A student project for ENGR114 at Portland Community College. Uses MATLAB to read a temperature sensor connected to an Arudino over serial.
For our final lab, our group was tasked with setting up a temperature sensor for the hydroponic fish tank-garden shown to the right. This sensor will be used to monitor the water supply for the garden. Using an Arduino and MATLAB, the water temperature will be recorded over a set amount of time with the temperature displayed at regular intervals. A plot of the temperature as a function of time will also be generated for a visual representation of the temperature vs. time. The temperature measurement setup will be used to monitor the temperature of the water in the hydroponic fish tank-garden.
| component | vendor |
|---|---|
| Arduino | SparkFun RedBoard - Programmed with Arduino |
| Temperature Sensor | 10K Precision Epoxy Thermistor - 3950 NTC |
| 10 kΩ resistor | Resistor 10k Ohm 1/6th Watt PTH |
| Breadboard | Breadboard - Self-Adhesive (White) |
| Jumper wires | Jumper Wires Premium 6" M/M Pack of 10 |
| Mini-B USB cable | SparkFun USB Mini-B Cable - 6 Foot |
Arduino is connected to the computer via a mini-USB (connector shown at right of
photo). The temperature sensor is connected to the Arduino through a breadboard that
incorporates a pull-up resistor to keep input voltage up. Connections as follows: red wire of
sensor is input, green is signal, black is ground, these are connected to three different rows on
the breadboard. The red, white and black jumpers connect the breadboard to the Arduino with
the following ports, 3.3V, Digital-7 and GND (respectively). The resistor is placed between the
signal wire and input for the Arduino.
The temp_sensor.ino sketch was uploaded on the Arduino using the Arduino IDE.
The temp_sensor.m script was run in MATLAB.
The plot above is a sample output of our code using the temperature sensor and Arduino board. Time is on the x-axis while temperature in degrees Fahrenheit is on the y-axis.
This is a great starting point for future work with the hydroponic fish-garden. The MATLAB program could be used to get baseline values for the temperature and use those values for further changes to the conditions. If the temperature is too low, a program could be written to turn on a heater until the water reaches a certain temperature. If the temperature is too high, the same program could be used to turn off the heater. Long term monitoring could be used to find trends that correlated to any number of factors, plant cycle, fish health, plant health, etc. Inconjunction with software from other groups. this garden could be almost fully automated and controlled remotely via a wi-fi connection.
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