Doug Wong
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Observations & Surprises
This project has been a very interesting journey researching a wide variety of invisible potential hazards, designing systems to measure invisible hazards…
I have been waiting for a week to do some ultraviolet light tests - the sun just never seems to shine when I need it. I calibrated the UV sensor output to match the UV Index and wanted to test it in real sunlight. The UV Index was developed in Canada…
It has been a very hectic week including a softball tournament on the weekend, but I did manage to squeeze in some work on calibrating my gas sensor module which is based on the TI MSP EXP432P401R launchpad. The 18 turn offset and gain pots on my custom…
This week I've been sidetracked on a bit of a tangent to my build project. I was asked to make a presentation on invisible hazardous environmental factors. All I can say is the grapevine works in mysterious ways. Anyway I put together a 1 hour multi media…
The deadline for this challenge has been extended again, so I can squeeze in a few more blogs. Perhaps some real applications of all this instrumentation I have put together. This blog shows some quick tests I did to see if shielding makes a difference…
This design challenge is nearing its final deadline so the pressure as been building to complete the project. I finally finished building all the hardware and all the hardware is working well. The past week has seen a lot of 3D design work and 3D printing…
This update documents progress on power up of the custom gas and UV sensor module. I did run into a few snags getting the card to work, or rather getting the software to work. The hardware on the card is designed properly, but it has just been too long…
I have been under the weather this week, which is unusual for me. It is just so much fun trying to build electronics when you are feverish, nauseous, dizzy and coughing up a lung. None-the-less, the show must go on. The first thing I need to mention is…
This is the last of the hazardous environmental factors research blogs for this project, subsequent blogs in this challenge will deal with hardware builds, software programs, functional tests and test results. Microwaves are used for cell phones, Wi-Fi…
I have been in Washington making a technical presentation in an unbelievably secure building, but now I'm back and it is time to catch up. I am still waiting for some parts for my sensor card – it is starting to look like I will have to kludge some connectors…
I managed to purchase a second WiFi booster pack although the TI discount voucher I won here was not accepted This booster pack has allowed me to assemble a second system consisting of a MSP-EXP432P401R MSP-EXP432P401R a CC3100ModBoost and a 430BOOST…
Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation - (ELF) I am going to arbitrarily split this large topic into just the 2 ranges of electromagnetic fields which are of most interest to me: 0 to 300 Hz and microwaves from 2 to 3 GHz. Is electromagnetic…
This blog shows the Booster Pack PCB I designed to accommodate 5 sensors. After viewing the video - I think it might have been cool to order a red card instead of green. The card was ordered from SeeedStudio and took exactly 7 days from time of order…
I have been in the throws of struggling with software and numerous other priority interrupts. Still ordering more parts and some have come in, but they will have to wait for another blog. I just have to get something posted even though it is not as complete…
This update covers my first attempt to fire up the MSP-EXP432P401R MSP-EXP432P401R I am using Energia at this point since they claim to support this platform and the Sharp display. I modified the 430BOOST-SHARP96 430BOOST-SHARP96 to be always enabled…
I received a box from element14 today - so here is the unboxing video....lots of great modules.....
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The next topic in this series on invisible hazardous substances is radioactive materials. We don't usually think of ourselves as being in danger from radioactive particle radiation, but we are all exposed to radon every day. What is Radon, why is Radon…
This blog details the circuitry and PCB layout of my custom Booster Pack to monitor 8 hazardous gasses and ultraviolet light. I added some active circuitry to filter the CO 2 sensor PWM output since my last blog. This is a 4-pole low-pass Butterworth…
This blog discusses air quality and how it can be monitored, especially odorless and colorless gasses like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Air Quality The list of common items that off-gas nasty chemicals into the air is depressingly long and insidiously…
Hazardous environmental factors are really not anyone's idea of a fun topic, so I want to keep all the gory depressing medical details to a minimum and focus more on the technical challenges of monitoring and measuring these invisible quantities. There…
This second blog in the Hazardous Environmental Factors project publishes a bit more of the project plan and the proposed instrumentation system. The the issues addressed will be expanded upon in future blogs. The Project Plan Research - The first step…
