Project Logs

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• Upgrade to Raspberry PI v3 NOIR Camera fixed issues

  The Technocrat • 06/21/2024 at 19:29 • 0 comments

  Updating to Raspberry PI v3 NOIR camera had a huge improvement in color and quality. Almost makes me wonder if my Raspberry PI v2 NOIR camera had a defect. Below is new image from the device. Notice the blue tinge and reflections are mostly gone. 

• Python Simulation of Light Coverage on a Petri Dish

  The Technocrat • 05/02/2024 at 20:42 • 0 comments

  I was getting a lot of glare with the IR emitting LED above the petri dish. I read that moving the LEDs to the side to have a 45 degree angle of incidence would reduce glare.

  To figure out the placement of the LEDs I wrote a python script that visualized the light coverage. 

  My next step is to add a top down view to the script

• First pass of adding IR emitter

  The Technocrat • 04/17/2024 at 03:37 • 0 comments

  I found a 940 nm LED IR emitter at the maker space that is able to illuminate the Petri dish cover. At first I thought it was not working, but then another member at the maker space helped me realize the IR emitter has a narrow emittance band (18 degrees). After pointing the IR LED towards the bottom I was able to see objects inside the cover.

  Fig 1)

  Fig 1: 90 degree LED position is the left image and 45 degree LED position is the right image.

  Interestingly the flatworms who up very bright in the IR light. 

  Fig 2)

  Fig 2: Hard to tell if the bright spots are the flatworms or artifacts of the water in the Petri dish.

  Possible improvements

  * Try a ~840 nm LED for increased brightness

  * Add one or two more IR emitters

  * Add sockets into the cover roof for the IR emitters

  * Add a "lens shroud" around the camera hole opening

View all 3 project logs