Lightning shutter trigger 2.0 - first pictures

flashToday, with my youngest son, we were able to test in real conditions the new version of the lightning shutter trigger, thanks to a thunderstorm which appeared in the beginning of the afternoon.

The idea was not to spend time on picture quality, but just to check trigger sensitivity. And the results are good: every lightning flash was detected, even two ones that happened in our back and one that we did not see! Additionally, I realized that there is no need for an opamp in the circuit: for every picture, the trigger sets itself in non amplified mode (I implemented an automatic switch between amplified and non amplified mode).

Open source web conferencing solutions

Looking for an open source (video) conferencing solution. First links:

IoT tips and tricks - 1

As I wrote in a previous article, one of the distinctive features of IoT projects is that they require integration of technical blocks originating from three different domains: electronics, communications and software. And inside these three domains, various different subdomains are usually involved: analog and digital electronics, wireless communication modules, protocol stacks, embedded software, user interfaces, database management, analytics, geospatial data, etc.

Therefore, when developing a new system, it's almost impossible to only rely on technical blocks developed in-house, or that you have been already using for a long period: you have to integrate some new components provided externally. And usually you'll discover that provided documentation does not say everything about components characteristics and behaviour.

Playing with Play

logoI have to spend some time on a project that will provide and use REST APIs. After a rapid comparison between Play and Spring (see below), I start with Play and Scala. I'm a beginner in Play and in Scala, so assume that information below can be naive or incorrect.

Play vs Spring

IoT project case study #3: understand customer needs

truckIn the beginning of the 2000s, while I was still working for the small company I had cofounded, we decided to answer a Request for Proposal submitted by a waste removal company, for a system allowing to check whether all planned daily garbage collections had been performed. At this time, we didn't know a lot about the waste removal market. But we knew we were experienced enough in technologies we would have to assemble in order to answer the RFP: onboard equipment and embedded software, GNSS positioning, wireless communications, Geographical Information Systems, etc.

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