STELLA provides hands-on experience with additive manufacturing through its 3D-printed components, offering practical insights into this modern manufacturing technique:

Direct Experience with 3D-Printed Parts

• Interact with professionally designed 3D-printed components, gaining firsthand understanding of what can be achieved with additive manufacturing
• The tangible experience of handling and assembling these parts provides intuitive knowledge about material properties, tolerances, and design possibilities

Design for Manufacturing Concepts

• STELLA’s 3D-printed housings demonstrate key principles of designing parts specifically for additive manufacturing:
  • Appropriate wall thickness for structural integrity
  • Support structure considerations for complex geometries
  • Design features that would be difficult or impossible with traditional manufacturing methods

Innovative Closure Methods

• STELLA showcases how additive manufacturing enables sophisticated snap-fit joints and interlocking components
• The screwless, glueless assembly demonstrates how 3D printing allows integration of mechanical features directly into parts

Material Properties Understanding

• Working with 3D-printed STELLA components helps with understanding:
  • Material flexibility and rigidity characteristics
  • How design decisions impact part strength and durability
  • How print orientation affects component properties

Practical Application Context

• STELLA connects additive manufacturing to real-world scientific instrumentation
• See how 3D printing enables custom, specialized designs that would be cost-prohibitive with traditional manufacturing methods

Accessible Manufacturing

• The open-source nature of STELLA demonstrates how additive manufacturing democratizes production, allowing users anywhere to reproduce complex scientific instruments with local resources

Gain practical insights into additive manufacturing principles and capabilities without requiring direct access to 3D printing equipment or extensive technical knowledge by interacting with these carefully designed components.

STELLA provides practical exposure to chemical process control engineering concepts, particularly through its liquid analysis capabilities:

Real-Time Measurement Systems

• STELLA introduces the fundamental concept of real-time monitoring systems used in chemical process control
• Continuous data collection enables dynamic process understanding and adjustment

Sensor Technology Application

• Work with sensors that detect chemical properties and parameters through STELLA liquid analysis instruments:
  • Understanding how physical sensors translate chemical properties into measurable electrical signals
  • Learning how different sensor types respond to specific chemical characteristics
  • Experiencing the practical challenges of maintaining sensor accuracy and calibration

Data Collection and Analysis

• STELLA demonstrates the data-driven nature of chemical process control:
  • Recording measurements over time to establish baseline conditions
  • Identifying variations that may indicate process changes or contamination
  • Using collected data to make evidence-based decisions

Practical Field Applications

• STELLA connects classroom concepts to real-world applications:
  • Water quality monitoring demonstrates principles used in industrial process water testing
  • Environmental sampling shows how chemical processes affect natural systems
  • The ability to measure multiple parameters simultaneously illustrates complex process monitoring requirements

Process Control Fundamentals

• Working with STELLA introduces basic control system concepts:
  • Understanding measurement feedback loops
  • Recognizing the importance of measurement timing and intervals
  • Appreciating how data quality affects process decisions

System Integration Skills

• STELLA’s liquid analysis capabilities require proper integration with the testing environment:
  • Proper sample handling techniques
  • Understanding how to maintain measurement consistency
  • Learning basic plumbing skills relevant to chemical process sampling systems

By providing hands-on experience with these concepts, STELLA creates an accessible entry point to understanding more complex chemical process control engineering principles used in industrial, environmental, and research applications.

STELLA provides practical insights into civil and hydrological engineering through its environmental monitoring capabilities:

Water Quality Assessment

• STELLA instruments enable measurements of water quality parameters:
  • Learn how to collect and analyze data relevant to watershed health
  • Measurements provide tangible connections to concepts like turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and contaminant detection
  • Real-time data collection demonstrates the dynamic nature of water systems

Environmental Monitoring Fundamentals

• Through STELLA’s spectral analysis capabilities, gain experience with:
  • Detecting and measuring water clarity and pollutants
  • Understanding how spectral signatures relate to water composition
  • Learning how remote sensing techniques are used in large-scale hydrological assessment

Land-Water Interaction Assessment

• STELLA’s ability to measure both vegetation health (NDVI) and water characteristics helps understanding:
  • How land use affects water quality
  • The relationship between plant cover and runoff patterns
  • The impact of agricultural practices on watershed health

Practical Field Testing Skills

• Develop essential field skills relevant to hydrological engineering:
  • Proper sampling techniques and protocols
  • Understanding measurement location significance
  • Data collection under varied environmental conditions
  • Basic “plumbing trade skills” mentioned in the documentation

Data-Driven Decision Making

• Working with STELLA instruments encourages evidence-based approaches to environmental management:
  • Collecting baseline data to establish normal conditions
  • Identifying variations that may indicate problems
  • Using quantitative measurements to evaluate intervention effectiveness

Watershed System Understanding

• STELLA helps conceptualize watersheds as integrated systems:
  • Connecting upstream activities to downstream impacts
  • Understanding temporal variations in water quality parameters
  • Recognizing how different environmental factors interact

By providing accessible tools for environmental monitoring, STELLA creates hands-on learning opportunities that connect abstract civil and hydrological engineering concepts to tangible measurements and real-world environmental challenges.

STELLA provides practical insights into Design for Manufacturing (DFM) principles through its thoughtfully engineered components and assembly process:

Simplified Assembly Approach

• STELLA demonstrates how effective design minimizes assembly complexity and reduces potential errors
• The instrument’s design allows users to assemble functional devices without specialized tools or complex instructions

Snap-Fit Joint Implementation

• STELLA’s enclosures feature snap-fit joints that demonstrate key manufacturing considerations:
  • Tolerances that balance secure connections with ease of assembly
  • Self-aligning features that guide parts into correct positions
  • Flexure designs that facilitate one-time or repeatable assembly

Materials Selection for Manufacturing

• The instrument showcases materials chosen specifically for their manufacturing characteristics:
  • Appropriate rigidity and flexibility for functional components
  • Compatibility with production methods (3D printing, injection molding)
  • Durability appropriate for the intended use case

Component Standardization

• STELLA uses standardized components and connection systems where possible:
  • Standard connectors reduce assembly errors
  • Modular design allows for easier maintenance and component replacement
  • Standardization reduces manufacturing complexity and cost

Assembly Sequence Planning

• The STELLA assembly process demonstrates logical component sequencing:
  • Critical components are accessible early in the assembly process
  • Wiring paths are designed to avoid interference during later assembly steps
  • Testing can occur at logical intervals during construction

Design for Serviceability

• STELLA’s design incorporates considerations for maintenance and troubleshooting:
  • Access to components that may need replacement (batteries, SD cards)
  • Modular subsystems that can be tested or replaced independently
  • Clear visual indicators for proper component orientation

By engaging with these practical design elements, users gain hands-on understanding of manufacturing design principles that would be difficult to convey through theory alone. This experiential learning makes complex engineering concepts accessible and memorable.

STELLA provides practical exposure to device physics concepts through its diverse array of sensors and components, creating a hands-on learning environment:

Multi-Sensor Platform Experience

• Work directly with various sensor technologies, each demonstrating different physical principles:
  • Photodiodes that convert light to electrical signals via the photovoltaic effect
  • Chemoresistors that change resistance in response to chemical interactions
  • Thermistors that exhibit predictable resistance changes with temperature
  • Band gap energy thermometers based on semiconductor physics
  • Photoacoustic gas sensors that detect gases through infrared absorption and thermal expansion
  • Thermopile thermoelectric infrared sensors that generate voltage from temperature gradients

Semiconductor Physics Exploration

• STELLA introduces fundamental semiconductor concepts through practical application:
  • Observe how light interacts with semiconductor materials in spectral sensors
  • The effects of temperature on semiconductor performance become tangible through device behavior
  • Real-world applications demonstrate how semiconductor properties are harnessed for sensing

Signal Transduction Principles

• Working with STELLA shows how physical phenomena are converted to measurable electrical signals:
  • Light-to-voltage conversion in optical sensors
  • Resistance changes in response to environmental variables
  • Voltage generation from temperature differentials

Optical Device Physics

• STELLA’s spectral instruments provide direct experience with:
  • Wavelength-dependent behavior of photodetectors
  • Angular response characteristics of optical sensors
  • Light gathering and focusing principles
  • Spectral response curves across visible and infrared ranges

Environmental Influence on Sensors

• Observe how external factors affect sensor performance:
  • Temperature coefficients and thermal compensation techniques
  • Interference effects from ambient conditions
  • Calibration requirements and drift characteristics

Practical Research Pathway

• STELLA explicitly encourages those interested in device physics to:
  • Research one or more sensor types in greater depth
  • Investigate the underlying physical principles of their operation
  • Connect theoretical device physics to observed sensor behavior

By providing direct interaction with multiple sensor technologies in a practical context, STELLA transforms abstract device physics concepts into tangible, observable phenomena that can be explored, measured, and understood.

STELLA provides a comprehensive introduction to electrical engineering through hands-on circuit building and testing experiences:

Practical Circuit Assembly

• Gain direct experience with fundamental electrical engineering activities:
  • Connecting components to create functional electronic systems
  • For soldering-required models, developing essential prototyping skills
  • Understanding physical implementation of electronic schematics
  • Troubleshooting real-world circuit issues

Best Practice Demonstrations

• STELLA’s circuits are designed to showcase important electrical engineering principles:
  • Proper grounding techniques that prevent signal noise and system instability
  • Effective power distribution that ensures consistent operation
  • Strategic wire routing that minimizes interference and maintains signal integrity
  • Clear schematic-to-physical relationships that help connect theory to practice

Communication Bus Technologies

• Work with multiple industry-standard communication protocols:
  • I²C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus systems for sensor communications
  • SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) for high-speed component interaction
  • USB (Universal Serial Bus) for computer interfacing and power delivery
  • Use inexpensive logic analyzers to observe and understand these protocols in action

Power Management Systems

• STELLA provides practical experience with battery technologies:
  • Monitoring battery voltage and percentage data
  • Observing lithium-ion battery discharge curves
  • Understanding power requirements for various electronic components
  • Learning about charge controllers and power regulation

Sensor Integration

• Connect and calibrate various sensor types:
  • Understanding how to interpret sensor specifications
  • Learning appropriate power and communication requirements
  • Observing how sensors convert physical phenomena to electrical signals

System Testing and Debugging

• STELLA provides authentic electrical troubleshooting experience:
  • Identifying connection failures
  • Testing individual components and subsystems
  • Diagnosing and resolving power issues
  • Verifying proper signal transmission between components

STELLA creates an accessible entry point to electrical engineering concepts that bridges theory and practice, making abstract principles concrete and understandable by providing this comprehensive, hands-on experience with circuit design, assembly, and testing.

STELLA provides practical, hands-on exposure to electronics packaging engineering through a natural learning process that occurs during instrument assembly:

Practical Experience Without Formal Instruction

• Gain intuitive understanding of packaging concepts simply by assembling STELLA instruments
• The practical challenges encountered during assembly provide authentic learning experiences without requiring theoretical lectures

Balance of Functionality and Usability

• STELLA demonstrates how electronics packaging must balance several competing requirements:
  • Maintaining ease of use while accommodating necessary wiring
  • Providing protection for sensitive components
  • Ensuring proper exposure for sensors to interact with their environments

Real-World Design Constraints

• Whether using 3D-printed enclosures or simpler solutions (like mounting components to cardboard), authentic design challenges are faced including:
  • Cable routing and management
  • Component placement and orientation
  • Access to user interfaces (displays, buttons)
  • Protection of sensitive electronics

Component Integration

• STELLA teaches how to integrate diverse components into a cohesive system:
  • Positioning sensors for optimal data collection
  • Managing power distribution pathways
  • Creating secure but accessible enclosures

Practical Problem-Solving

• Learn to troubleshoot packaging-related issues such as:
  • Ensuring connectors remain accessible
  • Preventing interference between components
  • Maintaining appropriate clearances for heat dissipation
  • Protecting connections from mechanical stress

By engaging directly with these challenges during the assembly process, STELLA provides an intuitive understanding of electronics packaging engineering principles that would be difficult to convey through theoretical instruction alone.

STELLA provides an accessible entry point to embedded systems software engineering through several key approaches:

Transparent, Readable Code

• The STELLA software is open-source and deliberately written to be easily readable, making the code accessible at various learning levels
• This transparency demystifies how embedded systems operate in everyday technology

Real-World Applications

• STELLA creates direct parallels to commercial devices like smartphones, helping  concepts to technology interacted with daily
• People can see how microcontrollers interact with sensors, displays, and other components in a tangible, hands-on way

Advanced Concepts Made Accessible

• STELLA employs Cooperative Multitasking (the same approach used in the Apollo Moon Lander software), introducing sophisticated programming techniques in a manageable context
• This approach shows how limited processing resources can be efficiently shared between tasks

Independent Learning Platform

• The low cost and modifiable nature of STELLA allows experimentation and independent skill development
• People can progress from basic understanding to modifying the code for custom applications

Hardware-Software Integration

• STELLA demonstrates the critical relationship between hardware and software in embedded systems
• People learn how code directly controls physical components, providing immediate visual feedback

STELLA creates a comprehensive learning experience that spans from introductory concepts to advanced embedded systems engineering principles by providing a complete, functional system that can be built, programmed, and modified.

STELLA provides hands-on experience with environmental monitoring and analysis, offering practical insights into environmental engineering concepts:

Multi-Parameter Environmental Monitoring

• STELLA instruments enable collection and analysis of data on key environmental parameters:
  • Air quality indicators including particulates and carbon dioxide
  • Vegetation health through spectral analysis and NDVI calculations
  • Water quality characteristics through spectral and other sensor measurements
  • Environmental temperature, humidity, and other physical conditions

Evidence-Based Environmental Assessment

• STELLA fosters data-driven approaches to environmental understanding:
  • Collecting baseline measurements to establish normal conditions
  • Identifying variations that may indicate environmental issues
  • Quantifying the impact of human activities on environmental quality
  • Providing objective measurements to support or challenge assumptions

Agricultural Sustainability Applications

• As documented in the Craig Kohn’s Waterford Union High School implementation:
  • Students evaluate impacts of different agricultural practices on crop performance
  • They compare regenerative approaches (no-till farming, cover crops) with conventional practices
  • Data helps assess effects on both crop yields and surrounding environment
  • Students address environmental challenges like eutrophication through data analysis

Urban Environmental Assessment

• STELLA enables investigation of urban environmental conditions:
  • Monitoring urban heat island effects through temperature measurements
  • Assessing air quality variations in different urban settings
  • Evaluating the impact of vegetation on local environmental conditions
  • Providing quantitative data on human-environment interactions

Pollution Source Identification

• Use STELLA to develop skills in environmental forensics:
  • Tracking pollution gradients to identify potential sources
  • Measuring temporal variations in environmental parameters
  • Correlating multiple measurement types to understand complex environmental processes

Systemic Environmental Thinking

• STELLA encourages consideration of interconnected environmental factors:
  • Understanding how land use affects water and air quality
  • Recognizing feedback loops in environmental systems
  • Developing evidence-based reasoning across environmental scales
  • Connecting local observations to regional and global environmental challenges

Providing accessible tools for environmental data collection and analysis, STELLA helps develop the quantitative assessment skills and systems thinking essential to environmental engineering, while connecting concepts to real-world environmental challenges. 

STELLA provides practical insights into HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) engineering principles through its air quality measurement capabilities:

Indoor Air Quality Assessment

• STELLA’s air analysis instruments allow direct measurement of key HVAC performance indicators:
  • Carbon dioxide levels that indicate ventilation effectiveness
  • Particulate matter concentrations that demonstrate filtration efficiency
  • Temperature and humidity readings that reflect thermal comfort conditions
  • Air quality parameters that impact occupant health and comfort

Ventilation System Evaluation

• Use STELLA to assess ventilation effectiveness by:
  • Measuring CO₂ buildup in occupied spaces
  • Detecting how air exchange rates affect indoor air quality
  • Understanding the relationship between occupancy and ventilation requirements
  • Comparing air quality across different ventilation system configurations

Environmental Health Connections

• STELLA demonstrates how HVAC systems directly impact public environmental health:
  • Showing the connection between ventilation and contaminant concentration
  • Illustrating how filtration systems affect particulate levels
  • Demonstrating the impact of air handling on indoor pollutant distribution

System Performance Monitoring

• Using STELLA for continuous monitoring helps understand:
  • How HVAC systems respond to varying conditions throughout the day
  • The impact of system cycling on air quality parameters
  • The effectiveness of ventilation strategies in different scenarios
  • How quickly systems can respond to changing conditions

Source Identification Skills

• STELLA enables investigation of indoor pollution sources:
  • Identifying activities that generate particulates or increase CO₂
  • Recognizing how building materials and furnishings affect air quality
  • Understanding pollution pathways and distribution within spaces

Critical Thinking About Air Systems

• Working with STELLA encourages the following:
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of different ventilation approaches
  • Consider the balance between energy efficiency and air quality
  • Recognize the systemic nature of indoor air environments

By providing accessible tools to measure and analyze air quality parameters, STELLA creates a direct connection between abstract HVAC engineering principles and their tangible impacts on the spaces we occupy, helping develop a deeper understanding of how these systems maintain healthy indoor environments.

STELLA provides practical experience with mechanical engineering principles through its physical construction and assembly process:

3D Printed Component Design

• The STELLA instruments with 3D-printed housings demonstrate key mechanical engineering concepts:
  • Structural design principles that balance strength with material efficiency
  • Component integration strategies that create functional assemblies
  • Geometric tolerance considerations that ensure parts fit together properly
  • Design features that accommodate internal components while maintaining usability

Snap-Fit Joint Mechanics

• STELLA’s screwless, glueless assembly system highlights important mechanical principles:
  • Material properties related to flexibility and rigidity
  • Flexure design that allows controlled bending without breaking
  • Travel limits that prevent component damage during assembly
  • Retention features that maintain secure connections during use

Mechanical Integration Challenges

• Building STELLA instruments presents authentic mechanical engineering problems:
  • Component positioning that optimizes functionality while fitting spatial constraints
  • Sensor alignment that ensures proper data collection
  • Stress distribution considerations that protect sensitive components
  • Balance between accessibility for maintenance and structural integrity

Thermal Management Considerations

• STELLA’s electrical components generate heat, introducing thermal design aspects:
  • Heat dissipation requirements for electronic components
  • Thermal path management to protect sensitive parts
  • Material selection considerations for thermal properties
  • Ventilation design that balances cooling with environmental protection

Human Factors Engineering

• The instrument’s physical design incorporates ergonomic principles:
  • User interface placement for comfortable access
  • Grip and handling considerations for field use
  • Button and switch design for reliable operation
  • Visual indicator positioning that ensures readability

Assembly Engineering

• The STELLA build process teaches assembly sequence planning:
  • Logical component installation order that prevents access issues
  • Wire routing considerations that prevent mechanical interference
  • Fastening techniques appropriate for different materials and loads
  • Test-as-you-build approaches that identify issues early

By engaging with these mechanical concepts through hands-on assembly and use, STELLA transforms abstract engineering principles into tangible experiences, helping develop intuitive understanding of mechanical engineering fundamentals.

STELLA provides hands-on experience with optical engineering principles through its spectral measurement capabilities:

Practical Spectral Measurement

• STELLA instruments function as accessible single-pixel optical devices:
  • Work directly with spectral measurement technologies
  • The instruments provide real-time visualization of spectral responses
  • Different wavelength bands can be isolated and analyzed
  • Both visible and non-visible (infrared) spectra become tangible concepts

Key Optical Parameters

• STELLA introduces fundamental optical engineering concepts:
  • Wavelength selection – Understanding how different wavelengths reveal different information
  • Angular field of view – Experiencing how sensor positioning affects measurement area
  • Spot size optimization – Learning how measurement area impacts data quality and resolution
  • These parameters are critical in all optical instrumentation design

Advanced Optical Concepts

• Working with STELLA helps distinguish between:
  • Irradiance – The amount of light energy arriving at a surface
  • Radiance – The amount of light energy emitted or reflected from a surface
  • This distinction provides a deeper understanding beyond simple “brightness”

Electromagnetic Spectrum Exploration

• STELLA instruments measure across multiple regions of the spectrum:
  • Visible light wavelengths that human eyes can detect
  • Near-infrared wavelengths important for vegetation analysis
  • Thermal infrared for temperature measurement
  • This multi-spectral capability demonstrates the broader electromagnetic spectrum

Optical System Integration

• Building and using STELLA teaches optical-mechanical integration:
  • Sensor positioning requirements for accurate measurement
  • Light path considerations for consistent readings
  • Housing design constraints to allow proper light collection
  • Environmental factors affecting optical performance

Real-world Applications

• STELLA connects optical theory to practical applications:
  • Remote sensing of vegetation health through NDVI measurements
  • Material identification through spectral signatures
  • Environmental monitoring through specialized wavelength analysis
  • These applications mirror professional uses of optical engineering

STELLA transforms abstract optical engineering concepts into tangible, observable phenomena, helping develop intuitive understanding of how light interacts with materials and how this interaction can be measured and analyzed by providing direct experience with spectral measurement and analysis.

STELLA provides hands-on experience with electronics packaging challenges, offering practical insights into packaging engineering principles:

System Integration Challenges

• Building a STELLA instrument introduces core packaging engineering problems:
  • Housing diverse electronic components within a unified enclosure
  • Managing space constraints while ensuring component functionality
  • Balancing protection needs with access requirements
  • Creating a usable form factor for the intended application

Cable Management Solutions

• STELLA assembly teaches practical cable routing considerations:
  • Organizing internal wiring to prevent interference and disconnection
  • Maintaining appropriate bend radii to protect cable integrity
  • Planning cable paths that accommodate device operation and user interaction
  • Managing connection points to ensure reliability and serviceability

Sensor Exposure Requirements

• STELLA’s design illustrates the fundamental packaging challenge of exposing sensors:
  • Creating appropriate openings for light, air, or other measured phenomena
  • Protecting sensitive electronics while allowing environmental interaction
  • Maintaining calibration and alignment of exposed components
  • Balancing environmental access with contamination protection

Power Distribution Integration

• The instrument demonstrates packaging considerations for power systems:
  • Battery placement that balances weight distribution and access
  • Power switch positioning for user convenience and circuit protection
  • Charging port access that maintains enclosure integrity
  • Heat management for battery and power regulation components

Intuitive Learning Process

• STELLA’s approach to packaging engineering is experience-based:
  • Encounter packaging challenges organically during assembly
  • Solutions become intuitively obvious through hands-on problem solving
  • Formal engineering principles are absorbed through practical application
  • The importance of packaging becomes self-evident rather than theoretical

Multiple Implementation Options

• STELLA offers flexibility in packaging approaches:
  • 3D-printed enclosures demonstrate professional packaging solutions
  • Simple mounting options (like attachment to cardboard) show improvised approaches
  • Both methods teach the fundamental relationship between form and function
  • Learn to adapt packaging to available resources and application needs

STELLA provides intuitive understanding of packaging engineering principles that would be difficult to convey through theoretical instruction alone by presenting real packaging challenges during instrument assembly.

STELLA provides comprehensive exposure to sensor engineering principles through its diverse array of sensing technologies and practical implementation:

Diverse Sensor Technologies

• Work directly with multiple sensor types, each demonstrating different sensing principles:
  • Photodiodes that convert light to electrical signals for spectral analysis
  • Chemoresistors that change resistance in response to environmental chemicals
  • Thermistors and band gap energy thermometers for temperature measurement
  • Photoacoustic gas sensors that detect gases through infrared absorption
  • Thermopile thermoelectric infrared sensors for non-contact temperature sensing

Complete Sensor Integration Chain

• STELLA demonstrates the full sensor implementation process:
  • Physical phenomenon detection through appropriate transducers
  • Signal conditioning and processing to extract meaningful data
  • Calibration procedures to ensure measurement accuracy
  • Data conversion and communication to storage and display systems

Sensor Selection Principles

• Learn the considerations for sensor selection through hands-on experience:
  • Matching sensor characteristics to measurement requirements
  • Understanding sensitivity, range, and resolution trade-offs
  • Recognizing environmental factors affecting sensor performance
  • Learning how to balance cost with capability in instrument design

Environmental Influences

• Working with STELLA exposes real-world sensing challenges:
  • Temperature effects on sensor calibration and drift
  • Light condition variations affecting optical measurements
  • Interference sources that can compromise data quality
  • Methods for identifying and mitigating environmental influences

Multi-Parameter Sensing

• STELLA demonstrates how diverse sensors work together for comprehensive analysis:
  • Combining multiple measurements for environmental assessment
  • Understanding sensor interdependencies and cross-sensitivities
  • Seeing how different sensors complement each other’s capabilities
  • Learning how to extract more meaningful information through sensor fusion

Research Pathways

• STELLA explicitly encourages deeper exploration of sensor technologies:
  • Research the physics behind individual sensors
  • They can modify and customize sensing capabilities
  • The open platform allows experimentation with additional sensor types
  • This creates pathways to more advanced sensor engineering concepts

By providing hands-on experience with multiple sensor technologies in functional systems, STELLA transforms abstract sensor engineering principles into practical knowledge, helping  understand both the technical details of individual sensors and the system-level considerations of sensor integration.

STELLA provides an accessible introduction to software engineering through its open-source approach and practical implementation:

Open-Source Code Exploration

• STELLA’s software is deliberately designed to be transparent and readable:
  • Examine the entire codebase to understand system operation
  • Code is structured to demonstrate good programming practices
  • Comments and documentation explain functionality for educational purposes
  • This transparency demystifies what often seems like “black box” technology

Embedded Systems Programming

• Working with STELLA introduces fundamental embedded software concepts:
  • Direct hardware control through microcontroller programming
  • Resource-constrained programming techniques
  • Real-time sensing and response implementations
  • The CircuitPython language provides an accessible entry point to these concepts

Cooperative Multitasking

• STELLA software demonstrates advanced system architecture:
  • The cooperative multitasking approach (also used in Apollo Moon Lander software) shows how to share limited processing resources
  • Learn how different functions can be interleaved efficiently
  • This introduces concepts of task scheduling without requiring complex operating systems
  • The implementation provides a bridge to more advanced concurrent programming concepts

Modifiable Platform

• STELLA encourages hands-on software experimentation:
  • Modify the code for customized functionality
  • The simple drag-and-drop programming process lowers barriers to entry
  • Changes produce immediate, observable results in the physical world
  • This creates a low-risk environment for software experimentation

Hardware-Software Interface

• STELLA demonstrates critical software-hardware relationships:
  • Driver implementations for various sensors and displays
  • Communication protocol implementations (I²C, SPI, USB)
  • Resource management for battery-powered operation
  • These show how software directly controls hardware components

Data Management Pipeline

• The complete data flow demonstrates important software engineering concepts:
  • Data acquisition from multiple sensor sources
  • Processing and calibration of raw sensor data
  • Storage and retrieval systems for collected data
  • User interface design for data visualization

STELLA creates an engaging introduction to software engineering that spans from beginner concepts to sophisticated system design principles by providing a complete, accessible, and modifiable software system that controls real hardware.