Weatherstation - Receiving the data

In a previous post, I went over how the weatherstation data will be accessed--an Arduino-based webserver. However, this implementation had a major limitation: no data logging or visualization. I decided to switch to uploading the received data to Xively, which provides the data logging and visualization.

Robot - Update

Here's a quick video showing what the robot can do.

Weatherstation - Programming the Chip

The MSP430G2553 was programmed using Energia. This final script is essentially a culmination of code from my previous posts, with an emphasis on maximizing battery life. As such, I have decided to only have the microcontroller poll the sensors every 30 s, so most of its operation will be in deep sleep mode.

Weatherstation - Protoboard

Now that I have the weatherstation working on a breadboard, it's time to solder it onto a protoboard for a more permanent solution.

Weatherstation - Barometric Pressure Sensor

I ended up getting a BMP180 pressure sensor. I also made a major change to my weatherstation: I have decided to make the transmitter using a 430G2553 microprocessor. By using deep sleep mode and only taking readings every 30 s or so, I can run the weatherstation off of two D batteries for much longer than an Arduino.

Robot - Wireless Communication: Receiver

In this post, I'll go over how to make the robot respond to commands sent by the transmitter. You'll need the parts outlined in a previous post. These parts include a motor driver, 433 MHz receiver, and some Arduino-compatible device. The robot chassis has limited space, so I used an Arduino nano clone.

Robot - Wireless Communication: Transmitter

Now that the robot can respond to commands programmatically, the next step is to get the robot to listen for and respond to wireless commands. RF communication will be accomplished using the same library (VirtualWire) and components as my previous post, entitled Arduino Weatherstation – RF Communication. 

I'll split this part into two posts. The first will go over how to make the transmitter. The second will detail how to get the robot to respond to the transmitter's commands.