Wireless Atmospheric Data Collector
Wanshu (Wayne) Sun
Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District – High School
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
E-mail: 13wsun@gmail.com
Phone: (908)-838-6310
I. Introduction
During this project, my partners were Alexander Glorius and Franco Pacheco. Alexander is currently a high school student at Haldane High School and Franco is currently an undergraduate student at the City College of New York. Professor Jizhong Xiao at the Grove School of Engineering at CCNY was our advisor and oversaw the project. This apprenticeship project took place during the summer of 2012 at the robotics lab in the Grove School of Engineering.
This project was a continuation of what the apprenticeship program had previously started to do two years ago. We were to create a device that can wirelessly collect data from a remote controlled helicopter and send the data back to a base. This way, the military could use this to remotely collect data from a certain area without having to risk sending in troops in to collect data. This can potentially save many lives.
II. Progress/Accomplishments
Initially coming into this project, I had little knowledge of any mechanical or electrical engineering. However, as time went on I became more familiar with many aspects of the subject. First, I learned basic wiring with breadboards. Next, using my new skill in wiring, I was able to implement the use of Arduino and able to connect different objects such as lights and sensors with breadboards and the Arduino. Lastly, I became more familiar with programming with the Arduino software. I did this through using basic IF and THEN commands. By becoming familiar with these three aspects, we were able to use Arduino to make the BMP sensor, LCD screen, and bluetooth work [2].
We decided to get the LCD screen and BMP sensor working separately before connecting them. Initially we had problems with the LCD screen, as it would never display actual characters but just 16 blocks of light (the screen was 8x2). After implementing the use of a resistor and a potentiometer, we were able to regulate the power of the light in the screen. This solved the problem and we were able to display any text we wanted to with the LCD screen [2]. We were able to get the BMP sensor working without much trouble, and we had it displaying temperature, pressure, altitude, and real altitude on the serial monitor [1].
Next, we had to figure out a way to display the information from the BMP sensor onto the LCD screen. This was rather simple, as it only took a few changes in the program and wiring.
With the LCD screen displaying the data from the BMP sensor, we now had to figure out a way to transfer the data from it wirelessly to a computer. This was simple as we merely had to attach the bluetooth on top of the Arduino board and then connect all the wires from the BMP sensor and the LCD screen in the bluetooth. We then downloaded the bluetooth application onto the computer, where Franco transferred the application to his phone. After a short while of programming, we were able to transfer the data from the BMP sensor and LCD screen onto Franco's phone [4].
Our next step would be to connect everything to a helicopter that could be remote controlled. Initially in the project we had an AR drone that we were able to remotely control. However, one of the other graduate students also working in the robotics lab accidentally crashed it, and it broke. Theoretically, all we would have to do is to attach the BMP sensor, LCD screen, and Arduino board and bluetooth onto the top of the AR drone.
III. Conclusion
We completed the most important parts of the project, which was to create something that could collect data and wirelessly send the data to a base. This project was enjoyable, and I learned many things about engineering from it.
IV. Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Alexander Glorius and Franco Pacheco for being my partners during this project; without them the project would never have progressed to the point it is currently at. I would also like to thank our advisor Professor Xiao, the City College of New York, and the Army Research Laboratory for making this program possible.
V. References
[1] http://learn.adafruit.com/bmp085/using-the-bmp085
[2] http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal.
[3] Arduino Tutorial Website
[4] Itead Studio