Goal: Standalone IoT device to monitor real trail conditions
Most mountain bike trails today have some sort of "trail status" webpage--most of them are updated by trail stewards who regularly ride the trails and update them depending on the conditions. Generally there are four potential statuses
Red: Wet/muddy, riding will damage the trail surface Yellow: Mostly dry except a few isolated spots, ride with caution Green: Good to go! Blue: Trail is frozen (good)
This system works okay when the trail is frequently ridden, but on more remote/less used trails it becomes problematic because the trail sometimes may not get an update for weeks. This project is to develop a sensor that will take regular measurements of the environment and automatically update trail conditions via the internet.
Bill of Materials:
$69 - Particle Electron (cellular IoT device)
$0 - Lipo Battery (2000mAh) - included with Electron
$10 - FreedomPop SIM Card (200MB/month free data)
$3 - BME280 Sensor (Air Temp/Humidity/Pressure)
$2 - DS18B20 Sensor (Waterproof Temperature Sensor -- Ground Temperature)
$2 - TMP36 Sensor (Air Temp inside Enclosure for development--if it gets too hot)
$1 - Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor V1.2 (Soil Moisture)
$1 - NPN Transistor (Switch power to sensors off during sleep)
$5 - 2.5W 5V/500mA Solar Panel
Total: $93
Current readings (still tweaking code): https://thingspeak.com/channels/852007
