View source for Beacon3-OriginalPlans

Beacon3 will be a more ambitious version of the Beacon2 project, targeted for use at Burning Man 2011.

== Project Status ==
Putting together rough ideas, real work won't start until after Burning Man 2010 is over and we find out what worked well with Beacon2.

== Post-2010 Burn Notes ==
* Should be brighter than [[Beacon2]], as it wasn't super-visible.
* Maybe use 8x8 LED matrices?  3 around the pole to make a triangle, or 4 or 5 to make a box/pentagon maybe.  Will have to order a few and play with them.
* Larger than [[Beacon2]] would be good too, as that would also help make it more visible.
* [http://github.com/lisa/beacon/blob/brc2010-rc3/beacon2.pde#L153 Program 0] should run for less time. No more than 5 seconds at a time.

== Pre-2010 Burn Random Ideas/Notes ==
* LEDs up the whole flag pole, not just a beacon at the top like Beacon2 is.
** Maybe do the guy lines too?
** Maybe don't even involve the flagpole, make this standalone on the open playa?
* Modular design like Beacon2 will keep costs down and make assembly and programming easier.
** Master board will be a controller only, will have no local LEDs
* Two half-circle boards at each level will increase yield, make assembly easier, and keep the board size within Eagle's limits
** Maybe use 0.1" pitch rectangular connectors with locking arms to join the halves?
*** Like Digikey's OR1001-ND (would be about $1.50 per board in connectors, not too bad)
* I2C probably makes the most sense for inter-board communications
** Means basically any CPUs can be used on master/slave boards
* Local regulators on each slave board will give more flexibility in lighting and less worries about how many LEDs can be on at once
** Using switching regulators will greatly improve efficiency (and therefore runtime)
* Transistors on each LED so that we don't have limits on how many LEDs per CPU
** Alternatively could use a proper LED driver chip
*** Have a local ATwhatever to do supervisory functions on each board, and the LED driver to actually PWM the LEDs and such
*** I2C for inter-board comms and SPI for intra-board comms would work (as long as the ATwhatever has both at the same time supported)
* Raw power supply will be completely separate, charging will be done as a separate board/project if required
* PWM for all LEDs
* LEDs need to be surface mount!  Dealing with the through-hole LEDs on [[Beacon2]] was a huge pain.

[[Category:Cancelled Projects]]