[Note -- a follow-up discussion around this technology actually works -- with some great commentary from the Public Lab community on ways of perhaps improving upon it -- is here]
What I want to do
Make a simple, cheap interface between an inexpensive particulate matter sensors described here and here -- and a laptop, PC, or Raspberry Pi. This is based on Jeff Warren's suggestion in a comment thread that we might using the DigiSpark to make such a connection. Such a design would not be as nicely independent as the DustDuino or a Speck designs; but if one had a laptop (or Raspberry Pi) available to make the measurement, it might be a very inexpensive solution.
The idea is the device measures the signals coming out of the particulate matter sensor, and the laptop / Raspberry Pi can measure out the particle levels via the USB port:
A breakdown of the sensor innards of the type of device under consideration is depicted here (image is from Willie's great research note):
In the same comment thread referred to above, I wrote some words about how I think the sensor works. From what I can gather, the sensor readout provides a 'high' or 'low' voltage depending on whether a particle floating in the air chamber reflects some of an internal IR beam's light into a photodiode inside the device. Tracking the percentage of 'high' vs. 'low' signal, and using additional information (assumptions about the particle sizes necessary to reflect a certain amount of IR light into the photodiode, maybe?) the particulate matter concentration in the air can (apparently) be assessed.
My attempt and results
Here's a design for a simple microcontroller interface between one of these simple, cheap particulate matter sensors, and a laptop / RPi / PC. I tried to make the board size as small as possible:
... the optimal arrangement of pins and components to make the PCB as tiny as possible ending up resulting in a 'P' shape -- where 'P' stands for 'Particulate matter' or 'Public', say!
I chose the 32u4 processor over the DigiSpark's ATTiny, because:
- The 32u4 allows for a regular serial interface, so that we can easily suck the values into a laptop or Raspberry Pi
- The 32u4 has more memory, so that we can add additional functionality down the line
- The 32u4 has on-board USB, so that we can program the mini-meter board easily (with the appropriate bootloader installed, it should show up as a 'Leonardo' in the Arduino IDE).
[I've also added some fuses and diodes -- inspired by the Adafruit Flora design, which uses the same processor -- so that powering the board improperly doesn't 'result in tears', as Lady Ada writes in her Flora description.]
The board itself is designed with a 'PCB USB plug' (Jeff's nice suggestion) -- the board shape and traces on the board allow for insertion into a USB port directly. This means, I think, that we need to ask for printed PCBs of a certain thickness -- 1.6 mm, I think. I've also placed a microUSB header on the bottom, in case folks would prefer to attach via a cable.
Other than a 'power' LED on the board, there are no other frills.
The device has D6 and D8 broken out for the two lines on the PM sensor; we also have A0, A1, and SDA + SCL, for additional measurements (e.g., I'm imagining we might want to measure temperature, or air velocity).
Questions and next steps
- Could such a device be used easily with a Raspberry Pi via USB? I believe so ... will check.
7 Comments
I know i've a quick trigger finger on the "like button", but i am so jazzed about this.
Don, i failed to order your circuit boards, didn't I? I am so sorry. Please poke me again to do this and tell me how. Maybe we can order a few of these too.
Is this a question? Click here to post it to the Questions page.
Reply to this comment...
Log in to comment
Is this a question? Click here to post it to the Questions page.
Reply to this comment...
Log in to comment