Wind Speed and Direction Sensor

Technical description:
Whether you’re an agriculturalist, a professional meteorologist or a weather hobbyist, building your own weather station can be a really rewarding project. When you’re measuring weather, however, you need some pretty specialized sensors. This kit represents the three core components of weather measurement: wind speed, wind direction, and rainfall. The wind speed meter encodes the wind speed by simply closing a switch which each rotation. The wind vane reports wind direction as a voltage which is produced by the combination of resistors inside the sensor. The vane’s magnet may close two switches at once, allowing up to 16 different positions to be indicated.

Limitations:
None of the sensors in this kit contain active electronics, instead, they use sealed magnetic reed switches and magnets so sourcing a voltage to take any measurements is needed.
High cost — there is a cheaper alternative on Adafruit.

Alternative

Skill:
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
Skill Level: Noob

Sample Sensor:
weather meters
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8942

Sample Exercise and basic codes:
Assembly guide:
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/weather-meter-hookup-guide?_ga=2.188083949.434451597.1551129096-109088928.1551129095&_gac=1.242428342.1551146477.EAIaIQobChMIuJ2b26bY4AIVwVmGCh3qzgD4EAAYASAAEgI5ZfD_BwE#hardware-assembly

Proximity Sensor

Proximity Sensor

Technical description:
The sensor is a nice way to add a small-distance proximity sensor to your microcontroller project. It is designed for much shorter distances, no more than 200mm (about 7.5″) and experimentation shows that it worked best at distances of about 10-150mm. It would be good for say detecting when a hand moved nearby, or before a robot smacks into a wall. The sensor also has an ambient light sensor built in.
The sensor uses an infrared LED to bounce light off objects in front of it and time how fast it takes for the light to return. With the sensor, it is easy to read the proximity (i.e. if an object is near or far) and even ambient light level over a simple I2C connection.

Limitations:
It can only use for short distances, no more than 200mm (about 7.5″).

Skill:
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
Skill Level: Noob

Sample Sensor:
VCNL4010 Proximity/Light sensor
https://www.adafruit.com/product/466

Sample Exercise and basic codes:
Use in Arduino
https://learn.adafruit.com/using-vcnl4010-proximity-sensor/arduino

Small Light sensor

Technical description:
This is a very small light sensor. A photocell changes (also called a photodetector, photoresistor, CdS or photoconductive cell) resistance depending on the amount of light it is exposed to.  As more light shines of the sensor’s head, the resistance between its two terminals decreases. These little sensors make great ambient light triggers (when a light in the room turns on, do something). They’re easy-to-use, and an essential component in projects that require ambient-light sensing.

Limitations:
Photocells only use resistance as a way to illustrate the luminosity which is not straightforward. If it gets darker, the resistance should go up. If it gets lighter, the resistance should go down. (see below)

Result Displayed

To get a more accurate result, go to the digital light sensor. 

Photocells are light-sensitive, variable resistors. To turn the photocell’s variable resistance into a readable voltage, we’ll combine it with a static resistor to create a voltage divider.
Resistor kit

Skill:
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
Skill Level: Noob

Sample Sensor:
Mini Photocell
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9088?_ga=2.172429030.434451597.1551129096-109088928.1551129095&_gac=1.3998340.1551129096.EAIaIQobChMInZT4kubX4AIVmI3ICh3h3AdNEAAYASAAEgJgtvD_BwE

Sample Exercise and basic codes:
Example codes
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/photocell-hookup-guide?_ga=2.184362339.434451597.1551129096-109088928.1551129095&_gac=1.49623058.1551129096.EAIaIQobChMInZT4kubX4AIVmI3ICh3h3AdNEAAYASAAEgJgtvD_BwE#example-program

Water Acidity Sensor

Technical description:
It is a simple device that can be used to measure the acidity and basicity of liquids. This sensor can be used in a multitude of applications including acid-base titrations, pH monitoring in home aquariums, analysis of water quality in lakes and streams, and more.

Limitations:
This sensor can only function in a temperature range of 5 to 80°C.
Specific interface and software should be bought to visualize and read the result.

Skill:
Core skill: Electrical Prototyping
Skill level: Noob

Sample Sensor:
Vernier Sensor – pH Sensor
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12872

Sample Exercise and basic codes:
Experiments and Lab Ideas
https://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/ph-sensors/ph-bta/#section5

Soil moisture sensor

Technical description:
The SparkFun Soil Moisture Sensor is a simple breakout for measuring the moisture in soil and similar materials. The soil moisture sensor is pretty straightforward to use. The two large, exposed pads function as probes for the sensor, together acting as a variable resistor. The more water that is in the soil means the better the conductivity between the pads will be, resulting in lower resistance and a higher SIG out. This version of the Soil Moisture Sensor includes a 3-pin screw pin terminal pre-soldered to the board for easy wiring and setup.

Limitations:
It has a short lifespan when exposed to a moist environment. To prevent corrosion of the probes, it is recommended not to power the sensor constantly, and to only power it when you take a reading.

Skill:
Core Skill: Programming
Skill Level: Rookie
All you will need is to connect the VCC and GND pins to your Arduino-based device (or compatible development board). You will receive a SIG out, which will depend on the amount of water in the soil.

Sample Sensor:
SparkFun Soil Moisture Sensor (with Screw Terminals)
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13637

Sample Exercise and basic codes:
Soil Moisture Sensing Project
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/soil-moisture-sensor-hookup-guide?_ga=2.171976806.434451597.1551129096-109088928.1551129095&_gac=1.174720406.1551129096.EAIaIQobChMInZT4kubX4AIVmI3ICh3h3AdNEAAYASAAEgJgtvD_BwE#soil-moisture-sensing-project
Eagle file
https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Biometric/SparkFun_Soil_Moisture_Sensor.pdf

Particulate Matter Sensor

Technical Description:
The Sensirion Particulate Matter Sensor SPS30 is a compact, high quality, optical particle sensor that uses laser scattering and Sensirion’s innovative contamination resistance technology to achieve superior binning and particle measurement. This sensor allows users to measure mass concentration and number of particles.

The compact form factor, measuring just under 41mm x 41mm x 12mm, combined with a sensor lifetime over 8 years and a self cleaning procedure, makes the SPS30 the perfect sensor for projects in difficult to access locations. It is designed to include an easy to use 5-pin cable to make using the SPS30 a snap. The 1.5mm connector is broken out to 5 breadboard friendly wires color coded to make hooking up the SPS30 easy.

Limitations:
The SPS30 sensor is effectively limited to the UART interface with Arduino.

Skill:
Beginner Coding Skills 2/5,  Beginner Electrical Prototyping 1/5

Sensor:
SPS30
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15103

Sample Tutorial:
SPS30 Data Sheet
https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/2/d/2/a/6/Sensirion_SPS30_Particulate_Matter_Sensor_v0.9_D1__1_.pdf

UART Driver Sources
https://github.com/Sensirion/embedded-uart-sps

Luminosity Sensor (Diffused Interior Daylight)

Luminosity Sensor (Diffused Interior Daylight)

Technical Description:
The TSL2561 luminosity sensor is an advanced digital light sensor, ideal for use in a wide range of light situations. Compared to low cost CdS cells, this sensor is more precise, allowing for exact lux calculations and can be configured for different gain/timing ranges to detect light ranges from up to 0.1 – 40,000+ Lux on the fly. The best part of this sensor is that it contains both infrared and full spectrum diodes! Meaning, that you can separately measure infrared, full-spectrum or human-visible light. Most sensors can only detect one or the other, which does not accurately represent what human eyes see.

Limitations:
This sensor cannot measure the full dynamic range of luminosity that others are better capable of. Also, it is limited in its ability to measure UV Index directly, that some others sensors can.

Skill:
Beginner Coding Skills 2/5,  Competent Electrical Prototyping 2/5

Sensor:
TSL2561
https://www.adafruit.com/product/439

Sample Tutorial:
TSL2561 Sensor Wiring
https://learn.adafruit.com/tsl2561/wiring-the-tsl2561-sensor

TSL2561 Sensor Arduino Code
https://learn.adafruit.com/tsl2561/arduino-code

Air Quality Sensor

Air Quality Sensor

Technical Description:
The Adafruit SGP30 Multi-Pixel Gas Sensor is a gas sensor that can detect a wide range of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and H2 and is intended for indoor air quality monitoring. When connected to your microcontroller it will return a Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) reading and an equivalent carbon dioxide reading (eCO2) over I2C.

Limitations:
This sensor has variability and is designed as a general environmental sensors. It will give you a good idea of trends and comparison. However, it is not a ‘true’ CO2 sensor for laboratory use. The SGP30 does have built in calibration capabilities, note that eCO2 is calculated based on H2 concentration,

Skill:
Beginner Coding Skills 2/5,  Competent Electrical Prototyping 2/5

Sensor:
BME280
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3709

Sample Tutorial:
Adafruit BME280 Arduino Library
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_SGP30

Adafruit BME280 Arduino Test
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-sgp30-gas-tvoc-eco2-mox-sensor/arduino-code

Accelerometer (via Sparkfun)

Technical description: An accelerometer measures acceleration in 3 axes. Most people have used accelerometers in smartphones and video game consoles (Wii), where they are used for gesture control. They can be used to sense the movement of a device. In the context of environmental sensing, this could be used to measure wind or other kinetic movement of a device.

Limitations: The LSM303C cannot use more than ~4.8V of power.

Skill: Advanced. This requires one to learn the I2C protocol or SPI serial interfaces to read data from the sensor.

Sample Sensor: SparkFun 6 Degrees of Freedom Breakout – LSM303C

Sample Exercise: LSM303C 6DoF Hookup Guide

SparkFun MEMS Microphone Breakout – INMP401 (ADMP401) (Via Sparkfun)

Technical description: MEMS microphones work the same way as most condensor microphones; however, they operate on the micro-scale. Microphones are usually used to monitor sound activity, but can also be used to trigger events based on audio cues.

Limitations: Microphones can pick up sensitive information and generally raise suspicion when used to monitor speech. These microphones have a limited frequency range, up to 15kHz, within the human range of hearing. This may result in aesthetically disappointing audio quality if used for musical purposes.

Skill: Beginner

Sample Sensor: SparkFun MEMS Microphone Breakout – INMP401 (ADMP401)

Sample Exercise: Bark Back Interactive Pet Monitor