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May 15 - 18, 2017

A great deal of more work was brought to our attention this week. However, our work ethic has allowed us to move through the work load very efficiently. The week started out with giving Scott an briefing of what CJ and I did last week. Our presentation of photos pinpointedus to where it will be necessary to place cameras to capture images of  people in the most effective way.Luckily for us, CJ had his digital camera at the time, which allowed us to get better resolution on the pictures.
Scott did not hesitate ti give us more to do. Our next task was to create a chart that compared and contrasted the different camera/sensor options for the trail. CJ and I came up with a rating system that would label which feature would have the  most priority in the project. I realized that having longer battery life and wireless capability were the most important features. Having the longer battery life will allow the camera to last longer and have fewer times to check on the camera. This feature will keep other people from making frequent stops to the camera to change its batteries. Our conclusion came to the Bushnell Aggressor model. After making the chart, CJ and I mapped out the different trails, through the use of Google Maps, that we will be using for the project. Lastly, Scott wanted us to compile a letter to Lyle encouraging his support with the project. I hope Lyle is willing to support this project because it could benefit the cost of the cameras we will be using.
The next day, CJ and I were fortunate enough to get a critiqued version of the letter from Scott. He helped out with the minor details and gave suggestions to what to mention. I'm glad he was able to support us in formulating a well written email. Without his help, the letter would not have been as great as it could have been. The rest of our time was spent getting the Bushnell Camera to work, Honestly, this camera is not working in the efficiency that we need it to perform at. If only we can get it to take one picture, we would be able to test it on some static backgrounds. However it will not take any pictures. I am having second thoughts about this camera.
On Wednesday, CJ and I researched algorithms that would count pedestrians in images. The methods to get such an algorithm to work involves having two types of images: one with a background and another with both a background and a foreground. The algorithm needs to use both of these images to cross-reference the differences, in this case the pedestrians. Soona breakthrough was made which allowed us to count pedestrians through images. It was a great feeling to accomplish this much code this far into the internship.
When Thursday hit, it was time to catch Matt up with our progress on the project. He was impressed and also gave us some advice for the upcoming assignments. It was that day we went out to the trails with another team to take pictures of the trails, only this time with people in the foreground. The other team was very cooperative and are a great example of the importance of working together. I learned that is is very important to take more photos than what you need. You never know what you are looking for or what you plan to use so it is good to have plenty of material to work with.

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