# Outlook and Review of the Project

# Final Presentation

During the live presentation of the system, Horizon was deployed and the frontend was publicly available. Given that enough funds remain in our account, the Horizon dashboard will be available as a static application in the first week of August, 2020 for trying out features (such as filter criteria), which were not shown during the presentation.

# Outlook

The current version of the app is the first, initial version (1.0) Further versions could contain the following features:

  • Introducing of the controller as a target group: here an additional batch-layer view with its own frontend could show historical, consolidated data from which medium to long-term strategic decisions could be made

# Frontend:

  • Increase in the number of end devices: the application could be developed in the form of a mobile app so that the respective target groups can consume the information and recommendations for action on the trucks while on the move

Horizon: Outlook

# Backend:

  • Dynamically enrich master data like the truck year or license plate from the simulation database
  • Build own weather database (save frequently accessed locations) with unlimited calls to remove cost factor for external API.
  • Improve existing and add further machine learning components

# Simulation:

  • Extend the simulation even further to make it more realistic, e.g. consider current weather, laws and regulations, add international routes, ...
  • Include live route planning for insertion of new routes during runtime -> Additional route planning frontend

# Review of the Project

# What we learned

  • New tools:
    • Docker
    • Kubernetes
    • React
    • Spark
    • Kafka
  • Deploying a streaming architecture
  • Importance of scope and time management
    -> With freedom comes responsibility: Not everything you think of and want to do can actually be done (within the time constraints of 10 ECTS)
  • Importance of mockups and iterative evaluation

# Challenges we faced

  • Not knowing where to start and how to organize a large group project in a digital semester -> "Too much" freedom?
  • Finding a viable data source and customizing it for our needs without loosing too much time
  • Containerizing an existing Java-App with dependencies
  • Debugging a live-streaming application with limited logging capabilities and high turnaround times
  • Data mapping: From pure values to a user-interpretable dashboard
  • Familiarizing with previously unknown tools and concepts: React, Docker and Spark streaming