Test DHT22 Sensors with Arduino and MATLAB © GPL3+

DESCRIPTION

Have you bought a bundle of temperature and humidity sensors and you have to pick up one for your project? Aren't you sure of their readings? Do you need to correct the acquired data? This project may help you!

I have been inspired by a MATLAB tutorial about live plotting the temperature data acquired with Arduino. I also have a package with 5 DHT22 sensors, which I wanted to test together, to see if they read the same values and they are within the tolerance limits established by the manufacturer.

Final plot with averaged data and error bands

The codes here uploaded should work flawlessly, provided that you have the required MATLAB packages and you have assigned the right serial port in the MATLAB script. Please, see the comments in the code.

Since the MATLAB code works with a loop, you may want to disable the Arduino reset when communicating with the serial port. Add a 10uf capacitor between GND and RESET, as explained here.

The data correction, useful to align the readings of the 5 sensors, was made by checking the live values with a laboratory instrument. In my case, the sensor number 5 was the only one that correctly read both humidity and temperature in several conditions. The other sensors measured different humidity values, but the same temperature. Thus, I have used data acquired in two tests from sensor number 5 to correct the humidity readings of the other sensors. In the code here uploaded this section is commented and MATLAB will plot and export data as they are acquired from the sensors. No user action is necessary. Please see the comments in the code and, if desired, edit the correction function according to your needs.

The DHT22 sensor should have a built-in resistor, but adding another 10 KOhm resistor is not a problem and should not alter the readings.

Components and supplies

Description:

Arduino UNO & Genuino UNO

but also a Nano will work

Breadboard (generic)

Jumper wires (generic)

DHT22 Temperature Sensor

SparkFun Pushbutton switch 12mm

not mandatory, you may rely only on time limit

Capacitor 10 µF

useful to avoid auto reset on serial connection

Resistor 1k ohm

switch pull-down resistor

Resistor 10k ohm

usually included in the DHT22 sensor, but nothing wrong happens by adding them

Apps and online services

Description:

Arduino IDE

MATLAB

About this project

Description:

Since the MATLAB code works with a loop, you may want to disable the Arduino reset when communicating with the serial port. Add a 10uf capacitor between GND and RESET, as explained here.

The DHT22 sensor should have a built-in resistor, but adding another 10 KOhm resistor is not a problem and should not alter the readings.

Code

Description:

DHT22_5sensor.inoArduino

Arduino sketch to read sensors data and pass them to the computer by the serial port.

// Libraries
#include <DHT.h>


// Initialize DHT sensor for normal 16mhz Arduino
DHT dht1(2, DHT22);
DHT dht2(4, DHT22);
DHT dht3(7, DHT22);
DHT dht4(8, DHT22);
DHT dht5(12, DHT22);

int const stopPin = 6;
int stopFlag = 0;


// Variables
float hum;  //Stores humidity value
float temp; //Stores temperature value

void setup()
{
  pinMode(stopPin, INPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  dht1.begin();
  dht2.begin();
  dht3.begin();
  dht4.begin();
  dht5.begin();
}

void loop()
{
    delay(2000);

    // Read humidity from the 5 sensors and display it on a single line
    hum = dht1.readHumidity();
    Serial.print(hum);
    Serial.print(":");
    hum = dht2.readHumidity();
    Serial.print(hum);
    Serial.print(":");
    hum = dht3.readHumidity();
    Serial.print(hum);
    Serial.print(":");
    hum = dht4.readHumidity();
    Serial.print(hum);
    Serial.print(":");
    hum = dht5.readHumidity();
    Serial.print(hum);
    Serial.print(":");

    // Read temperature from the 5 sensors and display it on a single line
    temp = dht1.readTemperature();
    Serial.print(temp);
    Serial.print(":");
    temp = dht2.readTemperature();
    Serial.print(temp);
    Serial.print(":");
    temp = dht3.readTemperature();
    Serial.print(temp);
    Serial.print(":");
    temp = dht4.readTemperature();
    Serial.print(temp);
    Serial.print(":");
    temp = dht5.readTemperature();

    // Check stop condition
    stopFlag = digitalRead(stopPin);
      if (stopFlag == LOW){
        Serial.println(temp);
      }
      else{
        Serial.print(temp);
        Serial.println(":999");
      }
    
}

DHT22_5sensor.mMATLAB

MATLAB code to read serial data from the Arduino. Please check your port number on line 18. First acquisition should be without correction. For the first time leave lines 66 to 68 commented. I have used an external tool to verify temperature and humidity readings and it appeared that sensor number 5 read both correctly in several condition. I have written the humCorr.m function to fix the other sensors readings from the value of sensor number 5. If interested in correction, manipulate humCorr.m function and/or lines 66-68 according to your needs.

% Script to test a bundle of 5 DHT22 sensors with an Arduino (Uno)
% microcontroller. Acquire data from the sensors until a stop button is
% pressed on the board or a time limit is reached. Plot last 10 minutes of
% live data during acquisition, the entire data set after the acquisition,
% and save these data on a spreadsheet.

close all
instrreset
clear
clc

% Acquisition time (min). Insert inf to disable time limit.
waitTime = 10;

%% Acquire and display live data

% Open serial communication
s = serial('/dev/cu.usbmodem411','BAUD',9600);

figure
color = ['b', 'r', 'g', 'm', 'c', 'b', 'r', 'g', 'm', 'c'];
for i = 1:5
    h(i) = animatedline('Color',color(i),'LineWidth',2);
end
axh = gca;
axh.YGrid = 'on';
axh.YLim = [30 80];
xlabel('Time')
ylabel('Humidity (%)')
legend('Sensor 1', 'Sensor 2', 'Sensor 3', 'Sensor 4', 'Sensor 5',...
    'Location','NorthWest')

figure
for i = 6:10
    h(i) = animatedline('Color',color(i),'LineWidth',2);
end
axt = gca;
axt.YGrid = 'on';
axt.YLim = [10 40];
xlabel('Time')
ylabel('Temperature (\circC)')
legend('Sensor 1', 'Sensor 2', 'Sensor 3', 'Sensor 4', 'Sensor 5',...
    'Location','NorthWest')

stop = false;
waitTime = duration(0,waitTime,0);
startTime = datetime('now');
t = datetime('now') - startTime;

while ~stop && t < waitTime
    
    % Read data from serial port
    fopen(s);
    idn = fscanf(s);
    fclose(s);
    
    % Separate data
    C = strsplit(idn,':');
    
    % Display data in MATLAB command window
    serialData = str2double(C);
    
    % Humidity correction factor from measurement of sensor 5
    corrData = serialData;
    % First acquisition should be without correction. For the first time leave lines 66 to 68 commented. I have used an external tool to verify temperature and humidity readings and it appeared that sensor number 5 read both correctly in several condition. I have written the humCorr.m function to fix the other sensors readings from the value of sensor 5. If interested in correction, manipulate humCorr.m function and/or the following lines according to your needs.
    %for i = 1:4
    %   corrData(i) = serialData(i) * humCorr(serialData(5),i);
    %end
    
    disp(corrData)
    
    % Get current time
    t = datetime('now') - startTime;
       
    % Add points to animation (humidity data)
    for i = 1:5
        addpoints(h(i),datenum(t),corrData(i))
    end
    
    % Update axes
    axh.XLim = datenum([t-seconds(600) t]);
    datetick('x','keeplimits')
    drawnow
    
    % Add points to animation (temperature data)
    for i = 6:10
        addpoints(h(i),datenum(t),corrData(i))
    end
    
    % Update axes
    axt.XLim = datenum([t-seconds(600) t]);
    datetick('x','keeplimits')
    drawnow
    
    % Check stop condition from serial monitor
    if str2double(C{end}) == 999
        stop = true;
    end
end

% Output message
if stop
    disp('Data acquisition ended because the STOP button has been pressed')
else
    disp('Data acquisition ended because the TIME limit has been reached')
end

%% Plot the recorded data

for i = 1:5
    [~,humLogs(i,:)] = getpoints(h(i));
    [timeLogs,tempLogs(i,:)] = getpoints(h(i+5));
end
timeSecs = (timeLogs-timeLogs(1))*24*3600;

figure
subplot(1,2,1)
plot(timeSecs,humLogs,'LineWidth',2)
grid on
ax = gca;
ylim([round(ax.YLim(1)-2), round(ax.YLim(2)+2)])
xlabel('Elapsed time (s)')
ylabel('Humidity (%)')

subplot(1,2,2)
timeSecs = (timeLogs-timeLogs(1))*24*3600;
plot(timeSecs,tempLogs,'LineWidth',2)
hold off, grid on
ax = gca;
ylim([round(ax.YLim(1)-2), round(ax.YLim(2)+2)])
xlabel('Elapsed time (s)')
ylabel('Temperature (\circC)')
legend('Sensor 1', 'Sensor 2', 'Sensor 3', 'Sensor 4', 'Sensor 5',...
    'Location','Best')

%% Save results to a file

T = table(timeSecs',humLogs',tempLogs','VariableNames',...
    {'Time_s','Relative_Humidity','Temperature_C'});
filename = 'Humidity_and_Temperature_Data.xls';

% Delete previous file, if exists, to avoid append of data
if exist(filename,'file')
    delete(filename)
end

% Write table to file
writetable(T,filename)
% Print confirmation to command line
fprintf('Results table with %g humidity and temperature measurements saved to file %s\n',...
    length(timeSecs),filename)

%% Summary charts with original data, averaged data, and uncertainty

for sensor = 1:5
    
    % Smooth out readings with moving average filter
    smoothHum = smooth(humLogs(sensor,:),25);
    smoothTemp = smooth(tempLogs(sensor,:),25);
    
    % Typical accuracy of the humidity sensor
    humMax = 1.02 * smoothHum;
    humMin = 0.98 * smoothHum;
    
    % Worst accuracy of the humidity sensor
    humMaxW = 1.05 * smoothHum;
    humMinW = 0.95 * smoothHum;
    
    % Accuracy of the temperature sensor
    tempMax = smoothTemp + 0.5;
    tempMin = smoothTemp - 0.5;
    
    figure
    subplot(1,2,1), hold on
    plot(timeSecs,humLogs(sensor,:),'b','LineWidth',2)
    plot(timeSecs,smoothHum,'r','LineWidth',1)
    plot(timeSecs,humMin,'r--','LineWidth',2)
    plot(timeSecs,humMax,'r--','LineWidth',2)
    plot(timeSecs,humMinW,'m--','LineWidth',1)
    plot(timeSecs,humMaxW,'m--','LineWidth',1)
    hold off, grid on, ylim([round(min(humMinW))-2, round(max(humMaxW))+2])
    xlabel('Elapsed time (s)')
    ylabel('Humidity (%)')
    title(['Humidity data, average, and uncertainty for sensor ',num2str(sensor)])
    
    subplot(1,2,2), hold on
    plot(timeSecs,tempLogs(sensor,:),'b','LineWidth',2)
    plot(timeSecs,smoothTemp,'r','LineWidth',1)
    plot(timeSecs,tempMin,'r--','LineWidth',2)
    plot(timeSecs,tempMax,'r--','LineWidth',2)
    hold off, grid on, ylim([round(min(tempMin))-2, round(max(tempMax))+2])
    xlabel('Elapsed time (s)')
    ylabel('Temperature (\circC)')
    title(['Temperature data, average, and uncertainty for sensor ',num2str(sensor)])
    
end

humCorr.mMATLAB

MATLAB function used to correct the humidity readings from the value of one sensor. Not called if lines 66-68 of the main script DHT22_5sensor.m are commented. Ignore or edit this function according to your needs.

function corrFact = humCorr(rh5,sensNum)
% Humidity correction factor from measurement of sensors 1,2,3,4,5
% rh5 is the relative humidity of sensor number 5
% sensNum is the sensor number (1 to 5)
%
% Data to interpolate:
% RH5 30.843        1.008   1.007   1.065   1.011   1.000
% RH5 53.775		1.077	1.150	1.136	1.059   1.000

data = [ 36.992     1.033	1.056	1.114	1.040   1.000;...
         62.333		1.060	1.115	1.170	1.066   1.000];
     
% check on input
if sensNum ~= 1 && sensNum ~= 2 && sensNum ~= 3 && sensNum ~= 4 && sensNum ~= 5
    error('sensNum must be 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5')
end
     
deltaX = data(2,1) - data(1,1);             % scalar
deltaY = data(2,2:end) - data(1,2:end);     % array 1D
m = deltaY/deltaX;                    % slope of the linear interpolant

corrFact = data(1,sensNum+1) + m(sensNum) * (rh5 - data(1,1));

Schematics

Description:

Connections

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Breadboard view

Test DHT22 Sensors with Arduino and MATLAB © GPL3+

DESCRIPTION

DHT22_5sensor.inoArduino

DHT22_5sensor.mMATLAB

humCorr.mMATLAB

Connections

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