BeagleBoard/GSoC/BeagleBoneSonicAnemometerBasicWeatherStation

=ProposalTemplate =

Working prototype sonic anemometer using BeagleBone, high speed DAC (eg, PRUDAQ), and ultrasonic sensors. Analyze methods for accuracy/sensitivity (eg, time-of-flight vs. phase difference) and implement "best" method. Use PRUs for independent real-time control of ultrasonics.

Student: Manas Mangaonkar Mentors: Stephanie Lockwood-Childs, Steve Arnold Code: https://github.com/Pac23/Gsoc_SonicAnemometerBasicWeatherStation Wiki: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard/GSoC/ProposalTemplate

=Status= This Proposal for Sonic Anemometer was accepted in Gsoc 2016,but the chosen ADC proved to be inefficient for sampling at high frequency.

In 2017 again the project was accepted and PRUDAQ was used which solved the sampling and creating trigger for ultrasonic pulse problems.

However Since the final idea is to have a working prototype of a basic weather station with every possible thing ranging from Humidity,temperature to air speed and maybe even pressure.

I discuss what all i plan to implement below.

=Proposal= I have completed the tast required as described on the ideas page, and created a pull request, as listed here

About Me
IRC: Pac23 || Pac23xyz Github: Pac23 School: vesit Which is a campus of and falls under University of Mumbai Country: India Primary language: English,Hindi Typical work hours: 9:30 - 23:00 IST GMT/EST/PST to Ist Adjusted Time Previous GSoC participation: First GSoc Participation, i am excited to be a part of gsoc,since contributing to open source means a lot to me and gsoc will be an special achievement. I got interested in IoT as a teenager,the fact that i could control things to do stuff for me with a single click of a button remotely over the internet or Lan was fascinating and makes life somewhat comfortable.Remotely controlled Air conditioners are a good example of the later,on a hot summer day by the time one reaches home the room is already cooled to perfection since the user activated it before leaving work/school.

Skill(proficient): C/C++,Python,HTML & CSS

Tools(proficient) : Bash,Git,Docker,aws,Linux,ESXI Experience : C,C++,Python,Java,HTML & CSS,Php,CAD,RaspberryPi

Hardware Skills : Rpi,Lots of Pc builds You can see my Pc builds here

Sonic Anemometer / Basic Weather Station
Project name: BeagleBone Sonic Anemometer / Basic Weather Station

Description
Get the Anemometer/Basic weather station prototype working,by implementing the best methods to counter operational Environment Disturbances.

My approach to this problem shall be more software,usability and added sensor's and less anemometer since most of the anemometer code has been taken care of in gsoc 2017.

Sonic AnemoMeter / Basic Weather station
Anemometer's are used world wide by Meterologists,Researchers and Scientists to calculate Three Dimensional Windspeed and turbulence. Sonic Anemometers are however utilised since they aren't affected by their operational environmental Conditions.

I am not going to harp too much on the anemometer part since that was achieved last year with in depth coverage of how it functions Here rather would focus on the whole weather station package and software end of it,making it functional and user friendly is a important aspect of a working station.

Sonic Anemometers and other weather station devices cost a lot since majority of them are commercially manufactured. What i plan to implement is on a beagleboard using a single python module to control all of the senors to collect the data from not just the anemometer but also the temperature,pressure,rain and humidity sensor.

From a practical perspective a meteorologist/researcher should be able to deploy the station remotely and get data via the internet,and only access it to change the battery bank/pack maybe even run it on solar(Something that can be done with efficient and large enough panels).

Requirement Analysis
Following hardware could be used to start with:-
 * Beaglebone Black/Green(1)
 * PRUDAQ/ADC having rate higher than 400ksps per channel(1/2)
 * Transducers(40Khz,Waterproof)(4)
 * MCP9808 High prescision Temperature sensor
 * CCS811 High prescision Air Quality Sensor Breakout - VOC and eCO2
 * BMP180 Air pressure sensor
 * BME680 - Temperature, Humidity, Pressure and Gas Sensor (optional)
 * Breadboard
 * JumperCables

As you may see there are some sensors that overlap each other's functionality and there's a valid reason for that below. DAQ are the Data Acquisition devices which are used to acquire data from sensors and acts as a bridge between sensors and host computer.

PRUDAQ is a fully open source 40MSPS Data Acquisition (DAQ) cape for the BeagleBone Black or Green designed by Jason Holt and his team at Google Research with a software collaboration from the BeagleLogic creator, Kumar Abhishek(one of the mentors this year).PRUDAQ was created to address a need not currently addressed by the market for a portable and low-cost DAQ system that doesn't compromise on performance. Since linux is non-preemptive Os it can't be used for realtime measurements,instead the built in PRU would be used for realtime measurements.

After looking into the previous years code and the work done it was determined that as of now temperature is taken through LM-35 using PRU and PRUDAQ,This year i plan to use the MCP9808 from microchip instead even though it will require me to rewrite some code but that wont take too long(a day Max) nothing more than that,since the sensor offers additional modularity which the LM-35 does not offer and since a working proper prototype is to be achieved this approach seems the best to me.

The MCP9808 comes with user-programmable registers that provide flexibility for temperature sensing applications. The registers allow user-selectable settings such as Shutdown or Low-Power modes and the specification of temperature Alert window limits and critical output limits. When the temperature changes beyond the specified boundary limits, the MCP9808 outputs an Alert signal. The user has the option of setting the Alert output signal polarity as an active-low or active-high comparator output for thermostat operation, or as a temperature Alert interrupt output for microprocessor-based systems. The Alert output can also be configured as a critical temperature output only. The MCP9808 has some ready to deploy python libraries so that makes it even better and quicker to implement. This also is cheaper than the DHTXX sensors which are not precise.

The CCS811 Air Quality Sensor will be used to determine the gases and air quality. This sensor f can detect a wide range of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs it will return a Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) reading and an equivalent carbon dioxide reading (eCO2) over I2C.The only benefit of this sensor over the BMP680 is that it can detect Alcohols, Aldehydes, Ketones, Organic Acids, Amines, Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons all of this Individually.The problem though is that this sensor may require I2C stretching which can be gotten around with.

For Barometric pressure sensing i plan on using the BMP180,its cheap,small and operates in various environments. Also easier to program and deploy.

Optional Sensor
This sensor does everything under the hood,is quick to deploy and program for only problem is it is limited to a certain range of temperature -40*C ~ 85*C whereas all of the sensors above operate -50 ~ 150+ *c and offer certain low level additional controls.The only advantage of this its small and has ready modules.

The BMP680 sensor will be used to measure the air pressure,temperature,humidity and gas since the final aim is to build a complete weather station.The sensor combines all of the small specific application sensors into a single package that roughly costs the same as all the senors individually.Given its small footprint it would be easy to manage manage it the only downside being loosing the modularityoffered by individual sensors.Humidity and temperature Sensors can be found for cheaper but they often dont offer the reliability and precision.Bosch as of now provides a api,but the data sheet isn't the most complete and most probably i'd have to write a driver from scratch for this. Also it does have some baking in period which can be a issue.

Below i have described calculations for generalised sensors.

Humidity
A humidity sensor (or hygrometer) senses, measures and reports both moisture and air temperature. The ratio of moisture in the air to the highest amount of moisture at a particular air temperature is called relative humidity. Relative humidity becomes an important factor, when looking for comfort.This is going to be important for proper anemometer data graph adjustments.

To calculate relative humidity, you only need one simple equation:



However, there is more here than immediately meets the eye. The saturation vapor density relies on both temperature and pressure data, and can be a very complicated thing to measure in reality. Luckily, some modern sensors, like capacitive humidity sensors, can measure relative humidity directly.Some sensors require baking in the sensor(bosch BMP680). I plan on using a cheap DHTXX sensor since even though they aren't the best for temperature,they get the job done for humidity and cost around 2~3$.

Gas Detection
Since global warming is a thing,Gas detectors are a must thing for every weather station.Gas sensors that not only detect the gas but also measure the ppm.Gases like Methane,Carbon Monoxide are important in determining the air quality index.Most of the standard (MQ) sensors require ADC conversion which is manageable. Now as far as the formula for detection goes every sensor has a different thing so that shall be decided as per the sensor.I would be using the CCS811 Air Quality Sensor,adafruit has a library that makes the integration of the sensor easy using the i2C interface available on the beaglboard.

Pressure
Air pressure varies by weather,season,air currents so this is something that every weather station should have to predict future weather.The BMP180 get the job done well,has ready modules available on github which only have to be integrated with the main code.

Remote Connectivity & Software End
Since the station should be deployed remotely,data transfer back to the main server is a very important aspect.Cellular usb modem/satellite internet can be used to beam the data back.

The raw data shall be logged to a json file,at a set interval defined by the user the data shall then be beamed over to the server module.The user shall then choose the factors to automatically generate the graphs using matplotlib. Each individual station having its own graph. The client end module shall be a user friendly gui.

The simplest and cheapest approach would be to setup a server locally to which the data will be sent over to,although this wont be advised as even if the user has access to a static ip,unless the user has backup(power,internet and machine) incase the main server or any connection fails due to any reason.Practically the data could be sent to a cloud hosted database,or the data upload can be programmed in such a way on the station that it will continuously ping the server for status.Whenever the server is found to be live the data shall be sent in.For dynamic addresses a dns resolving service shall be required.

The more advance but expensive approach will be to setup a server & database to which the data will be logged on to.There are couple of disadvantages to it though since if the self hosted server faces downtime all of the users will be affected.Hosting it in on a cloud service will have recurring costs given the amount of data that will sent over,another web based approach to this would require all of the costs of the domain,web hosting,dns etc.

There are various approaches to this problem which i wish to discuss with the mentor

A stretch goal shall be to add functionality to individually configure/calibrate all of the sensors remotely,have a web interface.

The front end gui described will be done in gtk or pyqt,most of the software end would be done in python and C,with majority code being in python.

Cellular Connectivity

Remote deployments would require this,as of the gsoc timeline i would be hardcoding the data transfer but running a standalone server on cellular/satellite is expensive given the data transfer rates,rather sending data to a remote server with a hardcoded ip would be way better and cheaper.Also there are various celllular modules that can be integrated with the beaglebone, aliexpress and chinese sites have these for cheap the most popular one is the sim800/900 series there are ready drivers available to be integrated.

Reusing Older Code and time constraints
As mentioned above the anemometer part is working and rewriting code for it would be a waste of time,energy and money.I have looked into older code and as of now the only place that things need to be changed are in the process.py file where the temperature accusation and passing functionality will be changed a bit.Rest of the files wont be touched in the repo,only newer code will be added to it for data accusation from other sensors.

Since rebuilding the 3 axis physical anemometer will consume a lot of time,i plan on starting to build it as soon as i get my acceptance mail from google.I do have ready acess to a metal workshop in my college and the instructor there is knowledgeable and cooperative so building the anemometer wont take time. Most of the gsoc official period would be dedicated to the software side of things.My workstation,testing station and other stuff is already setup since i usually tinker around with things.

Timeline:
I have my Finals till may 30th,after that i can commit 55+ hours a week to this project.During finals there's a gap of 4~5 days between each subject exam so during that time i can commit around 35 hours a week.

I will be starting work on this project asap once accepted by reading as much documentation i can get on my hands about beaglebone and the sensors.

Acceptance Mail
Commence building of the physical anemometer to save time,order stuff.

Week 1:
During this week i will study the PRUDAQ,pru and BeagleBone documentation thoroughly.Study all the pinout diagrams,spec sheets and test all the hardware and sensors.

Week 2 - 3
By now i should know all of technical stuff and armed with that i shall begin writing the framework for rest of the addon modules(barometer,temp, humidity).

Deliverables : All of the core modules for the added sensors shall be ready and tested individually and a working anemometer

Week 4- 6
Begin developing the remote connection module,test the networking side of things and write the basic framework required to upload data.

Week 6 - 9
Test the remote connectivity module by isolating it on my homelabs virtual network,start work on the user end gui.Add individual control functionality by end of week 9 with a database setup to store the data locally.

Deliverable : Successful connectivity remotely and Designed prototype of the user end gui,database setup.

Week 10
Add graph generation functionality and connect to a local database to store the graphs.add setup scripts and begin polishing for final package installation.

This is going to be a fun week since i plan to go to my mud trail where i bike on everyday.Its a swamp with high humidity and temperature. i plan to deploy it and camp out Here the whole day to test the remote connectivity and sensors.

Deliverable's : Testing of package code,deployed beaglebone in a swamp location and testing of over 5 hours.

Week 11
Buffer week

Week 12-13
Test,bugfixing merging

Week 14
Prepare the final presentation slides and video.

Final Goals:
A Working Weather station prototype that can be deployed quickly in any environmental condition. The weather station shall be able to gather Wind speed,Air pressure,temperature,humidity,gas detection(methane for global warming) and whatever the user decides to add to it further.The station shall be capable of sending the data to a remote server and the user shall be able to access the data from multiple machines.

Future Goals
More complex web based interface that has more functionality,user groups.This can be sold as a commercial kit,with the front end software being opensource and free to download.

Experience and Approach
As a part of my graduation program of Computer Science Engineering,i am familiar with the concepts of physics and chemistry that would be involved in the project.Have developed a system for automatic watering of plants using a raspberry pi.

As far as software skills are concerned. I am proficient in C,Python and C++.I usually program in c and python since my college curriculum is completely based on programming in C and i use python for all of my personal projects.Having worked with various frameworks like django,flask and various api's i think i do have the knowledge required for implementing a remote connectivity module.

Projects

 * Smart CryptoPriceTracker : Used couple of api's and the requests framework to keep track of various crypto currencies set by the user.The user was able to set the minimum and maximum targets for the specific user defined currencies and whenever the target set was achieved. A sms,mail and call with all of the information would be sent to the user. The program has no limit on amount of currencies that can be tracked in realtime. It's basically a bot that does all the tracking work for you,you just have to tell it what currency track.


 * Automatic Water Dispenser : Indian summers are hot and harsh thus using a rpi and soil moisture detectors a script was developed that would dispense water whenever required.

Participations

 * Won the first place in sysadmin/Devops contest held at my college.

Approach
During majority of the gsoc i won't be having any academic duties to fulfil since the summer break would be pretty long.Thus i can devote my whole time to the project.This shall also help me enhance my database managment and remote networking knowledge which would be required for the remote connectivity part of the project.

Since much of the groundwork has already been laid i am going to jump directly to adding the sensors and completing the software part of it which had been promisied in both previous gsocs but was never achieved.

The reason i believe i should be chosen,is my interest for iot and love for tinkering around with hardware.As i have mentioned above i have a lot of experience in sysadmin/devop side of things.These things came naturally to me as a teenager and and i would enjoy working on this project and pour in all of the hardwork and passion required.I do like reading weather charts,graphs and radar data so this was the first gsoc idea that caught my eye.

Contingency
As mentioned above i am proficient in most of the concepts that are going to be utilised in this project.In case i cant contact my mentor due to some reason,i can always turn to my experienced faculty of my college and my family members since everyone in the extended family is a software engineer.Reddit and stackexchange are always there to help,i have learned a lot from both sites and lastly google.

There are things that can go wrong like sensors not working,mentor being busy and medical emergencies like food poising.Thus my plan is to start asap once accepted than to wait for later.Sensors going kaput can be replaced quickly since i have check on my local amazon and ebay and almost everything seems to be available and since i live in major city of india express next day delivery wont be a problem.

Benefit
The weather station shall be beneficial to students,teachers and researchers who are currently plagued by the cost of commercial hardware available.Even if researchers with large amount of funds do have acess to equipment they still have to spend more money to retrieve it after deployment.Where as given the cost,size and portability of this project it can be airdropped,used and forgotten about.Transporting,storing it would be easy on aircraft's,ships that already have limited space and often researchers have to sacrifice supplies for equipment.Can also be strapped to drones to be deployed since the weight is negligible.

What community members speak -

Great project for the Aspiring Weather Scientist. Michael Welling(m_w)

A working/documented FOSS implementation would be a huge plus for both the open source and weather communities. Steve Arnold(nerdboy)

and the best one award goes to...

I'll be tempted to build one! Jonathan Cameron(jic23)


 * Mentors!!! please add your Quote here.***

Suggestions
Is there anything else we should have asked you?