Inexpensive “DIY†Pressure Transducer for Monitoring Waves in Coastal Systems
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Research Presentation
Challenges Theme
Open Challenge
Faculty Sponsor
Chris Houser
Proposal
In order to learn more about the natural world, there is a growing need to conduct research of increasing scale and resolution. During field work, this often necessitates the use of high accuracy equipment, which can be expensive and can be lost or damaged during deployment. Consequently, there is growing interest in “do it yourself†(DIY) equipment that is affordable and easy to build without sacrificing performance. The DIY Pressure Transducer provides coastal researchers with a more affordable alternative for monitoring water level fluctuations such as wave height and period. Combining ideas from existing designs, the DIY device built for this study consisted of an ESP32 microcontroller, a pressure sensor module, components from the Arduino ecosystem and a waterproof housing made from polyvinyl chloride. In contrast to commercial pressure transducers which can cost thousands of dollars, a DIY transducer can be assembled for under $200. To determine accuracy, DIY transducers were tested against a commercial instrument in both still and turbulent water, where pressure readings from each DIY device varied by a constant offset from the commercial instrument. After adjusting the data accordingly, it was agreeable to the commercial transducer by <1cm of water depth. Given the affordability and performance of the DIY sensors tested in this study, future works are planned to deploy dense sensor arrays to monitor the impact of waves on coastal erosion at scales previously not possible. Additionally, future improvements will utilize the wireless capabilities of the ESP32 to provide wireless configurability and remote data collection.
Grand Challenges
Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities
Inexpensive “DIY†Pressure Transducer for Monitoring Waves in Coastal Systems
In order to learn more about the natural world, there is a growing need to conduct research of increasing scale and resolution. During field work, this often necessitates the use of high accuracy equipment, which can be expensive and can be lost or damaged during deployment. Consequently, there is growing interest in “do it yourself†(DIY) equipment that is affordable and easy to build without sacrificing performance. The DIY Pressure Transducer provides coastal researchers with a more affordable alternative for monitoring water level fluctuations such as wave height and period. Combining ideas from existing designs, the DIY device built for this study consisted of an ESP32 microcontroller, a pressure sensor module, components from the Arduino ecosystem and a waterproof housing made from polyvinyl chloride. In contrast to commercial pressure transducers which can cost thousands of dollars, a DIY transducer can be assembled for under $200. To determine accuracy, DIY transducers were tested against a commercial instrument in both still and turbulent water, where pressure readings from each DIY device varied by a constant offset from the commercial instrument. After adjusting the data accordingly, it was agreeable to the commercial transducer by <1cm of water depth. Given the affordability and performance of the DIY sensors tested in this>study, future works are planned to deploy dense sensor arrays to monitor the impact of waves on coastal erosion at scales previously not possible. Additionally, future improvements will utilize the wireless capabilities of the ESP32 to provide wireless configurability and remote data collection.