SwitchDoc Labs Launches Solar-Powered, Wireless Raspberry Pi EMI Lightning and Air Quality Sensors
Designed around a 3D-printed case, solar panel, and 433MHz transmitter, these wireless sensors connect to a low-cost SDR on a Raspberry Pi.
SwitchDoc Labs is back with another pair of Raspberry Pi-powered environmental sensors, this time designed to offer measurement of local air quality and detection of lightning strikes — and they're both fully-wireless and solar-powered.
SwitchDoc Labs is no stranger to low-cost environmental sensing: Last year the company launched a redesigned version of its OurWeather weather station kits, while its WeatherSense platform added 433MHz licence-free wireless connectivity and its SolarMAX the ability to operate from solar power. Now, it's combining everything together into two new devices, one designed to measure air quality and the other to detect lightning strikes.
"The Raspberry Pi is a great little computer. It even gets better when you start adding more sensors to look at your local environment," SwitchDoc Labs founder John Shovic writes of the launch. "Today we are adding two more great sensors to the Pi. Welcome to the next generation of WeatherSense wireless sensors, WeatherSense Lightning and WeatherSense AQI."
"The solar-powered lightning detector sniffs out the lightning up to 30km (18.75 miles) away and reports it back to your Raspberry Pi safe inside the house using 433MHz radio technology," Shovic explains of the WeatherSense Lightning. "This sophisticated sensor can detect the difference between local sources of EMF (Electro Magnetic Frequency) noise and the real bolts of lightning."
"This sensor puts out an accurate measurement of the AQI at your house or school, so you can make the right decision of what to do on a given day," Shovic adds of the WeatherSense AQI. "What is AQI? AQI stands for Air Quality Index and it is a general measurement of the density and size of particulates in the air you are breathing. We saw values of 450 last summer using these laser sensors during the fires in California."
In both cases, the kits are solar-powered and designed for use outside. They can be used on their own, together, or combined with the company's SkyWeather2 platform, but in both cases require a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and a 433MHz-capable radio receiver to operate.
Shovic is now crowdfunding for production on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at $95 for a single sensor — though the casing is provided as a print-it-yourself STL file, with the price rising to $150 early-bird or $175 for a version with a 3D-printed housing included.