li-wear

THE opportunity

How might we alert park visitors about dangerous weather conditions without interrupting the natural environment?
With the rise of IoT, Canyonland can use ambient technology to alert and communicate with visitors about Flash Floods, Heat Waves, Forest Fires.

THE CHAllenge

Lack of Alert System: With over 527 square miles to cover, Canyonland rangers have no way of alerting park visitors of dangerous weather conditions.
Inability to Recognise Danger: Visitors struggle to identify the physical warning signs of dangerous weather, and depend on park staff for information.

THE ZONES - MApPing weather conditions

The park is mapped into four zones, primarily based on terrain. Because of this, each zone may have different environmental factors.

A GPS system will be used to track visitors’ locations. Signals, represented by three different colours, will be sent out to visitors. Each colour indicates an incoming dangerous environment factor. By focusing on zones, park staff can send targeted alerts to visitors.

Why a wearable?

Hikers and campers want to immerse themselves in nature and are often looking to separate themselves from technology. A small wearable allows the visitor to move through and interact with the park natural, without disrupting their experience or that of any nearby wildlife.

**IoT Device Workflow**
Detailing of the end-to-end process

How does it work?

Canyonland staff can alert park visitors about dangerous weather conditions by sending signals to the wearable device equipped with coloured LEDs.

LEDs offer an obtrusive signal that will be seen by the user. Importantly, the LEDs are off in the device's resting state as not to disrupt the visitor's time in the park. Only the park staff has the ability to turn on the signal and purposefully disrupt.

Prototyping

The initial prototype is to shows the use of multiple colours using a neopixel. One signal was shown at a time by controlling the colours on the device. Upon modification, a button was added to the system to create a feedback loop. The user presses to button to indicate they have received the signal and are now are of dangerous weather conditions.

Components

Neopixel: A circular ring made out of multicoloured LEDs that can be controlled by the code.

Diffuser: While the LEDs need to be noticeable, they do not need to be painfully bright or noticed by or disturbing to near-bye wildlife.

Off-button: Users are able to stop/turn off the lights to signal they have received the communication.

THE CODE

The code works with the neopixel library and has 2 custom functions to give weather warnings to the visitors in the park. It allows for inputs from the particle console.

The setup requires us to initialize two components:

Neopixel ring: The colours here will act as a weather warning to the visitors.
Switch: This switch will be the feedback button. On receiving the warning the visitors can let the rangers/administration know that they have acknowledged it.

In the loop, we call the colorWipe function and read the buttonState to register an acknowledgement.

A flag integer was introduced to store to buttonState (High/Low) and make sure it does not change as the button is not pressed.

We also have a Particle.function which helps us communicate the weather emergency right from the console.

The code has two functions.

Acknowledge: This function is called when the visitor presses the button on the side of the wearable. The light goes away and flag is set back to 0.
colorWipe: This function helps in lighting up the neopixel when a warning is sent. It's possible to vary the timing and pattern if no acknowledgement is received

Final FOrm

Different coloured LEDs can alert park visitors about specific weather conditions. Red for forest fires, Yellow for Heat Waves and Blue for Flash Floods. Attaching these LEDs to a bracelet allows the alerts to be less intrusive in the outdoor experience. When a visitor needs to be alerted, their bracelet will begin to flash, notifying them of danger.