Present: Alexander, Simone and Nancy.

Description: Today we got the wireless connection between the computer and the Power Plant working and were able to make it shine at different strengths trough MatLab.

We decided to simulate 4 appliances in the program for the simulated power central since we will only have 5 appliances (our real lamp added) in our exhibition monter. The effect of these appliances were based on how much electricity they generally use in real life. The real lamp will however have a larger effect on the Power Plant since it is the only physical electric appliance, which the user can turn on and off in our monter.

On Wednesday we will most likely finish the entire system.

Present: Everyone but Mohammad.

Description: Today we finished modifying our lamp from IKEA. Now it has two wires which will be connected to an Arduino board to the computer running the simulated power central.

A more advanced prototype of the final system was then built. We connected the lamp to an Arduino board in the vase of the Power Plant. As a result we were able to see the glow of the Power Plant increase and decrease depening on how bright the lamp shone. Just like our planned final result but without the input from the simulated power central. Pictures and a video were recorded and will be posted here.

Later the same day Simone got the XBee/USB-converter and will until monday finish setting up the connection between the program, the converter and the XBee-reciever placed on the other Arduino board in the vase of the Power Plant.

Some new sections for the report were started as well. Topics like goals, technology were started. Topics relevant to the simulated power central, the design of the system were planned.

Our next meeting will be at monday at 10.00.

Present: Everyone.

Description: Today a trip to IKEA and Blomsterlandet was made. A vase and a lamp for our exhibition monter were purchased. Some initial sketches of the schematic for the modification of the lamp and its connection to the simulated power central using an Arduino board.

The LEDs were embedded in the plant and tested. Pictures were taken and will be posted here.

We also continued writing on the final report. During the tutoring session we were adviced to add some new text and edit some of the previously written.

Some configuration of the simulated power central has been made but we are in need of a the XBee/USB-connector which hopefully will arrive tomorrow or on wednesday.

It should consist of two parts. One being the simulated part of a household. This part should look just like an ordinary enviroment in a household and all interaction between the user and the system should be completely ubiquitous.

In the second part the simulated power central should be placed. The visitors should of course see the first part but it shall not interfere with the first one. 

A sketch of the exhibition monter can be seen below.

The staff in the room BESK has agreed to lend us some of their furniture and other stuff suitable for the ubiquitous environment.

6 switches should be enough. 5 of them would be connected to the simulated appliances in our MatLab program and the final one to the actual physical lamp which we are building. The switches culd be marked with small pictures of the appliances they are controlling.

Present: Everyone.

Description: All of the XBee components arrived apart from the USB-connector which was ordered this monday (due to insufficiant funds). The connection between MatLab and the Arduino microcontroller was then set up, the Xbee shield for the Arduino was tested and the XBee components were properly configured.

All components for the lighting apparatus also arrived (apart from one of the green LEDs since Elfa only had 2 in stock). We tested the components using a breadboard and soldered one of the 3 on a veroboard and programmed the Arduino to make it fade. The soldering of the rest of the components will be made on friday.

Our components arrived late in the afternoon so we spent the morning wriring on the report. The section for methods for measuring electricity consumption from an electricity meter was written.

The web site is up and running but not yet finished. A link will be posted here soon.

It should look like a part of a room in a household and apart from the Power Plant and the simulated power central program running one one of the group’s laptops it should also contain atleast one real electric artifact found in a household.

The reason for this is that the visitors should be able the activate and deactivate the artifact and see the effect of their action on the Power Plant, just like it was meant to be if we did not have to simulate the power central and the appliances.

In order to do this the artifact needs to have its on/off switch modified and connected to an Arduino board connected to the laptop. Communication must also be set up between the program running on the Arduino and the program running on MATLAB.

A request was also made to have an interactive picture of a room in a household showing other electric appliances. By pressing embedded switches in this pictures these appliances would be activated and deactivated . A similar setup to the MATLAB program like in the case of the artifact will have to made if we choose to build this. We might also settle for switches to the appliances in the GUI of the program.

Many more posts about this will be made when we start to discuss it more.

Present: Alexander, Nancy, Carla and Erick. Simone left early. Mohammad could not come.

Description: During today’s session we ordered the components for building the lighting apparatus. They should arrive on wednesday. Another design choice was made about it and can be found here.

The order for the XBee/USB board was also made. Due to money transfer problems we could not order it earlier since we had to do it on our own and not via our lab manager. The other XBee components will according to our lab manager hopefully arrive tomorrow.

We also evolved the early look and feel prototype by embedding it with small green LEDs available in the lab. Some pictures were taken and will be posted here.

During the tutoring session some advices/demands were made about our exhibition monter. Information about that can be found here.

Carla has made a good looking web site for our project which is not available yet due to administrative issues.

Our next meeting is at wednesday at 10. Until then Simone will work more on the MATLAB program for the simulated power central. Nancy will write about the technology for measuring electricity consumption from a power central. Erick and Mohammad will modify their text about related work.

The reasons for this decisions are the following.

1. Households are different. Some households are apartments. They can have one or more rooms. Other households are houses. They can have multiple floors or just one. Mapping the electricity consumption in different floors and rooms to the Power Plant will demand a lot of different and “tailor made” models of the Power Plant.
2. Some equipment will always draw electricity. A kitchen will always draw electricity due to the freezer and the fridge. This would result in a specific lighting pattern always being shown on the Power Plant.
3. Lack of dimensions. The round shape and the choice of just one color leaves us with only the height for displaying different lighting patterns (for example multiple rows of LEDs from top to bottom on the Power Plant). Mapping lighting patterns to specific appliances in the households means equipping everyone of them with a sensor. It might be possible achieve this by using the Sparzähler Online from Yello Strom, but it is not possible to use it i Sweden yet.
4. The goal is still easily reached. The lighting apparatus is still very good for displaying the total electricity consumption in a household.

•  Only green LEDs will be used since we noticed that using other colors will be too distractive for. Using green LEDs will be more of an extension of the plant’s already green color.
• The plant should not blink or shine too bright. It will distract the user.
• The plant should be lit up when the electricity consumption is low. If otherwise the user might activate a lot of electronic equipment in order to activate its nice looking lighting system. This would work against the goals of the project.
• The lighting will be a combination of the ordinary LEDs available in the lab and the brighter ones used in the Mood Lamp. The latter ones will be placed inside of the sphere shaped plastic plant with a diffuser for a nicer looking lighting effect. The others will be placed among the small leaves like lights on a christmas tree.

One idea from the tutoring session which we have not decided about yet is the possibility to have the Power Plant not only to display the total electricity consumption in a household but also the consumption of certain pieces of equipment, rooms or floors in a household by displaying different lighting patterns.

For example, if most of the activated pieces of equipment in the household were running in the basement only LEDs on the lower half of the plant would shine.