Modules/sensors to use to detect what floor the device is at

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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Hello our group capstone project will be for the individuals with locomotor disability we would like to create a project where in there will be an autonomous wheelchair iot that can follow lines automatically, detect their location using gps module and etc. (to be implemented in the future) we are kind of stuck on what kind of module or sensor we can use to detect, so that during emergencies we can monitor what building floor is the person at. thank you and any insights are much appreciated :slight_smile:

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Welcome to the forum

How many floors does the building have and what is the height of each of them ?

A pressure sensor may be able to do what you want

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there are about 5 floors in each building and about 10ft (not exact) per floor.

if a pressure sensor were to be used will it kind of get affected by the weather or any HVAC systems?

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A pressure sensor will be affected by the atmospheric pressure, but you can compensate for that by knowing the current pressure at a known height

If the sensor is affected by changes in temperature then you can also compensate for that

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Use a difrente color for line at each floor.

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will MPL3115A2 or BMP280 suffice for the altitude detection inside buildings?

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Sorry, but I have no experience of either

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thanks everyone for your insights as it gave our group ideas to use a pressure sensor for detecting the altitude or even changing the color of lines for each floor can be an alternative if the sensor may not be reliable at sudden pressure changes by the HVAC systems or even weathers, any feedbacks or insights will still be welcomed and very much appreciated.

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I would expect indoors altitude sensing quite complicated and asking frequent calibration.
Since you already have sensors for line following, it would be effective to use those for floor detection as well. Think of short "bar code" on the line to be detected.

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You want to use a GPS module indoors ?

Wont work, as in get a location fix, in a lot of buildings.

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Here are some results that I obtained using a BME280 (it's a BMP280 that also provides relative humidity).

Pressure at 11th floor = 892.7 +- 0.1hPa
Pressure at 2th floor (street level) = 895.4 +- 0.1hPa

That means a 2.7 hPa variation in 9 floors or a medium value of 0.3 hPa per floor.

HVAC at my room had no noticeable influence on the result

The atmospheric pressure will change with the weather, the location and the day. So the key to use a pressure sensor in your project is to calibrate it often as @kmin already stated.

I like the idea of a visual/color recognition.

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I’d put an IR beacon on each floor or areas that may be encountered..
The beacon code identifies each fooor / area uniquely l

You can use that data any way you like, or transmit it back to base via wifi, and make higher levelel decisions on the entire fleet’s locatims.