This is my Introductory blog post for this Design Challenge1 Meter of Pi

^Updated version 1.8

I've decided to come up with a system that will help grow Spirulina Algae in a self contained space. I will not be growing it in a spaceship for now, but in my basement. My basement has a changing climate of it's own from the rest of the house .I'm sure it is not the most ideal space to grow Spirulina but I'm sure outer space is a lot less ideal. Spirulina Algae is a superfood with all the nutrition value to sustain human beings. With this design, I will try to create the ideal environment to grow spirulina.

To compile with the Challenge requirement to use 10 blogs,  My plan is to use this blog post as a table of contents and will add the next  blogs as links.. The system should be self contained and aid in the successful growth of the Algae. I have never tried to grow Spirulina Algae before, but I plan to get information on how  from the internet. So far it doesn’t look hard and any manual maintenance such as the temperature, oxidization ,PH ,Light exposure, status of the growth, etc., will be monitored by the Raspberry Pi with the Hats and a separate Water Temperature Sensor attached to it.

To fulfill the challenge requirement to fit into a space of 1 cubic meter on a spaceship, My plan is to include fish tanks for growing, that will fit into this space along with a backup tank for each growing tank. The prototype will include a 25 gallon fish tank  along with some space to contain the Raspberry PI to control the environment in both the tank and the environment around it.. This footprint will take approximately one quarter of space in a 1 Cubic Meter Enclosure. This will allow for 4 identical prototype systems in the Enclosure.

My Idea

Although growing algae is simple, there are a lot of things that need to be measured and maintained during the growing process.

Like for example,

• • the temperature of the water
  • the oxidization in the water
  • the amount of light exposure
  • PH levels
  • Enclosure checked during the growing process.
    • Humidity
    • Temperature

• • A check that can be done to tell if the Algae is ready.

My plan is, to check these with the supplied sponsored challenger kit.  I will need to figure out how to attach the Hats to the Raspberry PI, and how to use the hats to check these growing conditions .

A challenge which I have not thought through yet, is how zero gravity will affect the proposed design and how to test it. It might be easier to provide a solution for providing nourishment to humans during a time of a hunger crisis. which I will be designing for in this challenge.

The 11 Blogs

Blog Naming Format

In order to keep track of the BLOGS I use the following naming convention to title my blogs related to this challenge.

Blog# <n> EAS  - <topic>

Blog Version numbering

Blogs will be marked with a version number to indicate changes over time. The naming convention for version number will be (<major#>. <minor#>)

for example !.1 is the fist edition of the blog and 1.2 is the 2nd and so on.

The major number will not change during this challenge and will be used for a later Design cycle, if ever.

Project Plan Blogs

Blog# 1 EAS - Steps to Growing Spirulina Algae

• This blog shows the entire process to grow Spirulina.
• They are several product cycles involved in getting a good product:
  • a proper growing  solution mix.
  • A monitored Growing process
  • Having a solution mix Backup
  • Product Readiness and Harvesting the Spirulina
• I will be using this growing process to manufacture Spirulina for this Challenge.

Blog# 2 EAS - System Concepts

• This Blog will address the concepts and define the major components of the system.
• The problems  that the system will deal with, are described.

Blog# 3 EAS - Research Instrumentation

• The instrumentation that is needed to quantify the problems will be researched and selected
• The Blog will include my research on Instrumentation needed, other than the Challenger kit, to aid in growing of Spirulina in the Growing Housing (GH) Unit.

Blog# 4 EAS - Research and Unboxing of the challenge kit

• This Blog will be documenting the components of the challenge kit. along with unboxing the components of the kit, I am documenting the steps I have taken to experiment with the 2 hats attached to a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB.

Blog# 5 EAS - Research Temperature Sensor - DS18B20

• In order to maintain a consistent temperature of the water in the growing tank, a waterproof temperature Sensor will be used.
• The 1-Wire DS18B20 is a very common sensor that is used with the Raspberry Pi.
• I will describe the experiments I conducted to get the sensor working on the Raspberry PI

Blog# 6 EAS - System Designs -- Block diagram

• This blog will describe the high level design on how the PI, Hats, and electrical components will be interconnected.

Blog# 7 EAS -  System Designs -- Software Design

• This blog will describe all the software and programming used in the system.
• The main focus will be to describe the  OS, Database, Libraries, Dev Tools, Class Diagrams and Workflow Sequence diagrams., Alerts, Monitoring, and software for the  Raspberry PI Controller Unit..
• The Controller Unit hardware consist of
  • the challenger kit with the 2 hats wired to the PI 4.
  • a waterproof sensor connected to the PI 4

Blog# 8.1 (Part 1 of 2) EAS - System Build

• This blog will describe the implementation of my system design from my previous Blog# 7 EAS -  System Designs -- Software Design
• I divided up the build process into two build phases.
  • Part 1, describes the devices attached and controlled by the Raspberry PI.,
  • Part 2, describes the classes developed to implement the management of the attached devices.

• The Additional Material needed for the project are listed.

Blog# 8.2 (Part 2 of 2) EAS - DATA REPOSITORY MongoDB

• I'll give some examples of how to connect to the database In this blog, I will introduce you to the database that is used to persist the telemetry data generated by the EAS system
• I will be documenting the use of the Server and Python Client driver used for the system.
  • MongoDB will be used to persist the data.
  • For people that are not aware,  MongoDB is a NO-SQL database.
  • The Mongo DB server is running in the MongoDB Cloud service, called Atlas
  • There is a Mongo Client library written in python called pymongo

Blog# 9 EAS - Electrical and Class Unit Testing

This blog will describe the Unit Test done on each component of the system

• the test will be broken into 2 groups Electronic and Software

• • The Software Only Test section
  • • I will contain sections on the python code used to test the database, alerts and and timer classes from the class diagram described in Blog# 8.1

• • The Software/Electronic Test section
    • I will Test the controller(Automation hat) and sensor(Environ Hat) classes along with the devices attached as described in Blog# 8.1

Blog# 10 System Application Tests

• In this blog I will attempt to Code and test the Workflows described in Blog#7
  • First, I will show some pictures of the growing house and the PI with the hats and sensors attached. The wiring is not pretty, but since it's a prototype I needed to experiment with connections.
  • • Also showing a light source, water heating pads and the water pump. Which I do not have attached and working at the moment.
  • Then, I'll I display the code for each workflow. These will be python scripts that implement the workflow diagrams from Blog#7.. I have included the workflow diagrams here as well for reference.
  • Next, I will show examples of Test runs for each workflow. Showing screenshots and photos,  of the terminal run.
  • And finally, I will display Charts and Reports showing the progress of the scripts over time. These will be used to analyze and debug the Telemetry data.

• The system will be used to assist in the growth of edible algae. The real acid test will be if the growth of the algae fails at any point, then I will have to readjust the configuration and start another growth Cycle.

Blog# 11  EAS - Conclusions and Enhancements for Future Systems

• In this blog I will:
  • Show Pictures and Videos of the operation of my design actually working.

• • I will list some Conclusions that were reached during this project..
  • And lastly, I will list some enhancements that could be added to my design.
    • These enhancements should make the growing of spirulina more hands free and automated

Credentials

• I have participated successfully in several element14 challenges and applied to a Road Test.
• I do not have an electronics background, but I am interested in IOT.
  • • My background is more on the software side, with a bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Boston University.
    • I Graduated from Boston University in 1980 and had been working as a Software Engineer since then until I retired in 2018.
    • I am now a hobbyist maker, experimenting with IOT.
    • This will be a challenge for me but I’ve been learning a lot from other challenges on this blog.
• I have entered two challenges for the Azure Sphere MCU.. From those, I acquired a free Azure Sphere Dev kit,  a click relay , and a Raspberry PI 4.
  • Beats Per Minute -- Home Is Where the Hack Is Challenge
  • My Entry for Sensing the World Challenge -- The Light is ON!

• I have been experimenting with the Raspberry PI 4 using Python. I connected a heart rate sensor to the Raspberry PI.
  • Created a circuit from the companies GitHub Repo.
  • • GitHub Repo

Summary & Notes

• I have never used Hats on the Raspberry PI 4 before. It will be a great opportunity for me to start experimenting with them.
• This will be a real challenge for me, but I've found these challenges to be a learning experience.
• Looking forward to your comments.