This week at the University of Utah began with testing the CO2 sensor. Andrew, Charlie and I went on the Union roof to check that it would actually detect CO2 accurately, using the Panda Express vent on the roof. We first put the sensor as far away from the vent as we could, to get an idea of the ambient CO2 levels. Then, we measured the CO2 levels at 6 other points, closer to the vent. From the results, we could see that the sensor was getting good data.
After this, we were introduced to 3D printing. We installed Autodesk Fusion 360, an application for 3D modeling, and then we went looking online for some models to print using the printers available in the University’s library. Charlie led us to the library, where we each loaded a model into a printer and printed it.
Andrew’s chosen model, a muffin with a dog’s face.
For the rest of the week my main task was working out how we would have the nodes in the sensor network communicate with the central computer, even the ones far away and out of direct communication range. On Tuesday, I came up with two options: the algorithm used by the RadioHead library, or an algorithm I designed that had the nodes find the neighbor closest to the central computer and relay the message through them.
Wednesday, we had a team meeting, where Andrew and I gave a short presentation on what we had done last week. Afterwards, I spent my time trying to use the RadioHead library, writing the code and setting up the Arduinos to test that it would work. On Thursday, I encountered an obstacle when a lack of proper drivers prevented my computer from uploading the code to the Arduino boards, and then I had to resolve some problems with the code itself.
On Friday, Adriann and I discovered that the radio modules and antennae we were using were malfunctioning, so while he worked on fixing that, I got some practice in making models of my own in Fusion 360, as well as helping Andrew with his project of taking data from the CO2 sensor and writing it into a text file.
One of my creations in Fusion 360.
Outside of work, I received a birthday present in the form of a bag of Swedish Fish and a University of Utah banner from Charlie, Andrew and I found a good Chinese place nearby to our house, and we generally just relaxed over the weekend.
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