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Webinar & Twitter Chat: Connecting Light, The Ultimate XBee iDigi Project

As many of you know, Digi took part in the innovative art installation Connecting Light that took place on August 31 and September 1, along Hadrian’s Wall in the UK. Connecting Light, which has been called the longest art installation in the world was part of the London 2012 Festival, a 12-week cultural celebration for the London 2012 Olympics. The installation consisted of hundreds of large-scale, light-filled balloons transmitting colors from one-to-another, creating a communication network spanning Hadrian’s Wall.

On Thursday October 4, at 8:00am EST Rob Faludi and Jordan Husney will host a webinar explaining how Connecting Light came together, and how Digi International’s iDigi Device Cloud, along with over 400 programmable XBee radios and 20 ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways helped make it happen. While Rob and Jordan explain the technology behind Connecting Light, you have the opportunity to participate and ask your questions in real time on Twitter with the hashtag #DigiConnected.

Start your Thursday morning learning about how the technology used for Connecting Light, which recently won the M2M Best Practice Awards at this year’s M2M Summit in Dusseldorf, can be used for industry projects.

Date & Time: Thursday October 4, 8:00am EST

Presented By:

Rob Faludi, Collborative Stategy Leader

Jordan Husney, iDigi Product Manager

Key Topics:

An explanation of the Connecting Light project
An iDigi and XBee product description & how they were used in this project
A step-by-step explanation of how the application logic is distributed and how that relates to other, “real-life” applications, such as the way a vending machine or medical device system might architect their app across our systems.

Live Commentary and Q&A: #DigiConnected

We’re looking forward to chatting with you soon. You can register now here.

Digi’s Involvement in Connecting Light Lives On

Digi‘s involvement in the art installation, Connecting Light, continues to live on as people explore the inner workings of the 73-mile long presentation. Here are three articles that take a deeper look into the network of 400 connected balloons.

Hadrian’s Wall Roman heritage site uses M2M to enable 73-mile art installation on M2M Now

“The light installation consisted of hundreds of large scale, light filled balloons transmitting colours from one to another, creating a light-operated communication network spanning over seventy miles. Connecting Light was driven by Digi International’s iDigi Device Cloud, Programmable XBee radios and ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways. Digi Professional Services helped to design the network architecture as an ‘internet of things solution’.”

M2M technology powers a 70-mile-long art installation on Land Mobile

“The art project was connected by the company’s iDigi Device Cloud, a ready-to-use device cloud networking platform. This provided the backbone of the project, supplying the infrastructure required to access, control, configure and upgrade each illumination device securely over the Internet.”

Apples and Walls in Components in Electronics (page 42)

“…400 illuminated balloons were lit up along its [Hadrian's Wall's] length to demonstrate M2M communications powered by the iDigi Device Cloud. The balloons pulsated in clour and in sync with each other thanks to XBee RF modules in what was basically a 117km long Zigbee network.”

Learn More About Connecting Light

On Thursday, October 4 at 8:00pm (EST), Rob Faludi, Collaborative Strategy Leader and Jordan Husney, iDigi Product Manager will present the Webinar: Connecting Light – The Ultimate XBee & iDigi Project.

This webinar is your chance to discover how Connecting Light came together and how Digi International’s iDigi Device Cloud, along with over 400 programmable XBee radios and 20 ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways, helped make it happen. Rob and Jordan will also cover how the application logic of such an art installation, which recently won the M2M Best Practice Awards at this year’s M2M Summit in Dusseldorf, can be used for industry projects.

You can sign up for the webinar here.

The Awe of Connecting Light Continues

Connecting Light may have taken place over a week ago now, but there are still amazing photos surfacing and the awe of the pure scale of the project continues. Here are some of our never-before-seen photos from the setup and presentation.

Do you have photos of the event you’d like to share? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments section below. And, if you haven’t already, check out Digi’s own Rob Faludi explaining our involvement in Connecting Light on BBC National News.

Connecting Light Highlights

Connecting Light made for an exciting time in northern England last week. From the preparation to deployment, Connecting Light was an experience to be remembered. We shared real-time updates on Facebook and Twitter, but here’s a collection of highlights and a behind-the-scenes look at preparation, before-launch demo, press and more.

After a long night of sorting XBees on Wednesday night, on Thursday, the Connecting Light team setup shop at Vallum Farm to prepare for the first on-site demo. The demo went well, and a few news outlets, including BBC, came by to get their first round of coverage. You can see photos from the prep and demo below, and you can check out more photos from the Connecting Light team here.

Also, here’s a great BBC video with David Sillito featuring some of Thursday’s preview footage and the installation’s premier on Friday night.

After mingling with VIP guests at the Roman Army Museum on Friday, Digi’s Collaborative Strategy Leader, Rob Faludi, had the opportunity to appear live on BBC News to explain how Connecting Light worked. It was the perfect time to please curious minds with the details of the installation. To film the piece, we went to a beautiful cliff that became home to a series of balloons for the night.

Here’s a full diagram to accompany Rob’s explanation and another video with even deeper detail.

Check out more photos and behind the scenes footage from the Connecting Light team on their blog here. Do you attend Connecting Light? Did you send a message? Share your experience and photos and videos!

Faludi on BBC LIVE: Digi & Connecting Light

The BBC News interviewed me live, explaining the Digi technology behind YesYesNo’s Connecting Light art installation for London Festival 2012′s Cultural Olympiad. We’re on the edge of a craggy cliff about halfway along the installation of 400 huge interactive weather balloons that are illuminated in different colors by text messages sent from people around the world. I’m explaining how Programmable XBees and the iDigi Device Cloud make that possible. And although you don’t see them in the live shot, we are entirely surrounded by sheep:

Connecting Light System Diagram

Here’s how the Connecting Light system is created from Digi equipment for the 73-mile-long installation of 400 giant illuminated balloons on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The huge network will go live tonight for an crowd expected to bring traffic along the 80-mile World Heritage site to a crawl as thousands of spectators flock to the interactive event. Connecting Light is a perfect example of a large-scale system for centrally controlling remote devices—the same advanced infrastructure that hospitals use to monitor patient ventilators, infusion pumps or dialysis machines, and that forward-thinking power utilities use to network their entire grid.

The technology required for Connecting Light was assembled by Digi Professional Services—our solutions experts who network dynamic message signs along highways, smart thermostats for utility networks and positive train control systems for railroads. Putting all these different devices online is arguably the next big revolution for the Internet. Organizations are starting to demand visibility to their remote assets along with centralized control for everything out in the field as their competitors begin benefitting from the systems currently being put in place. It’s an exciting time to be involved with this stuff!

The diagram above shows how Programmable XBees, ConnectPort GSM mobile routers and the iDigi Device Cloud all work together to form a reliable backbone behind a breathtaking artwork that spans England’s coasts.It is also available as a PDF.

Technology for Connected Art Exhibits a Model for Innovative Business

We’ve been sharing a lot of information about Connecting Light, the art installation that will span the length (73 miles) of Hadrian’s Wall in England. The project is certainly exciting and inspirational, but a truly amazing aspect of the project is the sweeping scope of the technology used.

The same Digi International technology used to create the communications network that transmits audience-generated messages represented as pulses of brightly colored light over 73 miles is also used to create networks that save lives and protect business assets.

Connecting Light is driven by Digi International’s iDigi Device Cloud, Programmable XBee radios and ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways. Digi Professional Services helped to design the network architecture as an Internet of Things solution.

How the Technology Works for Connecting Light

Audience members can send text messages to the Connecting Light application which lives on the iDigi Device Cloud. The iDigi Device Cloud sends those messages to ConnectPort X4 cellular gateways which then “speak” to specific balloons filled with Programmable XBee Radios along the wall. The artists can then easily monitor each balloon’s status and manage the light patterns through the Connecting Light Web site, and spectators can control the balloons with their mobile phones.

How the Technology Creates Business Solutions

Connecting Light is a perfect example of centrally controlling remote devices. As with Connecting Light, Digi creates systems for businesses that allow anyone with an Internet or cellular connection to communicate with a remote device. For example, it’s the same advanced infrastructure that hospitals use to monitor patient ventilators, infusion pumps or dialysis machines, and that forward-thinking power utilities use to network their entire grid.

The system was assembled by Digi Professional Services team in the same way they connect dynamic message signs along highways, smart thermostats for utility networks and patient monitoring devices for assisted living facilities.

The iDigi Device Cloud is available free to anyone, for up to 5 devices. So, what are you waiting for? You can sign up for iDigi here.

See what people are saying about the much-anticipated art installation, Connecting Light, here.

iDigi & XBee to Power the World’s Longest Work of Art: Connecting Light

We’ve been excitedly sharing updates about Connecting Light here on the iDigi Blog, Twitter and Facebook. But, just in case you haven’t heard, the iDigi Device Cloud and XBee will power Connecting Light, the art installation that will turn 73-mile Hadrian’s Wall into the world’s longest work of art.

As the presentation of Connecting Light grows closer [Friday, August 31 and Saturday, September 1], here’s what a few others are saying about the installation:

“Founder member Zachary Lieberman said: ‘We are imagining a reverse wall – an inverse of the border. The border was built to separate people, and we want to bring them together again.’”

The Telegraph – London 2012 Festival: Hadrian’s Wall becomes ‘world’s longest artwork’

“The balloons will be fitted with lights and networked so they can communicate with one another [via XBee Radios]. Viewers will be able to submit short messages which will be transformed into pulses of colored light that pass along the wall in patterns reminiscent of Morse Code.”

San Francisco Chronicle — Balloons to Transform Hadrian’s Wall into Artwork

“Hadrian’s Wall has been the traditional boundary between England and Scotland ever since it was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. This 73-mile long structure was once the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire.”

Gadling — Hadrian’s Wall to be Turned into World’s Longest Work of Art

“Zachary Lieberman, artist, said: ‘Our concept is to create a digital platform by which messages can be communicated the entire length of the wall. The goal is to understand the wall in a modern context and imagine the wall not as a barrier but as a bridge, as a means of connecting rather than dividing. People will be able to interact at sites along the wall and as well as all over the world through the internet.’”

Arts Council England – Floating beacons to illuminate Hadrian’s Wall for London 2012 Festival

Get Involved:

You can send your own message by answering a prompt or creating your own on the Connecting Light website. You can also check out updates directly from the Connecting Light team on their blog. Our team is officially on the ground in England to help deploy the installation, so we’ll be sharing real-time information here on the iDigi blog, on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well.

The Ultimate XBee iDigi Project: Connecting Light on Hadrian’s Wall in Celebration of the London 2012 Olympics

We’re excited to announce our participation in a major art installation for the London 2012 Festival in celebration of the 2012 Olympics. If you took part in the XBee Knowledge Forum last week, you may have heard our brief (and sly) mention of a special project. Now, we’re ready to tell the rest of the world. New York based artists YesYesNo, including Zachary Lieberman and Molmol Kuo, are creating “Connecting Light” an art installation that will span the length of 73 mile-long Hadrian’s Wall across the north of England, one of the most significant structures of the Roman Empire. The art installation, which will reach local, national and international audiences will take place August 31-September 1.

Using a series of tethered balloons lit by internal LED lights, the installation will become a line of pulsating colors. The changing colors will use the iDigi Device Cloud along with over 400 Digi Programmable XBees (video) and around 20 ConnectPort X4 gateways to respond to text messages sent across the wall by audience members. As the London Festival put it, these interactions will “transform what was once a protective border into a line of communication.”

The installation will be visible in the evening and accessible to visitors at several locations along the wall. No need to worry if you don’t plan on traveling to London. Connecting Light will be viewable remotely all over the world through digital media. Messages sent across the wall can be seen on smartphones, iPads and tablets and detailed information will be available at a number of visitor sites along Hadrian’s wall and on Websites including our own.

The installation is currently being prototyped by YesYesNo with Digi team members, Rob Faludi and Jordan Husney, who were there to help setup a prototype last week. This is the first sneak peak of the project– enjoy!

Want to learn more? Here’s a great article about Connecting Light. You can also learn more on the Hadrian’s Wall Trust’s page and the London 2012 Festival’s page for the project. We’ll be sharing continuous updates here on the iDigi blog.

Wearable Tech: Projects and People to Know

Technology: it’s not just robots and computer parts. It’s getting more and more personal, and wearable tech is beginning to play a prominent role in both the tech world and fashion industry. Here’s a list of projects and people that make for an awesome introduction to the world of wearable tech.

Projects

Beating Heart Headband
The Beating Heart Headband uses a heartrate sensor and perfboard Arduino to flash a heart-shaped LED display to the rhythm of your heart.

Google’s Project Glass and Oakley Glasses
Google and Oakley are creating technology that can project information directly onto lenses– an experimental effort to build smartphone features into eyewear.

The Intelligent Cycling Jacket
Combining intelligent materials like water resistant, breathable organic cotton and flexible LED circuits, Sporty Supaheroe is an intelligent cycling jacket that promises to keep cyclists both safe and comfortable on the road.

Will.i.am Video Jacket
During the latest Black Eyed Peas tour, singer Will.I.Am sported a hand tailored jacket made by Hardy Amis’ master taylor Jan Cicmanec and completely covered in an LED video system. The jacket is capable of displaying animations at video speed from a built in SD card.

You can see more wearable tech projects including Adidas Megalizer, Proximity-Sensing Pocket Squares and Party in the Mouth on the XBee Project Gallery.

People

LadyAda (Limor Fried) of Adafruit Industries
LadyAda.net
Adafruit
Adafruit on Twitter
Limor Fried, Founder of Adafruit Industries, is a MIT trained engineer. She is the first female engineer on WIRED magazine’s cover, named one of the “Most influential Women in Technology” by Fast Company and the winner of an EFF pioneer award for teaching and sharing electronics.

She has been featured in hundreds of publications and media around the world. Adafruit was started in 2005, Limor’s goal is to create the best place online for learning electronics and making the best designed products for makers of all ages and skill levels. Since then, Adafruit has grown to over 25 employees in the heart of NYC.

Syuzi Pakhchyan
FashioningTech.com
Syuzi Pakhchyan on Twitter
Syuzi Pakhchyan is a fashion technologist with a fetish for beautiful code and conductive cloth. She’s an experience designer whose work investigates the intersection between code, cloth and culture. Her design and research interests include wearable technologies, physical and soft computing, and interactive textile design. Her book “Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting“ explores the emerging creative practice of soft circuits and soft technologies.

Steve Mann
Steven Mann, the author of Wearable Computing, is a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. Mann holds degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and McMaster University, where he was also inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Hall of Fame, Alumni Gallery, 2004, in recognition of his career as an inventor and teacher. While at MIT he was one of the founding members of the Wearable Computers group in the Media Lab.

Diana Eng
DianaEng.com
Diana Eng Twitter
Educated at RISD in apparel design, Diana Eng started her career as a designer on Bravo’s Project Runway, Season 2. Diana worked as an assistant designer at Generra but left the company to pursue a career working with more experimental fashion. She found her niche in Victoria’s Secret research and development department. The department created new innovation for mass market.

In 2009, Eng received a grant from Rhizome and an artist residency from Eyebeam Art and Technology Center to create fashion prototypes using laser cutters, 3-d printers, and electronics for her educational program FairytaleFashion.org. Diana started her ready-to-wear line Diana Eng in 2010, and continues working to bring new innovation in fashion to market.

Love wearable tech? Follow our Wearable Tech board on Pinterest.

Know someone or something that should be on this list? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter.

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