Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Carl La Russa

North

2/5/2015

Blog 14 Independent Component 1

Literal

a.) "I, Carl La Russa, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of my work."

b and d.) For most of my independent component, I worked with my mentor, installing tracking units into vehicles such as cars and buses and setting up accounts so that clients can track their vehicles. I also worked on finding people that worked within my topic area that I could interview such as Mr. Hans Molin, a sales manager at Bendix Inc., a company that builds and sells cameras that cooperate with tracking systems to record accidents that occur with commercial vehicle such as buses and eighteen-wheelers. An achievement that I am proud over is when I was able to get my mentor to meet Mr. Molin and have them reach a deal on cameras that would be installed in fifteen buses that my mentor tracks.

c.) I've updated my hours log.

Interpretive

       Over the past couple months, I've been working feverishly to find contacts for interviews and I've installed many units along with my mentor. In October my mentor and I installed one of the larger units into his personal car, just to show me how an installation works and what needs to be done afterwards to make sure the unit works properly. By knowing how to properly install and setup one of the tracking units I learned a whole lot in terms of how a unit communicates with satellites and cell towers to send its location data to a computer server and how people, specifically commercial vehicle drivers might benefit from having such a unit installed in their vehicle. In November, I contacted the finance manager at Mark Christopher Auto Center who wanted twenty units to be installed in the dealership's rental car fleet. The week after I talked to her, my mentor and I visited the dealership where we spent hours in car trunks making sure each unit was installed correctly and testing each and every one to see if they transmitted the correct information every thirty seconds. During the month of January I was able to land an interview with Mr. Molin who I had contacted back in December. I was also given a tour of his office building where all of the company's products are designed. The past couple of weeks though have been the busiest though. First of all I went with my mentor down to San Diego to supervise the installation of seven units into some vans. While in San Diego, my mentor also checked up on some other units to make sure they were running properly. Secondly, I took a tour of Odyssey Coach's new bus facility in Orange, CA along with my mentor. Shortly thereafter we did an inspection of Bus 42, one of the buses that was having issues with its unit. Thirdly, my mentor and I drove down to Santa Ana to meet with Mr. Molin and to discuss a potential deal with cameras that would be installed on the inside of some buses in San Diego to record what is happening and to have the camera hooked up with the tracking unit so it could send this data to my mentor's company servers. On the way back from that meeting we stopped of at the Odyssey Bus Yard to get an update on the situation with Bus 42. 

Applied

    By completing my independent component, I've learned quite a bit more than I would've by just researching my topic online or looking through books. For instance, when I worked with my mentor at the Odyssey Bus Yard, I learned how the actual units are installed, how they function, and the reaction from actual drivers who work for Odyssey. I have also spent countless hours with my mentor at his house just learning how to work the tracking website, the tracking iPhone application and how to repair malfunctioning units. The best part about this project so far is that I actually get to use one of the units in my car. I know exactly where my car is at all times, what the battery voltage is, and if the car is on or not. So far I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge about my topic just by shadowing my mentor and tagging along with him when he needs to go visit bus yards or car dealerships.

 Here is my mentor inspecting one of the buses at the Odyssey Bus Yard.

Here is Bus 42 being repaired by the yard's head mechanic.

This is Odyssey's official logo on the side of one of its buses.

Here is my mentor inspecting the work done by the lead mechanic at the Odyssey Yard.

Here is a stripped down trunk of one the cars my mentor and I were installing one of the tracking units in.

Here is Mr. Molin discussing with my mentor how his cameras work.

This is my mentor attaching the ground terminal from the unit to the car's battery.

In this picture, my mentor and I trying to solve a problem with one of the malfunctioning bus units.

Here is where my mentor runs tests on all of the units he purchases.

Here my mentor is inspecting the car's battery.