Group 001-077: Kite Drone for Air Quality Monitoring

Week 10 Update: This week the group completed the final testing of the kite with the sensor and protective case attached. The group had to purchase another kite since the weight of the protective case and sensors was too heavy for the initial kite to carry. 

Week 9 Update: This week the group worked on mounting all electrical components to the kite through the use of the protective case. We also tested the functionality of the kite through test trials.

Week 8 Update: This week the case for the Arduino was built. The Arduino and bread board fits well within the case without compromising the wiring. The coding for most of the sensors is accurate and is working like it's supposed to while one of the coding set has a couple issues because the data values are not being squared correctly. The code above is the code that had issues this week. But this was fixed by changing the function being used. 

Week 7 Update: This week the group received the kite and completed the design for the protective case for the sensors and the arduino.   The group also tested the output of the arduino CO2 sensor by placing the calibrated CO2 sensor (which determined the parts per million) in a closed chamber while simultaneously changing the amount of CO2 in the chamber. A correlation graph was then constructed to aid us in creating a code which would convert all future arduino outputs from the CO2 sensor into PPM values.

Week 6 Update: This week, the group utilized the 3-D printer to print part of a protective case for the electrical components of the kite. This will ensure that all sensors and the arduino will not be destroyed by the natural elements. The group also finalized which kite was going to be used for our project. All group members worked on the final report this week.

Week 5 Update: All sensors were successfully connected to the breadboard this week. The electrical components of the breadboard were soldered.  The code for the optometer, gas sensor, and dust sensor was written.

Week 4 Update: This week the group is working on wiring up all of the sensors to the breadboard. This week the group ordered a micro SD card and a larger breadboard. The larger breadboard had to be purchased in order to ensure that all sensors were connected to the same breadboard.

Week 3 Update: This week the group ordered sensors that will work with the Arduinos. The sensors will be integrated into an Arduino by using a breadboard or by means of soldering. These sensors will eventually be attached to the pre designed kite. The pre designed kite is expected to cost approximately $40.   A gas sensor will be used to detect methane, coal gas, carbon monoxide, as well as other combustible gases. The gas sensor will cost the group $5.99. The altimeter sensor will be used to determine altitude and barometric pressure. The altimeter sensor will cost $9.95. The dust sensor will detect the presence of pollutants and particulate matter in the air. The group will spend $11.88 on the dust sensor. Altogether, the group is expecting to spend about $68 in total for all materials.

Week 2 Update: As a group we ordered the parts that were necessary to start building our project.      The above parts are what we discussed about this week. We decided that we would buy a kit that had a width of about 6 feet. then we also discussed the type of Camera and controller we would be using. A team member already owns the camera set, which is why we decided to use this set of camera and controller for the project.  The work was also delegated out for the future, as in who would update the blog and what the mechanical team would start doing when the parts that were ordered come in.

Welcome to our Blog! This is where our group will give weekly updates on our Engineering Project for ENGR 103 at Drexel University.   Please click on the Biography Link to learn more about our group members. Please click on the About Our Project Link to learn more about our Project!