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Lightning shutter trigger 2.0 - first pictures

flashToday, with my youngest son, we were able to test in real conditions the new version of the lightning shutter trigger, thanks to a thunderstorm which appeared in the beginning of the afternoon.

The idea was not to spend time on picture quality, but just to check trigger sensitivity. And the results are good: every lightning flash was detected, even two ones that happened in our back and one that we did not see! Additionally, I realized that there is no need for an opamp in the circuit: for every picture, the trigger sets itself in non amplified mode (I implemented an automatic switch between amplified and non amplified mode).

Open source web conferencing solutions

Looking for an open source (video) conferencing solution. First links:

IoT tips and tricks - 1

As I wrote in a previous article, one of the distinctive features of IoT projects is that they require integration of technical blocks originating from three different domains: electronics, communications and software. And inside these three domains, various different subdomains are usually involved: analog and digital electronics, wireless communication modules, protocol stacks, embedded software, user interfaces, database management, analytics, geospatial data, etc.

Therefore, when developing a new system, it's almost impossible to only rely on technical blocks developed in-house, or that you have been already using for a long period: you have to integrate some new components provided externally. And usually you'll discover that provided documentation does not say everything about components characteristics and behaviour.

Playing with Play

logoI have to spend some time on a project that will provide and use REST APIs. After a rapid comparison between Play and Spring (see below), I start with Play and Scala. I'm a beginner in Play and in Scala, so assume that information below can be naive or incorrect.

Play vs Spring

IoT project case study #3: understand customer needs

truckIn the beginning of the 2000s, while I was still working for the small company I had cofounded, we decided to answer a Request for Proposal submitted by a waste removal company, for a system allowing to check whether all planned daily garbage collections had been performed. At this time, we didn't know a lot about the waste removal market. But we knew we were experienced enough in technologies we would have to assemble in order to answer the RFP: onboard equipment and embedded software, GNSS positioning, wireless communications, Geographical Information Systems, etc.

IoT/M2M - My April tweets

Lightning shutter trigger 2.0

flashFirst version of my ligthning shutter trigger is not as sensitive as I would have liked it to be. Consequently, I have been thinking at designing a new version for some time now. I started the new design on end of March, and ended wiring the prototype yesterday.

I use a PSoC 4, from Cypress. This component includes an ARM core and some analog and digital blocks (including opamps) that you can configure and connect according to your needs. It took me a few days before feeling comfortable with the development environment and PSoC 4 capabilities, but I don't regret time I invested!

IoT/M2M - My March tweets

IoT project case study #2

A few years ago, I was asked to perform the audit of an embedded device. This device was used in professional fleet management applications, to upload various data to a central application server: vehicle location and speed, logic states of a few digital inputs, etc. The technical archictecture was based on a microcontroller and a GSM/GPRS/GPS module. An over-the-air (OTA) update function had been implemented, so that remote software update was possible. Nothing really complex, nor revolutionary.

Several thousand vehicles had been equipped. But quite rapidly, up to one third of installed devices stopped working. And the most stressful point was that the OTA update was no more functional. Consequently, every non-functioning device had to be removed from the vehicle, reprogrammed, and reinstalled.

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