Airprobe – Multimeter With Wireless Data Transmission

Multimeters are widely used for testing and debugging electronic circuits. They measure parameters that help figure out why a car won’t start, or why an electrical appliance does not function properly. In many applications, however, the cables running from the probes to the display of a multimeter get in the way of the measurements; in such cases replacing multimeter cables with a wireless data link would be desirable. Also, we wanted to take advantage of a smartphone’s superior display and data storage capabilities as part of a wireless multimeter design. As our senior design project, we present a unique design of multimeter called the Airprobe. The Airprobe hardware is a set of two measurement probes connected with a short wire. Inside the probes is Bluetooth circuitry, which wirelessly connects with a smartphone running our Airprobe app to display the measured data. The data are displayed in either large numerical format or in graphical format. Users also have access to download measured data for further research. Implementing Bluetooth 4.0 technology allows our product to consume low power and transmit over long distances. Compared with the current multimeters on the market, Airprobe not only implements the usual multimeter functions such as measuring voltage, current, resistance, and other electrical parameters, but it can also draw the measured values on a graph for analysis. Airprobe is inexpensive and portable with a suitable design. Airprobe has rechargeable batteries, which give it a longer life and make it environmentally friendly.