Project Description

10/29:   The design of the landscape in my project will be influenced by the nodes that are to be installed within it. The locations of these nodes will also be determined by what they are sensing. In this case, the sensors are detecting air particulate matter as well as wind speed and intensity. Plant materials and landforms will be used to help channel wind against these sensors. For example, the use of dense shrubbery and berms can be used to funnel wind across the sensors in the landscape. They can be placed in various locations to get different effects. One node will be placed in close proximity to the 210 freeway to get a higher reading of air particulate matter. Another can be placed near the nearby water treatment facility. A third one could be placed within a park. Different placements of these nodes will ensure more variety of output data sent to the display. For this project, the display will be a musical. Data from the nodes will be streamed to the main node where it will be output as musical notes and white noise. Musical notes will be attained from the data of the wind speed and intensity while the white noise will be triggered by the amount of air particulate matter. The display will most likely be located in Pelota Park as it is within the center of all of the nodes. It is also close by to the residential neighborhoods allowing people to come hear the display without having to drive or walk very far.

Setting Up Seeeduino Stalker

Old Post: I finally received by Seeeduino Stalker v2.3 in the mail along with all of the other accessories I need to get it going. It took much longer than expected as the items were being shipped from Singapore I believe. Also, that country just had a major national holiday week or something so all shipping was delayed. Upon opening the package, I found all of the pieces that were advertised on the website. It came with the Seeeduino Stalker v2.3 motherboard, the UartSBEE module to connect to the computer for programming, a solar panel, a Li-Ion battery, and a waterproof case. I must admit I was pretty excited to open it all up. I just hope that getting it all together will not prove to be a difficult task.

It was not very difficult to get everything connected and to get a simple program to work. Just as we did in studio, I was able to get my own module to work. However, I do not have any sensors or displays that I can test at the moment. The only thing I can get going is the onboard LED. After doing some of the tutorials Professor Lehrman directed us to, I was able to get the LED to blink. I played around with the code and got the LED to blink in different time intervals. It took me some time to figure out how to get the battery to charge and how to get the Arduino serial monitor software to read back battery information. I found out that there is a little switch on the board that switches the board from 3v to 5v which made everything work instantly. I still don’t know how the solar panel works. I’ll probably have to program that too.

First Circuits

Old Post: Today in lab we attempted to create simple circuits using our professor’s Seeeduino and accessories. We selected a circuit that lights up multiple LEDs in various patterns. The patterns are controlled by the code that is uploaded to the circuit board via the UartSBEE module. After fiddling around, my classmates and I successfully uploaded a code to the Seeeduino and got the LEDs to start lighting up. We used a breadboard, resistors, LEDs, and cables to get this going. Another team of classmates also used the same accessories to create a different circuit altogether. Although the idea was essentially the same, the display came out completely different. Ours utilized a code that seemed more like a random pattern whereas theirs lit up sequentially one LED after the other. I noticed that certain LEDs did not light up as brightly as others. Most notable were the green LEDs. These were the dimmest. The red LEDs were much brighter. Perhaps there is a different resistance inherent in individual colored LEDs or maybe they are just two different types. I know that I have some multicolored LEDs at home that I will probably fiddle around with. These are multiple colors in one LED. Professor Lehrman has some of these as well, but the ones I have at home are much smaller. For the next lab session, I will try out a different type of circuit with a different display. I am interested in seeing how the solenoid motors work. Perhaps that could be an interesting display for my landscape project.

Sensing Cellphone Signals in La Verne

This project is to choose something to sense on a landscape and in this case the site is La Verne, California. I chose to sense cellphone signals because today in the world cellphones or rather the signals that has this technology working is a large importance in society. In addition, it was an interesting topic to sense just to see how powerful this technology reigns even in this small area in California. So the purpose of the sensor I proposed to make would sense the signals every time people would pass by. In essence the sensor would react with the cellphone that the person is carrying. Before actually building the sensor I did some research to see the overall picture of the signals in this area as shown below.

This is a map I produced of signal location and strength in La Verne and in Los Angeles.

Sensor in the Landscape

Once I get my piezo sensor running, which will include the connection of some sort of water proof speaker, the resulting display will be applied into my landscape.  As the sensor collects data from the speed and flow of running water in the pipes of La Verne, that information will be categorized into different frequencies or decibel levels, and expressed through the connected speaker.  The sound frequency of 20 Hz has been proven the most effective in causing a visible reaction in a body of water.  This will be used to represent times when water flow is at its peak.  Whereas higher frequencies, 50-100 Hz will be used to express relatively calm effects when water use is lower.  The water itself will be contained in a fountain-like structure, near areas with opportunities for education in the landscape. These include areas near schools, parks, the nearby creek, or anywhere with high pedestrian traffic to call attention to water use issues.

La Verne’s Noise/Sound Pollution, making it visible.

The reason that led into trying to sense noise levels in La Verne was when I read an online article about residents who lived near the 210 Freeway. The people complained about how strong the noise levels coming from the freeway were as well as the vibrations and pollution they created, the worst was in the morning or in the night. This led to me trying to create a sensor that can record this readings and also display them in an spectrum wave or form. The first step was to figure out where the most noise was concentrated in, so I created a map to find out.

First Time Building Sensor

The first time attempting to put together a sensor was intimidating because I had no real experience with connecting wiring and using technical parts such as resistors and computer chips. I had swapped my computer hard drive recently with assistance, but I have never done anything that needed to be wired in specific ways. It seemed to be intimidating because it appeared so technical and requiring a knowledge that I had little to none about. However, after doing research for my own sensor and looking up what different parts do, when asked to put together a sample sensor in class, it seemed to be easier than I thought. Once configured, my group mates and I managed to alter and adjust the speed of the lights.

Article of Norman B. Leventhal Park in Boston Awarded ASLA 2014 Landmark Award

http://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/2014/10/07/an-alternate-park-universe/#more-6002

The Norman B. Leventhal Park is located in Postal Office Square in Boston, Massachusetts. I found it to be significant to our project because it addresses the surrounding community needs and creates a space inviting to be occupied throughout the year. The design has made a significant impact on the surrounding civic realm by creating a landscape that allows the people from the financial district to go outside and enjoy a natural setting from the urban environment. The design took a small (1.7 acre) space and created a landscape that invites people to occupy for more than lunch time breaks. A developer of the early 90’s saw an old parking structure as a negative connotation for his recent developments in the square and decided to make underground parking with a park on top. One of the design ideas was to design the park as if it had always been there, which influenced the use of certain material such as brick and granite. The article addresses how the designers still work with redesigning areas that are affected by the surrounding conditions, such as the newer buildings shading over areas and decreasing light through the space. I think that the article articulates the process and describes the reasoning behind the design decisions well.

Good Article

“In the Little Devices Lab, creative use of Lego bricks, an old computer printer and other items resulted in a cheap medical diagnostics device, which can replace conventional equipment that costs $100,000.”

http://discovermagazine.com/2014/sept/12-nothing-but-a-hack

Jose Gomez-Marquez, an MIT graduate, makes inexpensive medical technology using cheap materials from the dollar store. I found this to be applicable to this class simply because of the importance of sensors in his projects.  For example, using technology from a fake child’s telephone toy, he creates an alarm that senses and reminds people to take their pills.  This knowledge of technology and sensors allows Gomez-Marquez to create innovative, and inexpensive medical tools that can be easily assembled in developing countries where they might not have expensive lab equipment to assist them.

Sensor 1

Starting to put sensor together. Week 3

Using the Seeduino, breadboard, various copper connections and the piezio sensor, I plan to measure the vibration/speed of water through water pipes on my chosen near the Weymouth water Treatment Plant.  The piezio sensor picks up vibrations from a surface, in this case the pipes, using quartz or ceramic crystals to generate an
electrical output proportional to applied acceleration, this effect causes the
accumulation of charged particles on the crystal. The applied force on the
quartz alters the alignment of postive and negative ions which causes the
accumulation on opposed surfaces, in this case, the electrode in the sensor.
Following Newtons Law of motion, the total amount of accumulated charge
is proportional to the applied force which is in turn proportional to acceleration.
The electrodes collect and transmit the charge through the wire to a signal
conditioner.