Wireless Tower of Lights
Abstract
For the last several years, the University of Idaho has hosted a lights show as part of Homecoming activities. In the original setup for the lights show, a myriad of wires are used to connect to the central control, and a light bar consisting of three LEDs is placed in the window of each of forty rooms two days prior. This presented hardware challenges. Repurposing the light bars to save on costs, Dr. Robert Rinker and I set out to build a wireless set-up for the lights show display. There were three points of inquiry we had to overcome in my research: how to harness power, how to talk to the LEDs, and how to lay the light bars to sleep and wake them up later. For power, we used a nine-volt battery and re-designed our LED circuit. We modeled our communication like the Vandal Marching Band glasses and used a transmitter to talk to a transceiver on each light bar. To wake the light bars up, I am coding sleep mode from the micro-controller datasheet. By resolving these three points, the lights bar will prove an efficient and hassle-free setup for the community to enjoy in the lights show.
Wireless Tower of Lights
For the last several years, the University of Idaho has hosted a lights show as part of Homecoming activities. In the original setup for the lights show, a myriad of wires are used to connect to the central control, and a light bar consisting of three LEDs is placed in the window of each of forty rooms two days prior. This presented hardware challenges. Repurposing the light bars to save on costs, Dr. Robert Rinker and I set out to build a wireless set-up for the lights show display. There were three points of inquiry we had to overcome in my research: how to harness power, how to talk to the LEDs, and how to lay the light bars to sleep and wake them up later. For power, we used a nine-volt battery and re-designed our LED circuit. We modeled our communication like the Vandal Marching Band glasses and used a transmitter to talk to a transceiver on each light bar. To wake the light bars up, I am coding sleep mode from the micro-controller datasheet. By resolving these three points, the lights bar will prove an efficient and hassle-free setup for the community to enjoy in the lights show.