Week 3 Day 14

The two units successfully took data last night in the copy room, thankfully,  so we will begin compiling the data.  It looks like we had a significant spike in the VOC at around 10pm, so it will be interesting to compare the two and see exactly what happened.   We are going to hold off on monitoring the next location until next Monday due to presentations tomorrow.   Most of today will be spent polishing up our material for the aforementioned presentation.  We will also spend some time cleaning up the lit review and clarifying exactly what we pulled from each article.  


Here are some screen shots of the two data sets from yesterday and today.  Notice the jump in VOC on each.  First is our prototype, second is the graywolf.

 




Last thought of the day, I found an interesting article on controlling airborne bacterial populations with the use of a pulsating UV-Light. Its application was in a University lecture hall, but the idea could be applied to any place where there is a large congregation of students.  This concept could be applied to all ventilation systems that feed into classroom, cafeterias or gymnasiums, all of which are breeding grounds for biological contaminants.

Week 3 Day 13

The team had a less than exciting discovery when we came in this morning.  For some reason the lap top that we were using for the gray wolf sensor shut down.  After we turned the power back on, we checked the data files to see when it stopped logging data.  The last data entry was around 2:30, meaning the computer shut down just after that. This means that we will have to redo our data logging from yesterday, and postpone our next location till tomorrow.  We will monitor the unit closely today to make sure we don't have any more mishaps.

Work is still underway on the second prototype.  It should be finished up by lunch today so that we can begin testing.  After lunch we spent more time working through our lit review by adding a few more sources. At this point we have 7, and are working on tying them all together to work with our papers abstract.







After our library section we got the unit problem straitened out, turns out it was a wiring issue linked to the VOC sensor.  Here is the completed unit....only issue is it wont communicate with the arduino board.  That means we will be spending the next hour checking connections to make sure everything is secured and connected in the correct location.

After our library section we got the unit problem straitened out, turns out it was a wiring issue linked to the VOC sensor.  The board is currently working and the sensors are warming up in the lab.  Hopefully we wont  have any issues with disconnected lap tops tonight.  

Week 3 Day 12

We began the day by compiling the data from both units for the B239 environment.  Each data set was converted into excel for later comparison. Here is a screen shot of what the data looks like when we converted it into graphical form.  Notice the carbon dioxide line, red graph up top, shows levels near 900 ppm then suddenly drops then comes back up before dropping down again.  This is represented by the group taking a lunch break during the first drop, and then heading home for the night.  The last sudden rise in the graph is when we arrived this morning.  All other parameters remained fairly constant for the 24 hour period.

 We then packed up both units and transferred them to the copy room, our next test location.  Here is the set up...

While we are waiting on the data loggers to do their thing, we will begin working on the literature review portion of our research paper.  This afternoon we will be attending a workshop with Dr. Thompson pertaining to lesson plan development.

Week 3 Day 11

Here is our first set of measurements that we took over the weekend in the grad lab B251.  I stopped the graph at 10 hours, excel doesn't like taking more than 250 or so readings into account for the graph. All of the data has come in within the reasonable range, so we will begin setting up our next location.




 Here is a picture of our setup in the teacher lab  B239..

Our prototype unit is located on the shelf just above the gray wolf unit.  Both units are hooked up to netbooks and set to take readings every 5 minutes. After 10 hours we will then compare the data to the graywolf once again to see how accurate our prototype is.  We will also analyze the data and see if we can see anything different from the other lab.





We are still working on the problem of integrating the arduino board into the labview program.  Here is a  screen shot of the code of the block diagram.  The temperature/relative humidity probe is still problematic since the data is linked together.  I'll keep you updated on the progress.

The rest of today was spent on our lit review for our midterm presentation friday.  This basically means we went through all of our relevant research material and pulled out the main idea of what the paper said.  We will then use this information as we write our paper. Hopefully our overnight data looks good so that we can move on to our next test location.  

Week 2 Day 10

Friday

Our prototype is finally functional from an electrical standpoint, but we are still working on the code in LabView to convert the data.  Since the temperature and humidity are located inside the same probe, its taking some creative code to split the input into the two readings.  The plan is to finish up the code today, and then begin taking readings over the weekend.

Here is our completed unit with the prototype on the left.  We will be using a netbook so that we can rotate where we are taking readings every 24 hours.  We will begin with the lab this weekend and then move on to other locations next week.

One slight issue we are still dealing with is the conversion of the 40 bit code from the temperature and humidity unit.  Instead of using labview, we will be using the arduino software to read the data this weekend to work through any bugs, then switch to labview next week.


We finished up the afternoon by brainstorming through the questions for our lesson plan and establishing our guidelines for our experiment.  Hopefully the system works well over the weekend!

Week 2 Day 9

Once again we are starting the day troubleshooting our new board.  We are getting readings from 3 of the senors, but not the 4th.  Most likely it is caused by a bad connection, so we will go through and check all of the wires.  After we get all the sensors taking readings, we will combine all of the code in LabView and create one VI that will show all of our data.  We will also finish up work on the notification system in LabView.  The idea is that when our measurements go outside of the recommended range, the system will notify us of what the issue is.

After a morning in the lab working on the board and lesson plan, we attended a lecture by Dr. Fu and Dr. Acevedo.  Dr. Fu discussed wireless sensor networks and their application into our everyday lives.  He even showed us a device that took his heart rate, and then transmitted the data to his phone.  Dr. Acevedo then took us through the Texas Environmental Observatory, or TEO for short.   The TEO shows readings for ozone, soil moisture, and many other environmental factors from all over the Denton area.  

Tomorrow we plan on working through our lesson plan, specifically the explanation portion.

Week 2 Day 8

Wednesday

Today started off with a little bit of computer trouble.  We are having issues running our LabView program on my laptop, and pulling data from the Arduino board.  The reason why this is important, is we plan on taking readings from multiple locations, hence the importance of a portable laptop.  Until we can get this issue resolved, we will continue testing our sensors from the lab workstation in which LabView works fine.

Work is also continuing on combing all the senors onto one board.  From yesterday some more connectors have been added....













As work continues on the merged board, here are the pin diagrams that are being used to align the specific components on the board.

The first of our merged boards is completed, containing all 4 of our sensors. We will begin testing as soon as possible.  We will also begin work on the alarm system for notification of when our readings stray outside of the acceptable range.  We will have a notification on the screen, as well as an actual LED that lights up on the board.  

Week 2 Day 7

Tuesday

The overnight comparison of the data from the prototype and the gray wolf system is very encouraging.  It looks like the two only had a difference of +or- 15 ppb.  Here is the LabView front panel along with the GrayWolf unit showing our measurements that were taken every 5 minutes.

We will begin the same process today for our next set of sensors.  While we are waiting on the data to be compiled, we are beginning work on our lesson plan. Specifically, we are working on the engage section of the lesson which will be the into portion of the unit.




Dr. Li gave us the go ahead to begin work on combing all of our sensors, meaning that we have a lot of work  to do this afternoon.  Here are the begin steps of assembling the new board.

This is our carbon monoxide sensor, notice that it has had some slight modifications made to its connective leads.  Since the board is square and the sensor is round, it has caused some mounting issues.  Its a lot like trying to put a circular peg into a square hole. 

  With some creative soldering, Georgette has managed to get it to fit quite nicely on the board.

And now with the dust sensor added in the middle.

We finished the day by attending a LabView training in which we designed our own VI(virtual instrument).  The topics we discussed will be very helpful when we design our own programs for data acquisition from our sensors.  Here is what my VI ended up looking like.

Tomorrow we will test our sensors again and complete more research on professional grade IAQ systems.  

Week 2 Day 6

We start off the week with the tricky task of trying to
make our sensors fit on the board in the correct way. As you can see the dust sensor( the large silver unit up top) is rather large, making it difficult to fit neatly on the board.   Its  a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle with electronic components. We have also added the VOC sensor, which  is the circular silver sensor with small holes in the top.  


The dust sensor will do exactly what its name suggests, detect dust in the air.  It does this by picking up the reflected light from dust in the air.  It is so effective that it can differentiate house dust from cigarette smoke by the pulse pattern of the output voltage.  


The VOC sensor, which stands for Volatile Organic Compounds, has a high sensitivity to low concentrations of odorous gases.  Many VOC's themselves are not hazardous, but play an important role in the formation of ozone.  Ozone is a photo-chemical oxidant  that is generally harmful to plant tissue and human respiratory tissue if found in the troposphere.   

Our first set of sensors is completed!  We attached the dust sensor and VOC sensor to the ARDUINO board ( thats the blue board underneath the red board) which is then connected to the computer via USB.  LabVIEW then converts the readings into ppb.    We have started taking our first measurements, set to log data every 5 minutes.  We are starting with VOC and then will move on to the dust sensor.  The gray wolf unit is currently set up in the same room as our prototype so we can compare the data to make sure it is in a respectable range. 

 After checking our values we found that we had a slight issue with our prototype, but the wire has been reconnected and our output values are coming in well within an acceptable range.  For example, the gray wolf unit is reading 119 ppb and our prototype is reading 117 ppb, close enough for our purposes.

We will leave the units running overnight to get some more data, and then change the locations tomorrow to see if we can get some different readings.  Last thing for today is to get everything ready for our next set of sensors, the temperature/relative humidity and carbon monoxide.  Temperature is in white on the left, and CO is red and circular on the right.  Here it is below...

Week 1 Day 3

Wednesday

We started the day by familiarizing ourselves with LabVIEW.  LabVIEW is a graphical programming language used by engineers for data acquisition, instrument control, and industrial automation on a variety of platforms. LabVIEW can be utilized to create systems for measurement, test, and control using graphical icons and wires much like a flowchart. The purpose of such programming is automating the usage of processing and measuring equipment in any laboratory setup.  We will be using this program to pull the data from our prototype.




After some more LabVIEW tutorials, we headed to the library to do some research on some of the current air quality data acquisition systems.  We will then use this data to help us as we design our own.

Tomorrow we head out to the Aquatic Research field site.

Week 1 Day 5

Friday

Today started with a presentation from Sharon Wood on what our lesson plans should look like for the RET program.  One part of the program is to develop a lesson plan that will be implemented during the school year assisted by the project team. The lessons will be in mathematics or science and applicable to the research experience.  Since I teach AP Environment Science, my lesson will be implemented during the Air Quality unit.  


After our meeting we began work on developing our first board.  We are starting with temperature/relative humidity which is encased in the same sensor.  We are also going to add the carbon monoxide sensor, which is the circular red sensor in the corner.  We have to be careful which sensors we place with the temperature sensor since some  create quite a bit of heat and can throw off the readings of the other sensors.  Here is the progress..
































We will begin working on the boards to monitor the following parameters: CO2 , VOC,  and Dust.  Each sensor will be mounted separately and tested to check our values against the grey wolf unit.  If our values come back within a respectable range, we will then work towards simplifying the unit and combining all of the sensors.  We will then set up test scenarios in different locations to compare our prototype and the grey wolf unit.  That's it for the first week!  

Week 1 Day 4

Thursday was spent taking a tour of the water research field station at UNT.
Day 4

Week 1 Day 2

Tuesday

We started investigating the grey wolf unit to see how it accumulated its data, along with all of the hardware that it involves.  The unit consists of a carrying case, grey wolf data collection software, and an air quality probe that connects via USB to any laptop or workstation.  We are using an acer netbook as our computer, but the software can be loaded onto any computer.  Below you can see the case for the unit, and what the unit is comprised off.

From out tests we found that the unit needs about 10 minutes to warm up before it is ready to start taking readings.  We also found that when the unit is attached to the laptop, the computer must not go to sleep mode or the software will stop taking readings.  

In comparison, the smaller and less expensive unit that we are trying to build needs 1 to 2 hours to warm up, depending upon the sensor being used.  We will be building upon an Arduino board which connects through USB, but also has a wireless component that can be utilized.  The analog pins on the board are used for measurement, while the digital must be defined and used for LED.  LabVIEW, the program we will be using for coding, has an interface that can be used for programming the Arduino board.   


To finish up Day 2 we read through Shahar's research on air quality, and began working our way through some of the LabVIEW tutorials.  

Week 1 Day 1

Monday

Day 1 included introduction to new teammates, faculty mentors, and support staff at UNT.  We were also given a tour of the facility in which we will be stationed the next six weeks.  Team 2, the air quality team, will be developing a wireless air quality unit that can be used in the classroom to monitor several different parameters.  The current grey wolf system is not a cost effective unit, so we will be developing a unit that will be able to monitor the same parameters, is cost effective for a science classroom, and can also function as an early detection unit.

We will look into the long term data from an air quality unit vs doing a spot check like most school districts use for air quality.  We will also investigate the feasibility of using a less expensive unit that may not be as accurate as the more expensive grey wolf unit.