Fabric, thread, Bluetooth HC-05 Module, Arduino Nano, BME280 Sensor, clips
Growing up in Colorado I have grown an immense passion for spending time exploring the great outdoors. Whether it is hiking or camping or meandering around, every moment spent discovering new places is a soothing, renewing experience. For this project, I wanted to make wearable that extended the knowledge a hiker can gain from their surroundings. I have connected a BME280 atmospheric sensor to a Bluetooth HC-05 module to send the data received by the sensor to the user’s phone. This is an easy and elegant way for a hiker to receive information on their surroundings- current temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit, altitude in feet and meters, and humidity. The wearable is made out of a stretchable, breathable fabric that fits nicely around the waist or could even be tied around the leg or arm for providing the most comfortable way to hike without interference.
Moving forward with this project, I have been attempting to write a processing sketch that visualizes the data in an informative yet aesthetically stimulating way. This is meant to start a conversation on how data from our natural surroundings can be communicated through technology in live time. Hikers are then able to take screenshots of certain periods during their hike and use it for later reference whether it is for personal records, fun, or scientific data collecting of the environment.
There are still some minor hiccups either in the code or the hard circuits that may be preventing the data from being received as accurately as possible. The BME280 sensor description on Sparkfun are as follows: Temp Range: -40C to 85C, Humidity Range: 0 - 100% RH, =-3% from 20-80%, Pressure Range: 30,000Pa to 110,000Pa, relative accuracy of 12Pa, absolute accuracy of 100Pa, Altitude Range: 0 to 30,000 ft (9.2 km), relative accuracy of 3.3 ft (1 m) at sea level, 6.6 (2 m) at 30,000 ft.