Using Raspberry PI’s to measure native plant growth

Background and Problem

We are going to use Raspberry PI’s to help the Biology Department research the effects and importance of native growth plants on Calvin’s Campus, such as keeping areas of campus naturally cooler and or warmer and reducing the overall carbon footprint on campus.

We are going to create a cost effective way to do Biological research, using Raspberry PI’s and various sensors to accompany them to monitor plant environments. While the first part of this project will be done on a test bench we hope to eventually provide a solar power solution so that the system can be powered at remote research sites.
To facilitate this for more convenient data-recovery, we will also develop a user-friendly website to display collected data, and output it in a useful format. In the event that a unit is deployed away from a stable wifi signal, we are designing these as stand-alone units that are able to store data to the Pi’s SD card, for either manual recovery, or bulk uploads to the website should wifi be restored to the area the Pi is deployed in. As multiple units have been requested, diagnostic information such as power level, solar panel output, and sensor health will also be uploaded to the website, in order to inform users of issues with a unit.