Team #16 - Kyah and Dean: Kyah Baker, Dean Vrettos

Published December 1, 2022 © GPL3+

Parking Notifier IOT Project

Green Light... Red Light!

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours577

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Argon

Amazon Web Services RGB Programmable pixel led strip

SparkFun Ultrasonic Distance Sensor - HC - SR04

USB Cable, USB Type C Plug

Resistor 220 ohm

Jumper wires (generic)

KY-006 PASSIVE PIEZO-BUZZER MODULE

Software apps and online services

IFTTT Maker service

Particle Build Web IDE

Google Sheets

Story

Purpose

Many households already provide a garage door opener. However, we were inspired to create additional features to make parking more efficient. We used an ultrasonic sensor to set a certain distance that would allow the driver to stop the vehicle when the RGB light strip turns red and along with a buzzer going off.

The main reason for this project is to minimize accidents in the garage. Sometimes, you can't tell if you're too close to the wall, or too far away. With our parking sensor, your car will be parked the same distance, within one or two inches, every time. This will especially help those with nice cars that need to park in the garage. It will allow you to visually see when you are far enough in the garage, but not too far up to where you will hit the wall.

How does the HC-S04 sensor work?

The sensor works by using one microphone to transmit a signal and the other to receive the signal. A pulse is sent out and when it hits an object it is then reflected back and reveals the time between the pulses, which allows for the distance to be calculated. When the car is within a specified distance, the RGB light strip will turn red. The picture is a good reference in understanding how it works.

HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor Connections

Connect the VCC from the ultrasonic sensor to the digital pin USB on the Particle Argon.
Connect Trigger from the ultrasonic sensor to the digital pin 2 on the Particle Argon.
Connect Echo from the ultrasonic sensor to the digital pin 6 on the Particle Argon.
Connect GND from the ultrasonic sensor with the GND on the Particle Argon.

Top View of Particle Argon/ HC-S04 circuit setup

RGB light strip and Buzzer Connections

Particle Argon

Connect GND of the particle argon with the negative terminal on the power rail.
Connect one end of a 220-ohm resistor to the negative terminal on the power rail (in-front of the argon ground wire) and the other end to the positive terminal on the power rail (behind digital pin USB).

Buzzer

Connect GND of the buzzer with the negative terminal on the power rail.
Connect Signal of the buzzer to digital pin 3 on the Particle Argon.

RGB light strip

Connect GND (white strip) of the RGB light strip with the negative terminal on the power rail.
Connect Data (green strip) of the RGB light strip to digital pin 7 on the Particle Argon.
Connect Power (red strip) of the RGB light strip to digital pin USB on the Particle Argon.

Side view of Particle Argon/Buzzer/RGB Light Strip

IFTTT and Google Sheets

To show that both particle argons are correctly communicating, we implemented an IFTTT that would send specific data to two different Google Sheets. The steps to make this happen are listed below.

One IFTTT/Google Sheet for “No Car”

Go to Ifttt.com/create and make sure you have already made an account.
Click create under the applets.
Select Add under “If This” and choose “Webhooks” and then “Receive a web Request”, enter your Event Name and create trigger.
Now create the trigger and then Add to “Then That”.
Select Google Sheets and choose “Update a Cell”, enter your google sheet account, spreadsheet name, and what cell the information should be located in.
Select Finish.

One IFTTT/Google Sheet for “Car Arrived”

Go to Ifttt.com/create and make sure you have already made an account.
Click create under the applets.
Select Add under “If This” and choose “Webhooks” and then “Receive a web Request”, enter your Event Name and create trigger.
Now create the trigger and then Add to “Then That”.
Select Google Sheets and choose “Update a Cell”, enter your google sheet account, spreadsheet name, and what cell the information should be located in.
Select Finish.

Particle Integrations

Integrations are used in the web IDE code for the particle argons to send and receive information to each other. We will Connect our IFTTT for “No Car” and “Car Arrived” to separate integrations. See steps below to make this happen.

Integration for “No Car”

Go to console.particle.io and make sure to sign into the account that has both Particle Argons.
Click on the integrations tab and click on Create.
Choose Webhook and for the event name you will make it “No Car”.
The information needed for the full URL can be found on https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks/settings which will show your personal API key after /use.
Once you have your API key you can then insert it into https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/{Event_Name}/json/with/key/{insert API Key Here}.
Request type should be “Post”, the Request Format should be “Web Form” and the device should be the particle argon that is connected to the HC-S04 sensor circuit.
Click Create Webhook, now you have code for Particle. publish and Particle. Setup.

Integration for “Car Arrived”

Go to console.particle.io and make sure to sign into the account that has both Particle Argons.
Click on the integrations tab and click on Create.
Choose Webhook and for the event name you will make it “Car Arrived”
The information needed for the full URL can be found on https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks/settings which will show your personal API key after /use.
Once you have your API key you can then insert it into https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/{Event_Name}/json/with/key/{insert API Key Here}.
Request type should be “Post”, the Request Format should be “Web Form” and the device should be the particle argon that is connected to the HC-S04 sensor circuit.
Click Create Webhook, now you have code for Particle. publish and Particle. Setup.

Live Data

The live data for the parking notifier project is shown below in 2 separate links. Pictures are also shown below if you plan to stay on this webpage!

No Car – Google Sheets
Car Arrived – Google Sheets

“No Car”: Google Sheets

“Car Arrived”: Google Sheets

Group #16 – Parking Notifier in Action

Click the link below to watch the project come to life!

Code

// Pin Definitions 

#define HCSR04_PIN_TRIG	D2                  // Important
#define HCSR04_PIN_ECHO	D6                  // Also Important 

int sound = 0; 



void setup() {
    
  // setup code here! 
  Serial.begin(9600);
 
  pinMode(HCSR04_PIN_TRIG, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(HCSR04_PIN_ECHO, INPUT);


   
}


void loop() {
  // main code here, runs in a loop 
  
  long timeTaken, distance;                      // HC-S04 code starts here, can be found in the cold dark depths of HC-S04 docs
  digitalWrite(HCSR04_PIN_TRIG, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(HCSR04_PIN_TRIG, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(HCSR04_PIN_TRIG, LOW);
  timeTaken = pulseIn(HCSR04_PIN_ECHO, HIGH);     //determine distance of wave
  distance = (timeTaken/2) / 74;                  //using timeTaken calc distance of object

  /*determine corressponding leds to light up with respect to the distance
  of object*/
 
 if(distance<20){
     Particle.publish("Car_Arrived5", "On", PRIVATE);             // this is what your delcaring to hapen when the distance is under X amount of inches
      delay(1500);                                                // every 1.5 seconds it refreshes for faster response time to detect car
 }
    
   else{
      Particle.publish("No_Car2", "Off", PRIVATE);                // when the distance is above X amount, it declares something else
 }
   delay(3500);                                                   // every 3.5 seconds it refreshes for faster response when no car is detected
   }

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <neopixel.h>    // Can be found on libraries 


int buzzer = D3;         // Buzzer is connect to the D3 on the particle argon 
int state = 0;            
int sound = 0;          

#define PIXEL_PIN D7           // the RGB strip is connected to the D7 on the light strip breadboard
#define PIXEL_COUNT 15        // How many led lights are on the strip
#define PIXEL_TYPE WS2812B   // pretty good brand of lights

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(PIXEL_COUNT, PIXEL_PIN, PIXEL_TYPE); // important 

//Defines the color all pattern(makes whole strip one color)
void colorALL(uint32_t c, uint8_t wait) {
  uint16_t i;

  for(i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {
    strip.setPixelColor(i, c);
  }
  strip.show();
  delay(wait);
}




void setup() {
    
    
  
 
Particle.subscribe("hook-response/Car_Arrived", Sensor, "e00fce68b13fbc0a0eeda9b6");   // recevies the data from the argon connected to the HC-S04
strip.begin();
strip.show();


Serial.begin(9600);               

colorALL(PIXEL_PIN,OUTPUT);      // LED strip is an output 

pinMode(buzzer,OUTPUT);       // buzzer is an output 
digitalWrite(buzzer,LOW);    // buzzer needs information 
}


void loop () {

}
      
void Sensor(const char *event, const char *data) // important 
{
   
   digitalWrite(buzzer,HIGH);
 
   if (data="On") {                                       // when data received is "ON" begins the code underneith
     colorALL(strip.Color(100, 0, 0), 5);                // The LED strip glows Red
       digitalWrite(buzzer,HIGH);                       // buzzer makes noise
   delay(15000);
    
    } else if (data="On") {                              // this "else if" doesnt matter unless ur trying to add yellow inbetween your red and green. 
     colorALL(strip.Color(255, 255, 0), 5);
       digitalWrite(buzzer,HIGH);
   delay(15000);
  
    
   } 
   else if (data="OFF"); {                               // when data received is "OFF" begins the code underneith 
        colorALL(strip.Color(0, 100, 0), 10);           // The LED strip glows green
        digitalWrite(buzzer,LOW);                      // buzzer will not make noise
        delay(1000);
        
}
     
}

        /