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First thoughts

A project log for JJ Tricoder

Goal of this project is to develop functional Tricoder device, similar to type TR-580.

jaromirsukubajaromir.sukuba 03/17/2014 at 21:010 Comments

Before actually desiging this project, we need to brainstorm it a little bit.  The price tag for all components is set to 77,77EUR. We want it cheap and reproducible.

Problem is with case. It is oddly shaped and probably not much off the shelf enclosures will meet the needs. We need to 3D print it, or at least glue from polystyrene boards.

The main sensor array should consist of;

1, Optical - probably two photiodes (one for IR, one for VIS) with preamplifiers, or even single chip solutions (TSL252)

2, Magnetic - coil as pickup element. Not yet sure what to to with its signal.

3, Acoustic - condenser microphone, cheap and plentiful. Those three sensor could have the same processing path.

4, Pressure - something like BMP180 should do the job, to capture pressure increase/decrease.

5, GPS receiver

6, Acceleration and compass. Those 9DOF for whatever-copters should do the job.

First three sensor will have analog output, rest will have digital interface. Not yet deterimned what MCU to use, probably small ARM or lightweight DSP. Small graphical display, few buttons and few "blinkenlights" are planned as user IO. SD card for logging and USB interface would be fine.

Now we need to obtain some sensors and start playing.

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