Week 1

First update!

Week 1 was used to figure out which features we would like to implement, as well as come up with an initial plan of attack. First things first, we wanted to get a PCB design finished so that it could be sent out for fab and to allow enough time to troubleshoot and possibly do a redesign if needed.

What we plan to implement:

I2C communication between conductivity, pH, and temp/humidity sensors

BLE connectivity between the board and a phone

Relay switch to control the light via either a phone command or internal timer

If time permits:

Mechanical design of a aquaponics chassis

Automated pH adjustment

Custom phone UI

PSoC BLE Board Design:

We decided to elaborate on a design for a board that we made last quarter; using the BLE PSoC chip by Cypress, a USB-C charging manager, and a voltage regulator.

PCB Layout:

Physical Board:

Parts ordering:

This week also involved figuring out which parts we were going to order. Initial items include:

pH sensor (Atlas Scientific)

Conductivity sensor (Atlas Scientific)

Temp/humidity sensor (Generic)

Relay switch and supporting board components (TBD)

I2C interface boards (Atlas Scientific EZO boards)

Next Week:

We plan to get the PCB assembled and tested, order our sensors and components, and start thinking about firmware implementation. Our goal is to confirm that our BLE antenna design, and the rest of the board for that matter, is functional. Once this is confirmed, we can then tweak the design to optimize it for this specific application. This will entail new pin-header footprints, milling deletes, and an accelerometer delete. If the antenna does not work, we will have to try a new design and hope that it works. Fingers crossed!