Concord Consortium's SmartProbe Web Page

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The SmartProbe development effort is an outgrowth of SLiC, the Science Learning in Context project and CC's involvement in the Ubiquitous Computing strand of CILT, the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies.

A SmartProbe combines a sensor, analog-to-digital conversion, a microcontroller, memory for saving its calibration, serial communication, and power-management circuitry all into one small, convenient package. The design goal is, as far as possible within economic constraints, to increase the ease of use and reduce the opportunities for mistakes and failure. Possible features include:

• Calibration. Once calibrated, a SmartProbe remembers its calibration. Using the calibration a SmartProbe reports back to the computer in calibrated physical units instead of raw data.
• Power management. SmartProbes use as little power as possible and, whenever possible, eliminate the battery entirely by getting all necessary power from the computerps serial interface. This means that they will aalmost always work when taken off the shelf.
• On/Off. A SmartProbes do not have an on-off switch, thereby eliminating another source of potential confusion in the field.. Whenever an active serial interface connection is detected it automatically turn itself on. A SmartProbe may have a button to initiate measurements.
• Standard I/O. SmartProbes use a standard three-wire RS-232 serial communication protocol so that they can be connected to the widest range of computing hardware. Memory. Advanced SmartProbes include a power source and have the capability of recording data while disconnected from the computer.
• Standard communications. SmartProbes have a communications protocol to enable code, commands and data to be passed between the computer and the probe.

A CILT sponsored white paper on Smart Probes is available in rich text format here. A slideshow presentation on SmartProbes is available here.

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CC Sonar Ranger

Concord Consortium Sonar Ranger

The Concord Consortium Sonar Ranger (CCSR) is a battery-powered ultrasonic ranging device based on the Polaroid ultrasonic range finder used in Polaroid cameras and several digital measuring tapes.

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CC Smart Temperature Probe

Concord Consortium Smart Temperature Probe

The first generation Smart Temperature Probe, CCTemp, developed at Concord Consortium is designed to be powered directly from a Macintosh or eMate serial port. This version uses 0-5V RS-485 communication and is not compatible with standard RS-232 serial interfaces which use positive and negative signal levels.

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CC Smart Light Probe

Concord Consortium Smart Light Probe

The first generation Smart Light Probe, CCLight, developed at Concord Consortium is designed to be powered directly from a Macintosh or eMate serial port. This version uses 0-5V RS-485 communication and is not compatible with standard RS-232 serial interfaces which use positive and negative signal levels.

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CC Smart Digital Multimeter

Concord Consortium Smart Digital Multimeter

Our first Smart Digital Multimeter, CCDmm, developed at Concord Consortium is based on the Metex ME-21 multimeter. The Metex ME-21 comes with an optically isolated RS-232 serial interface. We developed a special cable and software to allow it to work with Macintosh computers.

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for more information contact: stephen@concord.org

last updated: 6 June 2000