Learn EnviroDIY Programming

Do-it-yourself (DIY) enthusiasts generally find rapid success at reading data from simple sensors to an Arduino board. However, it is much more challenging to program an Arduino to perform all required functions of a solar-powered station that collects data from several research-grade environmental sensors, saves to an SD card, transmits to a public server with web services, and puts the sensors to sleep to conserve energy between logging intervals. The EnviroDIY community has made all of this much simpler by creating the ModularSensors library, putting the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution into the hands of DIYers.

These lesson episodes will teach you how to program your Arduino for environmental IoT using ModularSensors.

We organize episodes into two parts:

Part 1: Arduino and IoT for EnviroDIY (Episodes 1-6) introduces basic Arduino and IoT skills to prepare you for using ModularSensors.
Part 2: Program with ModularSensors (Episodes 7-13) provides exercises to program, test and deploy a monitoring station based on the example code in the ModularSensors library.

Prerequisites

A computer, an internet connection, and motivation to tinker and hack.

For Episodes 1-2, you’ll need an EnviroDIY Mayfly Data Logger Board, a micro-USB cable rated for data, and a CR1220 Lithium Coin Cell 3V Battery.

Alternately, a EnviroDIY Mayfly Starter Kit can be a good way to get what you need, plus a nice enclosure and small solar panel (but you would still need the coin battery for the clock and a separate Lithium Ion Polymer Battery for solar powering the board)

These tutorials would also work with an Arduino Uno Starter Kit, or an Adafruit Metro 328 Starter Pack, a Sparkfun RedBoard Tinker Kit, or any Arduino-compatible micro-controller board along with other listed accessories. These starter kits provide additional hardware for fully utilizing existing online tutorials, but these are optional if your focus is to learn Arduino for environmental monitoring.

For Episodes 5, 6, 10, & 13, you’ll also need:

a DS18B20 Waterproof Digital Temperature sensor and 4.7kΩ resistor,

two Grove screw terminals and included Grove cables,

a Grove BME280 Temperature, Pressure, and Humidity sensor,

an I2C OLED display with Grove connector (optional), and

a Grove I²C hub (if you use the OLED display).

Schedule

	Setup	Download files required for the lesson
00:00	1. Arduino Basics for EnviroDIY	What are the parts of an Arduino board? How do I create, upload and modify an Arduino code sketch?
02:00	2. Arduino Intermediate Skills for EnviroDIY	What is an Arduino library and how do I use it? What intermediate code structures are critical to data logging?
04:00	3. Connecting to GitHub	How will I keep track of changes in the EnviroDIY code library? How do I share my code with collaborators?
04:30	4. Installing PlatformIO	How will I manage extensive Arduino libraries? What are the benefits of a code text editor? How can I easily compare two codes files? Which buttons do I push in PlatformIO?
05:15	5. Using PlatformIO and Mayfly	How do I tell PlatformIO which Arduino I am using? How do I use PlatformIO to upload a sketch to an Arduino board? How do I view and edit sketches in PlatformIO?
06:45	6. Using PlatformIO Serial Monitor and Sensors	How do I check the status of my logger in PlatformIO? How do I add sensors to the EnviroDIY Mayfly?
08:15	7. Program with ModularSensors	Break
08:15	8. The Data Logging Cycle	Why is the ModularSensors library necessary, and how does it make it easier to program a data logger?
08:35	9. Tour of Modular Sensors Library	How does the Modular Sensors Library meet all of the requirements of data logging? How do I use the Modular Sensors sketches? Why would I clone vs download a repository? Where do I store my own sketches?
09:05	10. First Sketch: simple_logging.ino	How do I run multiple sensors and log to an SD card?
10:05	11. Introduction to Telemetry	What is telemetry and why is it worth the effort? How do I manage cellular wireless data plans?
10:50	12. Set up Monitor My Watershed Data Portal	How can I have real-time monitoring for my sensor stations? How do I send data to an internet repository?
11:20	13. Second Sketch: logging_to_MMW.ino	Where in my sketch do I put UUIDs from Monitor My Watershed? How do I find the changes that have been made to a sketch?
12:00	Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.