Molecular Communication Wind Tunnel

The purpose of this project was to design and construct a wind tunnel to test the functionality of molecular communication in a variety of environmental conditions. An Arduino Uno was used to control 16 fans organized in a 4x4 grid. Because the Uno only possess six pins capable of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), a PWM extension module was also required to minimize the number of Arduino boards needed for system control. The speed of the fans was controlled by adjusting the duty cycle of the PWM signal, and coil whine was minimized by adjusting the signal frequency.

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) was also designed using Processing IDE to facilitate an easy and efficient user experience. The GUI could be easily uploaded to any PC. It included individual on/off and speed control of each of the 16 fans, as well as preset wind directions for the entire grid.