Introduction: Watergate

Florida and other coastal areas are experiencing an increasingly serious issue regarding flooding. Within the week before and after a full moon, areas all over Florida flood due to the raised tides. The water travels through the soil and can appear far inland with very limited warning. Because of this, Flood areas are difficult to predict.

To help combat this, we are creating an inexpensive network of poles that the Florida government can distribute across flooding areas. These poles will be placed in the ground and will be able to sense water rising. This data will be publicly accessible with a simple to read interface so the general public can monitor and avoid areas with rising tides. These poles will also be able to alert people in the immediate area by acting as a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon and sending alerts to nearby smartphones.

Step 1: Electronics

1. Intel Edison

2. Intel Edison Arduino Board

3. Seeed Studio Base Shield

4. 2x Seeed LED Lights

5. 2x Seeed Light Sensors

Step 2: Hardware

1. 2ft PVC Pipe 2in diameter

2. Laser cut acrylic (See attached diagrams)

3. Foam (or other floatation device)

Step 3: Software

This can be made up to your preference, but this is what we used.

  • NodeJS/Express on Intel Edison and for our backend server
  • JS for front end
  • MongoDB and Mongoose for our database
  • Intel XKD/Sublime Text for working with the Edison

Step 4: Hardware Setup

Once all components are cut and brought together:
  1. Begin by assembling the water measuring sensors may require lengthening the wires
    1. On the circular float platform using the two light sensors and the two LED lights
    2. Attach the sensors side by side (close together) on a stable back with the sensors facing the same direction.
    3. Do the same for the LED lights
    4. Place the sensors and lights on opposite sides of the circular floats rectangular cutout
    5. Attach the sensors to the Edison board.
  2. Assemble Pike
    1. Insert the long stick with cutouts through the rectangular cutout in the float.
    2. place the assembled apparatus inside the PVC pipe with the Edison on top.