Pub Date : 2025-08-29DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00697
Melissa Ruszczyk , Patrick M. Kiel , Santhan Chandragiri , Cedric M. Guigand , Johnnie Xia Zheng , Owen A. Brown , Brian K. Haus , Andrew C. Baker , Margaret W. Miller , Prannoy Suraneni , Chris Langdon , Vivek N. Prakash
As research becomes more interdisciplinary, researchers develop new methodologies and technologies for novel experiments that bridge fields. FlumeX’s design features a standard experimental chamber that can be expanded into different configurations, allowing for cross-disciplinary experiments between the fields of fluid dynamics, chemical oceanography, and biology. An open-ended, flow-through configuration is ideal for simulating environments where water is constantly flushed, capable of simulating oceanic environments. A fully enclosed, recirculating configuration is ideal for particle image velocimetry experiments, standard for fluid dynamics. FlumeX is designed to allow for husbandry of sessile organisms, including corals, in tandem with chemical and physical measurements. FlumeX allows for flexibility in experimental design and comparable environments between recirculating and flow-through configurations. It is designed with low-cost, readily available materials, making it easy to build and produce en masse for replicate testing.
{"title":"FlumeX: A modular flume design for laboratory-based marine fluid-substrate studies","authors":"Melissa Ruszczyk , Patrick M. Kiel , Santhan Chandragiri , Cedric M. Guigand , Johnnie Xia Zheng , Owen A. Brown , Brian K. Haus , Andrew C. Baker , Margaret W. Miller , Prannoy Suraneni , Chris Langdon , Vivek N. Prakash","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00697","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00697","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As research becomes more interdisciplinary, researchers develop new methodologies and technologies for novel experiments that bridge fields. FlumeX’s design features a standard experimental chamber that can be expanded into different configurations, allowing for cross-disciplinary experiments between the fields of fluid dynamics, chemical oceanography, and biology. An open-ended, flow-through configuration is ideal for simulating environments where water is constantly flushed, capable of simulating oceanic environments. A fully enclosed, recirculating configuration is ideal for particle image velocimetry experiments, standard for fluid dynamics. FlumeX is designed to allow for husbandry of sessile organisms, including corals, in tandem with chemical and physical measurements. FlumeX allows for flexibility in experimental design and comparable environments between recirculating and flow-through configurations. It is designed with low-cost, readily available materials, making it easy to build and produce en masse for replicate testing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article e00697"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145099453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00693
Emmanuel Deleon , Ansley J. Brown , Jakob Ladow , Erik Wardle , Troy Bauder
Water quality management is a critical environmental challenge for water resource managers in agriculture and other sectors due to pollution from contaminants like nitrogen and phosphorus. This pollution degrades ecosystems in waterways worldwide. Environmental pollutant mitigation methods rely heavily on the ability of managers to monitor water quality, often by collecting water samples (either by manual or automated methods) and sending them out for analyte characterization by a laboratory. Traditional automated samplers are often prohibitively expensive and/or complex, hindering effective water resource management across different contexts. Conversely, manual collection methods require more time and labor, but provide less data (i.e., a single point in time as opposed to a composite sample from multiple time points). Addressing this, the Colorado State University Agricultural Water Quality Program created a low-cost, automated water sampler (LCS) leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology that enables near-real-time, edge-of-field water monitoring. The LCS stands out for its affordability, simplicity, and real-time data provision, offering a practical tool for water resource managers seeking to monitor WQ. Furthermore, comparing LCS water quality and quantity data shows promising agreement, indicating that the device is a reasonable substitute for practical applications.
{"title":"Programmable automated low-cost IoT water sampler","authors":"Emmanuel Deleon , Ansley J. Brown , Jakob Ladow , Erik Wardle , Troy Bauder","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00693","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00693","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Water quality management is a critical environmental challenge for water resource managers in agriculture and other sectors due to pollution from contaminants like nitrogen and phosphorus. This pollution degrades ecosystems in waterways worldwide. Environmental pollutant mitigation methods rely heavily on the ability of managers to monitor water quality, often by collecting water samples (either by manual or automated methods) and sending them out for analyte characterization by a laboratory. Traditional automated samplers are often prohibitively expensive and/or complex, hindering effective water resource management across different contexts. Conversely, manual collection methods require more time and labor, but provide less data (i.e., a single point in time as opposed to a composite sample from multiple time points). Addressing this, the Colorado State University Agricultural Water Quality Program created a low-cost, automated water sampler (LCS) leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology that enables near-real-time, edge-of-field water monitoring. The LCS stands out for its affordability, simplicity, and real-time data provision, offering a practical tool for water resource managers seeking to monitor WQ. Furthermore, comparing LCS water quality and quantity data shows promising agreement, indicating that the device is a reasonable substitute for practical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00693"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144907753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-21DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00690
David P. Goldenberg
The instrument described in this article measures the absorbance of visible light (with wavelengths in the range of approximately 400 to 650 nm) by liquid samples, a method widely used for determining solute concentrations. To minimize the cost of the instrument, interchangeable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used as light sources. Transmitted light is detected using a photodiode device and the signals are processed using an Arduino microprocessor board. Measured absorbances are displayed on an LCD panel and can be transferred to another device via a USB interface. The instrument has measuring positions for up to six samples, each with a separate LED and detector, making it particularly well suited for parallel kinetic experiments with multiple samples. Because the spectrophotometer was designed with undergraduate laboratory courses in mind, it has a modular construction that allows for easy assembly and disassembly, so that students can be given an opportunity to assemble the instrument themselves. The device has a power requirement of only 0.4 W from a 5 V USB supply, making it practical for field studies or other applications where access to electric power is limited.
本文描述的仪器测量液体样品可见光（波长范围约为400至650 nm）的吸光度，这是一种广泛用于测定溶质浓度的方法。为了将仪器的成本降至最低，使用可互换发光二极管（led）作为光源。通过光电二极管设备检测透射光，并使用Arduino微处理器板处理信号。测量的吸光度显示在LCD面板上，可以通过USB接口传输到另一个设备。该仪器有多达六个样品的测量位置，每个都有一个单独的LED和检测器，使其特别适合于多个样品的平行动力学实验。由于分光光度计是根据本科实验课程设计的，因此它具有模块化结构，易于组装和拆卸，因此学生可以有机会自己组装仪器。该设备的功率要求仅为0.4 W，来自5 V USB电源，使其适用于现场研究或其他电力有限的应用。
{"title":"An LED-based multi-sample absorbance spectrophotometer for chemistry and biochemistry","authors":"David P. Goldenberg","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00690","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00690","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The instrument described in this article measures the absorbance of visible light (with wavelengths in the range of approximately 400 to 650<!--> <!-->nm) by liquid samples, a method widely used for determining solute concentrations. To minimize the cost of the instrument, interchangeable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used as light sources. Transmitted light is detected using a photodiode device and the signals are processed using an Arduino microprocessor board. Measured absorbances are displayed on an LCD panel and can be transferred to another device via a USB interface. The instrument has measuring positions for up to six samples, each with a separate LED and detector, making it particularly well suited for parallel kinetic experiments with multiple samples. Because the spectrophotometer was designed with undergraduate laboratory courses in mind, it has a modular construction that allows for easy assembly and disassembly, so that students can be given an opportunity to assemble the instrument themselves. The device has a power requirement of only 0.4<!--> <!-->W from a 5<!--> <!-->V USB supply, making it practical for field studies or other applications where access to electric power is limited.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00690"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144906839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-19DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00692
Daniel Soto Rodriguez , Andres Eduardo Rivera Gomez , Ruthber Rodriguez Serrezuela
This article presents the design, implementation, and validation of a low-cost embedded system for preliminary strabismus screening, based on computer vision and deep learning. The hardware integrates a Raspberry Pi 4, a USB camera, and a 3D-printed chin rest to ensure consistent facial positioning. The software, developed in Python using PyQt5 and OpenCV, incorporates a NASNetLarge convolutional neural network converted to TensorFlow Lite for real-time inference. The graphical interface allows users to capture or upload images, perform automated analysis, generate diagnostic PDF reports, and access a gamified treatment module. Functional validation included a proprietary dataset of 27 images, achieving a 96.30 % classification accuracy. Additionally, a stratified 10-fold cross-validation on a balanced dataset of 1000 images yielded an average accuracy of 95.6 % with strong generalization metrics (F1-score, precision, and recall above 94 %). A novel treatment validation mechanism was implemented by analyzing pupil-to-stimulus distance frame-by-frame, confirming reliable eye tracking and the system’s potential for detecting microstrabismus. This open-source, portable prototype is suitable for community health screening and educational use, particularly in low-resource settings.
{"title":"Development of an embedded diagnostic tool for visual misalignment screening","authors":"Daniel Soto Rodriguez , Andres Eduardo Rivera Gomez , Ruthber Rodriguez Serrezuela","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00692","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00692","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article presents the design, implementation, and validation of a low-cost embedded system for preliminary strabismus screening, based on computer vision and deep learning. The hardware integrates a Raspberry Pi 4, a USB camera, and a 3D-printed chin rest to ensure consistent facial positioning. The software, developed in Python using PyQt5 and OpenCV, incorporates a NASNetLarge convolutional neural network converted to TensorFlow Lite for real-time inference. The graphical interface allows users to capture or upload images, perform automated analysis, generate diagnostic PDF reports, and access a gamified treatment module. Functional validation included a proprietary dataset of 27 images, achieving a 96.30 % classification accuracy. Additionally, a stratified 10-fold cross-validation on a balanced dataset of 1000 images yielded an average accuracy of 95.6 % with strong generalization metrics (F1-score, precision, and recall above 94 %). A novel treatment validation mechanism was implemented by analyzing pupil-to-stimulus distance frame-by-frame, confirming reliable eye tracking and the system’s potential for detecting microstrabismus. This open-source, portable prototype is suitable for community health screening and educational use, particularly in low-resource settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00692"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144888753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-19DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00684
Pablo S. Rivadeneira, Alejandro Mira
This paper presents the development of a transmitter that transforms intermittent glucose sensors (isCGM) into a continuous and real-time glucose monitoring system (c-rtCGM), a key component in automated insulin delivery systems. The transmitter enhances the capabilities of conventional intermittent sensors by leveraging Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to capture raw glucose value and automatically transmit it via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE-Bluetooth 4.2 Dual-Mode) to a smart device every five minutes. A specialized glucose monitoring application converts the raw values to blood glucose by applying a calibration based on a static linear model and a capillary blood glucose measurement. The accuracy and performance of the c-rtCGM were validated through a study involving 37 participants with type 1 diabetes, demonstrating its reliability compared to commercial transmitters. Values reported by the c-rtCGM system compared with the isCGM monitor system resulted in an overall mean average relative difference (MARD) around 9%. During the trial, the c-rtCGM system achieved a data transmission success rate of 96%, and only 2316 connection failures were recorded from the 66525 total connection attempts, indicating a high level of communication stability. The transmitter battery life lasted an average of 6.5 days, showing that it is necessary to recharge only once for the duration of the sensor (14 days). The main advantages of this customized transmitter, in contrast with the commercial versions, are reliability, cost, and the flexibility of its software, since its processor (an ESP32) can be easily programmed to fulfill other helpful tasks in managing glucose levels with automated insulin delivery systems.
{"title":"Real-time converter of intermittent-scanned glucose sensors to continuous glucose monitors with potential future applications for insulin delivery","authors":"Pablo S. Rivadeneira, Alejandro Mira","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00684","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00684","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents the development of a transmitter that transforms intermittent glucose sensors (isCGM) into a continuous and real-time glucose monitoring system (c-rtCGM), a key component in automated insulin delivery systems. The transmitter enhances the capabilities of conventional intermittent sensors by leveraging Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to capture raw glucose value and automatically transmit it via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE-Bluetooth 4.2 Dual-Mode) to a smart device every five minutes. A specialized glucose monitoring application converts the raw values to blood glucose by applying a calibration based on a static linear model and a capillary blood glucose measurement. The accuracy and performance of the c-rtCGM were validated through a study involving 37 participants with type 1 diabetes, demonstrating its reliability compared to commercial transmitters. Values reported by the c-rtCGM system compared with the isCGM monitor system resulted in an overall mean average relative difference (MARD) around 9%. During the trial, the c-rtCGM system achieved a data transmission success rate of 96%, and only 2316 connection failures were recorded from the 66525 total connection attempts, indicating a high level of communication stability. The transmitter battery life lasted an average of 6.5 days, showing that it is necessary to recharge only once for the duration of the sensor (14 days). The main advantages of this customized transmitter, in contrast with the commercial versions, are reliability, cost, and the flexibility of its software, since its processor (an ESP32) can be easily programmed to fulfill other helpful tasks in managing glucose levels with automated insulin delivery systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00684"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144895878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-16DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00686
Nathan Andreani Netzel, Daniel Strufaldi Batista, Francisco Granziera Jr., Marcelo Carvalho Tosin
Small sounding rockets often carry scientific instruments to collect data in atmospheric environments. In the context of university-level education and research, their development offers students a hands-on, multidisciplinary platform to study propulsion, aerodynamics, electronic instrumentation, and others. A critical component of sounding rocket experimentation involves engine testing and validation, which typically requires the design and implementation of a dedicated test bench. These test benches are essential for ensuring experimental safety and reliability while enabling the acquisition of accurate performance data. This work presents the design and implementation of a versatile, low-cost data acquisition (DAQ) system specifically developed for a small rocket engine test bench. The system can measure thrust and pressure by interfacing with load cell sensors and pressure transducers. The approach also prioritizes modularity, allowing future expansion or adaptation to different engine configurations. It also balances affordability and functionality compared to commercial DAQs by leveraging cost-effective hardware and software. Experimental testing has demonstrated the system’s ability to deliver accurate and reliable measurements, with noise levels comparable to those of commercial counterparts. These results indicate the system can enable students and researchers to conduct experiments effectively and ensure safety.
{"title":"A versatile low-cost data acquisition system for small rocket engine test bench","authors":"Nathan Andreani Netzel, Daniel Strufaldi Batista, Francisco Granziera Jr., Marcelo Carvalho Tosin","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00686","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00686","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Small sounding rockets often carry scientific instruments to collect data in atmospheric environments. In the context of university-level education and research, their development offers students a hands-on, multidisciplinary platform to study propulsion, aerodynamics, electronic instrumentation, and others. A critical component of sounding rocket experimentation involves engine testing and validation, which typically requires the design and implementation of a dedicated test bench. These test benches are essential for ensuring experimental safety and reliability while enabling the acquisition of accurate performance data. This work presents the design and implementation of a versatile, low-cost data acquisition (DAQ) system specifically developed for a small rocket engine test bench. The system can measure thrust and pressure by interfacing with load cell sensors and pressure transducers. The approach also prioritizes modularity, allowing future expansion or adaptation to different engine configurations. It also balances affordability and functionality compared to commercial DAQs by leveraging cost-effective hardware and software. Experimental testing has demonstrated the system’s ability to deliver accurate and reliable measurements, with noise levels comparable to those of commercial counterparts. These results indicate the system can enable students and researchers to conduct experiments effectively and ensure safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00686"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144888754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00687
Seyyed Saeed Vaezzadeh , Alireza Godsi Chafjiri , Victoria Nguyen , Xochitl Ramirez , Robert Kelley Bradley
Creep occurs when a material is subjected to a constant load resulting in deformation. Thermoplastics are prone to creep and understanding creep behavior is important for predicting the long-term performance of thermoplastic parts that must bear load. Creep is a slow process and measuring it can take days, weeks, months, or longer. Accelerated methods to estimate creep behavior exist, but long-term testing produces the most accurate results. We have developed a creep test rig made from off-the-shelf parts that require minimal machining and is easy to operate. The instrument can provide students at the high school, community college, and university level with a simple entry point to materials research. The long run time means that multiple students can collaborate to acquire the data. The instrument helps expand the overall capacity of the scientific community to generate compressive creep data while simultaneously offering a low-cost way to engage students in research. The instrument can be used for traditional university, government, and industry research. Users may wish to operate the instrument in an air-conditioned space with minimal change in temperature and humidity, but some of the authors have recently published work demonstrating that creep measurement under changing ambient temperature and humidity can provide useful data as well (Vaezzadeh et al., 2025).
当材料受到恒定载荷而产生变形时，就会发生蠕变。热塑性塑料容易发生蠕变，了解蠕变行为对于预测必须承受载荷的热塑性塑料部件的长期性能非常重要。蠕变是一个缓慢的过程，测量它可能需要几天、几周、几个月甚至更长时间。加速的方法来估计蠕变行为是存在的，但长期的测试产生最准确的结果。我们开发了一种蠕变试验台，由现成的零件制成，需要最少的加工，易于操作。该仪器可以为高中、社区学院和大学的学生提供一个简单的材料研究入门点。较长的运行时间意味着多个学生可以协作获取数据。该仪器有助于扩大科学界生成压缩蠕变数据的整体能力，同时为学生参与研究提供了一种低成本的方式。该仪器可用于传统的大学、政府和行业研究。用户可能希望在温度和湿度变化最小的空调空间中操作仪器，但一些作者最近发表的研究表明，在变化的环境温度和湿度下进行蠕变测量也可以提供有用的数据（Vaezzadeh et al., 2025）。
{"title":"Compressive creep test rig for thermoplastic samples","authors":"Seyyed Saeed Vaezzadeh , Alireza Godsi Chafjiri , Victoria Nguyen , Xochitl Ramirez , Robert Kelley Bradley","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00687","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00687","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Creep occurs when a material is subjected to a constant load resulting in deformation. Thermoplastics are prone to creep and understanding creep behavior is important for predicting the long-term performance of thermoplastic parts that must bear load. Creep is a slow process and measuring it can take days, weeks, months, or longer. Accelerated methods to estimate creep behavior exist, but long-term testing produces the most accurate results. We have developed a creep test rig made from off-the-shelf parts that require minimal machining and is easy to operate. The instrument can provide students at the high school, community college, and university level with a simple entry point to materials research. The long run time means that multiple students can collaborate to acquire the data. The instrument helps expand the overall capacity of the scientific community to generate compressive creep data while simultaneously offering a low-cost way to engage students in research. The instrument can be used for traditional university, government, and industry research. Users may wish to operate the instrument in an air-conditioned space with minimal change in temperature and humidity, but some of the authors have recently published work demonstrating that creep measurement under changing ambient temperature and humidity can provide useful data as well (Vaezzadeh et al., 2025).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00687"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144888752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-07DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00685
Ilane Cherif , Frédéric Cherqui , Franck Perret , Bastien Bourjaillat , Lionel Lord , Jean-Luc Bertrand-Krajewski , Nicolas Walcker , Maria Gisi , Laëtitia Bacot , Oldrich Navratil
The deployment of low-cost network sensors (LCNS) for environmental monitoring has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, offering a cost-effective solution for enhancing spatial sensor coverage while minimizing financial constraints. This study presents LevelWAN, a water level monitoring system specifically designed for highly dynamic aquatic environments such as rivers, ponds or lakes. LevelWAN is an open-source, robust, and cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring solution incorporating an ultrasonic sensor. The electronic components were carefully selected for their affordability, reliability, and performance. The system underwent a fully autonomous, long-term (3-year) field test in a challenging and highly dynamic environment – a sewer system – to validate its robustness. Its accuracy was assessed against a high-precision professional device, demonstrating an error margin of less than 1 cm. Additionally, LevelWAN was developed with a user-friendly design to facilitate accessibility for non-experts, aligning with the needs of citizen science initiatives and educational applications.
{"title":"LevelWAN: a cost-effective, open-source IoT system for water level monitoring in highly dynamic aquatic environments","authors":"Ilane Cherif , Frédéric Cherqui , Franck Perret , Bastien Bourjaillat , Lionel Lord , Jean-Luc Bertrand-Krajewski , Nicolas Walcker , Maria Gisi , Laëtitia Bacot , Oldrich Navratil","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00685","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00685","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The deployment of low-cost network sensors (LCNS) for environmental monitoring has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, offering a cost-effective solution for enhancing spatial sensor coverage while minimizing financial constraints. This study presents <em>LevelWAN</em>, a water level monitoring system specifically designed for highly dynamic aquatic environments such as rivers, ponds or lakes. <em>LevelWAN</em> is an open-source, robust, and cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring solution incorporating an ultrasonic sensor. The electronic components were carefully selected for their affordability, reliability, and performance. The system underwent a fully autonomous, long-term (3-year) field test in a challenging and highly dynamic environment – a sewer system – to validate its robustness. Its accuracy was assessed against a high-precision professional device, demonstrating an error margin of less than 1 cm. Additionally, <em>LevelWAN</em> was developed with a user-friendly design to facilitate accessibility for non-experts, aligning with the needs of citizen science initiatives and educational applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00685"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144828270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thrusters are essential components of marine robotic vehicles for surface or underwater use. However, their high cost often makes them inaccessible to hobbyists, early-career researchers, and citizen scientists. With advancements in 3D printing, several do-it-yourself (DIY) thruster designs have emerged, allowing assembly using off-the-shelf components. However, most existing designs provide only printable files. These often lack detailed source information and, more importantly, performance data. This work presents the design, and an updated and expanded evaluation of the open-source OpenThruster project, with a focus on performance variability, fabrication methods, and dynamic modeling. OpenThruster is an open-source, low-cost, and mostly 3D-printed thruster for marine applications. The thruster itself is designed and simulated using open-source software. Performance evaluation is performed using off-the-shelf components and, wherever possible, open-source hardware. To ensure broad accessibility and long-term availability, we selected one of the most widely available drone motors and tested units with identical specifications from various vendors to assess consistency. Experimental validation involved a VESC6 driver board and bollard thrust measurements using a load cell setup in pool water. We also evaluated propellers produced, via three different 3D printing techniques. The thrusters consistently produced an average peak thrust of 18 N at 310 W, with fabrication costs kept under 500 INR (approximately $6). While thrust variation across ten motors from different vendors reached up to 11%, a one-way ANOVA test indicated no statistically significant difference between them. However, propellers made with different printing methods demonstrated significant differences in thrust output.
{"title":"OpenThruster: An open-source, mostly 3D-printed thruster for marine vehicles","authors":"Milind Fernandes , Soumya Ranjan Sahoo , Mangal Kothari","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00680","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00680","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Thrusters are essential components of marine robotic vehicles for surface or underwater use. However, their high cost often makes them inaccessible to hobbyists, early-career researchers, and citizen scientists. With advancements in 3D printing, several do-it-yourself (DIY) thruster designs have emerged, allowing assembly using off-the-shelf components. However, most existing designs provide only printable files. These often lack detailed source information and, more importantly, performance data. This work presents the design, and an updated and expanded evaluation of the open-source OpenThruster project, with a focus on performance variability, fabrication methods, and dynamic modeling. OpenThruster is an open-source, low-cost, and mostly 3D-printed thruster for marine applications. The thruster itself is designed and simulated using open-source software. Performance evaluation is performed using off-the-shelf components and, wherever possible, open-source hardware. To ensure broad accessibility and long-term availability, we selected one of the most widely available drone motors and tested units with identical specifications from various vendors to assess consistency. Experimental validation involved a VESC6 driver board and bollard thrust measurements using a load cell setup in pool water. We also evaluated propellers produced, via three different 3D printing techniques. The thrusters consistently produced an average peak thrust of 18 N at 310 W, with fabrication costs kept under 500 INR (approximately $6). While thrust variation across ten motors from different vendors reached up to 11%, a one-way ANOVA test indicated no statistically significant difference between them. However, propellers made with different printing methods demonstrated significant differences in thrust output.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00680"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144739504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00681
James P. Verheyden , Bryce Huffaker , Max J. Sevcik , Isaac Snyder , Finnegan Wilson , Grace I. Rabinowitz , Carter Watkins , Elbert Caravaca , Edward G. Tersine , Veronica Eliasson
Direct ink write (DIW) is a material extrusion additive manufacturing technique where a flowable liquid or semi-solid ink is selectively deposited through a nozzle onto a build surface. DIW can be leveraged to print a wide range of multi-material components with unique geometries, which would otherwise be challenging to produce with traditional manufacturing techniques. However, despite their unique capabilities, DIW extruders are costly to purchase and labor intensive to clean, limiting widespread adoption. To address these challenges, an automatic tool changer with tool sharing system was developed to reduce printer capital costs, minimize operator interactions, and increase extruder utilization. Unlike conventional tool changers popular with fused filament fabrication (FFF) printers, which allows a single printer to swap between multiple tools, this novel tool sharing system enables tool sharing and coordination between two adjacent printers. By effectively halving the total number of extruders and associated cleaning operations, DIW capabilities are greatly improved, increasing production, lowering system cost, and minimizing operator involvement. The hardware consists of a tool changing mechanism, post processor to insert tool exchange G-code, and software to coordinate tool sharing between printers, enabling tool changing and tool sharing between two adjacent printers.
{"title":"Tool changing and tool sharing system for interconnected multi-material direct ink write 3D printers","authors":"James P. Verheyden , Bryce Huffaker , Max J. Sevcik , Isaac Snyder , Finnegan Wilson , Grace I. Rabinowitz , Carter Watkins , Elbert Caravaca , Edward G. Tersine , Veronica Eliasson","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00681","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00681","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Direct ink write (DIW) is a material extrusion additive manufacturing technique where a flowable liquid or semi-solid ink is selectively deposited through a nozzle onto a build surface. DIW can be leveraged to print a wide range of multi-material components with unique geometries, which would otherwise be challenging to produce with traditional manufacturing techniques. However, despite their unique capabilities, DIW extruders are costly to purchase and labor intensive to clean, limiting widespread adoption. To address these challenges, an automatic tool changer with tool sharing system was developed to reduce printer capital costs, minimize operator interactions, and increase extruder utilization. Unlike conventional tool changers popular with fused filament fabrication (FFF) printers, which allows a single printer to swap between multiple tools, this novel tool sharing system enables tool sharing and coordination between two adjacent printers. By effectively halving the total number of extruders and associated cleaning operations, DIW capabilities are greatly improved, increasing production, lowering system cost, and minimizing operator involvement. The hardware consists of a tool changing mechanism, post processor to insert tool exchange G-code, and software to coordinate tool sharing between printers, enabling tool changing and tool sharing between two adjacent printers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article e00681"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144749616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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