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User Needs, Benchmarking, and Requirements

Introduction

Portable weather stations are used in a wide variety of applications. Some use them for personal applications such as in residential homes and farmlands to predict weather conditions. Others use them for more critical applications such as emergency responders conducting hazard analysis to run more accurate tests on the weather to guide them in decisions regarding public safety. These devices are in high demand and are always in need of being improved while minimizing the cost for both personal and emergency applications. Users describe difficulty with the longevity of the batteries, the accuracy of sensors, the range of applications, and the wireless connectivity of devices.

 

Objectives

The aim for this project is to design and build a reliable, attractive, and functional weather station with a small form factor. The product will be similar in quality to commercially available, professionally designed products and that are financially available for all users. The product will solve real world environmental problems while improving on the accuracy and range of serial sensors such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed sensors. As a team, the objective is to create a mobile weather station that stands out against the other project teams and competes with the devices currently available. Our main competitors will be the handheld anemometer by Intendvision, the Kestrel 3000 pocket weather meter, the HODIK weather station, the La Crosse Personal Weather Station, and the Netatmo weather station. Based on the user feedback from the devices of our competitors, we will aim to increase the longevity of the battery life of these devices, the accuracy of the temperature and other serial sensors, integrate more sensing options, and improve the wireless connection between devices.

 

Stakeholders

• Target group: Middle-income individuals who are avid nature fans or who have active outdoor hobbies.
• Target purchaser: Target group profile with special attention to Full Nest I and Full Nest II mothers.
• Customer service: Prefers easy-to-repair, cheap to replace, and simple to use product.
• Marketing & Sales division: Looks for unique selling points that distinguishes our product from countless competitors on the market.
• Retailers: Prefer products that can withstand a wide range of storage conditions including variations in temperature, vibration, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, and have a strong and compact, theft, and vandalism-proof packaging.
• Regulatory instances: The product needs to comply with CE guidelines in Europe, including 2014/53/EU, 2011/65/EU, and 2009/125/EC as well as RoHS: EN50581:2012, FCC Rules part 15 ID BCG-A2083 and BCG-A2084 for the United States, Canada IC numbers 579C-A2083 and 579C-A2084, TP TC 020/2011 for Russia, Mexico NOM conformity to A2083, A2084, and A2083, Turkey’s AEEE compliance, Japan VCCI codes 003-190159, D190123003, 003-190158, and D190122003, Singapore IMDA DB00063, and Malaysia MCMC-CIDF15000007.

 

Use Cases

We envision our product being used by everyday people with an interest in the weather, such as the people described in the following stories.

John

John is a 68-year-old man who has a small garden in his backyard where he grows vegetables. He has been gardening for many years and takes great pride in his crops. However, in recent years, he has been facing a problem with weather events destroying his plants. He would often come home to find his garden flooded or his plants wilted due to extreme heat. Determined to save his crops, John decided to invest in a weather station. The weather station senses and reports weather conditions such as temperature, humidity, and precipitation. With this information, John is able to take the necessary precautions to protect his garden from the elements. He sets up a watering system to protect his plants from the heat and a drainage system to prevent flooding. He also sets up a small greenhouse to protect his plants from frost. Thanks to the weather station, John is able to save his crops and continue enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Samantha

Samantha is a 12-year-old girl who has always been fascinated by the weather. She would often spend her free time pretending to be a news weather anchor, giving forecasts to her family and friends. However, her pretend forecasts were based on guesses rather than actual data. She always wished she had some real equipment to help her understand the weather better. For her birthday one year, Samantha’s parents surprised her with a weather station. The weather station can sense temperature and precipitation, and it was just what she needed to start her own weather observations. She set it up in the backyard and started tracking the weather patterns in her area. The data she collected was fascinating and helped her to understand the weather better. This made her even more determined to study to become a meteorologist. She would spend hours studying the data and learning more about the atmosphere. The weather station was her first step in becoming a real meteorologist, and she was so excited to see where it would take her.

Keith

Keith is an avid hunter. His favorite game to hunt is Elk. He typically goes up to Coconino National Forest to hunt some. However, he has noticed that the online weather results are not nearly as accurate as they claim to be. He did some research and found the Weather Station by Team 304 and was immediately impressed. He is able to set up several devices due to their affordability. They are light and compact so he can bring many out to the large area he hunts in, without weighing him down. But most importantly, he is able to get much more accurate local weather data, which is pivotal for his big game hunt.

 

User Needs

Our team employed a comprehensive methodology to identify and prioritize user needs for our product. We first examined reviews of competing products and observed the pros and cons of existing products to gain a deeper understanding of what customers liked and didn’t like. This information was then translated into a list of needs for our product. Our team identified the following needs:

1. Device should withstand weather conditions.
2. The device must display the information it collects.
3. Device should function reliably for up to 2-3 years.
4. Device electronics should be protected from moisture as much as possible.
5. The device needs good quality material for its build.
6. The product must run for a long time without maintenance.
7. Have a mounting feature.
8. The product must be reliable.
9. Should be able to run on batteries.
10. Should be ergonomically friendly.
11. Should be compact.
12. Display should be easy to read.
13. The product must indicate its current state to the user.
14. Battery life should be long lasting.
15. The product’s design must not attempt to prevent the user from using it for their desired purpose.
16. Device should employ a method to clip or attach it to something for carrying purposes to reduce likelihood of losing it.
17. Device is low weight, making it easy to carry.
18. The physical build of the device needs to utilize the inner space as efficiently as possible and minimizes empty space inside.
19. The product must provide accurate information.
20. Have a wide temperature range for all climates.
21. Should be hand held.
22. Device must have reliable battery system.
23. Device must measure humidity.
24. Device sensors must be accurate.
25. The device must sense the environment.
26. The product must be reliable.
27. Device must have reliable results/readings.
28. Device has multiple functionalities.
29. Device could benefit from having the ability to calibrate it.
30. The product must be low-power.
31. Needs to have replaceable sensors.
32. Sensors should be cheap to replace.
33. Device should have safeguards in place to prevent picking up noise from readings while in use.
34. Device must support a very high duty cycle.
35. Readings are consistent.
36. Device must have reliable hardware.
37. The product must include basic features of an electronic device that all users will expect.
38. Readings from device are made easier to see with backlit display; use at night, dark places and bright areas are possible.
39. Device should have a way to attach it to another surface or prop to minimize noisy readings.
40. The product must have a short set-up time.
41. Device must give customer informed insights.
42. Needs a manual adjuster to calibrate sensors.
43. Needs a debugging function to test functionality of sensors.
44. Device must give users un-observable data.
45. Device must be beneficial to customers knowledge of their environment.
46. The product must behave in an intuitive, easy-to-understand way.
47. Device must have notification abilities.
48. Device offers a means to digitally graph readings through provided software.
49. The product must have a clear user interface.
50. Device must inform users of results.
51. User input for settings ought to be saved upon power down for ease of use.
52. The product must not incorporate features which the user has to ‘work around’ to do what they want.
53. Device display needs to be focused on its purpose with minimal other distractions.
54. Device must update frequently.
55. Auto-shutoff features should be configurable within the device.
56. Indoor unit and outdoor unit need to have a strong connective signal for consistent readings.
57. Display should have adjustable brightness.
58. Display should have a manual sleep mode to turn the mode on and off when desired.
59. Needs a function to set day and time.
60. Device could benefit from having a zero-ing feature to minimize noisy readings from using it in close proximity.
61. The product must respond to user inputs in real time.
62. The device must be easy to use.
63. Device needs to respond easily.
64. The product must not require frequent reboots.
65. Device must have independent “server”.
66. Device should be affordable, in terms of construction and delivery.
67. The product’s documentation must be clear enough to understand the first time.
68. Fast customer service.
69. Device offers a feature that more affordable alternatives do not offer.
70. The product must be affordable to own and maintain, not just to purchase.

In order to effectively organize and prioritize these needs, we assigned them to five categories: Mechanical, Electronic, Software, Back End, and Other. This categorization allowed for clear and efficient communication and reasoning within our team as we worked to rank the needs by priority. The importance of each need was determined through a collaborative process on this Google Jamboard, where the team discussed over voice chat and assigned weights to the needs based on their perceived impact on the overall user experience. Screenshots of each step of this process can be found in Appendix B.

 

Aspects

We then extracted meaning from the user needs by carefully analyzing the information gathered from reviews of similar products and observing the pros and cons of existing products. This allowed us to identify the key features and functionality that customers valued in similar products. We then translated these user needs into a list of product requirements that would ensure that our product met each of the most important user needs. To ensure that our product met these requirements, we prioritized the most important user needs and assigned them a specific requirement for our product. This process involved breaking down the user needs into smaller, more specific components and outlining the necessary steps to meet each one. Additionally, we continuously reviewed and refined the list of requirements throughout the development process to ensure that they remained aligned with the evolving needs of our target market.

We outlined the following major design aspects for our product.

1. Hardware / Product Design
   1. The product must be able to withstand various weather conditions.
   2. The product must display the information it collects.
   3. The product must function reliably for up to 2-3 years.
   4. The product must have measures in place to protect its electronics from moisture.
   5. The product must be made with high-quality materials for its construction.
   6. The product must be able to run for a long time without requiring maintenance.
   7. The product must have a mounting feature.
   8. The product must be reliable.
   9. The product must be able to run on batteries.
   10. The product must be ergonomically designed for comfort and ease of use.
   11. The product must be compact in size.
   12. The product’s display must be easy to read.
   13. The product must clearly indicate its current state to the user.
   14. The product must have long-lasting battery life.
   15. The product’s design must not restrict or limit the user’s desired use of the device.
   16. The product must have a method for attaching or clipping it to something for easy carrying and to reduce the likelihood of losing it.
   17. The product must be lightweight and easy to carry.
   18. The product must efficiently utilize the internal space and minimize empty space inside.
   19. The product must provide accurate information.
   20. The product must be able to operate in a wide range of temperatures and climates.
   21. The product must be designed to be held in the hand.
2. Software / Functionality
   1. The product must measure humidity.
   2. The product must have accurate sensors.
   3. The product must sense the environment.
   4. The product must be reliable.
   5. The product must have reliable results/readings.
   6. The product must have multiple functionalities.
   7. The product must have the ability to calibrate it.
   8. The product must have low-power consumption.
   9. The product must have replaceable sensors.
   10. The product must have sensors that are cheap to replace.
   11. The product must have safeguards in place to prevent picking up noise from readings while in use.
   12. The product must support a very high duty cycle.
   13. The product must have consistent readings.
   14. The product must have reliable hardware.
   15. The product must include basic features of an electronic device that all users will expect.
   16. The product must have a backlit display to make readings easier to see in low light conditions.
   17. The product’s sensors must have a way to attach it to another surface or prop to minimize noisy readings.
3. Interactivity & User Experience
   1. The product must have a short set-up time.
   2. The product must give customers informed insights.
   3. The product must have a manual adjuster to calibrate sensors.
   4. The product must have a debugging function to test the functionality of sensors.
   5. The product must give users unobservable data.
   6. The product must be beneficial to customers’ knowledge of their environment.
   7. The product must behave in an intuitive, easy-to-understand way.
   8. The product must have notification abilities.
   9. The product must offer a means to digitally graph readings through provided software.
   10. The product must have a clear user interface.
   11. The product must inform users of results.
   12. The product must save user input for settings upon power down for ease of use.
   13. The product must not incorporate features which the user has to ‘work around’ to do what they want.
   14. The product must have a display that is focused on its purpose with minimal other distractions.
   15. The product must update frequently.
   16. The product must have configurable auto-shutoff features.
   17. The product must have a strong connective signal between the indoor unit and outdoor unit for consistent readings.
   18. The product must have an adjustable display brightness.
   19. The product must have a manual sleep mode for the display that can be turned on and off when desired.
   20. The product must have a zero-ing feature to minimize noisy readings from using it in close proximity.
4. Customization
   1. The product must respond to user inputs in real time.
   2. The product must be easy to use.
   3. The product must respond easily.
   4. The product must not require frequent reboots.
   5. The product must have an independent “server”
   6. The product must have a function to set the day and time.
5. Manufacturing
   1. The product must be affordable in terms of construction and delivery.
   2. The product’s documentation must be clear enough to understand the first time.
   3. The product must have fast customer service.
   4. The product must offer a feature that more affordable alternatives do not offer.
   5. The product must be affordable to own and maintain, not just to purchase.
6. Safety
   1. The product must not cause injury to a user.
   2. The product must not pose a hazard to the environment.
   3. The product must not be designed in such a way that the user is encouraged to put themselves in danger while using it.

Our team will assess our product with respect to each of the requirements we have set forth for ourselves through a thorough evaluation process at each step of the design phase. This will involve reviewing the product aspects against the requirements to ensure that they are being met. Additionally, we will conduct testing and validation of the product to ensure that it meets the critical requirements. This can include functional testing, usability testing, and performance testing, among others. Furthermore, we will regularly review the requirements and compare them against the current design to ensure that we are on track to meet the goals. The product will be continuously evaluated and refined until it meets all of the requirements and provides a positive user experience. We will also consider feedback from beta testers and customers to make any necessary adjustments.

 

Open Questions

• How many measuring functions will be available on this device and what will they be?
• Will the device have an auto-shut off or will it have the ability to measure data indefinitely?
• What will the dimensions of the device be with the desired sensors in place?
• What kind of batteries will be used for the operation of this device?
• Is the device able to plot or record data in real time?
• Will a 3D-printed shell be enough to protect the circuitry from moisture?
• Will the device have options to switch units for different measurements?
• Will the device have a way to attach or connect to a stand, prop or tripod?
• Will the device feature any sort of rechargeable batteries or power source?

 

Milestones

• Team Checkpoint 1: 1/23/2023
• Subsystem Design: 2/17/2023
• Subsystem Verification: 3/3/2023
• Team System Prototype (Final Deadline): 3/24/2023
• System Verification (Final Deadline): 4/24/2023

 

 

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