Category Archives: hacdc

Biosignal Amplifier Ready for Plug-and-Play

Posted on by

Mirage335 Biosignal Amp Host Schematic (detail)HacDC’s biohacking group has developed a new, ultra-low-noise biosignal amplifier and released it under the GPLv3.

The Mirage335 Biosignal Amp makes brainwave (EEG), heart (ECG), and muscle (EMG) detection all possible without reconfiguration.

Mirage335 Biosignal Amplifier Setup

Lead designer, mirage335, writes:

This system is geared for maximum performance close to theoretical limits. Ideally, the lower noise floor allows us to confirm the presence or absence of weak biosignals, especially electroencephalography signals, when they become difficult to detect with other systems.

Analog (direct-to-scope) and USB (direct-to-computer) outputs are provided. USB functionality is provided by an Arduino compatible ATMega32U4 and LTC2440 24-bit Analog-to-Digital converter.

EEG and ECG (Wikimedia Commons)

    Other features:

  • USA companies provide all parts, including circuit boards
  • Safety oriented architecture. Multiple isolation barrier and surge suppressor layers.
  • Active electrodes, wet and dry designs.
  • Extreme common-mode rejection measures.
  • Lowest noise amplifiers, based on new thermal noise research.
  • Future proof. Modular SATA data cable architecture provides smooth upgrade paths.
  • Isolation amplifier. Safe, high-resolution analog output for lab equipment (eg. oscilloscopes), sound cards, microcontrollers, and ADCs.
  • USB support, based on ArduinoDAQ (ATMega32U4 + LTC2440).
  • Efficient, high-order IIR biquad filters notch out 60Hz, 30Hz and high-frequency noise, right at the embedded microcontroller.
  • Wide supply voltage support. +/-6V to +/-15V
  • Resistor programmable gain. 13000x default.

Mirage335’s effort was supported by these members of our biohacker group, contributing to the design, testing, and funding of this versatile device:

  • Shawn Nock
  • Sharad Satsangi
  • Stuart Washington
  • The Real Plato
  • Logan Scheel

Usage instructions are available on the wiki.

Complete schematics, PCBs, BOMs, 3D printable enclosures, firmware, USB driver software, and documentation hosted on Github:

Additional documentation is available on the project’s webpage.

Join the HacDC biohacking community’s mailing list: https://groups.google.com/a/hacdc.org/forum/#!forum/meat

Support HacDC When You Order From Amazon

Posted on by

Support HacDC when you buy from Amazon.com By using our Amazon Affiliate link (especially during the impending synchronized gifting season) you can contribute to HacDC every time you order from Amazon.com. This will set a cookie that will persist for 24 hours or until you use another organization’s affiliate link.

If you want to always donate a portion of Amazon.com purchases to HacDC, a browser plugin (Firefox | Chrome) can automate this for you and make it permanent until you change settings or disable the plugin. Use tag hacdc-20 in the plugin settings for USA. Those who use Amazon Smile can also assign part of the sale to HacDC by updating their Smile settings to support “Hacdc.” A combined affiliate + Smile URL would include: https://smile.amazon.com/?tag=hacdc-20

This is not an endorsement of Amazon.com over other on-line retailers. Shop around for the best deal or shop at stores you’d like to support. If you choose the latter, you can still donate to HacDC in other ways! 🙂

EDIT 4/10/15: Updated Chrome plugin URL. Added information for Amazon Smile.

Project Byzantium ported to the Raspberry Pi!

Posted on by

Project Byzantium logoThe dev team for HacDC’s awesome, incubated Project Byzantium (PB) has ported their “ad-hoc mesh networking for the zombie apocalypse” platform to the Raspberry Pi. As the 1st milestone of their recent ISC grant award, they’ve started a parallel repository for ByzPi, their PB port for ARM, currently for Raspbian:

We opted to use Raspbian because it seems to be the more popular of the two [commonly installed Raspberry Pi Linux distributions]. Also, the packaging process for Debian was better understood than that for Arch Linux by the Project Byzantium team. We’re in a rapid development cycle so we wanted to hit the ground running and accomplish as much as possible in the available time before the first milestone.

Congratulations to The Doctor, Ben the Pyrate, and haxwithaxe!

HacDC is five years old!

Posted on by

HacDC Opening Night PortraitLongtime active HacDC member and former board member Martin notes that five years ago today is when one of our co-founders announced on our blog that HacDC has “officially organized, filled out the annoying paperwork and found a location in which to conduct our secretly awesome experiments.” It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since that time, and we’re happy to report that our awesome experiments continue! Here are some of the things we’ve done in our half decade of existence:Blue LED

  • held classes and workshops on robotics, AVR microcontrollers, bicycle maintenance, electron tubes, Python, visual communications, LED cubes, Scheme, tea, artificial intelligence, disassembly, and many other topics
  • launched—and retrieved!—five high-altitude balloons, a.k.a. spaceblimps, the latest reaching an altitude of 118,533 ftbye bye, balloon!
  • acquired 501(c)3 nonprofit status, meaning your donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law, so donate now!
  • hosted six rounds of lightning talks
  • formed W3HAC, an ARRL-affiliated, FCC-licensed amateur radio club
  • set up 3D printers, a CNC mill, a lathe, a drill press, and a fully automatic espresso machine 🙂 with plans underway to acquire a laser cutter
  • hatched GrindDC, a weekly “meatup” where biohackers research topics like materials biocompatibility and neurostimulation
  • developed Project Byzantium, a live Linux distribution that delivers easy-to-use, secure, and robust ad-hoc wireless mesh networking

HacDC Group photo from September, 2010 Meeting

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to founders Nick Farr, Andrew Righter, Alli Treman, Eric Michaud, et al for creating HacDC back when U.S. hackerspaces were few and far between. And since then we’ve thrived thanks to the support of countless members and friends who’ve given generously of their time, labor, and money to make HacDC an awesome community. Please consider supporting us so we can be around to foster curiosity and creativity in technology for the next five years.