Project 365

And were back from the dead...again!  Really I havent had much to blog about.

Now my first freshman year of college (back in 2009) is when I started this blog.  We were supposed to do a 365 day project as well but most of us didnt.  Now Im here again thanks to Chatterbox Forums (Hi guys!)  This time, I will post a picture a day. Forgive me for these first few days. New phone and I have yet to successfully transfer photos to anything but Facebook. And then...lost my camera.

Now 2014 is supposed to be special...because its supposed to be the year I grow up about as much as I will grow up.  I dropped my second major and will be focusing on on my one and only, computer programming. I am putting myself on a weight loss plan AND gave myself dreads.

On the first of this year, I was supposed to go on a fast.  I wasnt a weight loss fast or anything.  More of a...spiritual fast to start off the new year.  Well I will be likely starting that tomorrow.  I used stress as an excuse but no more!  Nope.  None of that this year.

My dreads arent really dreads yet.  Theyre babies.  Not locked up at all.  Even with all their fuzzies, I still like em.

Anyway... Im back!

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8 Jeremy Blum Video SPI Serial Peripheral Interface Bus

The topic of this Thursdays Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting is the #8 Jeremy Blum Arduino video tutorial, which covers SPI, the Serial Peripheral Interface data bus.

Jeremys SPI diagram

Wikipedia says this about SPI:

"...SPI bus is a synchronous serial data link...that operates in full duplex mode. It is used for short distance, single master communication, for example in embedded systems, sensors, and SD cards. Devices communicate in master/slave mode where the master device initiates the data frame. Multiple slave devices are allowed with individual slave select lines. Sometimes SPI is called a four-wire serial bus, contrasting with three-, two-, and one-wire serial buses. SPI is often referred to as SSI (Synchronous Serial Interface)."

During the #8 video exercise, you will build a program using SPI, doing things like including the SPI library, setting the slave select pins, and sending information on the SPI bus with the SPI.transfer command. Going through this exercise doesnt make you an SPI expert, but it does help you learn a few basic aspects of SPI. For a more thorough background on this topic, take the time to go through the SparkFun tutorial on SPI.

AD5204BN10 digital potentiometer

In addition to SPI, the #8 video also introduces digital potentiometers. The digipot used in the #8 video is an AD5204BN10, which appears to be discontinued, obsolete or just very rare, so most people doing the exercise in this video will have to use an alternative digital potentiometer. I spent ten or fifteen minutes on Digi-Key trying to find an alternative component that was equivalent to the AD5204BN10 but finally decided Ill just wait to discuss that at the meeting on Thursday.

In the meantime, I did a bit of research on digital potentiometers so Id understand a little more about how they work and when to use them. Analog Devices has a tutorial on digipots, and since they made the one that Jeremy uses in the video, I decided the AD tutorial was a good place to start. Nine pages later I decided I was wrong. The AD tutorial was written for an electrical engineer, not a novice electronics person. Electronic Design (ED) had a much better newbie introduction to digipots. ED said:

Breadboard setup for #8 video exercise

"Digital potentiometers are integrated circuits that implement a resistive ladder and a digital means of addressing a particular tap on the ladder that corresponds to the wiper position of a mechanical potentiometer. They’re used to calibrate system tolerances or dynamically control system parameters. Some of them have no on-chip memory. Others incorporate nonvolatile memory for saving the wiper position...What advantages do digital potentiometers have over mechanical pots? Obviously, digital pots can be operated in a closed control loop, and they don’t require physical access for adjustment. In addition, they offer higher resolution than mechanical pots, along with better reliability and stability, faster adjustment, better dynamic control, and a smaller footprint."

Jeremys use for the digital potentiometer in the #8 video exercise is to vary the input voltage to LEDs to change their brightness. I dont know if thats a typical application for a digital potentiometer, but its a good way to learn about this component.

If youre interested in microcontrollers, please come to the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting this Thursday, July 24, from 6 to 8 PM at 1385 8th Street, Arcata, California, USA. Bring your questions and your enthusiasm -- we look forward to seeing you there!

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9 Jeremy Blum Arduino Wireless Tutorial MCU Group Mtg August 7

Tonights post is a bit of a preview of Jeremys #9 Arduino video tutorial about wireless, along with a couple related comments and alternatives regarding microcontroller (MCU) wireless tutorials for future use by the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group.

But before I get into the Arduino wireless tutorial, there are two special deal items for people who buy MCU-related electronic components. I found out about these from SparkFun and Jameco emails.

1. SparkFun Retrosparktive:  "SparkFun will be vacating its offices at 6175 Longbow and moving on up to Dry Creek Parkway...As part of the Retrosparktive, each week we are offering up a selection of classic products at “historically low prices” (sorry, couldn’t help myself). We’re calling this first selection the “Bare Necessities” - great things to have around your workspace or office. This selection of items is only on sale from 8/4/2014 at 12:01 a.m. MT until 8/10/14 at 11:59 p.m. MT - so get ‘em while you can! BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! We’re also offering a promo code good for $10 off any orders over $40. Just put the code “RETROSPARK” into the box at checkout to get your discount. This code is good until August 31, 2014."
2. Jameco Free Friday Electronic Components Giveaway:  "Jamecos team of component buyers hunts for special buys and every Friday we will highlight one of these great buys by making a limited supply of one product available for free at www.Jameco.com/Free. Well
   
   post new inventory every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and it will be available on a first come, first serve basis."

The next Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting is this Thursday, August 7. The main topic of the meeting will be to discuss Jeremy Blums #9 video tutorial, so tonights post takes a look at that tutorial. The topic is wireless communications with Arduino, and the #9 video exercise uses XBee radios. Wikipedias entry on this type of wireless communication equipment says:

"XBee is the brand name from Digi International for a family of form factor compatible radio modules. The first XBee radios were introduced under the MaxStream brand in 2005 and were based on the 802.15.4-2003 standard..."

The XBee brand has a wide range of models, with 2.4 GHz and 900Hz options, and the XBee-PRO 900HP is listed as having a 28 mile range. Having an Arduino communicate wirelessly 20+ miles away without cellular or Internet service seems like it could be handy for some things.

XBee is a brand name, and generally speaking, follows the ZigBee protocol for wireless personal area networks (WPAN). However, not all XBee technology is compatible with everything in the Zigbee world. For different views of what XBee is and how compatible it is, see the Digi International page about this, the SparkFun XBee Buying Guide or the StackExchange thread on the topic, which says:

"ZigBee / ZigBee Pro are mesh communication protocols that sits on top of IEEE 802.15.4 PHY. XBee / XBee Pro are product names for radio communications modules made by Digi. The modules can be loaded with various firmwares to support ZigBee / ZigBee Pro / DigiMesh and come in several frequency bands. DigiMesh is an alternative to ZigBee that changes a few things, and adds some features to make it generally better to work with. But, you sacrifice compatibility with ZigBee devices. For example DigiMesh allows routers to sleep, has lower overhead, has 1 node type vs zigbees 3 leading to a more robust mesh, can run at higher data rates, etc."

Boards for the #9 video tutorial

The moral of the story for MCU beginners like me is, if you want to do wireless communications with MCUs, use all the same brand and model of wireless radios. No need to try and figure out if your circuit doesnt work because the two or more radios arent compatible -- youll have enough fun just figuring out if the circuit is hooked up incorrectly or if your code has errors or poor design.

The exercise in Jeremys #9 video uses these boards -- two Arduino Unos, two XBee transceiver modules, two XBee shields, and a SparkFun USB to XBee adapter. In addition, youll need a stepper motor, a mini-B USB cable and a few other parts you probably have from other Arduino projects or tutorial exercises. Jeremy shows how to program the Xbee units ID numbers and how to hook up the Arduinos and other components. Then he walks the video viewer through the steps to write the program which allow the potentiometer connected to one Arduino to wirelessly control the position of the stepper motor which is connected to the other Arduino.

#9 exercise wired to breadboard

Excluding the two Arduinos and the miscellaneous parts you probably have, you can spend over $100 just on parts for the exercise in the #9 video. Ed Smith didnt have all the parts lying around to do this exercise and figured out an alternative exercise with a couple radios and other parts he did have around. He said hell explain on August 7th what he put together for an MCU wireless exercise.

The Humboldt Microcontrollers Group should consider discussing cost-effective options for a useful training session on MCU wireless technology.There are lots of options, but a couple starter ideas are:

1. Have people work in groups of two or three to do essentially the same exercise Jeremy demonstrates. The people can buy different parts that they want to keep after the exercise, or one person can buy all the parts and keep them when the training is finished.
2. Do essentially the same exercise as the #9 video, but identify less expensive components than the Arduino and XBee parts specd by Jeremy.
3. Use one wireless radio instead of two and find or write a tutorial involving one radio.

Others in the MCU group will know or think of additional options for MCU wireless training sessions. A couple specific training sessions I found in a quick search were:

CC3000

1. Wireless Gardening with Arduino + CC3000 WiFi Modules by Adafruit. I like this one because of the Humboldt MCU Garden project. The garden project would make the investment seem more useful than it would for a generic training exercise. Heres the CC3000 module from Adafruit, and heres a post about the CC3000 by ladyada.
2. SparkFun has two MCU wireless tutorials; Arduino Wireless Communication via the Electric Imp and Wireless Arduino Programming with Electric Imp.
3. Arduino Wireless SD Shield Tutorial from Instructables is one of the many Arduino Wi-Fi tutorials.

CC3200 LaunchPad

We could also find or develop a training session around one of the newer MCUs with built-in WiFi, such as the SimpleLink products from Texas Instruments (e.g. the CC3200 LaunchPad) or one of the other MCU manufacturers MCU with integrated Wi-Fi. Identifying some of those other integrated wireless / Wi-Fi components will likely be the subject of future research and blog posts.

In addition to discussing MCU wireless on Thursday, the MCU group will likely talk about upgrades to the Humboldt Laser Harp (HLH). After its debut performance in Eureka on August 2, weve got several improvements in mind. Im hopeful the HLH will make an appearance at the MCU group meeting on Thursday so everyone at the meeting can play with it and get excited about improving it, about making additional laser harps, and about designing and building other electronic music-light instruments which will help create the Humboldt Electronic Light Orchestra.

If you havent watched the #9 video, check it out. If you dont have time to watch it between now and Thursday but are interested in MCU wireless, come to the MCU group meeting anyway. Were looking forward to seeing you from 6 to 8 PM on Thursday, August 7, at 1385 8th Street, Arcata, CA.

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Like Arduino Like Python Check Out Micro Python

My knowledge about electronics and microcontrollers (MCUs) leaves a lot to be desired. My knowledge about computer programming, and Python in particular, leaves even more to be desired. However, if you like MCUs and Python, you might want to take a look at Micro Python, as Im doing tonight.

Micro Python pinout (from Kickstarter)

A Design News article from July 17 that I saw gives a brief overview of Micro Python. One of points of interest for me on this board is that the MCU is from STMicroelectronics. The only other blog post Ive written about an STM board is the June 22 one about the $50 Lab-in-a-box. That board also had an STM32F4 MCU.

"The Micro Python board is based on the STM32F405 Microcontroller. It comes ready for Python programming...running 168MHz, with 1MiB Flash and 192KiB...The Micro Python board has a built-in interface for USB and functions much like a storage device. Programmers can write their Python scripts directly onto the battery-operated board and once stored, the Micro Python board will function entirely independent of a PC...the micro Python board comes pre-loaded with a micro SD slot, four LEDs, a clock that functions in real time, accelerometer, switch, and 30 I/O pins, including USARTS, SPIs, 12C buses, DAC and AC pins, and four powered servo ports...it functions right out of the box, as its pre-installed with Micro Python...What’s really unique about this board isn’t the board itself, but the program upon which it’s based...Python can write functions, execute string processes, write classes, create lists and dictionaries, read and write files, create a generation

Packing Micro Python for shipment (from Kickstarter)

system, execute closures, design list comprehensions, and deal with execution handling. The Micro Python software is a leaner, cleaner version of Python intended for the microcontroller, but it actually works for PCs, too...Micro Python software is already available to the public through the MIT open-source license..."

The development of Micro Python board was completed with funding from a Kickstarter campaign that was successfully funded on December 13, 2013. The campaign generated more than six times the initial funding goal of £15,000 set by its founder, Damien George, an Australian theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge. In Damiens latest update on the Kickstarter site (June 21), he says they just finished sending out the last of the kits and boards to his Kickstarter supporters. The picture above looks like he had a pretty crowded apartment or house when they were packing everything up for shipment! An interesting Kickstarter side-note is that another campaign on there, SliceCase, leveraged the popularity of Micro Python by offering a case for that board as one of the SliceCase rewards. The SliceCase campaign only asked for £1000 and got 9X the original ask.

Micro Python SliceCase

The SliceCase / Micro Python synergy brings up a revenue opportunity that takes advantage short term trends. In my recent post about Spark.io, two principles I mentioned for the Humboldt tech, innovator, maker and entrepreneur (TIME) community to leverage are (1) focus on emerging technologies and trends (e.g. Python language and the maker movement) and (2) use Kickstarter and similar sites to launch products and gain visibility. In this instance, SliceCase no doubt benefited from the buzz that Micro Python had generated. It would be fun to launch a Humboldt Crowdfunding Entrepreneurs Meetup group, where half the purpose is to take an abundance economy approach (a rising tide floats all boats rather than I want my piece of the pie) to Kickstarter and Indiegogo and people in the Meetup group would help each other become more successful at crowdfunding campaigns. The other half of the groups purpose would be to monitor crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter, Indiegogo and elsewhere, and to quickly and efficiently build crowdfunding campaigns that leverage publicity and successful funding of other crowdfunding campaigns.

The Micro Python is open source. Heres the GitHub project site to check out if thats of interest to you. I was glad I took a look at the GitHub site because it showed me that at least one GitHub site has a wiki component. I know less about GitHub than I do about microcontrollers and Python (sensing a theme here??), but I have several reasons to learn how to use GitHub effectively. One of those reasons is because the Humboldt Laser Harp (HLH) project code repository is being put on GitHub. I like wikis for aggregating and organizing technical information, and Im looking forward to giving the wiki component of GitHub sites a look to see if has benefits for the HLH project.

In addition to finding out about wikis on GitHub, tonights blog post also made me aware of a tech acronym that I either havent seen before (which is hard to believe) or just dont remember. That acronym is MiB. And it doesnt mean "Men in Black." What it does stand for is mebibyte, where mebi is a binary prefix which means 2 to the 20th power. It is apparently used as a more accurate alternative to megabyte (MB). The Wikipedia entry for mebibyte says:

She turned me into a newt!

"1 mebibyte is 1048576bytes...The unit has been accepted for use by all major standards organizations, appears increasingly in scholarly literature and is part of the International System of Quantities. Many Linux distributions use the unit, but the unit has not been widely accepted in the computer industry or popular media."

Micro Python has enough visibility that it was written up in Wired in December 2013, and in June 2014 there was a blurb about it in InfoWorld. With Python currently being "the most popular language for teaching introductory computer science courses at top-ranked U.S. departments," and with a relatively active community on GitHub with 31 contributors, 2544 commits and 1082 stars, the Micro Python project stands a decent chance of building critical mass and being around for a few years. Lastly, if youre interested in learning more about the creator of Micro Python, theres a Hack A Day interview with him from November 2013.

If you want to play with a Micro Python board, you can sign up on the projects website, although I didnt see any estimated shipping date for people who werent Kickstarter supporters.

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Mutli Phase Humboldt MCU Garden Project

As yesterdays Humboldt Laser Harp post indicated, the microcontroller (MCU) music group project is well under way. So now Im thinking about how to get the second group project started in the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group, one involving gardening.

MCU and sensors for potted plant

Several people whove been at Humboldt Makers Group meetings or the MCU group meetings have said theyre interested in MCUs and gardening. And it seems like lots of other people in Humboldt County might have an interest in ways to improve gardening. There are lots of organic gardeners in the area, and agriculture has been part of the Humboldt economy for much of the areas history. So Ive decided to outline a multi-phase approach to a collaborative project focused on MCU gardening. And a significant part of this collaborative project will be identifying and reaching out to Humboldt people who are involved in gardening or agriculture and might be interested in sharing their knowledge and / or participating in this project.

MCU and hydroponics

Two long term goals I have for the MCU gardening is to be involved with a successful hydroponics system and a successful aquaponics system. There are lots of websites and projects on the Internet that tell a person how to do hydroponics or aquaponics, but Im an engineer, and I like to understand what Im doing. Plus I dont have a lot of money to spend on these projects. So my preferred approach to MCU gardening is to start out small, and get more complex after I understand the technology and green thumb art involved with each part of the MCU garden project.

Below are proposed MCU garden project phases. If we get the right people involved with the project and if we can secure funding of some type for the project, we can move very quickly through the phases or work on more than one phase at a time. So if you know people whod like to participate in this project or know of money that can be used for purchasing electronic components and supplies for this, please contact me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com. These are the proposed phases for the Humboldt MCU Garden group project:

MCU and aquaponics (from dzbc.org.cn)

1. Grow one plant indoor in soil.
2. Grow four to eight plants indoor in soil.
3. Grow four types of plants outdoor in soil.
4. Grow one tray of plants indoors in hydroponic system.
5. Grow three types of plants indoors in hydroponic system.
6. Grow one type of plant in aquaponics system.
7. Grow three types of plants in aquaponics system.

Phase 1 of the Humboldt MCU Garden project is simple and low cost and will help us learn the basic principles of MCU gardening. Phases 2 through 7 can easily be redefined as we get more people involved in the project and we learn more about what we dont know about MCU gardening.

The first draft design of the Humboldt MCU Garden project includes:

1. One type of plant.

   

   LEDs and lettuce

1. Lettuce is my first choice, partly because of whats being done with optimized lettuce mcu gardening in Japan and other places (see my blog post "LED Lettuce, The HydroTower And LED Humboldt Hydroponics.") We might be able to find useful data about optimum growing conditions for lettuce (light wavelengths, relative humidity, nutrients, temperature, etc.).
2. If other people who want to participate in the Humboldt MCU Garden project prefer to grow something other than lettuce and have information about good growing conditions for that plant, Im willing to switch from lettuce.
2. Growing container.
1. The type of growing container probably wont be too critical for Phase 1. Mainly something large enough to hold the soil and drainage system that will provide good growing conditions for the plant.
2. A five gallon plastic bucket is one option, especially if we can find a free one.
3. We need to figure out where the container with the plant and MCU Garden system will be kept. It seems like Phase 1 should mostly be indoors because that means we dont need to have a rain-proof system. But having a Phase 1 container thats easily movable would be nice so we can roll or carry the container outside on nice days.
3. Growing condition sensors
1. Light sensor -- very important so we get good photosynthesis (and good respiration?).

   

   One type of light sensor (from Adafruit)

2. Soil moisture sensor -- very important because too dry means dead plant and too wet means dead plant.
3. Temperature sensor -- important for growth, especially during Humboldt winters. Temperature will be less critical for plants like lettuce, but very critical for plants like tomatoes.
4. Relative humidity sensor (RH) -- RH wont be critical for lettuce growth in Phase 1, but it will be critical as the projects future phases try to minimize water usage and as we try to grow RH-sensitive plants like redwood trees.
4. LEDs for indoor gardening
1. RGB LEDs will let us adjust the light if we want
2. Red and Blue LEDs appear to be used for optimum lettuce growth.
3. Research and / or people who know plant growth lighting and LEDs are required.
5. MCU to gather and record sensor data
1. Which MCU we use for the Humboldt MCU Garden project depends partly on who wants to be involved with the project.
1. If we can get a sponsor for the Humboldt MCU Garden project, such as an MCU manufacturer or distributor, Ill use whichever MCU they manufacture or distribute!
2. If no MCU manufacturer or distributor sponsor can be recruited, the MCU will be determined by whoever takes the lead on programming for the project.
1. If Ed takes the lead, well probably use a Texas Instruments MCU.
2. If Josiah takes the lead, or if Im filling that role, it will likely be an Arduino or Arduino-compatible.
3. If someone other than Josiah, Ed or me volunteers to lead the garden-variety programming for this project, that person can choose the MCU type.
6. Type of soil
1. Determining what type of soil to use will require research or a project member who has good experience with growing plants indoors in containers.
2. The type of soil will likely affect other gardening aspects such as what nutrients we need to add and the soil moisture measurement.
7. Fertilizer and trace nutrients to add
1. Fertilizer and trace nutrients is another topic that will require research or a project member experienced in the art.
2. Might want to evaluate whether pH or some other batch or continuous sensor (pH? nutrient analysis?) should be used to track nutrient levels.
8. Data gathering and analysis
1. There are no specific requirements for data gathering and analysis for Phase 1 since its such a simple system. However, part of the purpose of Phase 1 is to learn how to effectively monitor growing conditions, so it makes sense to establish good gardening data practices (GGDP) for those growing conditions and different types of sensors.
   
2. As part of my goal to get Humboldt people more involved in the Internet of Things (IoT), it would be good to use services like open data bases and IFTTT (If This Then That).
3. One gardening data goal is to use that data to automatically track, alarm and interpret the data generated by the sensors. It would be nice to generate online graphs and have alarms sent out by IFTTT when growing conditions reach or approach setpoints where action needs to be taken.

The above outline give you an idea of what I think Phase 1 of the Humboldt MCU Garden group project should look like. Next steps for me to get this project rolling are (1) talk to and try to recruit a couple people whove expressed an interest in MCU gardening, (2) promote the project to other people in the Humboldt Makers and MCU group and try to recruit some of them, (3) develop a one-page MCU project proposal that I can use to pitch to potential sponsors, and (4) continue to do research for Phase 1 topics like sensors, nutrients and soil types.

If you are interested in this project or know someone who might be, please email me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com or come to an MCU group meeting or Humboldt Makers meeting in the near future.

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Electronic Light Orchestra The Humboldt Laser Harp Project Launches! Part 1

Yay! The Humboldt Laser Harp microcontroller (MCU) project officially launched today. This Part 1 post about the project will give a short introduction, then Ill cover some more of the details in tomorrows post.

Ever since the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group was started back in May of this year, Ive wanted to have a couple people from the Group get together and collaborate on an MCU project. It didnt matter too much what it was, I just wanted to get the example and tradition of people coming up with a project, designing the hardware and software, figuring out how to get the components and other resources need to build the project, then debugging the first version and making iterative improvements until we had a pretty cool or interesting result.

Laser harp designed for crowd interaction

As Ive written this blog and during the biweekly Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meetings, Ive been suggesting various topics to try and get a couple people interested in one of them to the point where a project group (even just two people) would form. What I was sort of doing was throwing MCU projects against the kitchen cupboards or wall(?) like spaghetti to see if theyd stick. And one finally stuck -- at least to the point where three of us met today to determine if we wanted to actually start working together on an MCU project. And the answer to that question was, "Yes."

Laser harp with PVC pipe frame

So, Id like to introduce you to the Humboldt Laser Harp (HLH). It is the first MCU electronic musical instrument in the Electronic Light Orchestra of Humboldt County. Maybe we should call it the Humboldt Electronic Light Orchestra (HELO) so people dont get us confused with the band ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). Ill go into more detail about why the light orchestra part of the name will be appropriate when I post Part 2 or Part 3 of this series. Ill also mention other possible MCU musical instruments for the Electronic Light Orchestra, some of which have been in previous posts.

If youre reading this post and are not familiar with laser harps, take a look at my post from June titled, "Microcontrollers And A Humboldt Laser Harp." If you dont want to read that, just look for  laser harp  on Google and on YouTube.

Here are a few of the basic facts of the project:

Makezine laser harp (http://makezine.com/projects/laser-harp/)

• Right now there are three of us on the project: Ed Smith, Nick A, and Bob Waldron.
• As the project develops, Hal W and others might join in on the project.
• Ed is the lead for code and basic project design. For most questions about the project, Ed is the gatekeeper. [July 19 update: the best way to contact Ed about the project is to talk to him in person at one of the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meetings. If you cant do that, email him at bobnova (at) humboldtmicro {dott} com.]
• Nick is the lead person for building the harp frame.
• The HLH v.1.0 will reside at Nicks house.
• Im going to sketch up some type of a black mini booth or covering designed to help see the laser beams when the laser harp is not in a darkened room.
• As indicated above, well use GitHub for the code repository and versioning, and for remote project collaboration. We discussed other options, such as DropBox, Google Docs, Texas Instruments Energia, or other services Ed might prefer that Nick and I are also ok with. Ed didnt have a strong preference, and Nick likes GitHub, so thats what we using, at least for now.
• The project will be open source, both software and hardware, to the extent possible. The parts that arent truly open source will be transparent as far as all the code and components being identified. If someone else wants to replicate what weve done, theyll be welcome to do so. (Of course, we might change our tune when someone offers us a lot of money to buy our ideas, laser harps or other MCU electronic musical instruments...)
• Bob will work with Josh Cowles or others to figure out the appropriate open source licenses to put on the pieces of this project that can accurately be called open source.
• Were probably going to have six lasers in version 1.0 of the HLH, but well think about MCU and other hardware capabilities in terms of being able to easily expand the design to a twelve laser harp and put in hooks or code blocks that make it easy to convert the programs from six-laser to a twelve-laser design.
• Nick will put a post about the project on the Humboldt Makers Google Group mailing list, and possibly on online sites that could give the project favorable visibility.

A true laser harp

In tomorrows post, Ill cover some of the other details discussed in todays meeting. If you have questions or comments about the HLH, send them to me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com.

If you know of other people in Humboldt County who have already built a laser harp or who play a laser harp, please share their contact info with me, or at least their name. Wed love to connect and talk laser harp technology with them.

We look forward to a long and illustrious career for the Electronic Light Orchestra of Humboldt!

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sleep is for the weak

Almost forgot about today...probably cause I didnt do much. Camera is still MIA and the phone is still an ass. I mean...why arent the pictures in DCIM or whatever? Or the photo folder???

But man am I sleepy. Guess I can make up for it all with two posts tomorrow.

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The Humboldt Laser Harp Project Part 2

[See Part 1 of the Humboldt Laser Harp project here]

So, Im still glad Im part of the Humboldt Laser Harp (HLH) project. But boy do I feel useless and clueless about whats going on from a technical standpoint...

SparkFun MIDI breakout board

There have been a few emails back and forth today between Ed, Nick and me about the HLH project. Eds getting a lot of the programming concepts figured out, e.g. "...I think Ive solved (assuming that any of this actually talks to a MIDI thing, anyway) the 16 string limit. The 16 MIDI channels are now dynamically assigned to different strings as needed, and released when the string is released. Not sure what would happen if you broke more than 16 beams. Probably the beams >16 simply wouldnt be played. Currently the notes have a hard cut on the end of them rather than a fade...Ill work on that if/when I have a sudden flash of insight. The number of analog input pins are the only limiting factor for the number of strings now. Given external comparators or an external (fast) ADC or analog multiplexer an Arduino could do a ton of strings with more or less this same code..." Nick is doing his part by pulling apart a laser and 3D printing a holder for the laser so we can easily fine tune where the laser is pointing. Hes also going to dig up a USB MIDI input for Ed to use during the design phase of this project.

SDS-50J MIDI connector

Tonight Ed evaluated using a SparkFun MIDI breakout board vs. the SparkFun MIDI shield vs. rolling his own MIDI connection. He decided to roll his own, and at this point, all he needs is a CUI Inc SDS-50J MIDI (DIN 5 pin) connector and a Lite-On Inc 6N137 optocoupler. Hes ordering those from Digi-Key, for a total of $1.78 plus shipping. Heres the optocoupler datasheet link if you want to read up on that.

Me? Im mostly reading the emails about what theyre doing.

6N137 optocoupler

Oh well, The important thing is a laser harp MCU device is being designed, the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group has launched their first group project, and well end up with v.1.0 of what will eventually be an interesting example of what you can do with MCUs.

Returning to the HLH launch meeting we had yesterday, here are a few other points about the project as it currently stands.

• The laser harp will be the framed style rather than the unframed style. See the two pictures below.

  

  Unframed laser harp

• The tentative height of the v.1.0 harp is 36 inches. The laser harp frame will probably be placed on a table when its exhibited in public, and probably on a somewhat lower stand when a laser harpist is sitting in a chair playing it. The width will likely be between 36 and 48 inches, so that its portable, so that an open horizontal hand can easily interrupt just one beam without accidentally breaking an adjacent beam, and so a laser harpist can comfortably reach all the beams.
• Nick will provide computer speakers, a MIDI sequencer and an amplifier.
• The goal of this project is to make a musical instrument, not just an electronic tone generator.
• Yesterdays post referred to the Electronic Light Orchestra. The reason I used the word Light in that descriptive name is because:
• When the laser harp is in a dark environment, the laser beams will be a light source.

  

  Framed laser harp

• Nick has a color organ we will work to integrate into the HLH. The light organ has RGB LEDs that change intensity and color in response to music (audio frequency range) and the settings of the organ.
• If I understood Nick correctly, we may also try out incorporating some background laser light show effects with the HLH.
• One aspect of the laser harp we need inspiration and a bit of technical expertise, or at least some creative thinking, is laser beam presence enhancing. I hope that term is self-explanatory, but the issue we need to address is how to make a low-powered laser beam most noticeable by a person if the laser harp is not in a very dark environment or if the person playing the harp is not looking closely at the laser beam. Some of the enhancing techniques weve discussed are:
• a fog machine, especially some type of fog generator that specifically is generating or concentrating fog in the area where the laser beams are.
• a black booth or mini-pavilion that can be set up to enclose the laser harp and make the laser beams more visible.

  

  Fog machine

• an air pulse generator that would put a concentrated air stream in the same location as the laser beam.
• a water jet that runs in the same area as the laser beam.
• Some other type of haptic signal that the laser harp player would feel when their finger or hand was breaking the laser beam.
• Im going to research laser safety issues to make sure we understand what laser strength or power is acceptable for use with the general public so we dont have anyone get burned by the laser (skin or eyes).

Enough for tonight. More HLH posts will be showing up over the next couple weeks. Maybe Ed or Nick will have something they get so interested in whilst working on their parts of the laser harp that theyll feel compelled to write a blog post or two!

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