Active learning pedagogies has been a main topic in ongoing and recent educational research. By providing students with a more interactive learning environment, we can better engage those students in the topic at hand. One such topic is introductory Geosciences. Therefore, we provided GSUs Department of Geosciences with a more hands-on undergraduate lab assignment for their Climate Literacy Labs. This experiment involves the use of a weather balloon, which will record and transmit real-time atmospheric data as the balloon ascends. The package of the weather balloon is an Arduino based sensory unit that reads the changes in humidity, pressure, temperature and altitude versus time. The recorded data is then wirelessly transmitted to a receiving module using Xbee devices. Students can gain access to the weather related data they helped collect during their labs through an online public website created to house and display the data. The website, managed by site administrators and lab instructors, will allow the students to download the raw data and save graphical representations of the data. More importantly, this project allows for other educational facilities to have free and public access to the weather balloon designs and also allows for easy extendibility for additional hands-on lab assignments in the future.

The weather balloon will incorporate sensors to calculate humidity, pressure, temperature and altitude. These sensors will be located on an Arduino Weather Shield, where the Arduino will be the package of the weather balloon. The Arduino will take data readings every 4-5 seconds as the weather balloon ascends. The program utilizes two main libraries in order to calculate current humidity, pressure, altitude, and temperature values: HTU21D Humidity Sensor Library and MPL3115A2 Barometric Pressure Sensor Library. The Pressure Sensor Library allows the Arduino to read from the Weather Shields MPL3115A2 low-cost high-precision pressure sensor. After switching to the pressure mode, the sensory unit reads the pressure. Subsequently, the sensor is set to the altimeter mode which returns the corresponding weather balloon altitude. The temperature is then measured using the pressure sensor. The Humidity Sensor Library allows an Arduino to read from the Weather Shield HTU21D low-cost high-precision humidity sensor. The sensor reads the current humidity level and returns the value to the Arduino.

Each time the weather measurements are calculated, the values for the humidity, pressure, altitude, and temperature are stored as variables and transmitted through the Xbee modules to be printed on the desktop application in real time. The application offers the user the option to save that data as a text file. If the user has never saved data before, a directory called “Weather Balloon Data” will be made for them. All saved data will be stored in this directory. The application also allows the user to open the Climate Literacy Labs webpage directly – a convenience for the instructor.

The publicly accessible website developed for this project is a simple HTML based web application. The primary goal of the site is to grant the students access to the data they took during their lab assignment. The site also addresses a number of secondary goals, such as allowing public access to the weather related data. This allows for possible research usage of the data. We also sought to allow public access to the documentation and the code used to develop the project. We wanted other educational facilities to have all the information needed to recreate the weather balloon as well as the software needed to process collected data. The website also serves as a hub for future projects to be hosted. It creates an environment where any newly developed hands-on lab assignments can be uploaded and accessed easily.

SparkFun Weather Shield

Completed Sensory Unit for the Weather Balloon

Xbee Explorer Dongle Setup

The documentation and code for this project can be accessed directly from the GitHub link below.

https://github.com/SIFsatGSU/WeatherBalloon.git

The code is made available through GSUs Student Innovation Fellowship GitHub account. The link to the public website will be provided through the GitHub account once the site is made live.

3D Atlanta:

As of now, the 3D Atlanta project is taking a new direction by utilizing City Engine to quickly render the 3D models of 1930s Atlanta. We have also been doing some work in the Unity environment by adding the models we created in Blender last semester. Below you can see the final version of my textured model.

Final Textured Model of 61 Central Ave.

Once the City Engine team has created the base models, me and the rest of the Unity team will continue to post textures on the models and add interaction points to the game.

Virtual Reality Research:

The modeling team has been given an awesome opportunity this semester to be involved in some ongoing virtual reality research going on at GSU. The research focuses on how to adapt the VR environment to the blind community. In order to address this issue, we have been tasked to create a game in Unity that uses sound to help visual impaired players interact with the gaming environment.

The Oculus Rift

The plan is to write three different Unity scripts: an active script where the player shots until a building is hit, at which point the hit will make a sound and the name of the building will be announced. Next a passive script where a building will make a sound and the player will have to find the correct building. And lastly, a simple menu screen where the player will shoot the menu option, that option will be announced and then the player chooses the option. More information will be posted about this project next month.

Weather Analysis Balloon:

This project has made great progress since last semester. I am pleased to say that the weather analysis device is assembled and operational, as well as a desktop interface in which to read the data coming from the reader, which can be seen below.

Interface for reading data straight from the weather balloon

The desktop application allows the user to see the data, entry by entry, as it comes in from the device. Every 3 seconds, a reading of humidity, temperature and pressure is sent from the weather balloon to the application. There is also a functionality for saving the data as a text file on the computer and a link to the website so the instructor can upload the data to the internet so students can use the data in their labs. The website is still under construction, and a few more items need to be ordered, but overall the project should be completed soon. Below you can also see the analysis device, the larger device is for gathering the data and sending the data to the computer and the smaller device is for receiving the data.

Weather analysis devices

3D Atlanta Project:

Currently, we are just about done texturing our 3D models. Next step, upload everything into the Unity environment and begin the next phase of the project. These next phases include starting a whole new block and using more coding in the Unity environment to build and texture the 3D models. Below you can see the 3D model of the bottom half of 61 Central Avenue with texturing!

GSU Growth Map:

Not much to say here except that the project has been completed with great success! Here is link to the final project. GSU Growth Map

Climate Lab Weather Analysis Balloon:

All the materials for this project have been ordered and received, giving me all I need to start building the weather analysis Arduino board and begin programming the user interface. Many discussions have taken place between Andrew and I about the next steps in this project, mostly covering the implementation of the MATLAB software into the Geology labs and the physical structure and requirements of the balloon and weather box. We have currently decided to upload the user interface onto GSU servers so the data can be viewed and studied anytime by students and we decided to use a 3D printer to make the specialized weather box for the weather shield and Arduino board. I will be adding a picture of the completed board apparatus by my next post.

Newest project idea! CO2 Reader for the Geology labs:

So this past week has presented me with a new project, developing either a mobile application for Geology students to input data read from the Geology departments current CO2 reading devices or to build new CO2 reading devices using, once again, an Arduino and a CO2 sensor board. This second option still needs a lot more research to determine if it is a possibility. This is because we need a CO2 Arduino sensor that is powerful enough to read even low CO2 emissions. If I am able to build the CO2 Arduino sensor, here is a picture of what the CO2 sensor board would look like.

The mobile application would allow students to upload and analyze their CO2 emissions data as they are reading it in downtown Atlanta. I plan on designing a map with the recovered data to show the points in downtown with the highest CO2 readings.