Headnote
ABSTRACT
Objective: To develop an environmental monitoring station based on the low-cost Arduino platform for environmental monitoring using sensors of physical quantities such as temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, in an undergraduate course in computing, as a motivation for teaching and research.
Theoretical Framework: The fundamentals of the Arduino platform, theoretical review of the concepts and applications of the Internet of Things - IoT, as it allows contact with its resources through an internet connection, through remote access to monitor the information measured by its sensors.
Method: Numerical methods using programming language, hardware techniques, practices, as well as analog-todigital processing and conversions and vice-versa between the input and output interfaces of the physical systems that make up the model.
Results and Discussion: All the results obtained so far are being used as a basis for laboratory studies, academic work, and other scientific and academic means of propagating and sharing knowledge, such as the report of this work.
Implications of the Research: Application in undergraduate courses, promoting knowledge, applied in teaching and research, and technological innovation as a means of promoting creativity in students, in addition to environmental education, since it is focused on environmental monitoring.
Originality/Value: Its originality stands out in terms of environmental monitoring using an alternative energy source that keeps it running 24 hours a day, promoting actions related to environmental conservation. Finally, in addition to the benefits related to teaching, research and extension, it motivates the development of autonomous and low-cost systems.
Keywords: Arduino, Environmental Education, Prototyping, Product Engineering, Internet of Things (IoT).
RESUMO
Objetivo: Desenvolver uma estação de monitoramento ambiental com base na plataforma Arduino de baixo custo para monitoramento ambiental por sensores de grandezas físicas como temperatura, umidade, pressão atmosférica, em um curso de graduação em computação, como motivação de ensino e pesquisa.
Referencial Teórico: Os fundamentos da plataforma Arduíno, revisão teórica dos conceitos e aplicações de Internet das Coisas - IoT, pois permite o contato com seus recursos pela conexão da internet, através de acesso remoto para monitorar as informações medidas por seus sensores.
Método: Métodos numéricos utilizando linguagem de programação, técnicas de hardware, práticas, assim como tratamento e conversões analógico-digitais e vice-versa entre as interfaces de entrada e saída dos sistemas físicos que compõe o modelo.
Resultados e Discussão: Todos os resultados obtidos até o momento estão sendo utilizados como base de estudo em laboratório, trabalhos acadêmicos e outros meios científicos e acadêmicos de propagação e compartilhamento do conhecimento, como o relato do presente trabalho.
Implicações da Pesquisa: Aplicação em cursos de graduação, promovendo o conhecimento, aplicados no ensino e pesquisa, e inovação tecnológica como meio de promover a criatividade aos alunos, além da educação ambiental, uma vez que é voltada para o monitoramento ambiental.
Originalidade/Valor: Sua originalidade se destaca quanto ao monitoramento ambiental utilizando fonte alternativa de energa que o mantem funcionando 24 horas, promovendo ações ligadas à conservação do meio ambiente. Por fm, além dos benefícios ligados ao ensino, pesquisa e extensão, motivando o desenvolvimento de sistemas autônomos e de baixo custo.
Palavras-chave: Arduino, Educação Ambiental, Prototipagem, Engenharia do Produto, Internet das Coisas (IoT).
RESUMEN
Objetivo: Desarrollar una estación de monitoreo ambiental basada en la plataforma Arduino de bajo costo para el monitoreo ambiental mediante sensores de magnitudes físicas como temperatura, humedad y presión atmosférica, en un programa de pregrado en informática, como motivación para la docencia y la investigación.
Marco Teórico: Fundamentos de la plataforma Arduino, revisión teórica de los conceptos y aplicaciones del Internet de las Cosas (IoT), ya que permite el acceso a sus recursos a través de una conexión a internet y el acceso remoto para monitorear la información medida por sus sensores.
Método: Métodos numéricos que utilizan lenguaje de programación, técnicas de hardware, prácticas, así como procesamiento y conversión de analógico a digital y viceversa entre las interfaces de entrada y salida de los sistemas físicos que conforman el modelo.
Resultados y Discusión: Todos los resultados obtenidos hasta el momento se utilizan como base para estudios de laboratorio, trabajos académicos y otros medios científicos y académicos para difundir y compartir el conocimiento, como el informe de este trabajo.
Implicaciones de la Investigación: Aplicación en cursos de pregrado, promoviendo el conocimiento aplicado en docencia e investigación, y la innovación tecnológica como medio para fomentar la creatividad en los estudiantes, además de la educación ambiental, al centrarse en el monitoreo ambiental.
Originalidad/Valor: Su originalidad destaca por el monitoreo ambiental mediante una fuente de energía alternativa que funciona las 24 horas del día, promoviendo acciones relacionadas con la conservación del medio ambiente. Finalmente, además de los beneficios relacionados con la docencia, la investigación y la extensión, incentiva el desarrollo de sistemas autónomos y de bajo costo.
Palabras clave: Arduino, Educación Ambiental, Prototipado, Ingeniería de Producto, Internet de las Cosas (IoT).
1 INTRODUCTION
Undergraduate courses, specifically including production engineering and related areas, must currently be aligned with technological advancement not only as updates of the didactic contents of their subject programmes, but as the use of these technologies as teaching and methodological practices. Many novelties are being explored as didactic tools in the courses of the exact areas, as in the course of production engineering, directly in disciplines of the thematic areas of product engineering, industrial automation, robotics as didactic support to teaching / learning in courses of Educational Robotics (Santos et al, 2022) among others. Of these, prototyping stands out in the development of embedded systems, which, through platforms such as the open source system known as Arduino, allows the creation of automated devices and equipment replacing human intervention in the operation of manual activities, such as an irrigation system created as the Arduino prototype with low-cost sensors associated with an infiltrometer to determine the capacity of water infiltration into the soil (Viana et al, 2021). In addition to these solutions, these technologies when used in teaching provoke the motivation of students and researchers, stimulating creativity in the search for new innovative applications.
Based on this scenario, the project of an environmental monitoring system that was initially developed as a scientific initiation project in a computing course was used as an application of these novelties, which covers several thematic axes of the areas of the exact sciences, including contents of disciplines of technological prominence of the curricular grids of the computing, electrical engineering (Vilar et al, 2018) and production engineering courses. One of the differentials of this proposal is the production of a low-cost, autonomous and sustainable monitoring system, as it is powered by a photovoltaic panel. This feature allows the displacement of the station, since it is independent of connection to the electrical network, storing the data in its own memory.
Its results will be available in a graphical interface in real time, by wireless transmission, with great numerical reliability, with its data stored for statistical studies, computational modelling, simulations and other purposes. Finally, as the station will transmit the data wirelessly, in addition to its own generation of energy for storage in a battery, it will allow its mobility to several points geographically referenced when necessary.
1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
One of the causes of climate change is air pollution, which through the emission of pollutants into the air is one of the biggest problems that directly influences air quality and people's lives. Knowledge of air quality is a constant concern in identifying safe and harmful levels. For its identification, there are monitoring stations that through gas and pollutant sensors detect levels, resulting in a numerical index. Other important variables are also monitored such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, air and soil humidity. This set of measurements is made by systems installed in monitoring stations. However, stations and equipment for environmental monitoring have a high cost and in many cases become unfeasible its installation, being important that there are alternative units for monitoring at low cost. For this, this proposal seeks an alternative solution, through the development of a low-cost monitoring station, from an embedded system using the Arduino platform, sensor sets, modules, interfaces and other accessories, as well as resources of the technologies offered by the Internet of Things (IoT). Table 1 shows the atmospheric pollutants and meteorological parameters highlighting those established by CONAMA Resolution 03/1990.
According to Article 1 of CONAMA Resolution No. 3, of June 28, 1990, Air Quality Standards are the concentrations of air pollutants that, when exceeded, may affect the health, safety and well-being of the population, as well as cause damage to flora and fauna, materials and the environment in general. The existing environmental monitoring systems have concentration metres of several elements. These concentrations include total suspended particles (TSP), smoke, sulphur dioxide (SO2), inhalable particles (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), used in the calculation of the air quality index (IQAR). In addition to these measurements, there are other variables such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, soil humidity, wind conditions, etc. Therefore, in order for the indices necessary for the determination of air quality to be measured efficiently, a technology that uses dedicated sensors in the measurement of each parameter is necessary, so that they are processed through a platform that associates the levels of signals detected by the hardware, and their transformation into numerical variables allowing the software to process the calculations and availability of these data on a digital basis. In addition to these technical characteristics, lowvalue components and easy acquisition are essential, resulting in a viable cost benefit. This technology and viability exist and are offered by the set of resources arranged in what is now called the "Internet of Things", justifying your choice in this project.
1.2 INTERNET OF THINGS
This term has been well known today in academia and business for having a wide application in all areas covered by internet coverage. The term translated from the original English "Internet of things - IoT" contemplates everything that new technologies can apply through resources to facilitate people's lives through internet connections, such as remote home automation and other purposes that the user can monitor and act remotely. In this way, this new science called Internet of Things, has a wide application that meets virtually all the demands of searching for technological solutions using resources of electronic and electromechanical devices that associated with the internet, result in a great advance positively impacting on people's lives, through the facilities offered. In the academic environment, this technology is fundamental to support teaching (Schneider et al, 2019) and research methodologies, since it allows the practical application of a variety of contents that were previously studied theoretically and that are now possible to be practised by students during classes in an easy and realistic, as well as motivating way. The most popular platform used is the prototyping system known as Arduino, which offers a large amount of resources, with a good cost-benefit ratio, such as a water resources monitoring system for agriculture using Arduino (Lima; Neto 2022).
1.3 ARDUINO PLATFORM
Initially, it was developed for designers, hobbyists, technicians, engineers and people interested in creating projects or interactive environments, thus being ideal for students and undergraduate students. This platform produces excellent results when applied in electronic and mechanical automation activities, including robotics, control and activation of domestic, industrial and commercial devices. Due to its low cost of acquisition, training and operation, associated with the philosophy of "open source", that is, similar to free software, with its open codes, it provides hardware and software for electronic prototyping, resulting in the production of new applications, and use in education and academic research (Queiroz, 2018). By connecting a variety of sensors, it is possible to interact in the surrounding environment, controlling real variables such as lighting, electromechanical movements including direct current motors, and a multitude of types of actuators. The microcontroller present on the board is programmed using a programming language very similar to the C language, which through a simple interface, the user can load the hardware memory so that it is executed when desired. Therefore, the Arduino projects can through this interface, be developed and tested on a common personal computer. Figure 1 below illustrates the one Arduino One card used in the system.
2 OBJECTIVES AND JUSTIFICATIONS
Based on this context, this work shows an application developed in an undergraduate course in computing, as motivation of a research where an environmental monitoring station was developed based on the Arduino platform, which together with certain devices, seeks the measurement and recording of numerical variables measured by sensors of physical quantities such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, etc. Therefore, the choice of this project was based on the demand of a station for environmental measurement and monitoring for its importance, added to the high cost of a model of a commercial station available on the market.
In addition to this justification, the design of this prototype by itself already involves several activities that result in practices and study of methodologies that were previously seen only in the bibliographic study, which from now on, can be experienced in practice, through the stages from the conception of the model to its final tests in the laboratory environment and in the field, in the implementation of the real physical model.
It is in this aspect that the project is explored within the scope of the undergraduate course, as it is used as an object of practice in disciplines such as product engineering, prototyping, industrial automation techniques, elements of digital electronics, programming language, until its final application that serves the area of environmental education, climate monitoring and its local impacts. In addition, the feasibility of this technology is demonstrated by its low cost associated with the use of reused materials in the prototype, as well as its autonomy, since its power is provided by a photovoltaic panel system, which powers a battery, keeping the devices operating 24 hours and connected to a data link, updating a database connected by the internet for remote access.
3 MATERIALS AND METHODS
The materials used in this project involve the Arduino platform, which from a main microcontroller board, connected to several components, such as sensor modules and other devices, allows the construction of the real system and its connection with the internet. Thus, based on the definitions of the bibliographic review, the system can also be classified as an applied example of Internet of Things - IoT, as it allows contact with its resources through the internet connection, through remote access to monitor the information measured by its sensors.
Numerical methods using programming language produce source codes dedicated to the readings of the sensor modules, including logical routines for performance and visual reproduction of the information collected and shown by visual interfaces for access to users. Data management techniques and methods allow the storage of monitored values through data matrix structures in flash and dynamic memories, as well as cloud storage. Finally, methods involving hardware techniques, such as digital techniques and analogue electronics, allow the electrical and electronic connection of the signals as well as their treatment and analogue-digital conversions and vice versa between the input and output interfaces of the physical systems that make up the model.
3.1 THE PROTOTYPE
The prototype is composed of a centralised Arduino Uno R3 board to receive the data from the sensors, powered by a 12 V stationary battery, connected to a charge controller that during the day receives photovoltaic electricity generated on a solar plate. This power recharges the battery by day, and at night, the board and other system components are powered by battery power. In this way, the system remains in operation for 24 hours, sending the data through a radio frequency link, by means of a wifi module connected to the Internet. Through this connection, using an IP address and a data server, real-time information will be made available for access in any location.
In the case of this project, a similar station was developed in terms of functionalities, however, low cost, resulting in an experimental, conceptual and autonomous version (photovoltaic power), as a basis and motivation for future projects. The main sensors connected to the plate that are part of the measurement system are shown in Figure 3, which are the detectors of physical quantities, such as temperature and relative humidity, carbon monoxide, atmospheric pressure, soil humidity (a, b, c, and d respectively), according to the block diagram in Figure 2, which illustrates the other blocks of the system as a power source, battery, charge controller, etc.
3.2 THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE
In addition to electronic and electrical devices, there is a physical structure to house and protect the system as to weather conditions, as they must be housed and operated without human intervention, as well as ensuring their physical and electrical integrity, for this a galvanised iron pole and a metal box were used.
4 TESTS
Initial tests were done using the connections with the wifi module that sent the temperature and pressure sensor data, at first as a means of testing the wireless connection code and link. The home interface is numeric where values are shown in standard html-encoded browser. The data were successfully tested at an average distance of 100 metres from the station. The final steps involve the programming of the other sensors to make their values available in addition to numerical, through graphs such as progressive bars, analogue metres with pointers and two-dimensional real-time graph, where the horizontal axis represents the time and the vertical axis the amplitude of the measured variables. The other blocks of the system are already in operation, such as the photovoltaic panel that feeds the stationary battery and the Arduino board, and the modules housed in the metal box fixed to the pole (Figure 4), where the station is installed. A team involving undergraduate computer science students is developing the additional graphical interfaces and final adjustments to the hardware system. At the same time, the database is being finalised with the numerical values measured and treated, so that they can be offered for research in other research groups.
5 EXPECTED RESULTS AND PROSPECTS
As previously described in the testing stage, it can be considered that the station presented so far has succeeded in its operation in the production of photovoltaic energy, as well as in the initial transmission of data and connection between the mobile devices and the base. The physical structural part that fixes the box that houses the embedded devices (Arduino board, module and other equipment) has uninterrupted operating stability, starting in 2020 when security measures were determined due to the pandemic, and the campus went into isolation mode, but the station remained installed. With the return of the face-to-face activities, the testing practices and final implementations were continued, because during the remote activities, the group continued to develop the codes and simulations (Tinkercad Platform) allowed through the virtual sections and the shared results. Thus, when resumed face-to-face activities, information and results could be used in the field and in laboratories through meetings and practices to finalise and complete the system as a whole. All the results obtained so far are being worked on and used as a basis for study in the laboratory and in the classroom. In addition, the conclusions and resulting information are also being part of academic work and dissemination through events such as the National Week of Science and Technology - SNCT, scheduled for this year and other scientific and academic means of dissemination and sharing of knowledge, as the report of this work.
6 CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the research developed for the production of this system, was and is being executed successfully, since until now it allowed the construction of the prototype and all the parts developed in the composition of the system. During the stages it was possible to generate the specific knowledge necessary for the development of each block of the system. This reflected in teaching, research and extension, as teaching activities were practised in disciplines such as "Introduction to embedded computing" which has a menu that includes the topics of prototyping and development of embedded systems using the Arduino platform. In the research, so far it has produced articles and scientific dissemination in teaching and extension events, where the results will be used as a teaching basis for schools in local communities, in addition to the events scheduled for the second half of this year.
Therefore, it is concluded the relevance of the research reported in this work, which in addition to the points mentioned above, is available for its application in courses such as Production Engineering. Therefore, it has a range of applications and thematic axes where this content can be explored, promoting knowledge, applied in teaching and research, using as a basis, technological innovation as a means of promoting creativity to students and researchers of this course, as topics in discipline of importance such as "Product Engineering", production processes, automation, and in the area of environment, since it is focused on environmental monitoring.
In this way, as future works, it is suggested to narrow this project with the production engineering courses, in all areas that have affinities and / or interest in works and partnerships, because this project, as well as its results, has the purpose of free and community distribution to all communities of common interests in the production of new applications and research, as well as use of its bases as a free reference for teaching, research and extension.
References
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