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A Low-Power Anemometer for Lightweight NASA Missions
A Low-Power Anemometer for Lightweight NASA Missions
When: April 2021 Where: VN Instruments
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As one of my first projects at VN, the UTMini Anemometer felt like my brainchild. But it was a brainchild with a LOT of bugs and errors. This project taught me a valuable lesson in electrical debugging and coding with redundancies and checks.
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The Project
The Project
Develop a smaller, low-power anemometer module that can operate transducers on three axes using multiplexors to switch analog signals.
Smaller microprocessor: make code base more efficient and reduce memory usage or signals and RTOS tasks
Lower power: reduce peak-to-peak signal voltage to minimize power draw from regulators
Lightweight, portable communication protocol: developing Python-based serial interface to interact with the device, send and receive commands
Hardware
Hardware
Designed “UTMini” circuit boards (in green) with analog and digital circuitry to generate and interpret ultrasonic signals. Studied effects of multiplexors (analog switches) on noise floor and signal quality.
Software and Data Analysis
Software and Data Analysis
Coded RTOS on TI microprocessor to interface with ICs and generate/read analog signals. Programmed a variety of signal processing algorithms to clean and analyze the small ‘echo’ signals. Used Pandas to interpret and sort through signal data and data sources.
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