Hello everyone,
My goal for this road-test is to create a Portable Environment Field Tester. This can be used by outdoor enthusiasts, researchers, campers, hunters or anyone who spends time outdoors. The chances of getting lost is not very great, but running out of water, getting bad weather, being in an area with bad air quality or falling in contaminated mud or dirt is greater.
With the Environment Field Tester, you will be able to:
Test water before you drink it to make sure it is safe to drink.
Be alerted of bad weather from the basic weather station integrated in the tester.
If you are in an area where there could be forest fires or a decrease in air quality (caves for example) this will alert you of the danger.
If you fall into mud or dirt, you can test the area to make sure there is no harmful contaminates that you may have come in contact with.
The Environment Field Tester will be portable and run on solar power with battery back-up. The battery back-up will be rechargeable during the day from the solar power source. This will make the dependence of batteries a lot less which will help save the environment from more pollution.
The Portable Environment Field Tester will use the supplied hardware and software as follows:
Beaglebone Black – This will be the brains of the system, it will process all the information gathered from the sensors for the results.
CC3200 Launchpad – This will be used (Via Wi-Fi smart phone connection) for weather updates and send other results to a smart phone app for viewing.
MSP430FR5969 Launchpad – This will be used to update information to the display. (Texas Instruments 430BOOST-SHARP96 display which will be part of the purchasing made)
Power Inductor Kits from Wurth Electronics: Using the inductors is perfect for the Portable Environment Field Tester as they are made to withstand the harsh outdoor environment.
Cadsoft Pro License – With the Cadsoft Pro I will be able to make any PCB’s required.
Access to Sierra Wireless' AirVantage M2M Cloud Platform – You will be able to save all data you collected for future needs via the cloud
Advanced development tools from the Eclipse Foundation – Perfect for the phone app development
€40 / $50 towards Wurth Electronics's PCB services – Perfect for the detailed PCB’s required
Passive components, connectors, switches, and LEDs – These will be put to very good use for assembly and final touches
€375 / $500 budget for additional parts and prototyping – With all the extra sensors and electronics required to complete the project the budget will be put to great use. For this road test the use of purchased parts will try to be kept to brands of the generous suppliers. Some of the extra parts required will be:
Water sensors
Air quality sensors
Ground quality testers
LCD displays
Rechargeable batteries
Solar panels
I will have a blog that will be updated with all progress made while creating my road test. This will include pictures and video of each step. I want to thank all the suppliers, Element14 for everything they have done to make this challenge possible, also to all the members who have dedicated themselves to helping others understand what we don't.
Dale Winhold
