Schlagwort: Environmental Sensing

  • Arduino Nicla Sense Env: adding advanced environmental sensing to a broad range of applications

    Arduino Nicla Sense Env: adding advanced environmental sensing to a broad range of applications

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Nicla Sense Env: the latest addition to our portfolio of system-on-modules and sensor nodes, empowering innovators with the tools to unlock new possibilities. This tiny yet powerful sensor node is designed to elevate your environmental sensing projects to new heights. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your journey with Arduino, Nicla Sense Env is here to help sense the world around you with precision and ease.

    “With Nicla Sense Env, we’re taking a critical step toward addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time: protecting the environment. This powerful module allows developers to monitor air quality and environmental conditions with precision, paving the way for smarter, more sustainable solutions. By equipping professionals, educators, and makers with the right tools, we’re helping to build a future where technology and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. The compact nature of the Nicla form factor broadens the number of possible applications, spanning from prototyping to testing and volume production for OEMs.” – Fabio Violante, CEO of Arduino

    “Renesas is proud to be the technology supplier of choice for the Arduino Nicla Sense Env, the new modular board to measure real-time indoor air quality, temperature, and humidity at the edge of the IoT network. Renesas’ system architecture, based on the RA2E1 microcontroller and environmental industrial-grade sensors with onboard AI including the ZMOD4410, ZMOD4510 and HS4001, enables Nicla Sense Env to be deployed in a variety of smart building applications, HVAC and air purifier systems, gas leak detection systems, fumes and fire detection systems, and smart city air quality management, with little integration effort.”
    — Brad Rex, Senior Director of Global Systems and Solutions Team at Renesas

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA5yRNZV-nE?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Compact yet capable: let’s unpack the features

    Nicla Sense Env might be small in size, but it’s packed with advanced features that make it a powerhouse for environmental monitoring.

    • Monitor indoor and outdoor environments with AI-ready Renesas sensors. Nicla Sense Env offers temperature and humidity monitoring through the HS4001 sensor and AI-enabled gas detection with the ZMOD4410AI1V and ZMOD4510AI1V sensors. These provide real-time data on air quality, including the detection of TVOCs, NO2, O3, and other gasses, both indoors and outdoors.
    • 22.86 x 22.86 mm = huge potential. With the tiny form factor the Nicla family is known for, Nicla Sense Env can easily fit into any project, allowing you to integrate environmental sensing without compromising on space or design.
    • Robust, reliable, and ready to stand the test of time. Built with industrial-grade sensors, Nicla Sense Env is engineered for durability and accuracy, ensuring reliable performance even in challenging conditions. What’s more, it was designed for 24/7 operation: ultra-low power consumption makes it ideal for long-term deployments in any situation. 
    • Fits right in, with seamless integration and wide compatibility. Whether you’re working with Portenta SOMs or MKR products, Nicla Sense Env connects effortlessly via ESLOV (I2C) or header pins. It’s also compatible with Arduino IDE and MicroPython, so you can start programming right out of the box. And of course, it works great with a variety of libraries and tutorials available through the Arduino ecosystem.

    Real-world applications? We sense endless possibilities!

    Nicla Sense Env is a versatile and accessible tool for environmental monitoring: it’s your new ally whether you’re developing something new or enhancing an existing project, working on a prototype or full-fledged industrial-scale solution.

    Nicla Sense Env fits perfectly into HVAC systems, helping you monitor air quality, humidity, and temperature to keep smart buildings comfortable and compliant with environmental regulations. In air purifiers, it provides real-time data that allow for energy-efficient operation and better air quality by detecting harmful gasses and adjusting the system as needed. When it comes to safety, it can play a critical role in detecting fumes and smoke, triggering early warnings to prevent potential hazards both indoors and outdoors. In industrial settings, it can monitor air quality and detect toxic substances, ensuring that machinery runs safely and efficiently. And these are only the first examples of applications that come to mind! 

    Add a breath of fresh air to your projects

    We look forward to seeing how you will leverage the capabilities of the Arduino Nicla Sense Env to create innovative solutions – whether you’re developing climate control systems, enhancing air quality monitoring, or ensuring safety in industrial environments.

    So, head to the Arduino Store to check out full product details and specifications, and let’s continue to push the boundaries of innovation together – one “tiny” step at a time!

    The post Arduino Nicla Sense Env: adding advanced environmental sensing to a broad range of applications appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Star Wars-themed device monitors indoor environmental conditions

    Star Wars-themed device monitors indoor environmental conditions

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino TeamAugust 22nd, 2022

    We don’t need to tell you that Star Wars is a wildly popular franchise. If you include all of the movies, video games, novels, theme park attractions, and so on, it is the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time (somehow just behind Winnie the Pooh). Because of its popularity, Star Wars themes find their way into every facet of life. But fan Kutluhan Aktar took that in a surprising direction when he built this Bluetooth®-enabled, Star Wars-style weather and gas station.

    We don’t mean a gas station for pumping fuel, but rather a system that monitors indoor environmental gasses, like methane and carbon monoxide, along with climate information like temperature and humidity. Aktar chose to design the device with a Star Wars look and feel, which includes a Millennium Falcon PCB and a 3D-printed Yoda bust, but that theme has little to do with the functionality. In addition to gathering environmental data, this device can illuminate a pair of light bulbs, control RGB LED lighting in the room, and spin a pair of fans. Those outputs are configurable as indicators that correspond to the environmental data. A small E Ink display shows relevant data, which is also accessible via a smartphone.

    The custom Millennium Falcon PCB, which Aktar designed in KiCAD, acts as a breakout board for an Arduino Nano 33 BLE that controls the other components. Those components include an Adafruit DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor, MQ-4 and MQ-7 air quality sensors, relays for the light bulbs, fan motors, and a 2.9” Waveshare ePaper Module. Aktar designed the enclosure in Autodesk Fusion 360 and then 3D-printed it on a Creality CR-200B 3D printer. Because the Arduino has a built-in Bluetooth adapter, Aktar was able to create a smartphone app that connects to the device via BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to send control commands and receive environmental data.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZmsbRvhK1o?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Website: LINK

  • Keeping algae in check with a DIY pond monitor

    Keeping algae in check with a DIY pond monitor

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino TeamApril 12th, 2022

    For element14 user christophesky, his garden’s pond acts as a meeting point for a wide variety of animals, including frogs, birds, and insects. However, sudden algae blooms can turn the once-clean pond into a toxin-filled pool that is harmful to its visitors, which is what caused Christopher to think of a solution as part of element14’s Just Encase Design Challenge. His idea was to float a comprehensive monitoring system on top of the water, capable of taking regular readings and letting him know what needs to be changed.

    At a basic level, the pond will contain a MKR WAN 1300 with several sensors that take measurements periodically. From here, a second MKR WAN 1300 in Christopher’s greenhouse receives the data and passes it along to a home server/dashboard for easy viewing and analysis. In terms of data collection, the sender MKR WAN board is connected to sensors for measuring parameters such as total dissolved solids, pH, and water temperature, all of which can tell a lot about the pond’s health and susceptibility to algae blooms in the near future. 

    After rigging together a ring of PVC pipes for buoyancy and attaching the watertight sensor housing, Christopher gave his device the name “Floaty McTest Face” and placed it on the pond to begin collecting valuable data. As seen in his dashboard, everything was displayed just as intended.

    You can read more about the project, which was named the contest runner-up, here in its blog post.

    Website: LINK