March 21st, 2011
LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL REMOTE SENSING PILOT PROJECT
In the Winter of last year, I took part in a project funded by CITRIS, through the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley.
The project engaged high school juniors and seniors at Abraham Lincoln High in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, encouraging them to explore air quality issues in their neighborhood. Students were taught the basics of air quality measurement and sensing technology, and asked to propose projects that would help address air quality issues.
Over the course of the project, we built several working prototypes from the students' concepts, based around the Arduino micro-controller.
VOC sensing bracelet:
The first prototype was for a wearable monitor for dangerous airborne chemicals, like alcohols and VOCs. A Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet was a rugged wearable item to build off of. The chemical sensor controls a 3-color LED through an Arduino Pro-Mini proto-board, turning from green to red, to indicated "safe" vs "dangerous" levels of chemical compounds.
RC air quality data logger:
The second proposition by the students was for a remote-controllable sensing device, able to take readings in the open air at varying altitudes. The simplest way to make a set of electronics mobile and controllable, of course, was to strap them to an RC helicopter! The 'copter was stripped of its body panels to cut down on weight, and the sensor and battery pack are suspended to increase air flow over the sensor and to help counter-balance the helicopter against the wind.
The goal of the traveling VOC sensor was to allow both logging and real-time monitoring, so the sensing element feeds through an Arduino Pro-mini to a Bluetooth antenna. The CSVs from the sensor are logged on a remote laptop.
The students helped us refine the prototypes to better match their concepts, and they eventually got to test drive them around the school.
Calibrating the 'copter:
Prius exhaust. Cleaner than other cars? Not when it comes to VOCs!
Turns out helicopter piloting is more difficult than it seems!
All around, a fun and engaging project with some unexpected results. Although this project was the first of its kind in the Bay Area, I hope it's not the last!
