Last week, our tasks for the week was very straightforward. All we needed to do was simply to start collecting data on our designated route in Piedmont Park. On Monday, we got the Air Quality sensors set up with the Raspberry Pi and Ardiuno, which allowed us to collect data from the sensors every three seconds. On Tuesday, we spent most of our time testing our data collection process, by collecting test runs with both the PMS Air Quality sensors, and the GRIMM, simultaneously, and comparing the two values. The PMS sensors gives us data for both PM values, and particle counts. However, the PM values, are heavily rounded, so they are not as useful for our purposes, and we decided to stick with particle counts for now.
For particle counts, both sensors data with values of 0.3um, 0.5um, 1um, 5um, etc. However, our task was made much more difficult, as the PMS gives us counts less than each value, and the GRIMM gives us counts greater than each value. For example, at 0.5um, the PMS gives us the number of particles smaller than 0.5um, but the GRIMM gives us the number of particles greater than 0.5um. This makes our comparison much harder, and less straightforward. Further complicating the issue, the PMS sensors does not give very consistent values from second to second, meaning that we need to likely aggregate data specifically depending on the type of route. Additionally, the two PMS sensors we have are not very consistent with each other, with values being off by as much as 25%. Overall, these factors will require more careful analysis after our initial data collection and calibration.
On Wednesday, we focused on getting multiple sensors connected to a single Raspberry Pi. Initially, our goal was to start data collection today, but we were still waiting on various bike parts from Amazon, so we decided to work on a related and useful task. Doing this would allow us to combine and aggregate double the amount of data on a single run, giving us more accurate data. We spent all day, running into the late evening working on this task. However due to inconsistencies with the type of text the sensors send, we were never able to have multiple sensors connected to one Pi, where our code could collect data from both sensors at startup, meaning the code would run by itself, without any human input. This was especially important, as when we are out in the field doing data, we won’t have access to a keyboard or mouse to start the program manually.
Thursday was the big day, as we came out bright and early, at 7am, and went out to Piedmont Park with a number of various types of bikes to test air quality. We made 9 bike runs, of 2.5 miles each. The route we selected had a number of diverse environments, including parks, suburban streets, urban side-roads, and major arterial with heavy construction and traffic. It was a beautiful day outside, and we had fun going around the city to get data. We also borrowed Michael, who helped us gather eye-tracking data, along with Urvi, as all of the others on our team wear glasses, which don’t work with the eye-tracking visors. Urvi and Michael each collected data on three runs. The rest of us alternated going around on the bikes collecting pollution data, so in the end, each of us went on 2-4 rides. In the meantime, we got to relax, and explore Piedmont Park!
However, once we got back, we discovered that we had made a huge mistake in our data collection code. Between each run, we needed to reboot the Raspberry Pi by unplugging and replugging it from our battery. However, because this was our first time in the field, we completely forgot about this crucial step. As a result, no pollution data was collected on this day, as our script was never run correctly. Out of the six runs with the eye-tracking visors, we were able to gather data from three of them, and the other three’s data was mysteriously corrupted. Coincidentally, all three corrupted runs were done with Michael.
On Friday, most of us took the day off, for a number of unrelated personal issues. Urvi was able to complete her research training to officially become a part of the research team. April and I were able to come in for a few hours around 4pm to finalize some of the mistakes we made on Thursday. I updated the code to create files in a different format, making data analysis simpler. We planned on doing additional test runs on Sunday to make up for the disappointing results from Thursday, but this plan was later scrapped.
Today, we went out again this morning, and collected three runs of pollution data. After these three runs, it started to rain, and we had to end our trials early. We came back to the lab, with successful data results from each run! However, as we are the bike team, more issues came up. The Raspberry Pi does not contain an onboard real-time clock, meaning that when the Pi is powered off, time isn’t kept, and it appears that time is even reset. To fix this, we have purchased real-time clocks online, and when the arrive, we will connect them to the Pi.
For the next week, our plan is to integrate the real-time clocks to our setup, and start preliminary data analysis from our results today. We will not have access to the GRIMM for the rest of the week, so we will not be able to gather any more data, but by the end of this week, we will have a robust data-collection setup, as well a solid understanding of the data we are working with. From there, it should hopefully be much easier to proceed with the project, and have meaningful results by the end of the summer
