A Few Changes…

There have been a few major changes since the last update. Whereas last time I was scouting parks in the Appleton area, I have now been focused on building a more mobile and much smaller version of ATEMIS known as ARROW.

As of a 2 weeks ago the scope and focus of my project with Deanna Donohoue changed as a result of circumstance. Because the research team was down to one member, Deanna and I reworked the project to allow a single person to move, maintain, and operate the instruments when conducting field work. As a result, we will now focus on the benefits and downsides of parks to local air quality especially during heatwaves when VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions tend to be higher. The new plan includes the creation of ARROW which is similar to ARTEMIS in that it will be able to transport and run all of our instrumentation, but it will be smaller so that it could be used by one person. After two weeks ARROW is nearing completion, but it is not quite finished yet. How was ARROW planned and how does it look like as of this update?

Roughly two weeks ago when Deanna and I decided to change up the research direction, we realized that using ARTMIS (our large trailer that holds all of our instrumentation along with multiple batteries to allow for lengthy data collection stints) would not be feasible with a one-person project. The idea for ARROW came us when we saw that we could make use of the little red wagon that Deanna would use with ARTEMIS. For the past week and a half, I have been working on the “skeleton” of ARROW. I have done many modifications of the original red wagon.

With Deanna’s help from time to time, I started by making the wagon more sturdy and rigid by zip tying all of the loose parts of ARROW. Then I lined the inside of the wagon with a water-resistant canvas which is held down with zip ties as well. On the front side of ARROW there is a green wooden board that holds a metal tower, and on the tower, there is a green box which will house the TSI (particulate matter sensor) and hold the Solar Radiance Sensor (SRS). The green box is enclosed with 5 pieces of wood with a plastic opening on one side to access the TSI that is held down with Velcro, the SRS is simply mounted to the side of the box. On the back side of the wagon there is a 5-foot pole that is held in place with hose clamps. This will hold the Young sensor (wind sensor). Finally, the inside of the wagon is meant to hold the battery to power everything and the NOx/O3 sensors. The inside portion of the wagon is covered by the same canvas to protect the instruments and battery from water. This canvas to clamped to the sides, pole, and tower.

Personally I am very excited over all the progress that I have made with the wagon, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The next steps include adding a the wiring, a breaker to power and protect the instruments, and the tubing for the NOx and O3 sensors. Most of this is already planned out, and I am extatically looking foreword to the future of ARROW.