XMPP Beyond Chat (Presentation by Arc Riley)

HacDC is developing an XMPP stack to coordinate networked messages to and from microcontrollers over WiFi, serial, and radio. It will ideally enable a near plug-and-play way for people to network their microcontroller projects and display them at HacDC. XMPP is “an open, XML-based protocol originally aimed at near-real-time, extensible instant messaging (IM) and presence information (e.g., buddy lists), but now expanded into the broader realm of message-oriented middleware.” It serves as the backbone of Google Talk, for example. One of the first projects to be linked to our framework will be an ambient lighting system for the space.

On Thursday, August 12 at 7:00PM, as a part of the NARG meeting, Arc Riley will present on the some of the XMPP aspects of this endeavor and will discuss PubSub, Data Forms, and Ad-Hoc Commands. Any individuals interested in these interesting aspects of XMPP beyond chat are encouraged to attend, and, like all HacDC activities, the event is free and open to the public.

At the end of the presentation, we may do some code sprinting and ensure that those attending have access to the distributed code repository.

Ambient Lighting Project with HacDC’s Artifical Intelligence Working Group (NARG)

HacDC contains numerous enthusiasts active in both software and hardware projects, and although these categories divide, they can be difficult to define. On Monday and Wednesday nights at the space, microcontroller and electronics enthusiasts meet, and on Thursday nights hobbyists of artificial intelligence and natural language processing gather.

HacDC’s NARG group is beginning a project that offers one way to bridge the gap between these rough groupings. Blinky lights and LEDs have always been a foundation of microcontroller work, and as actuators they can be surprisingly dense. Interested in the “smart home” concept, HacDC’s NARG group would like to establish an ambient lighting platform with an API that could link into various algorithms — smart, simple, or silly — to affect the color and intensity of lighting in the space. Potential controlling factors include weather, natural language commands, and inferences about the “mood” of the space from sensor data. This could start as one light, like an ambient orb, and potentially expand to a complex network of lights and LED “objects.” This effort could also merge with a larger, long-term project HacDC has to create a master network to communicate with microcontroller projects in the space via XMPP, radio, and WiFi.

On Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 7PM, NARG will discuss and outline the hardware and software needs for this platform. This meeting, like all HacDC meetings, is free and open to the public. And please feel free to keep visiting NARG on Thursdays and Microcontroller Mondays to help this project develop.

HacDC move update!


Lots of members showed up throughout the day today and got the moving job done – the old space is pretty much empty. We even got the interwebs working. There’s no other way to say this than HACDC, YOU ROCK. It was a lot of fun hearing the exclamations when people saw the old space empty… and I really liked it when a new guy who wants to join showed up and jumped right in with helping out and cracking jokes. We have absolutely fantastic members who get the job done, and I am psyched about how awesome this next year is going to be. Everyone is looking forward to some aspect of the new space, and indeed there is a lot to look forward to.

From what I’ve been hearing, tomorrow’s planning party should be pretty well attended. Please come to pitch in ideas about how to get the space set up. See you tomorrow at 7pm!

Notes from the HacDC weather-balloon underground

As previously mentioned by Todd F., a team of HacDC’ers are participating in the Hacker-spaces in Space competition…

We’ve put together an Atmel ATmega based TNC (Terminal Node Controller) to send out position reports over a VHF radio link using APRS (Amateur Radio Position Reporting System) and are now testing antennas.

We have been shopping for balloons, bottled gas, cord, and other various bits. Tom C. got a worn out parachute donated to us by Skydive Orange. Mark A. & family are busy making a parachute and polystyrene capsules. Nick is building a surface mount board for the TNC, GPS, transmitter module and cut down circuits. It looks like we’ll easily make the weight budget and cost.

Many of us are acquiring radio licenses and honing radio skills to learn how to track the beacon and coordinate chase teams. We are learning how to study radiosonde data and use flight planning software to figure the best best launch locations.

Many thanks to the Vienna Wireless Society for much help and for letting us watch their very successful May 1 flight (photoset by Mark A.).

We anticipate a full-up test flight mid-June. You’re welcome to join us on the mailing list.

(This post was drafted by Martin R. Thanks, Martin!)

Categories: UncategorizedAuthor nootrope