Sensors
sensors

Relatively inexpensive, transportable and deployable sensors are produced all over the world for a variety of analytes. Broadly defined, sensors respond to a physical or chemical property, providing an interpretable output. For our purposes, a main distinction of a sensor versus a sampler is that sensors do not require laboratory-based analyses, and provide outputs in near-real time. Though we often think of sensors as part of the electronics field, plenty of analog sensors have been available for decades. Common analog sensors include things like mercury thermometers and classic barometers. Common digital sensors include things like voltmeters. In Public Lab, we're interested in a broad variety of sensors, both analog and digital, designed for measuring chemical and physical properties in air or water. ###Air Sensors There are a ton of different air sensors on the market these days, with common analytes including carbon monoxide (e.g. smoke detectors), temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and more. Some of these sensors require a digital interface with a controller and data logger, others are analog. Please see more information [here](/wiki/air-sensors) and check out air sensors in the table below. Please add more sensors that you've used! [embed table] ###Water Sensors Water sensors are available for several analytes, such as salinity, pH, and depth. Like air sensors, water sensors may be digital or analog. Any digital water sensors that are meant to be deployed will require water-tight enclosures for the electronic components. Please see more information [here](/wiki/water-sensors), and check out and add more sensors to the table below. [embed table]...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
gpenzo "Rs485 can be used. Only 3 lines and 31 slaves with max 4000ft distance. " | Read more » almost 10 years ago
amysoyka "Would either of these help? https://www.spark.io/ http://www.digi.com/xbee/ " | Read more » almost 10 years ago
mathew "@btbonval is probably right, the best short-term solution is to try to read the IR serial signal coming off of the HOBO devices. That seems to be ..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
btbonval "Yeah the old HOBOs weren't very rugged, but that one in the image was one I remember using. There are definitely temperature range issues with a l..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
cfastie "Bryan, maybe this is what you remember. We deployed a bunch of these in the tundra 15 years ago: . They don't seem that rugged to me. I wonder if..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
btbonval "Oh man, HOBOs. It's been awhile since I've had to use HOBO dataloggers. It sucks that they use a proprietary format. "Open source" refers to softw..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
juan816 "i like this elegant strategy!! " | Read more » almost 10 years ago
btbonval "Thanks mathew. In computer science, it's often taught that programming languages come and go, but clarity is always required. To that end, we would..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
mathew "Really wonderful writeup. the SHT11, 15, and 21 are all sensors that we're looking to deploy and its good to see an initial look at their precisio..." | Read more » almost 10 years ago
donblair "Update: Amherst College has posted a follow-up on their Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/amherstcollege/posts/690441407761 " | Read more » over 10 years ago