Analysis and Experimentation
At this stage, every member of the team put on the critic’s hat. During the ideation stage, we were just dreamers coming up with ideas without any restrictions. However, we stopped dreaming at this stage and leaned more to the realist end. Just like the spoiler in Disney’s Brainstorming method(Disney’s Three Rooms), we criticized every idea, found holes in them and either eliminated them or made them better ideas. We tried to find ways we could make fairly unrealistic ideas a little bit practical and feasible. We eliminated ideas that did not seem feasible. We performed experiments to help us make the right decisions about which ideas to push to the next stage in the design process.
Power Consumption Test
Aim: Test if packages do not consume power (>50mAh)
Procedure: We simulated the different circuitry(the ones with battery source and the ones with solar panel source) in an online software and calculated the power dissipated.
Results: Since the sensors remained the same across the different circuits, the power dissipated was constant. However, we realized that unlike the solar panels, the batteries needed to be replaced periodically.
Convenience Analysis
Aim: Analyze how convenient it is to use systems
Results: Users want to be able to monitor ponds without being physically present. The ways to do that is via a web app or mobile app which they can conveniently view. All the ideas that had elements of web or mobile app view passed this analysis.
CONCEPT EVALUATION
After our analysis and experimentation, we all settled on 4 ideas which have been outlined below:
1. Very Low-cost sensor package with low throughput
2. Sensors with Arduino + LCD
3. Sensors + NodeMCU + web app/mobile app
4. Sensors and pond are connected by a tube of water from the pond
At this stage, we were finally ready to compare the different ideas using a Pugh Chart. Since the Pugh chart depends on the Design requirements table we developed in phase one we decided to go over the requirements to ensure that we have all the necessary criteria. After this process, we observed the need to add safety and maintenance to the design requirements.
New Design Requirements Table
Based on the above design requirements table and the ideas that passed the analysis and experimentation phase, we developed the Pugh Chart.
Pugh Chart for Sensor Package
Final Idea: The final idea from the Pugh chart is the sensors(temperature, pH and level of oxygen) connected to the internet via a NodeMCU with data displayed to users on a web app or mobile app.
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