FROM: EECE 380 Lab Group L2B5

TO: Dr. Michelson and Lab TAs

DATE: February 24, 2014

SUBJECT: Fifth Week

Summary In this week, our team has reached the final stage of our project. We calibrated the water level sensor, modifies the code, soldered the circuit, and installed the actuators. For the water level sensor, we poured the water into the cup and recorded the corresponding voltage, then we plotted the graph on Excel. We also had the line of best fit and the equation for the graph. Water level sensor acts as a capacitor, it connects to LM555 timer, which generates frequency. The timer then gives the signal to LM331, which converts the frequency to voltage. Finally, the voltage goes through LM358 op amp and sends the signal to the modem; the modem will then send the email to our gmail account. The other sensor for this project is temperature sensor, we soldered the entire circuit on a single solder board. For the actuators, we use LEDs and buzzer. We have six LEDs to tell us about the water level, and the buzzer buzzes when the water level goes above the threshold. For the temperature sensor, we set 20 degree Celsius as our threshold point, when the temperature goes above 20 degree, the green LED is turned on; when the temperature drops below 20, the yellow LED is turned on.

Sincerely, EECE 380 L2B5

It should be noted that this MEMO was submitted to the TA on time but uploaded late to the blog.

FROM: EECE 380 Lab Group L2B5

TO: Dr. Michelson and Lab TAs

DATE: February 2, 2014

SUBJECT: Second Week Summary

This past week, we successfully completed the DemoappGSM and DemoappADC program alterations. These programs were then combined to send a voltage from an analog pin on the Q4000 to our group email. It is important to note that the voltage was measured from analog 0 (pin 19), which required modification to the battconversion value. The biggest problem we encounter was the conversion from a double value, the voltage reading, to a char; this was necessary for the DemoappGSM to send the data to our email. We overcome this problem by ultilizing the sprintf function. It should be noted that the time frame between each email had a strong dependence on the position of the satellite and varied from 1 – 5 minutes. Before Wednesday lab session, we plan to revisit the DemoAppFFS, as our team encountered some problems with accurate execution.

Our top concept for the project was to monitor the water level & temperature of local rivers with the purpose of informing kayakers of the conditions. Currently, the best system is to watch kayaking forums for first-hand information or make assumptions based on local weather conditions. For the most part, kayakers don’t have accurate information until they’re at river ready to paddle.

Our idea is to change this by constructing a system of measuring the water levels on the river and temperature and relay the data to a GUI. The main concept of our idea is to keep the apparatus simple and module so it could be implemented in a wide variety of rivers with minor calibration required.

Sincerely,

EECE 380 L2B5