Arduino Geiger Counter Data Logger

Me and my son wanted to do a cool science project with our shared high-powered rocketry hobby. We decided to attempt to measure the difference in background radiation between ground level and apogee.

The geiger counter kit was soldered together by my son. The code to get the data from the geiger counter and the barometric sensor and write them to the SD card was written by me.

Parts

• [Arduino Micro] (http://www.adafruit.com/products/1086)
• [mightyohm.com Geiger Counter] (http://mightyohm.com/blog/products/geiger-counter/)
• BMP180 Barometric Pressure/Temperature/Altitude Sensor
• [MicroSD card breakout board] (http://www.adafruit.com/products/254)

Setup

Connections:

• Arduino D11 to MicroSD CS

• Arduino SCK to MicroSD CLK

• Arduino MOSI to MicroSD DI

• Arduino MISO to MicroSD DO

• Arduino SDA to BMP180 SDA

• Arduino SCL to BMP180 SCL

• Arduino RX to Geiger J2 pin 5

• Arduino 3V to BMP180 VIN

• Arduino 3V to MicroSD 3V

• Arduino 3V to Geiger J6 pin 1

• Arduino GND to MicroSD and BMP180 GND

• Arduino GND to Geiger J6 pin 3

Libraries Needed

• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Sensor.git
• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_BMP085_Unified.git

Sample Outout:

Time	Pressure	AGL	CPS	CPM	uSv/hr
2026	1001.40	-0.34	1	2	0.01
3022	1001.42	-0.51	0	2	0.01
4020	1001.37	-0.08	0	2	0.01
5016	1001.39	-0.25	0	2	0.01
6012	1001.37	-0.08	0	2	0.01
7009	1001.38	-0.17	1	3	0.01
8005	1001.42	-0.51	2	5	0.02
9001	1001.45	-0.76	0	5	0.02
9998	1001.40	-0.34	0	5	0.02
10994	1001.40	-0.34	0	5	0.02
11991	1001.36	0.00	0	5	0.02
12987	1001.41	-0.42	2	7	0.03
13983	1001.41	-0.42	0	7	0.03
14980	1001.41	-0.42	1	8	0.04
15976	1001.40	-0.34	0	8	0.04
16972	1001.36	0.00	0	8	0.04
17969	1001.36	0.00	1	9	0.05
18965	1001.37	-0.08	0	9	0.05
19961	1001.36	0.00	0	9	0.05
20958	1001.36	0.00	0	9	0.05
21954	1001.37	-0.08	0	9	0.05

Results from an actual flight

[In flight video] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYMYLdCidDs)