At the BETT 2024 exhibition, DFRobot showcased the "Lark Weather Station" project, demonstrating the exploration and application of Internet of Things scenarios in meteorology. This interactive display featured the visualization of the five essential meteorological elements commonly used in weather studies: wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. All these data are processed locally, without the need for internet connectivity.
The project simulated dynamic wind fields and natural conditions, marrying programming, hardware control, and the Internet of Things to facilitate real-time visual monitoring of data. The Lark Weather Station was linked to a main control board, which then transmitted data to a computer over MQTT, establishing Internet of Things communication. On the computer, the Mind+ visual dashboard provided a real-time, visual representation of the weather data, enhancing the user's ability to track and analyze meteorological conditions.
I.Lark Introduction
1. The distinct advantage of the Lark Weather Station lies in its capability to output data as standardized physical quantities. Users can obtain real-time readings of the five critical meteorological elements through I2C/UART communication interfaces. The weather station is designed to be compatible with commonly used open-source hardware controllers, including Arduino, Microbit, and the Unihiker. This compatibility ensures that a wide range of users, from hobbyists to professionals, can easily incorporate the Lark Weather Station into their projects, leveraging its robust functionality for comprehensive environmental monitoring.
2.Collecting Data with LARK
Preparation
· 5V Mobile Power Supply/5V Adapter *1
· Computer *1
· Data Collection
Align the wind vane with the slot on the wind direction shaft and gently press to complete the installation.
Power the weather station by connecting a 5V portable battery or 5V adapter to its Type-C port.
Calibrate the weather station's orientation each time it powers on for accurate readings.
· Data Export
After data collection is complete, first disconnect the weather station from the 5V power source. Connect the computer to the Type-C interface of the weather station, and a USB drive will pop up on the computer.
Open the USB drive, locate the latest CSV file, and open it to view the recorded data.
In the USB drive, you should locate a newly created CSV file. The file is named following the convention of the data collection timestamp: year_month_day_hour_minute_second.
Double-click to open the CSV file, and you will see the data collected by the Lark as follows:
For more tutorials: https://wiki.dfrobot.com/SKU_EDU0157_EN_Lark_Weather_Station
Now that we've set up the LARK, let's explore how to visualize real-time data with it.
II. Principles of the Internet of Things
STEP 1: Start the Internet of Things server (SIoT) and create the related ‘topics’.
STEP 2: Collect LARK data with Unihiker and send it to SIoT ‘topic’.
STEP 3: Build a visualization panel to view the visual effects of data.
III. Start the Internet of Things server (SIoT) and create a topic.
1. Configure local SIoT:
Download ‘lark program’ and double-click to run SIoT: https://github.com/zzzqww/DFRobot/tree/main/lark-program
2. Connect Unihiker to SIoT.
· Connect LARK’s I2C interface to Unihiker,
· Open a web browser to prepare for SIoT and enter 127.0.0.1:8080.
· Open SIoT page
· The default user name is ‘siot’, and the password is ‘dfrobot’.
3.Configure the topic corresponding to LARK in SIoT.
IV. Collect LARK data with Unihiker and send it to SIoT ‘topic’.
1. Connect LARK and Unihiker.
Note: use the ph3.0 white silicone wire in the Unihiker case.
2.Open the LARK program (MindPlus code:https://github.com/zzzqww/DFRobot/tree/main/lark-program ), click Extension in the lower left corner to make sure load the LARK, MQTT and Unihiker user libraries.
3. Send the data corresponding to LARK to the corresponding topic in SIoT through MQTT, and open the visualization panel shown in the upper right corner. (The topics of SIoT and MindPlus need to correspond one-to-one)
4. Run mind+ MQTT program to Unihiker
If you are successful in connecting the SIoT, you will see the data update on the SIoT page.
V. Build a visualization panel to view the visual effects of data.
1. Click the button in the upper right corner to open the MindPlus visualization panel
2. Open the ‘mpdb’ file download from github before in Mind+ Dashboard.
Edit the required data and select the topic set in SIoT in the 'topic' on the right. The data is automatically transferred to the visualization panel.
· Click full screen to run directly and you can see the real-time visualized data.
