This repository contains code and hardware specifications for several similar low cost pressure transducers (sensors) designed for monitoring nearshore waves. More specifically, each design logs absolute pressure (atmospheric pressure + water pressure) using an MS5803 series pressure sensor at a frequency of 1 Hz. Each design can be constructed from parts easily available at hardware stores and electronic component distributers (such as Digi-Key). DIY3 is the most recent build to be deployed, though it is still in development.
Due to the unnecessary work involved with hand soldering in DIY2 and multitude of sensor designs incorporating ATMEGA328p chips, the newest design, DIY3, utilizes an ESP32 chip on a FireBeetle development board. The hope is to minimze assembly time, price, and power consumption while maintaining the benefits of more modern hardware with wireless communication capabilities.
The repository is split into three parts, code/, hardware/, and documentation/.
code/ - Contains the main program for three versions of the transducer. Utility scripts for setting the time on the device's real time clocks and data processing are also present.
DIY1/ - Custom Arduino code for the first version of the pressure transducer hardware, which is a slightly modified version of this DIY Wave Gauge from the Mississippi State University's Coastal Research and Extension Center.
DIY2/ - Arduino code for the second version of the pressure transducer hardware, which is a "barebones" Arduino setup using just an ATMEGA328P microcontroller rather than a development board. This version is much more power efficient, but harder to assemble. See the DIY2 Guide for details.
DIY3/ - Arduino platform code for the third version of the pressure transducer hardware, which uses a FireBeetle ESP32 development board as the microcontroller. This version is still in development.
testing/ - Contains additional scripts for developing and testing features for various pieces of hardware.hardware/ - Contains KiCad projects for different variations of the device.
documentation/ - Contains various documentation for the hardware and software of each sensor.
DIY2_Guide.pdf - Not-quite-finished guide for assembling, programming and using a DIY2 sensor.
notes.md - My ongoing notes for the project, started at the beginning of DIY3 development.
materials.md - Lists of electronic and housing materials, started at the beginning of DIY3 development.