Skylighting
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Noisebridge's skylights are boring and dull.
Lets make them shiny shiny!
The Idea
In all of Noisebridge's skylights, a set of RGB LED strips at the base. Each controlled by a standalone microprocessor connected via ZigBee, with the network as a whole controlled by a RaspberryPI base station.
The system should be as Anti-Fragile as possible:
- If the power goes out, it should come back on and look neat
- Each skylight can act independently of hardware failure of any other skylight
- Multiple base station designs can be used to control simultaneously, as long as can speak a protocol over ZigBee
- Wireless by default, wired if available
- Use of DNS-SD so you don't have to scan the network to find a damn basestation
- Replacing parts is really cheap and easy to do
- Solar powered, so as to not rely on The Grid
- Some sort of "Sleep Mode" that is launched after a period of inactivity or missing heartbeat
Some really neat uses:
- Clicking a spot on a map on Infobanana turns the overhead lighting into a magical directional indicator
- When someone buzzes the door, perhaps a certain pattern could be shown
- A UI that lets one configure each cell's RGB for an event
- Automatically turning on/off based on a motion sensor grid in the space
The Software
- Skyglighting on Github - Main issue tracker
- Graviton - Internet+RPI network control, interactivity, and discoverability
- gpiotty - RPI+ZigBee connectivity
The Hardware
Currently in the prototype stage, but here's what is allocated:
- Two XBee radios w/ USB serial boards
- Two RaspberryPIs with wifi dongles
- Three LED strips
- Two solar panels
- One battery
The Plan
This is being developed by User:Tdfischer using the following milestones. Help is welcome and encouraged :)
- Blink some LED lights via Arduino - First prototype
- XBee to XBee communications between two linux systems over USB - Establish control environment
- XBee to XBee communications over RaspberryPi GPIO pins - Development of gpiotty
- XBee to Arduino communications - Wireless control prototype
- Skylight power supply - Hardware design
- Realtime display update protocol - Development of Graviton/implement pixelpusher
- Control interfaces - Providing an API for super neat interactivity
Parts Needed
- Arduino/ZigBee shields
- Arduinos
- The full length of LPD8806 LED Strips for all skylights
- RPI/ZigBee shield
- Microcontroller selection for skylight units
- ZigBee chips
- Battery charger/regulator circuit