Beacon3

From Hackstrich
Revision as of 00:30, 20 July 2011 by SarahEmm (talk | contribs) (Power stuff)

Beacon3 will be a beacon for the top of our flag(less) pole for Burning Man 2011. It will be simpler than Beacon2 as time is limited to get it done, but we want a brighter beacon.

Ideas

  • Beacon Unit
    • Less LEDs, but much much brighter. Thinking either a triangle or square with a 1, 3, or 5W RGB LED (either integrated or discrete) on each side.
    • Using RGBW LEDs would add extra driver circuitry, but would mean we could do white for 1/3 the current draw of using RGB LEDs
    • Planar PCB that fits onto the spindle, then LED PCBs that plug in vertically seems like it would work
      • LED PCBs may need heat sinks, which could fit into the middle space around the spindle
    • Single MCU this time, as there are fewer LEDs
    • Same enclosure as Beacon2 can be used to save time, just remove PCBs and replace with these
    • Same light sensor and (lack of) charging circuitry as Beacon2 can also be used
    • Regulator will be on planar, needs to be 3* whatever LED current we go with for triangle, or 4x for square
      • This allows for one LED on each side, or all LEDs on one side, or any combination of that to be on at one time
      • LDO may be the most efficient given the small in->out difference, need to calculate the efficiency of each option
  • Remote Control Unit
    • Having a remote that would make the beacon extra-noticeable when a button was pressed would be cool
    • To get long enough range to be useful, we'd want ~50mW
    • XBee is probably the best way to go, but need to look at power draw for the RX side and would have to custom-design a remote control unit
    • Remote Control Unit could just be:
      • Arduino Fio
      • XBee Series 1 RP-SMA (plugs directly into Arduino Fio)
      • Rubber-duck antenna
      • LiIon pack (plugs directly into Arduino Fio)

Project Status

2011-07-19: Initial design started.