Woo Winnie, Richards William, Selker John, Udell Chet
OPEnS Lab, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.
HardwareX. 2023 Feb 16;13:e00402. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00402. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Many people in the United States are disconnected from their environment: urban residents spend 90% of their time indoors inside confined climate-controlled spaces. In addition to being physically separated from the natural environment, much of human understanding of the world's environment is inferred from data collected by satellites orbiting 22,000 miles away. In contrast, in-situ environmental sensor systems are physically accessible, location specific, and essential for correcting and validating weather measurements. However, present options for in-situ systems are mostly limited to expensive, proprietary commercial data loggers with inflexible data access protocols. WeatherChimes is an open-source Arduino-programmable, low-cost hardware and software suite that enables near real-time access to in-situ environmental sensor data (including light, temperature, relative humidity, and soil moisture) anywhere with a WiFi internet connection. Scientists, educators, and artists alike can use this tool to obtain and interact with environmental data in new and innovative ways, as well as collaborate remotely. Transforming data collection processes of environmental sensors into Internet of Things (IoT) compatible formats opens new doors into accessing, understanding, and interacting with natural phenomena. WeatherChimes not only enables users to observe data online, but can also transform data into auditory signals and soundscapes through sonification processes or creative animations using newly-created computer applications. Lab and field tests have confirmed the sensor and online data logging performance of the system. We describe the application of WeatherChimes in an undergraduate Honors College classroom and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education workshop series in Sitka Alaska, which was used to not only teach about environmental sensors, but to explore how different aspects of our environment are interrelated (e.g. temperature and humidity) through sonification.
在美国，许多人与他们的环境脱节：城市居民90%的时间都待在室内封闭的气候控制空间里。除了与自然环境在物理上相分离外，人类对世界环境的许多理解是从距离地球22000英里轨道上运行的卫星收集的数据推断而来的。相比之下，现场环境传感器系统可以实地访问、具有特定位置信息，并且对于校正和验证气象测量至关重要。然而，目前现场系统的选择大多局限于昂贵的、专有的商业数据记录器，其数据访问协议缺乏灵活性。WeatherChimes是一个开源的、可通过Arduino编程的低成本硬件和软件套件，它能让用户在任何有WiFi网络连接的地方近乎实时地访问现场环境传感器数据（包括光照、温度、相对湿度和土壤湿度）。科学家、教育工作者和艺术家等都可以使用这个工具，以全新的创新方式获取环境数据并与之互动，还能进行远程协作。将环境传感器的数据收集过程转变为与物联网（IoT）兼容的格式，为访问、理解自然现象以及与之互动打开了新的大门。WeatherChimes不仅能让用户在线观测数据，还能通过声音化处理过程或使用新创建的计算机应用程序制作创意动画，将数据转化为听觉信号和音景。实验室和实地测试已经证实了该系统的传感器和在线数据记录性能。我们描述了WeatherChimes在阿拉斯加锡特卡的一所本科荣誉学院课堂以及STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）教育工作坊系列中的应用，该应用不仅用于教授环境传感器知识，还用于通过声音化处理探索我们环境的不同方面是如何相互关联的（例如温度和湿度）。
