Capstone Blog

Catching Up

This week has been a rush of trying to catch up on everything from while I was gone. Unfortunately I am working again this weekend which gives me a tighter schedule for getting this week’s tasks done as well. I have finally gotten all the assignments due last week caught up on and have been scrambling to finish as much as possible before leaving for work this week. Luckily the structure of this class as well as the support of my group has allowed me to stay on top of everything for this class without an issue. As such I have spent a lot of time watching lecture videos for my Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It’s a very interesting but time intensive class.

Mockups and Prototypes

This week I started to look into potentially mocking up some samples for the project. This came up during our weekly meeting with our project sponsor and I got a recommendation of looking into Mockingbird as an option for quickly drafting. This is a tool that our project sponsor likes to use and will be easy to learn with the low learning curve for initial design mockups. I also plan to use Adobe XD later on in the drafting process to create some functional prototypes. Making mockups and prototypes are essential for ensuring the product we produce throughout the year is what the sponsor truly wants. I plan to get started with minimal mockups next week.

Time Management

Something I have really struggled with these past few weeks is time management – which I typically excel at. It has been an interesting run to see how I can deal with unexpected changes to my schedule (such as being gone for an extra few days for work). Typically this term I have been working on a couple assignments a day (some of them being worked on for a few days) to stay on top of numerous Sunday deadlines. Having less time has still required me to work with prioritizing what I can and cannot get done on time. I have never been a fan of letting things be turned in late or asking for extensions. These past few weeks has thrown a wrench in that. Asking for help (and extensions) is hard to do but important for success when a conflict arises. That is something I have to remind myself of sometimes and these past few weeks were a great reminder.

Another Week Away

Now that I am finally home I can talk a little bit about what I did while I was away! I was a part of a fly over for the Nascar race in Texas. Our group flew down to Fort Worth, Texas to support our aircraft in completing some training – flying with different types of aircraft – and doing the flyover. We ended up with some rainy weather that caused the pilots to be a little late on the flyover – so it was not broadcast on TV like planned. The rain also cancelled the race but it was a cool experience and gave our pilots some extra training. On the way back, one of our jets broke and landed in Utah – as maintainers we headed there to repair the jet.

Our original flights home were cancelled and off we went to Utah to diagnose and repair the jet. We ran into some challenges as the base did not normally support F-15’s – causing a scramble for parts. After some coordination with our base out in Portland we managed to get the jet up in the air by Thursday to fly home. We packed up and headed home ourselves on Friday.

Technology Research

While I was gone I started researching the technology for the aspects of the project I am responsible for. To start I was tasked with how to deploy Flutter onto both iOS and Android devices – including getting them onto the proper stores. Next I checked into some options for prototyping our application from wireframes to functional prototypes – and decided to settle on Adobe XD. Finally I assisted with some research into blockchain options. The most sensible option seemed to be Hyperledger Sawtooth as it is used for tracking food lifecycles already – making it easy to see how it can be used to track wine lifecycles!

Where am I?

This week has been a bit of a curve ball. Luckily I have some great team mates that understand and are willing to work with me. As a member of the Air National Guard, I occasionally get tasked to go on temporary duty assignments. This time I got sent over to Texas for a week and have been working with our fighter jets here. I will be coming back sometime in the middle of the week and jumping right back in. In the downtime I have had, I have read articles about blockchain and wine fraud.

Articles!

Our project sponsor has linked some cool articles about existing technology using blockchain to prevent wine fraud. The first article was “Fighting Wine Fraud And Using The Blockchain To Do It.” This is an article about an application similar to what we are working to create. It is great to have some references to existing work to from ideas around. Another article about related technology is “Blockchain Spreads Its Vines To Root Out Counterfeit Wines And Spirits.” These articles referenced some great applications in different regions looking to complete a similar task to our project.

My Balancing Act

Luckily, I received enough warning to plan my absence out with my team members. Unfortunately I had to push out some of my school work and studying due to a lack of downtime. Missing project meetings makes it hard to keep up at times but my group has put in the time to keep me involved and in the loop. It will be good to hop back into the fray and keep on top of everything once I am back in town. I have been going to school while in the Air National Guard for just over four years now. It adds a dynamic to managing schedules that can lead to late nights but it makes the results feel that much more satisfying. Next up is catching back up on what has happened so far before my next weekend of work!

A Project in Wine

This week I got a chance to meet with the sponsor for my project – Jim Cupples. We got a chance to learn a lot about his background and he is an incredible guy! He has worked to set up a few different websites and companies already. One that may be useful as we move forward is his site- allthefarms.com. It is still in contemplation if a similar website for wines is within the scope for our project. The primary focus for our project is a phone application that works with wineries and consumers.

What the Wine?

There are two major factors the team needs to look at. The first side is creating the full application for both iOS and Android devices. The application should read QR codes that are individual per bottle of wine. Scanning the code will provide information about the wine and if it is potentially a fraudulent bottle. With participation from people in the wine industry the points of sale can also be tracked per bottle. The second factor for this project will be working with the wineries.

Wine Networking

In order to arrange for QR codes on bottles we will have to put boots on the ground and talk to wineries. Putting individualized QR codes will help track the authenticity of the bottles of wine. It will also assist with tracking the history of each bottle. To do this will require a decent amount of networking – pressing the importance so their wine cannot be copied. Another aspect will be gaining information about each of these wines and wineries to store in the application. When a QR code is scanned we want to give the user a description of the wine and grapes used.

A Database Option

One database option I looked into this week was the AWS- Amazon Web Services database. I like the idea of using an online, cloud-based database for the project as it does not require a physical server that needs to be maintained. It seems like it will have a decent learning curve. Above that, when set up properly it is very secure.

Fraud in a Bottle

How do you know if a product is authentic? First create a secure history of the product. How can you create a secure history of a product? Blockchain incorporated into the history of the product can keep it secure. This year my team and I are working with a sponsor to create just such a product for use in the wine industry. The plan is an application for wineries and distributors to use. Starting with the source of the bottle, it’s history can be stored securely with blockchain encryption. Then the information about the wine can be tracked in the application. This week I started researching the topic – starting with a movie on wine fraud.

Sour Grapes?!

This week I took an opportunity to watch the documentary “Sour Grapes” (2017). The documentary focused on the life of Rudy Kurniawan. He is behind one of the largest wine frauds to ever be exposed in the United States. Rudy came to the US in the late 1990’s on a student visa and stayed as a fugitive after it ran out. He made his way into the high class wine circles socially – where he tried to make everyone his friend. High dollar wines sold from his private collection for millions of dollars. These high dollar wines turned out to be bottles that were refilled with low dollar wine and sold at auction. It is estimated that 15,000 bottles of fraudulent wine sold through Rudy’s private collection.

Why This Project?

I enjoy drinking wine and am a security major. When looking at projects for my capstone project – I knew this was the one. This exciting project should make for an interesting year and my project partners and I seem to be off to a great start. We have a lot of research to do as we work to familiarize ourselves with the wine industry and blockchain. We plan to meet up with our sponsor once a weekly meeting time is established this week. I look forward to learning a lot and forming many connections in the wine community.

A Blog By: Samantha Zeigler - a Cyber Security Major

Hello and welcome to my first blog post – Welcome to Me!

My name is Samantha Zeigler and I am a cyber security major at Oregon State University. My original interest in programming started with my dad – he worked at Symantec and McAfee as a programmer throughout my childhood. His programming work started my interest in programming which maintained itself when I got to high school and took every programming class offered. Finding cyber security happened easily with my dad as a role model.

I just finished up a summer internship with Tripwire as an Agility Intern. My experience there was unique as I stepped into the role of scrum master for one of their senior programming teams. The experience was especially unique as I worked remotely through the pandemic with primarily Microsoft Teams as a communication tool.

Completing my Associates Degree at Chemeketa Community College started my higher education journey. School then took the back seat for a couple years as I joined the Air National Guard. I have now been in the Oregon Air National Guard for over four years. Maintaining the F-15 has been great. The Guard activation in response to the wildfires allowed me to work further with the community.

I look forward to learning a lot during this year project and working with the community.

Samantha Zeigler