Blog 2

Welcome to my Week 2 Senior Project Blog!

This week, I made a few changes to the trajectory of my senior project. After reading more about sensor integration in “The Art of Electronics” and conversing with my professor, we came to the conclusion that creating a sensor prototype in three months is unachievable. 

Now, instead of creating a LiDAR sensor that can detect the concentration of PM2.5 in the air and testing it, I will be writing a research paper that compares a LiDAR sensor that detects PM2.5 vs. a non-LiDAR sensor that detects PM2.5.

As a result, this week, I focused on selecting the specific LiDAR sensor I would use for the testing. After much analysis, I chose the GQ Air Quality Monitor Air-760. There are multiple reasons as to why I chose this sensor. The first is because of its relatively cheaper price. Priced at $188, it is much more affordable than advanced LiDAR technology, which is simply out of budget for many people. Additionally, although it’s cheaper, it still works with good quality, albeit not the best quality.

After, I did some research into the advantages and disadvantages of LiDAR. The main advantage of LiDAR is that it can detect both small and large particles, which means it can detect PM2.5 particles of all sizes, while non-LiDAR sensors struggle to do this. Additionally, another advantage of LiDAR is that it works in low visibility conditions. LiDAR systems use backscattered laser light, so they are not as affected by air conditions such as smoke.

However, in extreme conditions such as heavy rain or dense fog, LiDAR performance decreases dramatically. These conditions can scatter the laser beam, reducing the accuracy of the readings. Another disadvantage of LiDAR is that they generate a large amount of high-resolution data, which means that they require powerful computing resources and advanced algorithms for real-time analysis. They also require an unobstructed path to the target object.

I haven’t chosen the non-LiDAR PM2.5-detecting sensor yet, but I will get to that next week.

Stay tuned for more updates on my work!