Sensorbox - Type Planet

Building a Planet

Building a Planet sensorbox will be described in individual steps in this document.

1. Box and Hinges

The Spelsberg TK PC Box has the ingress protection IP66 - acc. EN 60529 / DIN VDE 0470-1 and an ambient temperature from -35 °C min. to 80 °C max. Due to it’s UV resistancy, weatherproof and a rated insulation voltage 690V AC the box is fitting for outdoor application.

Hingeset
The hingeset is added by using the supplied template

The hingeset is added by using the supplied template.

2. Inlet Socket

The Powercon build-in-socket is embedded by drilling a counterbore (25mm) and 2x M3 Screws placed at the sockets corners. The attached Protective Cap seals the drilling against outside influences like water and dirt.

Build in socket 1 Build in socket 1
Inlet sockets inside (left) outside(right)

3. Mounting Socket

To ensure the box to be waterproof the drilled holes should be agglutinated with silicone between the washer and the screws.

mounting socket
The mounting socket

4. IR-Camera

The IR-Camera can be used to support ecological studies, monitor vegetation growth and detect animal wildlife.

  • Joy-it IR-Pro 5MP IR CUT CMOS
  • Photecs Mini tripod head
  • RB-camera-0.30 30cm camera / display cable for Pi
  • IR-camera case

The Joy-it IR-Pro 5MP IR CUT CMOS is delivered with two infrared-radiators. Product information can be found here. The camera and the radiators can be screwed together easily. The radiators socket and upper part are plugged together by default. Bonding the two parts with hot glew making them more resistant for further outdoor application.

camera kit mounted kit
*The Joy-it IR-Pro 5MP IR CUT CMOS Camera, camera kit (left) , mounted kit (right) *

The IR-camera case is an individual 3D printed design, containing an insertion for the camera, a detachable lid and a screw threads for the Mini tripod head. Depending on the applied filament, an impregnation should be added additionally.

camera housing 1 camera housing 2 camera housing 2
*The IR-Pro camera housing, front side (left) ,inside (middle,) backside (right) *

A special extension for the IR-Camera with switchable IR Filter is to manually set the led pin using sysfs.

5. Microphone

The microphone is used to record the singing of birds. This data can be used by a machine learning algorithm to identify bird species. Bird species are an important indicator for biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Due to the ranges of quality and price on the microphone market, two alternating microphones have been chosen to attach to the Planet, both models are tested alternately.

The RØDE – Smartlav Microphone is composed of following components.

  • RØDE – Smartlav
  • external soundcard UGREEN USB
  • Design - Audio y adapter cinch cable 3.5mm socket to cinch cable
  • acoustic cloth 2.0 - 4102/B2 hydrophobic
  • metal wire 0.9 mm
The Rode microphone
The Rode microphone

The second preference is a lower price Microphone.

  • Foxnovo SF-555
  • acoustic cloth 2.0 - 4102/B2 hydrophobic
  • metal wire 0.9 mm
The foxnovo microphone
The foxnovo microphone

Both microphone types have there individual 3D printed microphone tower, published Foxnovo mount, Rode mount.

To address the problem of incoming water, the microphone will be sourounded by an hydrophobic acoustic cloth. First an acoustic cloths carrier is constructed on top of the microphone tower using the metal wire.

Construction Step 1a Construction Step 1b Construction Step 1c
Construction steps 1-3
Construction Step 1d Construction Step 1e
Construction steps 4-5
Attaching the microphone cloth Step 1a Attaching the microphone cloth Step 1b Attaching the microphone cloth Step 1c
Attaching the Microphone Protection steps 1-3

Finally the microphone incl. the tower can be glued on the box.

Placing the microphone incl. tower on the box
Placing the microphone incl. tower on the box

6. Base Plate

The Raspberry Pi, the Real-time clock as well as DC/DC Converter are directly attached to the 3D printed base plate

The baseplate is using 4x C 2,9 X 13 H countersunk-head tapping screw for the Raspberry Pi, hot glue for the real-time clock and a M 4,0 x 12,0 countersunk-head screws for the DC/DC Converter. Using Jumper Cables the Real-time clock is connected to the Raspberry Pi’s General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) interface.

Mounting the base plate
Mounting the RTC and DC/DC converter on the base plate

7. System and Storage

The Samsung MB-MC32GA MicroSD card is directly plugged into the Raspberry Pi, the MicroSD card contains the purpose-build operation system. A freely available repository collects software and hardware descriptions and contains distribution definitions as well as configuration files for sensorboxes.

The integration of the external hard disk allows to store bigger amounts of recorded data as well as a simple data exchange. It’s easily attached to the bottom of the box using a dual lock velcro strap. Furthermore it ensures vibration dampening.

Attaching HD Step 1 Attaching HD Step 2
*Mounting of the external hard disk (left) mounted hard disk (right) *

Parts List

These parts are required to build a sensorbox type planet.

Basis

Power Supply

Sensors

IR Camera

Microphone

Option 1: RØDE – Smartlav Microphone
  • RØDE – Smartlav
  • external soundcard UGREEN USB
  • Audio y-adapter cinch cable 3.5mm socket to cinch cable
Option 2: low-price microphone
  • Foxnovo SF-555

Storage

The planet contains a microSD card inserted to the Raspberry Pi and a hard disk, which needs to be connected to USB power and the Pi to cope with high power demands on speedup. The disk is attached to the box using 3M DualLock.

Mounting

  • Custom 3D-printed base plate
    • Pi: 4x C 2,9 X 13 H countersunk-head tapping screw (DIN 7982)
    • Box: 5x M 4,0 x 12,0 countersunk-head screws DIN 965
  • Hard Disk, USB Sound Card: 3M Dual Lock Thin SJ 457 D
  • 12V -> 5V Step Down: Hot Glue
  • Camera Tripod Head: Screw Din 933, 3/8’’ x 16mm
  • Silicone (for sealing cable holes)
  • Mounting Socket:
    • 4x wing nut M5
    • 4x screw M5x40
    • 4x nut M5
    • 8x washer 5,3
    • 2x round pipe bracket d=20mm

Wiring

Updated: