the senior project in general, any components or about a presentation topic you saw or what they said.  

     - 1.) What are the requirements for the activities? In some of the presentations that I saw, some presenters had several activities while others only had one.

     - 2.) What are the time requirements for speaking and the overall presentation?

     - 3.) Are props / examples and professional dress optional?




3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

       From what I have seen, most presenters have been try to stall for time because their speaking portions were too short. Another thing that I noticed, was that all of the presenters spoke loud and clearly or at least tried to which helped the audience hear what they were saying during the presentation. One final thing that I noticed, was that some presenters were more engaging during their presentations which kept the audience awake while other presenters spoke with a monotone voice and did not engage their audience which resulted in the audience falling asleep.


4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

    For my senior project, I am considering doing GPS tracking devices and how they are used in transportation. My next door neighbor, Del Shindell, has worked with tracking systems for most of his life for either military use or civilian use. Today, Mr. Shindell contracts with Odyssey Tours, a bus company, in Placentia California where he installs tracking devices in their buses to monitor how long the bus has been on the road, how fast it is going, fuel percentage, battery voltage, and a bunch of other information relayed from the bus's on board computer through the tracking device and to Odyssey Tours HQ. Mr. Shindell also sells tracking devices for regular cars and has installed one in my car and his car for testing. After hearing about all this, I became very interested in how the devices actually connect with the vehicle and relay a plethora of information to a central computer. This eventually convinced me to use this for my senior project.


5. What are you doing for your summer mentor-ship?

   I will be spending time with my mentor Del Shindell learning how the tracking website works with the devices and how the devices themselves interact with the vehicles they are installed in.