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Altimeter Module MS5607 with a Basic Stamp. — Parallax Forums

Altimeter Module MS5607 with a Basic Stamp.

markustermarkuster Posts: 184
edited 2013-01-09 15:00 in Accessories
Hi,

Just to know if I can use the Altimeter Module MS5607 with a Basic Stamp.

Do you have a B.Stamp code ?

Thanks,

Comments

  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2012-01-14 10:29
    You can find BASIC Stamp code at this url. That reads out temperature-compensated pressure in mb from the 29124, MS5607. It does not yet map that to altitude and to sea level pressure, but I'll post more PBASIC along that line soon.
  • markustermarkuster Posts: 184
    edited 2012-01-24 16:37
    Thanks Tracy:

    Do you know why Parallax does not include the code to work with B.Stamps ?
    Do you know if it is necesary more hardware or problems with this sensor , because I don't understand why Parallax do not
    want to sell this sensor for people does like B.Stamps instead of the Propeller.

    It is important to build a weather station for childs and B.Stamps are easier than the Propeller.

    Any idea ?
    Thanks, Mark
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2012-01-25 14:10
    Don't blame Parallax. They asked me to write code to support the sensor on the BASIC Stamp, and I haven't yet worked up the concentration to finish it. I did the first part, to read out the pressure and temperature, but not the altimeter function, which is what Parallax wants for distribution. The sensor hardware is fine, but the math is tricky.

    So you want to make a barometer to go with a weather station for children? That sounds interesting. Is it for a school, and what other weather instruments will you have? If you want to do more than a barometer on a Stamp, you will need one of the multi-slot stamps, like the BS2pe.
  • ksiroisksirois Posts: 1
    edited 2013-01-08 18:30
    Hi Tracy! It's great you''re working on an altimeter code for the Basic Stamp! I just can't wait. I am an early teen, and yes Mark, working with the BS is indeed challenging enough for me! I'm working on a Science Fair project, creating a fall detection system that will automatically call for help when an elderly person falls and can't get back on its feet. Did you know that, according to serious studies, up to 80% of people older than 80 die of the consequences of falls? This system will have the potential to save lots of lives.

    In my experiments, I'm trying to compare data from the Parallax Tilt Detector, the Memsic 2125 accelerometer and this Altimeter 29124 Module to determine which one, or combination of, should be used for optimal fall detection. Will the Altimeter and your code provide enough sensitivity to detect changes of altitude between 0 and 1.5 meter, so it could inform on a person's fall? And when do you think you'll be able to muster enough concentration to get that great code out? Thank you in advance!

    Katherine
    PS: First post ever
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2013-01-08 19:01
    ksirois wrote: »
    Hi Tracy! It's great you''re working on an altimeter code for the Basic Stamp! I just can't wait. I am an early teen, and yes Mark, working with the BS is indeed challenging enough for me! I'm working on a Science Fair project, creating a fall detection system that will automatically call for help when an elderly person falls and can't get back on its feet. Did you know that, according to serious studies, up to 80% of people older than 80 die of the consequences of falls? This system will have the potential to save lots of lives.

    In my experiments, I'm trying to compare data from the Parallax Tilt Detector, the Memsic 2125 accelerometer and this Altimeter 29124 Module to determine which one, or combination of, should be used for optimal fall detection. Will the Altimeter and your code provide enough sensitivity to detect changes of altitude between 0 and 1.5 meter, so it could inform on a person's fall? And when do you think you'll be able to muster enough concentration to get that great code out? Thank you in advance!

    Katherine
    PS: First post ever

    Welcome to the forums! I would stick with an accelerometer to measure the fall. With that, you can simply watch the acceleration values and, when they suddenly change, assume something bad has happened. Some testing will determine the general characteristics of a fall as recorded by an accelerometer.

    I would not use an altimeter alone for fall detection: it's not long term stable, it's more difficult to determine edge cases (elevator, staircase, etc.), and it's more difficult to interface to.
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2013-01-09 15:00
    ksirois, also welcome.

    I agree with SRLM that you should concentrate on the acceleration for this and not pressure. The pressure sensor certainly can detect a quick change in pressure that would come about due to a 1 meter change in elevation. One meter amounts to about 0.1 millibar, and the sensor reports data (with averaging) out to 0.01mb. Long term trends are harder to detect due to drift in the sensor itself and also due to changes in barometric pressure. At sea level, the conversion from pressure in millibars to altitude in meters needs simply a multiply times 8.3 meters per millibar. (standard atmosphere, and pressure in mb as returned by the program posted above in this thread).

    Reading out the data from the 29124 and doing the necessary calculations uses up all of the variables in the BASIC Stamp RAM, and also quite a bit of program memory. If you want to use it for your project, I suggest that you change to one of the multislot Stamps that have more memory available, such as the BS2pe.

    Interesting project, by the way.
  • Hi Tracy,

    Did the code for converting pressure to altitude ever get finished?

    Cheers

    Nigel, Killarney, Qld, Australia
  • Hi Nigel,

    I did finish up a quick altitude calculation to go with that code, only for the BS2pe. I recall hazily that it was not going to be easy to loop it for the BS2 for some reason. I'm not finding the '2pe code at the moment but will keep an eye out for it. If I recall correctly, the code was for relatively short trips. You enter your starting altitude, then the algorithm looks up the standard slope of the altitude pressure at that point and uses that value subsequently for a linear pressure-altitude calculation.
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