Monday, 9 a.m.

Turn off your phones, put away your calculators. Exam week begins.

the Philo

As is the custom, the exam week always starts with the thing that makes our heads crawl.

Our friend did pretty well, since it only took him 2000 lines of code to explain all the mess that was in his brain.

I'm almost done editing. For the geeks, I'll post his copy next week.

The solemn oral

After the ordeal of the written blabla, it was time for the interrogation.

Imagine poor little Pioupiou, all alone, in the middle of this big, lifeless room… The menacing air from the walls… The examiner staring at him…

The subject was not trivial. It was about radio frequencies and harmonized standards.

He was very scared because, at first, the jury didn't like him. It was because of the power radiated by its antenna, which reached almost 17dBm. The judges were formal: you cannot exceed 14, it must be written in the sacred book ETSI EN 300-220.

Our Pioupiou, very sad, did not quite understand what was happening to him. How could it radiate stronger than the maximum power of its transmitter? He even went so far as to imagine that his coach had injected him with EPO while he slept.

Fortunately, the culprit was quickly identified. It was antenna that was a little overzealous.

Phew! All it took was a little software tweaking to restore order.

Not only did our Pioupiou graduate, but he got the honors because he showed us that he knew how to emit louder with less energy. This will have a real impact on his professional life, since it will save a few months on the life of his battery.

Practical work

After all these emotions, he was able to relax during the practical work.

Test the operation of all the cards, then connect the sensors, then retest…

All those insignificant little details that make a complete product.

The same innocuous little details that are no longer so innocuous when multiplied by 500.

Fortunately, it is a group work! Otherwise, it would take forever. There will even be another member arriving on Monday.

Physical education

Finally, training began for the big sporting event. There will be sweat!

After the endurance test of 5000 screws, it will be the turn of the big sprint of 500 meters of tape… When we have finished the high jump session above the mountains of empty boxes.

But we will have to continue to wait. There are still a few small accessories missing.

Among the list of works awaiting delivery: the Olympic swimming pool. We'll talk about that next week.