For the past week or so in Scientific Visualization, in keeping with our data unit, we have been preparing to experiment, and we have gotten to test out the TI Sensor Tag. The tag seemed really cool, and I was excited to try it out. My group and I went around the classroom, mainly testing out the light sensor using the heat lamps from the pet lizard’s cage, and looking at different temperatures of people’s faces and the lights. However, I was sort of underwhelmed with the sensor. I didn't feel like it was as capable as it had been described.The graphs were inconsistent since the changes were so large, and it was difficult to compare data based off of just the graph. Looking at the numbers was pretty interesting, but I am glad that we only had a short time for initial testing or else I would have gotten bored very quickly.
We’re going to have to conduct an experiment around campus using the tags, but we get to choose what we would like to collect data on. Some basic experiments involve collecting temperature, humidity, and light readings from different rooms and comparing them. Based on the standards the school wants, this could help them to determine which classrooms most direly needed their thermostat adjusted or fixed, or which light bulbs should be replaced. Combining a few factors in an experiment could serve as fuel for a more complex experiment. Comparing how the light and humidity levels in different classrooms affect heat for instance could also help the school determine what improvements could be made to upkeep and ideal temperature. Though impractical because of location, if we were to put a sensor on the roof, we could even see if solar panels would be a good investment for the school. The motion sensor could be used in experiments, but will likely be less useful for helping the school, and would more likely be frivolous. However, things as easy as comparing the temperature of benches around the school to the amount of shade in the area (or the light level) could aid the school by helping them decide where to place benches so that they aren’t too hot or cold to sit on. (This is sidetracking just a bit.) One experiment that is impractical, but would be fun is to see how many times other group members would press the button on the sensor. Since the data is tracked, if you were to also keep track of what location you were in, you could see how they correlated. It would be more of a just for fun experiment, possibly a psychology experiment, but would not help the school. The only way I could think that it might is if the button pressing was restlessness, then you could see in which places students were less focused. Otherwise, the experiment is pretty much useless. It would have to be done under false pretenses so that the group members holding the sensor would not know that the number of times that they pressed the button were being recorded. You would also have to make sure that the entire group knew that there was a button that they could push that wouldn’t turn the sensor off. However, this also could go wrong if someone hit the power button by accident during the experiment if they got into the habit of pressing the button when they were bored, just because it was there. Also, if the group avoided pressing the button, you wouldn’t have any concrete data to work with. (Slight sidetrack over.) There are other experiments that could be conducted, but would require extra data collection besides just what the Sensor Tag would gather. For instance, to see whether or not humidity increases with more people in a classroom would require measuring humidity with the sensor, as well as taking a head count. While this wouldn’t be too incredibly difficult, if we were to compare humidity to the size of a classroom, doing the manual calculations for floor space may be more time consuming. This is one example of how the tag’s capabilities could limit what experiments we could conduct. Another limitation is the software forcing to cooperate. When using the sensors for the first time, we had at least five in use at once trying to connect. It was difficult to determine which tag was which when connecting, as they are named in numbers and their name is not indicated on the tag (as far as I could tell). Some people’s phones wouldn’t connect, or the app wouldn’t open at all. Once I got the tag connected, the motion sensor still didn’t want to work, and we are unable to use the microphone. It felt as if all I could monitor was light, temperature of either the room or objects, humidity, pressure, and whether or not someone was pressing a button. While this is a wide variety of sensors, it is only about half of the ones that were mentioned. I did not notice whether or not the magnetic sensors were working, so my options may be a bit broader than I originally expected. The biggest limitation currently is that the app does not store the data anywhere. While it is cool to watch the line graph go up and down, without a way to record data, it is not very useful. I am not sure how we are going to overcome this obstacle. For some experiments, simply writing down a number with pen and paper might be fine, but in others the data will change too rapidly and the trend will be too important for this to be practical. Also, trying to record multiple variables at once could serve as another problem with written data. I have a feeling there is a way to export the data as you collect it, or to connect the device to a different machine that can record it, but if there is we have not been told about it. If there isn’t, this will further limit the possibilities for experiments, since the best option would be to write things down. Hopefully there will be an easy way to record data so that we are able to do interesting experiments, and come to some sort of conclusion from them.
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AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
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