The Components
As promised, I received all the parts required to make my project a reality, on time. The package included a TOKIN VS-B203 high bandwidth vibration sensor, an STM32H743ZI ARM COrtex M7 microcontroller based development board in the Nucleo form factor and a Nucleo Bluetooth shield.
These are some glimpses of the amazing hardware I received : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t9hzp2qvrekj207/AABn2L9Vl-S4QeaBWhR5tMHva?dl=0
(for some reason I am unable to upload pics and videos to the blog for a few days now)
Testing
When I had applied for this Challenge I had no real idea of which sensor I was getting to test. I expected a sensor with a generic harness like a JST or a standard 2.54mm connector. I was left aghast when I fished the sensor out of the well-packaged box and found that the connector was non-standard. I saw some solutions which other challengers have adopted to solve this problem. However, from previous experiemce, hacking a harness to that extent has disastrous effects on sensor performance, especially since the datasheet hasn`t a measure of the temperature tolerance of the sensor. Hence, I have resorted to order a connector for the female connector that receives this particular connector.
However, since the part is a rare one, I have not found it to be in stock for stores in my country. I had once thought about getting it imported. However, my experience with Customs haven`t been good recently. Hence, here I am, waiting for the part to be available so that I can create a sturdy(and not a petty hack like the others) attachment for my vibration sensor as precision is critical to the industrial application I have proposed.
Tough luck for me as the contest is probably over now. I will anyways update this blog series as soon as I receive the part.
Cheers,
Moinak