GSoC Weekly Report 12

(From Monday 4th August to 10th August 2014)

This week we could complete the planned work  of writing python programs for plotting real-time graphs and Experimental set-up and code for sound Experiments.

The days spent at  IUAC   (Inter University Accelerator Centre) , New Delhi, ( from 7th August to 10th August) were really fruitful in accelerating the project work.  Dr. Ajith Kumar (who is the man behind  Phoenix Project and inventor of  ExpEYES)  helped me to get permission to work in Teaching Lab and also arranged for my accommodation in IUAC Guest House. Ajit Sir helped me a lot with my project work in writing python programs to plot graphs in real-time.

He has also designed a tiny sine wave generator using ATTINY85 micro-controller which  is of great use in performing sound and waves experiments. We spent a lot of time in the laboratory to give finishing touch to all the programs developed so far.  Jithin B P , IISER Mohali, (jithinbp at gmail.com), who is working on developing android app for all ExpEYES programs was also there with us.

Things we could do ……

  • Completed Coupled Pendulum Experiment with all the theoretical details
  • Experiment to obtain Chladni figures is complete with the experimental set up and also the python code access the experiment.
  • We got the air-track set-up for doing the mechanics experiments. Repeated some of the motion related  experiments to study the changes required. We modified the program for using srf module to plot position time graph. Now we can fetch the position-time data and store it in a file and then plot the p-t, v-t and a-t graphs. We wrote another program to plot this graph in real -time. This program enables students to see the graph in real time as the glider moves on the air track.
  • We also set-up a pendulum experiment using a thick metal block and suspended it using  long strings to have a pendulum of large time period. The program is written to plot the position of pendulum using motion sensor. Committed the same to Git repository. The plot shows the smooth sine curve of oscillations.
  • Tried the experiment with motion sensor using toy cars. this can be an amazing demonstration experiment for highschool students.

Modified and finalized the following python programs…

  • pendulum-echo.py : Program to study oscillations of a pendulum using ultrasonic sensor sfr05 (position detector) by plotting real-time graph
  • coupled-pend-real-time.py : Program to plot oscillations of TWO coupled pendulums in real-time
  • motion-airtrack-echo.py : Programe to plot position time graph for vehicles moving on linear air-track
  • motion-compare-airtrack-echo.py : This program allows to plot position-time graph af motion of a vehicle on an air track.
    One can take multiple trials and view all the plots. this can be used to compare different aspects of motion
    like velocity, acceleration etc…
  • motion-two-srfecho.py : This program allows user to use TWO motion sensors (srf-05 modules) and plot both the graphs
    in real-time. This can be used for studying collisions, conservation of momentum etc…on air track or also frictionless track.
  • We did  necessary modifications in  ATTINY85 based board which can take square wave as input and generates sine wave.
  • Did the experiment to obtain Lissajous figures using two ATTINY boards and wrote the python code to plot the graphs.
  • Also wrote a code for GUI for sound and waves experiments.

To Do Next Week……

Since tomorrow is the [GSoC 2014] Suggested ‘pencils down’ date, therefore coming week I will be working on scrubbing the   code, improving  documentation and completing integrated GUIs for mechanics and sound experiments.

The Firm ‘pencils down’ date is ob 18th August 2014. therefore before Sunday 17th August I will try and give finishing touch to everything.