Published April 20, 2022

Poor Road Condition Warning System

Designed to fit in your car, this warning system alerts you when bad driving conditions may be present.

IntermediateFull instructions provided78

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Argon

Breadboard (generic)

Jumper wires (generic)

LDR, 5 Mohm

LED (generic)

LM35 Temperature Sensor

Resistor 220 ohm

Resistor 10k ohm

Software apps and online services

Particle Build Web IDE

ThingSpeak API

Story

Most cars nowadays are made with automatic headlights and a whole load of fancy features that make your driving experience safer and easier. What if you wanted to add some of these features to your older car at a very low cost? Well, we have created a system that both alerts you when temperatures have dropped below freezing and automatically turns on your headlights when the sun goes down. The Particle Argons used are programmed to read sensor data and alert the driver when lighting and temperature conditions may be unsafe. The driver is alerted via a text message as well as a blinking light when poor conditions are present. The LED in the light sensing circuit represents a car's headlights and will automatically turn on when low light levels are present. These responses to potential road hazards are important for keeping people safe on the road and serve as a friendly reminder to drivers of road conditions. This project is a first in allowing for outdated cars to have the driving protection factors that newer cars have. By learning the applications of different sensors, and how to properly utilize them in a design, a solution to car safety was formed.

Light Sensing Circuit

The light sensing circuit uses a 5MΩ LDR to create a change in resistance when low light levels are detected. The Argon turns an LED light on when it gets dark enough. This LED light signifies the car's headlights turning on.

The LDR is covered with a sheet of paper causing the LED to turn on.

Temperature Circuit

The temperature circuit uses an LM35 temperature sensor which changes the voltage output when exposed to different temperatures.

Bi-directional Communication

The Argons must communicate with each other. The Argon from the light-sensing circuit was programmed to turn on the D7 LED (red circle) on the temperature Argon.

Graphing

Temperature data was collected for one minute. When developing our project we noticed the LM35 temperature sensor was outputting inconsistent values. We think the sensor is faulty due to the inconsistent outputs.

YouTube Video

Code

const int ledPin = 13;
const int ldrPin = A0;
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(600);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ldrPin, INPUT);
}

void loop() {
  int ldrStatus = analogRead(ldrPin);
    delay(2000);
  if (ldrStatus <= 400)
  {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
    Serial.print("Its Dark, Turn on the LED:");
    Serial.println(ldrStatus);
     Particle.publish("lightstatus","Headlights on",10,PRIVATE);
  }
  else
  {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    Serial.print("Its Bright, Turn off the LED:");
    Serial.println(ldrStatus);
    
    Particle.publish("lightstatus","No headlights",10,PRIVATE);
    

  }

}
void setup() {
    pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
    Particle.subscribe("toggle-led", toggleLed, MY_DEVICES);
}

void loop() {

}

void toggleLed(const char *event, const char *data) {
    digitalWrite(D7, HIGH);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(D7, LOW);
    delay(500);
}
void setup() {
pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
    digitalWrite(D7, HIGH);
    
    Particle.publish("toggle-led", PRIVATE);
    
    delay(300);
    digitalWrite(D7, LOW);

    delay(4000);
}

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <JsonParserGeneratorRK.h>
const String key = "0JMBYBNUVCX9NC11";

int val;
int tempPin = 1;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
  val = analogRead(tempPin);
  float mv = ( val/1024.0)*3300;
  float cel = mv/10;
  float farh = (cel*9)/5 + 32;
  Serial.print("TEMPRATURE = ");
  Serial.print(cel);
  Serial.print("*C");
  Serial.println();
  delay(10000);
Particle.publish("temp", String::format("%.2f",cel), NO_ACK);

Particle.publish("thingSpeakWrite_All", +
"{ \"1\": \"" + String(cel) + "\"," +
"\"2\": \"" + String(cel) + "\"," +
"\"3\": \"" + String(cel) + "\"," +
"\"5\": \"" + String(cel) + "\"," +
"\"k\":\"" + key + "\" }", 60, PRIVATE, WITH_ACK);


}


void createEventPayload(float cel)
{
    JsonWriterStatic<256> jw;
    {
        JsonWriterAutoObject obj (&jw);
        
        jw.insertKeyValue("temp", cel);
    }
}
void setup() {
pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
    digitalWrite(D7, HIGH);
    
    Particle.publish("toggle-led", PRIVATE);
    
    delay(300);
    digitalWrite(D7, LOW);

    delay(4000);
}
void setup() {
    pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
    Particle.subscribe("toggle-led", toggleLed, MY_DEVICES);
}

void loop() {

}

void toggleLed(const char *event, const char *data) {
    digitalWrite(D7, HIGH);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(D7, LOW);
    delay(500);
}

Credits

Tom Shanley

1 project • 1 follower

Jordan Fowler

1 project • 0 followers

Poor Road Condition Warning System

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Light Sensing Circuit

Temperature Circuit

Code

Light Code.txt

Temperature Sensor

Credits

Tom Shanley

Jordan Fowler

Comments

Embed the widget on your own site

Poor Road Condition Warning System

Poor Road Condition Warning System

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Light Sensing Circuit

Temperature Circuit

Code

Light Code.txt

Temperature Sensor

Credits

Tom Shanley

Jordan Fowler

Comments

Related tags