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What to expect
Over the last three weeks, we have been getting used to the Kitronik AQ board and collecting some data. In the previous week before the break, we compared the collected data and looked at the similarities and differences among the groups. In this week’s activity, we will review our neighborhood’s air quality and try to relate that to the indoor air quality data we’ve collected. Then, we will modify the previous coding to incorporate LED lights!
Connections
In the past three activities, we worked on coding the Kitronik board, logging data, and analyzing data. We will expand on these topics in this activity by making some changes. This activity is a chance for you to play and improve your coding. You also have the opportunity to enhance your data logging skills and data analysis.
Materials
Kitronik AQ board
Micro:bit
Instructions
In this activity, you will look at the link in step one below to review the air quality in our neighborhood. You will program the Kitronik AQ board to display the current air quality using the LED lights on the board.
Go to the AirNow webpage. Through this webpage, you can review the air quality in your neighborhood. I suggested that you look at your community and the areas around you. How is the current AQI? What is the current ozone level? Are they acceptable?
2. In the previous activity, we used a Kitronik air quality board to collect data on pressure, IAQ, humidity, eCO2, temperature, and pressure. While we collect these data measurements, we will improvise the previous coding to add LED light signals.
3. Open MakeCode and start a new project. A suggested name would be “3.4 Kitronik AQ_LED.”
Click on the extensions tab.
4. This is the tab that has the plus sign. After you enter the tab, type in “kitronik air quality,” then choose the one that says “kitronik-air-quality-v2-only.”
5. To display temperature, eCO2, and IAQ Score, you need to create the coding as shown here. This is very similar to the previous coding. Please note that you need to wait 5 minutes until you see the “✓” icon to ensure the gas sensor is set up and the gas baseline & ambient temperature is established before the AQ board reads the data correctly.
6. Now we will add a few more steps to add LED signals. As shown, we will develop a simple logic to display different LED colors to signal indoor air quality. It is designed to display red, yellow, and green colors depending on the IAQ Score at the time the AQ board reads the air quality data.
You can also download the coding for today's activity here.
7. This is just one way to add the LED signals based on the data reading. You can also add temperature or humidity to use two other LED lights to display the measurements. By looking at the color of each LED light, you can immediately tell that the temperature, humidity, or indoor air quality is in the comfortable range as you determined.
8. The Kitronic AQ board sensor can detect gases and reacts to most volatile compounds. You can try blowing breath onto the sensor to see if the IAQ score changes! Who made the indoor air quality the worst?
Think about it
We added LED lights to display the current air quality in this activity. We also reviewed our neighborhood’s air quality.
What did you add to the coding to make the display better?
What other measurements did you add to the LED lights?
Was this activity something you would like to see more often? Do you find yourself needing days to catch up on activities?
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