Level 3Project 2 · Session 29
29

Project 2 · Build 1 of 2

The sensing half

What we are making: the sensor working, on the network, printing real numbers from the real place. No page design today.

  1. Wire your sensor and get it on the WiFi. Nothing else.
  2. Serve the plainest possible page — one number, no styling.
  3. Take it to the actual place and check two things: that the WiFi reaches, and that there is power.
  4. Leave it running for as much of the session as you can, and write down the highest and lowest readings you see.
  5. Choose your threshold from those two numbers. Write the sentence.
💡 Tip
If the WiFi does not reach, find out today. The fix is usually moving a metre or switching to the board's own hotspot, and both are ten-minute problems now and session-ending problems in week four.
What you seeWhyWhat to do
Works in the lab, not in the placeWeak signal.Move it, or switch to the board's own access point.
Readings are wild in the real placeSomething you did not have on the bench.Sunlight, a draught, a vibration. Note it — it is a real finding.
No socket where I need onePlan problem, not a technical one.Change the place. Do not plan around a extension lead across a corridor.
It dropped off the network after an hourNormal for a cheap board.Note how long it lasted. You will mention it at the exhibition.

Before you leave

  • Your sensor on the network, serving a number.
  • Highest and lowest readings from the real place.
  • Your threshold, chosen from those readings.
Challenge optional — only if you finish early
  • Make your page tell the truth when the sensor is unplugged, instead of showing a stale number.
28. Choose it, and plan it