Isabella Cline

1/15/16
P6
Project Proposal
For my project, I am building a radar that will be able to detect a drone. I am
working with four other high school interns from across Maryland. We have made code
with the Matlab computer programming software to use as the transmitting signal for the
radar. The group has also created radar circuit drawings, which will be converted to an
actual radar circuit hopefully by mid February. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
(APL) will provide the parts for the radar. The group has also measured the frequency of
the antennas for the radar using the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) device. Right
now we are in the process of creating a graphical user interface (GUI) that will be able to
take the data from the radar and display it in the form of a graph. Our mentors have
helped us get the expertise we need to complete certain tasks. For example, they recently
organized a GUI tutorial. The instructor, an APL employee, gave two of the interns and
me a step-by-step demonstration on how to create a GUI, which was extremely helpful.
The mentors also organized a site VSWR tutorial. The instructor, another APL employee,
gave us a demonstration on how to use the device and upload the data to the computer.
We hope to be finished with the GUI by early February. By March we plan to have our
radar circuit built and begin testing it. By April, we will hopefully have a fully
functioning radar and present our project to the APL employees and interns. There will
probably be additional tasks assigned by Mr. Reid between now and April, but they have
yet to be assigned. In addition I will make a visual representation of my project by
creating a display board and present it at the Celebration of Excellence on May 3, 2015.