Making a water barrel level sensor

We have a water barrel that is filled with rain water. Connected to this is a solar powered irrigation system that waters our green house. The barrel can contain enough water for about a week, but it depends on how much the irrigation system pumps. (More sun equals more water) In addition, it can be “refilled” when it rains. Whenever we are away for more than a week, we run in to the issue of not knowing if there is enough water in the barrel or if our plants will die.

So, what else to do than build a connected water barrel? (Yes I know, there are other, better ways to solve the problem, but I also want to build something and play around a little with Rust)

There are a couple of things I want to try out with this project.

• I want to try Rust for embedded devices. Specifically, the Embassy framework. Initially I had ideas on also making this run in a simulator. However, I think that getting to grips with the framework will be enough of work, so I won’t plan for a simulator.
• I want to try to contain the entire project to version controlled folders. I’ll set it up as a monorepo and it will contain all parts of the project. This includes requirements specifications, source files, CAD files, etc. Everything should be contained inside the repo and I aim to have a complete project, not just the deliverables.

I’m quite excited about the project! Both the end result, but also the process itself. Hopefully I will have time to finish it before summer is here and the barrel goes outdoors again.

You can follow the project on Gitlab. Hopefully I’ll post some details here as well.