WeatherChimes
Project leads: Winnie Woo - woow@oregonstate.edu | Will Richards - richawil@oregonstate.edu
WeatherChimes is an open-source weather monitoring and sonification system, low-cost hardware and software suite that enables near real-time access to in-situ environmental sensor data (including light, temperature, relative humidity, and soil moisture) anywhere with a WiFi internet connection. Scientists, educators, and artists alike can use this tool to obtain and interact with environmental data in new and innovative ways, as well as collaborate remotely. Transforming data collection processes of environmental sensors into Internet of Things (IoT) compatible formats opens new doors into accessing, understanding, and interacting with natural phenomena. WeatherChimes not only enables users to observe data online, but can also transform data into auditory signals and soundscapes through sonification processes or creative animations using newly-created computer applications.
| Specification | Sensor | Resolution | Accuracy | Full Range | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Metric | Value | Metric | Value | Metric | ||
| Senses Ambient Temperature | SHT30 | 0.01 | ℃ | ±0.3 | ℃ | -40 - 125 | ℃ |
| Senses Humidity | SHT30 | 0.015 | %RH | ±3 | %RH | 0 - 100 | %RH |
| Senses Volumetric Water Content (VWC) | GS3 | ±3 | % | ±3 | % | 0 - 100 | % |
| Senses Electrical Conductivity | GS3 | ±0.03 | % | ±10 | % | 0 - 23 | dS/m |
| Senses Luminosity | TSL2591 | 188 - 8.8*1010 | uLux | ||||
| Senses Pressure | MS580302 | 30 - 110 | kPa | ±0.15 | kPa | ||
| 6 Watt Solar Panel | |||||||
| Data Collection Frequency | 15 | Minutes | |||||
| Battery life (10050 mAh) | 27.32 | Days | |||||
| Project Cost | <800 | $ | |||||
| Logs Data to SD | Time | date/hour/min | |||||
| SD and USB are easily accessible |
Each Chime can measure soil moisture, soil electrical conductivity, and soil temperature (Meter GS3); air temperature and humidity (SHT31/SHT30); and solar luminosity (TSL2591), and log data at user defined intervals to the cloud database: MongoDB. Beyond the sensors used in this paper, the Chime is capable of using a variety of analog, digital, I2C, SDI-12, and other serial sensors via footprints on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) detailed in the sections below. While many other sensors like rainfall, air quality, and wind direction could have been chosen, we selected the current combination of sensors to cover a proof of concept with broad applications using only a few sensors to start. The Chime can operate for up to 27 days on a battery capacity of 10050 mAh with a logging period of every ten minutes. The logging period is arbitrary and can be adjusted to accommodate any power requirements. The total operation duration of the system can be lengthened significantly with the addition of a solar panel and better power management, which we hope to achieve in the next iteration. In this proof of concept, we present the IoT hardware and software system as well as examples of data sonification and visualization tools, like the software platform Max8 by Cycling74.
The sonification of weather data could allow researchers to detect new patterns and structures, particularly those that emerge over time. Using sound to translate environmental data could highlight aspects of the data not readily apparent from visualizations. However, it could also be done for aesthetic purposes, something as complex and unpredictable as weather can produce compelling compositions.
Weather Works [1], by environmental artist and writer Andrea Polli, was a storm sonification project, and is a great example of sonification in action. The 2004 study took meteorological data, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity, from storms on the East Coast and created a model of the conditions at various elevations. The framework of this project in regards to its sonification of meteorological data is similar to WeatherChimes, but the technology that was used to acquire the sonified data set was not something that could be feasibly replicated by the average user. WeatherChimes strives to bridge the gap between high-level scientific data collection and user-friendly, creative platforms. Providing intentionally designed tools for seamless functionality with the WeatherChimes project, via the use of MongoDB and Max8 applications, allows individuals to jump into the creative process for which this device was designed.
The WeatherChimes device produced at the OPEnS Lab aims to translate environmental data into an audible signal that gives us insight into natural phenomena like ambient light, music, sound, and projections in an engaging, and aesthetically pleasing way. Data is streamed in real time via a local server to MongoDB, an online database. Computer applications can subscribe to these data stream feeds and translate into musical, visual, and other artistic representations of the environment.
Version 1
The Pelican case has two holes drilled on the side to accommodate for the PG7 cable glands and waterproof cable set. This allows for the SHT30 and GS3 sensor to be swapped out easily. Inside the case, a custom base plate made from 1/8" acrylic sheet holds the Featherwing doubler, TSL2591 and battery securely in place. A Feather M0 WiFi and Hypnos v3.2 board are used to store data collected by a light sensor (TSL2591), temperature & humidity sensor (SHT30) and soil moisture sensor (Meter GS3). A v3.2 Hypnos must be used because Pin 10 for SD functionality interferes with the SDI pin 11. The Hypnos also turns peripherals on and off to preserve power, wake up at intervals using the embedded DS3231 RTC, transmit data via WiFi and store data onboard a microSD card.
Figure 1: WeatherChimes v1 PCB with footprints for analog, digital, I2C, SDI-12, and other serial sensors
Other I2C and SDI12 sensors may also be connected as long as there is relevant code to handle requesting data on the Feather M0. There are footprints for other components included on the PCB for future utility including a push button, audio jack, and 3-pin JST receptacles for analog signals. These are not used in this version of the project.
Version 2
With the next iteration of WeatherChimes, the use of components such as the SARA-R4 4G board for 4G cellular connectivity, solar charger and 6 Watt solar panel is implemented.
Figure 2: WeatherChimes PCB with footprints for solar charger, pressure sensor and LTE board / Fully built WeatherChimes device
Version 3
The size of the PCB was changed, with the solar charger footprint integrated directly on the PCB. By consolidating the size of our PCB, the Pelican 1050 can be used instead of the Pelican 1060. Screw terminals replaced the JST connectors for better mechanical reliability.
Figure 3: Block diagram of WeatherChimes electronics
The most relevant features of the electronics system are the following:
- Measures soil dielectric (volumetric water content), electrical conductivity, temperature
- Measures air temperature and humidity
- Measures infrared, full spectrum, and visible light
- Saves data to SD
- Onboard RTC and power switching relays for power savings
- WiFi access to upload data to MongoDB server
The Chime device draws 107.5 mA when initializing and 108.9 mA during WiFi. It sleeps for 10 minutes in-between data cycles and uses 14.8 mA. When running on an 10050 mA battery, the device will approximately last 27.32 days.
Each sample cycle is triggered by RTC alarm to wake from a low-power sleep mode, the Feather M0 requests data from each of the sensors with the Loom Measure code and formats the data according to each logging platform: comma separated for local storage on microSD and JSON for telemetry. After all sensor information has been collected and formatted, the Feather will initiate a message over WiFi to a remote MQTT (Message Queueing Telemetry Transport) broker which is being run on an OSU server.
Figure 4: Data-flow handling chart
MQTT brokers work by utilizing a publish/subscribe paradigm, this paradigm works on the basis that there are “topics” that are public to everyone viewing the broker. Users can subscribe to topics which allows them to receive a callback when new data is published to the topic. For WeatherChimes, all data messages are sent over a topic, the topic is formatted with the “Site Name”/”Device Name” + “Device Number” to distinguish between the devices and their locations and determine the destination, i.e. collection, in the MongoDB database. Assigning a two part topic to each message allows multiple devices, even with the same name, to publish to different collections of data.
[1] Polli, Andrea. "Atmospherics/Weather Works : A Spatialized Meteorological Data Sonification Project." Leonardo, vol. 38 no. 1, 2005, Project MUSE