We overlooked the complexity of the system
- a lot of components need to be well-designed and have the right specifications e.g. 3D printed array design and specs, transducer specs
- there were many aspects we overlooked that ended up being issues we had to solve during troubleshooting e.g. buying wires of the wrong size
- we underestimated how many difficulties that could surface e.g. sourcing of components like SMD capacitors for the PCB
- we had to pick up soldering fast as the bulk of our work involved soldering small components and this has to be very precise
Troubleshooting has to be done at every step
- need to ensure all the components are working properly before we combine all of them together
- need to eliminate as many variables and uncertainties as possible e.g. transducers from different manufacturers may not work well together