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Group 1

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan | Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour

Unrestricted

Detection of Algae in Fish Tanks Using Optical Absorption

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Administrative Introduction

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 2

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Meet the Team

Zia McDonnold

Photonics Engineering Major

Kielan McMillan

Photonics Engineering Major

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 3

Danielle Nastyn

Electrical Engineering Major

Vergin Mansour

Computer Engineering Major

ALL

I think it should go Zia, me, Kielan and then Vergin.

Now we’ll introduce our team to you

Zia- "Hi, my name is Zia McDonnold and I will be graduating this this summer with a Bachelors of Science in Photonic Science and Engineering. I am looking forward to telling you all about our project.

Dani- "Hello everyone, my name is Danielle Nastyn and I'll be graduating this summer with my Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. I currently work at Siemens Energy in Continuous Improvement and am excited to put our skills to the test and showcase what we've been learning over the past 4 plus years."

Kielan- Hello everyone, my name is Kielan McMillan I’ll be graduating this summer with my bachelors in photonics science and engineering. Currently work at X-lumin as an optical engineer and am looking forward to presenting our project to you

Vergin-Hello everyone, My name is Vergin Mansour, I will be graduating this summer with my Bachelors in Computer Engineering. I am currently working at Northrop Grumman as a Cyber Security System Engineer and I am excited use the knowledge I have gained though out the 4 years of school to help assist my team mates with this project

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Motivation

Complete degree requirements
Gain Experience in the following:

Project Management
Project Design
Project Documentation
Professional Presentation

Create an affordable and effective system that will monitor harmful environments in fish tanks

Photo Courtesy of "www.ucf.edu"

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 4

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Algae Characteristics

Single celled microscopic organisms that thrive in warm, nutrient rich, slow-moving waters
Algae can be detected through the amount of light that is absorption. Using The Properties of Beer's Law and selecting the best wavelength of light as a source.
Cyanobacteria are a form of algae and contain a green pigment called Chlorophyll-a that plants use for photosynthesis
3 Cyanotoxins can be produced:

Neurotoxin
Hepatotoxin
Dermatoxin

Photos Courtesy of "pixels.com" "www.johanpaul.com", "Fondriest [3]",

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 5

“

”

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Project Goals

Basic Goals

Design and build an optical system that detects changes in light intensity through a moving water sample

Laser
Photodiodes
Focusing Lense
Beam-splitter

Design and code an easy-to-use touch enabled liquid crystal display
Design a functioning system under $1,000 USD

Advanced Goals

Design and build a gravity siphon to pull a continuous sample from the fish tank
Integrate a thermal camera to detect temperature
Integrate a Wi-Fi Module

Stretch Goals

Design and launch a mobile app user interface
Design and build a system to dispense corrective chemicals

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 6

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Project Description

Microcontroller used to power, read and display outputs
Laser, lenses and photodiodes used to detect intensity shifts
Thermal Camera used to monitor temperature
Liquid Crystal Display and Wi-Fi module used to communicate with user
Gravity Siphon used to draw continuous water sample

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 7

Algae Detection System

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Specifications

Component	Parameter	Design Specification
Microcontroller	Complexity	Single Board System
Power supply	US Standard wall outlet	Plugs into wall will need to give 9W
Optical Source	Wavelength absorption sensitivity	Compare absorption detection sensitivity for different algae concentrations for 450nm, 532nm, and 650nm wavelengths
Focusing Lens	Position	Compare absorption sensitivity without using focusing lens
Source Operation	Duration	Continuous wave
Housing	Dimension	Dimensions do not exceed 12 in x 12 in x 12 in
Design	Cost	Production cost does not exceed $1,000
Thermal Camera	Temperature	Detects changes in temperature with 0.5% sensitivity
Liquid Crystal Display	User Interface	Simple seletions

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 8

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Block Diagram

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 9

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Overall Design

Microcontroller
Power Supply
Liquid Crystal Display
Thermal Camera
Wi-Fi Module

Optical Hardware

Laser
Beamsplitter
Lens
Photodiodes

Basic Hardware

3D Models
Siphon

Electrical Hardware

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 10

Software

LCD Interface
Microcontroller Interface

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Electrical Hardware Components�Microcontroller�Arduino Uno

Significant Design Specifications

6 Analog and 14 Digital Input Pins
5V Operating Voltage
7V-12V Input Voltage
Arduino (IDE) Integrated Development Environment
Extensive Online Community
Cost Effective

Photo Courtesy of content.arduino.cc

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 11

	Waspmote	Raspberry Pi B	Arduino Uno
Microcontroller	ATmega1281	BCM2711	ATmega328
Operating Voltage	3.3V	5V	5V
Input Voltage (recommended)	5V	5V	7V-12V
Input Voltage (limits)	7V	5V	6V-20V
Digital I/O Pins	8	8	14
Analog Input Pins	7	N/A	6
DC Current per I/O Pin	40mA	700mA	40 mA
Temperature Range	-30 ºC to +125 ºC	0ºC to +50 ºC	-40 ºC to +125 ºC
Flash Memory	128kB	SD Card	32 kB
SRAM	8kB	-	2 kB
EEPROM	4kB	N/A	1kB
Clock Speed	32.768kHz	700MHz	16 MHz
Cost	Quote	$35	$23

Thank you Zia,

I'll be taking you through the electrical hardware components of our system.

As you saw on the previous page, our system has a few accessories.

These include items such as a laser and photodiodes for the optics design as well as a liquid crystal display for the user interface.

Based off our design some components will require an analog pin while others require a digital connection.

Through our research we determined that the Adruino Uno would be the best Microcontroller for our design.

The board has a 5 and 3.3v pin and can be easily coded using C++ via the Arduino Integrated Development Environment

And has an input voltage range of 7 to 12 V and a output of 5 and 3.3 V via pins.

The microcontroller not only meets our component integration requirements it also has an extensive online community with countless project examples.

Arduino Uno ATmega328
Operating Voltage of 5V
Input Voltage of 7V-12V
Digital I/O Pins – 14
Analog Input Pins – 6

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Photo Courtesy of content.arduino.cc

12

ATmega328

USB Bridge

Power

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Photo Courtesy of amazon.com

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 13

Manufacturer	Snark Pedal Power Supply	FlickerStar	Moog Minifooger
Item Number	SnarkSA1	B07ZM46WKF	MFoogerPwr
Input Voltage Range	100-120V AC �50-60Hz	100-240V AC �50-60Hz	100-120V AC �50-60Hz
Output Voltage	9V DC	9V DC	9V DC
Output Amps	400mA	1000mA	550mA
Cost	$12.99	$10.98	$19.99

Significant Design Specifications

Input Voltage 100-240V
Output Voltage 9V
Inexpensive

Electrical Hardware Components�Power Supply

B07ZM46WKF�

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Photo Courtesy of microcontrollertutorials.com

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 14

Electrical Hardware Components

Liquid Crystal Display�NX3224T024

	Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)			Light Emitting Diode (LED)	Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)
Manufacturer	Newhaven Display International	Nextion	East Rising	Adafruit Industries LLC	Waveshare
Manufacturer Product Number	NHD-0420H1Z-FSW-GBW	NX3224T024	ER-TFT035-6	MI-T35P6RGBF-AA (6432)	14747
Description	Character LCD	Touch LCD	Touch LCD	RGB LED �Dot Matrix	RGB OLED
Viewing Area	60mm x 28mm	48.6mm x 36.72mm	50.56mm x 75.04mm	385mm x 190mm	26.86mm x 26.86mm
Voltage Supply	4.7V ~ 5.5V	5V	2.5V ~ 3.3V	5V	3.3V ~ 5V
Operating Temperature	-20°C ~ 70°C	-20°C ~ 60°C	-20°C ~ 70°C	-20°C ~ 60°C	-30°C ~ 70°C
Price	$22.66	$22.99	$19.25	$64.95	$18.95

Significant Design Specifications

Liquid Crystal Display
Operating Voltage of 5V
Touch Enabled
Nextion Editor
Extensive Online Community

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Wi-Fi�ESP8266 ESP-01

Photo Courtesy of nurdspace.nl

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 15

Hardware Components

Items	ESP8266	ESP8285	ESP32
Manufacturer	MakerFocus	KeeYees	AITRIP
Peripheral Bus	UART/SDIO/SPI/I2C/I2S/IR Remote Control	UART/SDIO/SPI/I2C/I2S/IR Remote Control	UART/SDIO/SPI/I2C/DAC/ADC/JTAG
Operating Voltage	3.0~3.6V	2.7 V ~ 3.6 V	2.3 V ~ 3.6 V
Operating Current	Average value: 80mA	Average value: 80mA	500mA
Operating Temperature	-40°C~125°C	–40 °C ~ 85 °C	-40°C~125°C
Package Size	48.4mm x 25.5mm	15mm x 17.8mm	54.6 mm x 27.94 mm
WiFi Mode	station/softAP/SoftAP+station	Station/SoftAP/SoftAP+Station	Simultaneous support for Infrastructure Station, SoftAP, and Promiscuous modes
Security	WPA/WPA2	WPA/WPA2	ECC/RSA
Encryption	WEP/TKIP/AES	WEP/TKIP/AES	AES
Cost	$12.99 (4pcs)	$23.99 (5pcs)	$19.68 (3pcs)

Significant Design Specifications

Inexpensive
ESP8266
Input Voltage is 3.3V
Serial/UART Baude Rate 115200 bps
Wi-Fi Security modes are WPA and WPA2

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Wi-Fi�ESP8266

Photo Courtesy of nurdspace.nl

16

Hardware Components

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Overall Design

Microcontroller
Power Supply
Liquid Crystal Display
Thermal Camera
Wi-Fi Module

Optical Hardware

Laser
Beamsplitter
Lens
Photodiodes

Basic Hardware

3D Models
Siphon

Electrical Hardware

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 17

Software

LCD Interface
Microcontroller Interface

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Optical Component Specifications

Light source

Collimated beam
450 nm peak wavelength

532 nm and 650 nm calibration wavelengths

Optical power of no more than 5 mW

Beamsplitter

AR coated for visible light
Power split ratio of 50:50
25.4 mm diameter

Focus lens

AR coated for visible light
25.4 mm < focal length < 40 mm
25.4 mm diameter
Divergent light focusing

Photodiodes

Active area no less than 4 mm2
Sensitivity/ Responsivity of no less than 0.5 at 450 nm
Cost no more than $10

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 18

Here you can see the specifications for the optical components

For our light source we have the following:

A collimated beam
Wavelengths of 450nm 532 nm, and 650nm. Where the green 532nm and the red 650nm wavelengths are common operating wavelengths and will be used for sensitivity calibrations.
And the optical power is no greater than 5 mW

Next we see the beamsplitter's specification:

A visible light anti reflective coating to minimize unwanted reflection
A 50 50 power split ratio for the split beams to have identical optical power
And a 25.4 mm diameter for easy alignment purposes

The specifications for the focusing lens include:

The same anti reflective coating as the beamsplitter
A focal length no less than 25.4 mm but no greater than 40 mm to ensure there is enough room between components but not too much where beam distortion may occur
A 25.4 mm diameter for easy alignment purposes
And focuses diverging light for refocusing the beam due to any divergence caused by transmitting through water

The last optical component is the photodiodes where the specifications include:

An active area no less than 4 mm squared so the alignment remains simple
A Sensitivity and or responsivity of no less than 0.5 at 450 nm
And lastly they are no more than 10 dollars each

Next I'll go through some optical component comparisons.

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Laser Pointer Comparison

Laser Pointer	Price	Peak Wavelength	Maximum Optical Power	Laser Class	Power Source
Big Laser Pointers	$109	455 nm	2000 mW	IV	2 x 16340 Li-ion batteries
Amazon Store	$14.88	405 nm, 532 nm, 650 nm	5 mW	III	2 x AAA batteries
Alpec	$84.99	450 nm	5 mW	IIIA	2 x AAA batteries

Alpec laser pointer chosen for the following:

Preferred wavelength of 450 nm
Power source is common and easily obtainable

Amazon Laser pointers

Purchased for preliminary testing due to similarity to Alpec laser
Currently repurposing the green and red-light laser pointers for additional sensitivity comparison testing

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 19

The Alpec laser pointer displayed in the left hand picture was chosen for

It matching one of the specified wavelengths of 450nm which is the wavelength Chlorophyll A absorbs the most

The power source is a simple pair of triple A batteries which makes powering it from a circuit easy.

And lastly the max power is 5mW

In comparison to the big laser pointers brand with a maximum optical power of 2,000 mW

Costing around $20 more

and requiring 2 lithhium ion batteries

Most market available lasers operating at 450nm are similar to the Big laser pointer brand where the lasers are operating at incredible powers.

Because of this the Alpec laser pointer was an obvious choice.

Next we see the laser pointers from the Amazon store displayed above on the right side.

This brand comes in a set of three laser pointers operating at 405nm, 532nm, and 650nm and all have a maximum optical power of 5mW. These laser pointers were purchased for preliminary testing but have since been used for wavelength dependent sensitivity calibrations.

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Beamsplitter Comparison

Beamsplitter		Shape	Price	Split Ratio	AR Coating	Size
1	BSW10	Plate	$106.49	50:50	VIS 350 – 700 nm	25.4 mm diameter
2	BS013	Cube	$230.71	50:50	VIS 400 – 700 nm	1" x 1" x 1"
3	BSF2550	Wedge	$89.29	NA	NA	1.0" x 2.0"
4	BSW10R	Square plate	$125.34	50:50	VIS 350 – 700 nm	25 x 36 mm

25.4 mm diameter allows for easy alignment
Plate shape is more affordable than a cube beamsplitter
The wedge beamsplitter doesn't have a set power split ratio or AR coating

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 20

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Lens Comparison

Lenses		Focal Length	Available Coating	Material	Price
1	LB1761-A	25.4 mm	(A) 400 – 700 nm	NBK-7	$40.21
2	LB1757-A	30 mm	(A) 400 – 700 nm	NBK-7	$39.38
3	LB1027-A	40 mm	(A) 400 – 700 nm	NBK-7	$38.27

Focal length is long enough for simple alignment allowing for desirable distance between components
More affordable lens with smaller focal length
Focal length is short enough to reduce risk of optical distortion
Lens size allows for simple alignment
Bi-convex shape enables focusing of diverging beam

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 21

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Photodiode Comparison

list	Photodiodes	Price	Peak Wavelength Sensitivity/ Responsivity	Active area
1	SD-076-12-12-011-Photodiode	$14.95	Undefined	2.9 mm²
2	MTD5052N	$7.46	525 nm	Undefined
3	MTD5052W	$7.46	523 nm	0.62 mm²
4	TME BPW21R VISHAY	$8.02	565 nm	7.5 mm²

TME photodiodes have a larger active area
Has a defined peak wavelength with high sensitivity in the blue light range
Small and light weight
Large active area makes optical alignment simple

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 22

Our last comparison is for the photodiodes

Our first photodiode doesn't meet any of the specifications with an undefined peak sensitivity wavelength, an active area less than 4 mm squared, and costing over $10 each

Next is photodiode 2 which meets the our price specification and meets the peak sensitivity wavelength but the active area is undefined

Photodiode 3 shares photodiode 2's price and peak wavelength but has a defined active area less than 4 mm squared

Lastly photodiode 4 shown on the left meets the price specification and the active area specification and the peak wavelength is a bit larger than photodiode 2 or 3 but still meets the peak wavelength specification with 0.7 responisivity at 450 nm shown in the graph on the right

Next Zia will go over the optical design and testing the optical system

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Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 23

Optical Design

Laser pointer of 450 nm wavelength of average optical power of 2.4 mW transmits beam 5 cm to beamsplitter
Beamsplitter separates beam into an input beam and output beam
Input beam travels 3.4 cm to photodiode 1
Output beam travels 4.4 cm to incident surface of water tube
Output beam travels 2.4 cm from the exiting surface of the water tube to the focusing lens
The focusing lens focuses the beam 3 cm away onto photodiode 2

Lastly I will go over the optical design

We start with a laser pointer of 450 nm propagating a beam of 2.4 mW of average optical power 5 cm to the beamsplitter where it’s split into 2 separate beams of roughly 1.2 mW each.

The input beam path is the transmitted path where the beam transmits through the beamsplitter and travels 3.4 cm to photodiode 1 for the input intensity to be detected.

The output beam is the reflected beam from the beamsplitter that travels 4.4 cm to the first surface of the water tube

The beam then exits the water tube and travels 2.4 cm to the focusing lens

The lens focuses the beam 3 cm away onto photodiode 2 for the output intensity to be detected.

By detecting the input and output intensities we can find out how much of the light was absorbed by dividing the output intensity by the input intesity

Next zia will explain the optical system testing

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Testing Optical System

ε for chlorophyll a in Hair algae is 1.261E+05 M-1*cm-1

The system will be tested using a sample of Hair algae.
The sample will be at a concentrations of 0.01, 0.05, and 5 grams per letter.
The equation for Beer's Law:

Group 1

Fish Tank Assistant

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 24

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Testing Optical System Continued

The Molar concentration (C) was gotten by first calculating the molar number (n):

Then the Molar Concentration (C) was calculated:

Then the equations below can be used to get the transmitted from the Absorbed.

Group 1

Fish Tank Assistant

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 25

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Expected Results of Optical System Testing

Expected Data for 5g/L hair algae sample
Molar absorption coefficient	1.261E+05 M-1*cm-1
Molar concentration	0.0055959082718716 M
Optical Path length	2.5 cm
Expected Absorption	29.7976%
Expected Transmittance	70.2024%

Group 1

Fish Tank Assistant

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 26

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Overall Design

Microcontroller
Power Supply
Liquid Crystal Display
Thermal Camera
Wi-Fi Module

Optical Hardware

Laser
Beamsplitter
Lens
Photodiodes

Basic Hardware

3D Models
Siphon

Electrical Hardware

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 27

Software

LCD Interface
Microcontroller Interface

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3D Printed Models and Water Tube

3D Printed Models:

All the brackets to hold optical parts down

Laser pointer holder
Lens mount and holder
Beamsplitter holder
Photodiode mount

To make part of the water tubes for the siphon

The end caps

Hardware Components

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 28

Water tube for siphon will consist of:

6mm Fish tank tubing
3D Printed ends
Optix Plexiglass walls put together with silicone

Siphon will be started using

Siphon Bulb which creates a vacuum in the water tube

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Overall Design

Microcontroller
Power Supply
Liquid Crystal Display
Thermal Camera
Wi-Fi Module

Optical Hardware

Laser
Beamsplitter
Lens
Photodiodes

Basic Hardware

3D Models
Siphon

Electrical Hardware

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 29

Software

Microcontroller coding and interface
LCD Interface

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Requirements

Software Design & Components

Goals	Description
Main	Program the microcontroller, sensors, and buttons to make sure the actual product is functional
Advanced	Have the machine operate through a touch LCD screen
Stretch	Build an app to control the product through smart devices and make it as user-friendly as possible.

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan | Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 30

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Breakdown

Software Components

Software process

Power

ON

OFF

Controller/LCD

Sensor readings

Turning the system On/Off

I/O

Nextion

Touchscreen

APP (Stretch Goal)

Code

Notification

User preference and configuration

Testing Software

Reprogram

Test Functions

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 31

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Code Planning

Software Design

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan | Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 32

Skeleton Code

Nextion Code

Arduino --> LCD

Arduino --> Photodiodes

Arduino --> Thermal Camera

Arduino--> Laser

Update Nextion Code

Include Libraries

Initialize sensors
Declare Nextion Objects

Program the layout

Text
numbers
buttons

Register a button object to the touch event list

For the

&Photodiode,

Register a button object to the touch event list

ThermalCam,�

Register a button object to the touch event list� &Laser,

Update Nextion Code

Pseudo Code

In this slide we willt ake you through the code planning process and our psedo code to program our device

In order to start out the coding process we looked at previous examples of skeleton codes in order to build the foundation of the program that needs to run on the microship

Then we download the software of Nextion which is what our LCD display uses to program it and we used liberaries and skleton code to connect the nextion display with our microship using the IDE on both Nextion and aurduino

Next, we were able to start coding the LCD display after we made out first draft of the LCD interface on nextion containg the buttons and pages needed for the user to be able to use the device

Then we programmed our photodiods and thermal camera using Aurduino IDE so they can detect the readings needed for the device

After that we were able to add the laser code to turn them on and off on command

Finally we updated the nextion LCD display with new design and buttons to reflect the changes in the skeleton code

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LCD screen

Using Nextion Program, we were able to simulate the interface on the LCD as well as program the different functions of the buttons.

Software Design

Draft Design to Final LCD design

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan | Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 33

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Requirements

Software Design & Components

Goals	Description
Main	Program the microcontroller, sensors, and buttons to make sure the actual product is functional
Advanced	Have the machine operate through a touch LCD screen
Stretch	Build an app to control the product through smart devices and make it as user-friendly as possible.

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan | Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 34

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Administrative Information

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 35

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Budget and Financing

System Components	Budgeted Costs	Actual Costs
Optics	$175	$169.20
Electrical Hardware	$175	$92.94
Optical Hardware	$250	$215.12
Hardware	$40	$23.38
3D Printing Material	$30	$25
Housing & Water Tube	$75	$62.60
Test Components	$20	$8.32
Total Costs	$765	$583.58

Financing	Monetary Amounts
Total Personal Contributions	$583.58
Total Awards	$400
Final Personal Contributions	$183.58

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 36

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Work Distribution

System Design

Danielle Nastyn:

PCB Design
Hardware Ordering
Component Testing
System Troubleshooting

Optical Design & System Housing

Kielan McMillan:

Optical design
Optics and Hardware ordering
Budget and financing
3D print designs

Zia McDonnold:

Optical design
Housing design
Custom water tube design
3D printing

System Software

Vergin Mansour

Coding
Component Calibration
User interface on LCD
User interface through a notification App (Stretch Goal)

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 37

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Design Issues

Optical Design Issues

Water tube optical path length of 6 mm not long enough for sensitive algae detection
Chosen photodiodes are not sensitive to red light

Hardware Design Issues

Laser pointer overheats and loses optical power after 3 minutes of continuous operation

Software Design Issues

Compiling errors
Must align the components to work correctly with the hardware components
Missing Libraries

Solutions

Design custom square water tube with internal optical path length of roughly 25.4 mm
Borrow Second set of photodiodes from undergraduate optical lab

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 38

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Developing Issues

Optical Design Issues

Thermal camera required more dynamic memory than our microchip can supply

Hardware Design Issues

Laser pointer overheats and loses optical power after 3 minutes of continuous operation

Software Design Issues

Code worked perfectly as well as it compiled and verified then correctly was uploaded to the microchip successfully and printed the right values into the serial monitor, however when connecting the Nextion display the values are not changing in their respective place even though the code for the display is correct and was tested before and worked.

Microchip became faulty and had to switch the whole setup to a different microchip in the last second .

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Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 39

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Project Progress: Update

Electrical components have been isolated and tested.
PCB has been designed and soldered for voltage regulation.
Gravity syphon has been designed and constructed.
Initial system testing has been completed.
Software design and code has been completed and successfully complied and printed the correct values for Test PhotoDiode, Control PhotoDiode, and light absorption as well as turning the laser on and updating the values constantly
LCD is having issues reading multiple values from the Arduino
Thermal Camera requires too much dynamic memory

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 40

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Conclusion

Research

Design and building process

Implementation

Zia McDonnold | Kielan McMillan

Danielle Nastyn | Vergin Mansour 41

After taking you on the journey of designing and the intended building process of this device we conclude confirming that we were successfully able to build this device and make it operational

All the parts that are necessary to create it exist, and the theories and physical principles behind it support the fact that it can be built and once built will work. We will continue working on advancing this device to be able to use a 450nm laser pointer to measure the amount of algae in a water sample. This water sample will be brought up to the optical system by way of a syphon. The optical system will be enclosed in a housing unit to protect the user from any glare or reflection from the laser pointer. The device uses the properties of Beer’s law to get a ratio of the transmitted light through the system to give the present of transmitted light.

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Questions

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References

[1] https://www.aqueon.com/articles/freshwater-aquarium-water-quality

[2] https://www.tropicalfishcareguides.com/aquarium-setup/fish-tank-temperature-control/

[3] https://www.tme.com/us/en-us/details/bpw21r/photodiodes/vishay/?brutto=1&currency=USD

[4] https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=4848

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426836/

[6] https://www.seneye.com/what.html

Group 1

Fish Tank Assistant

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Software References