Project Overview
How It Works
In order to calculate the volume of a manure storage pond, we will utilize the optical distance measurement capabilities of the Garmin Lidar-Lite V3HP. This device uses a ranging and proximity sensor to read distances of up to 40 meters.
By reading a tangential distance from a fixed support a few feet from the edge of the pond, the depth of the water can be calculated using the measurements outlined in the graphic below.
The volume is then calculated from a depth-to-volume equation, determined for each specific pond from a stage diagram.
The calculated height and volume are then sent through the micro-controller, the ESP32 Thing, to the user through local wifi or cellular data. These measurements can be accessed remotely from the user's devices using an application called ThingSpeak .
The capabilities of this design expand beyond height and volume calculations of a storage pond. This design allows the user to monitor pumping operations during waste evacuation of the pond. Our system will allow the user to quantify the volume of waste that was removed from the pond and spread out onto their fields, which helps the farmer better monitor the amount of nutrients added to the soils.
Budget
Garmin. (2018). LIDAR-Lite v3HP. Retrieved from Garmin: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/578152
The MathWorks, Inc. (2018). MATLAB Visualizations App. Retrieved from MathWorks: https://www.mathworks.com/help/thingspeak/matlab-visualizations-app.html