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Applied Classroom Use of a Mobile Multifunctional Weather Station

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Conference

2020 ASEE North Central Section conference

Location

Morgantown, West Virginia

Publication Date

March 27, 2020

Start Date

March 27, 2020

End Date

May 20, 2020

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--35726

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/35726

Download Count

332

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Paper Authors

biography

Natalie Grace Bowen Central Michigan University

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I am a senior at Central Michigan University studying Integrated Science for Secondary Education. For the last two years, I have participated in the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Teachers program at Central Michigan University. I have a great passion for science education, and I hope to be able to influence my future students to find what they are passionate about and pursue it, just as I have.

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biography

Kumar Yelamarthi Central Michigan University

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Kumar Yelamarthi received his Ph.D. and M.S degree from Wright State University in 2008 and 2004, and B.E. from University of Madras, India in 2000. He is currently the Assistant Director for the School of Engineering and Technology, and Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and at Central Michigan University (CMU). He serves as the chair for Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering programs at CMU. His research interest is in the areas of wireless sensor networks, Internet of Things, assistive devices, mobile robots, embedded systems, and engineering education. He has published over 140 articles in archival journals and conference proceedings and delivered over 75 talks in these areas. He has served as a chair, technical program committee chair, treasurer for several IEEE/ASME/ASEE international conferences, and as a reviewer and panelist for numerous externally funded proposals. He served as the general chair for 2016 ASEE NCS Conference, 2011 ASEE NCS conference, Technical Committee Member for IEEE ISVLSI, IEEE MWSCAS, IEEE WF-IoT, and currently serves on the editorial board for International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering. He has served as the Chair of IEEE Northeast Michigan Section, and vice-chair for ASEE North Central Section. He served as PI, co-PI, and senior personnel in several externally funded grants from organizations such as NSF, NASA, and the regional industry. He is a founding advisor for the IEEE Student Chapter at CMU, an elected member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society, a senior member of IEEE, and a senior member of IETI.

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Abstract

This project is rooted in the need for a mobile device to use outside of my future science classroom to measure, collect, and compile weather and water data. Incorporating this device into a secondary school classroom will not only allow students to use the weather station, they will also integrate engineering practices into their science education by building the weather station in small teams. Intelligent weather stations have been around for many years, often functioning on a large scale to collect weather, wind, and solar data to be used for forecasts, energy management, agriculture, and in the planning of clean energy projects. These tools have also been named automatic weather stations, they have been developed to function wirelessly and to remotely send their collected data to be stored or displayed for research and development purposes. Weather stations typically consist of an array of sensors to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and atmospheric pressure. They also include a battery to power the station and a base that processes collected data and has the capabilities to send and/or store the data. Currently, the Python 3 code to implement individual sensors is complete. The device is able to upload data to the cloud using ThingSpeak. In addition, I have begun prototyping and testing possible circuit designs for the final model. Due to limitations of the Raspberry Pi’s ability to supply power to multiple sensors in parallel, device calls must be done sequentially and with regard to time. The design, development, and use of a wireless weather station device can be used in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) experiences to introduce secondary students to the science and engineering practices laid out in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). After the completion of this project in my future science class, students will have experience using engineering practices and problem-solving skills to assemble a simple IoT device. Thus far, I have encountered obstacles that students will likely face, such as limitations in the required power of all sensors, and I am now better equipped to assist them when these problems arise.

Bowen, N. G., & Yelamarthi, K. (2020, March), Applied Classroom Use of a Mobile Multifunctional Weather Station Paper presented at 2020 ASEE North Central Section conference, Morgantown, West Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--35726

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