LightAnchors array: LEDs in routers, power strips, and more, can sneakily ship data to this smartphone app A pentad of bit boffins have devised a way to integrate electronic objects into augmented reality applications using their existing visible light sources, like power lights and signal strength indicators, to transmit data. In a recent research paper, "LightAnchors: Appropriating Point Lights for Spatially-Anchored Augmented …
So you'll know the gun is at the correct temperature without having to pick it up and squeeze the trigger every ten seconds to no effect.
Of course you'll have to hold your phone in one hand for the whole waiting period so you're pretty much tied to the gun's location either way.
Maybe the LED on the glue gun could just change from, say, red to green when it reaches optimum temperature.
basically the thermostat clicking off, glue gun stats aren't that big so generally don't click loud enough to hear, if they have a thermostat at all that is..
pretty sure my $5 cts one doesn't. It does have remarkable longevity though, having been used a lot over the last few years.
Best one was doing some work in a mate's garage and he wanted to borrow it afterwards, so I left it with him in his garage.
3 weeks later ask for it back and he says it's where I left it as he'd never used it. Go round to his place and oh shit, forgot to turn off the powerpoint when I'd last used it - on for 3 weeks. Still works fine a year later. The glue was kinda darkened but still worked - that which hadn't melted and spilled out. Took a bit to clear some of the excess but in the end was fine. Would normally have sent it for recycling rather than take the effort to clear it (for $5), but figured it'd survived that long so deserved to live on (I've had expensive soldering irons fail with less on-time then that!)
Blue is actually hotter than red, and in Japan it means "go" on traffic lights. (Also fewer than 10% of males are so red/green colour blind they cannot tell narrow spectrum red and green lights apart. It's the region in between where they tend to have discrimination problems. )
It can be argued that no colour change on its own should be used for discrimination.
However, with modern technology it is easy to one light in the form of a cross and the other a tick.
I'm colourblind, and I (apparently) can only discern that *some* shades of green are green.
For me, traffic lights go:- Orangey red, orange, light dirty colour which is fortunately different to my eyes from all the other lights usually found in a street setting.
However, most status leds for me go from reddish yellow to "probably yellow" (i.e. green to most "normal" people). This causes problems with charging a lot of things. I *like* blue status leds.... That is, unless they're purple, in which case I wouldn't be able to tell. I understand purple as a concept, but in doesn't really feature in my reality much.
"That is, unless they're purple, in which case I wouldn't be able to tell. I understand purple as a concept, but in doesn't really feature in my reality much."
So the old joke about two tankers colliding in the channel, one carrying blue paint, the other red paint, leaving both crews marooned doesn't work for you?
"Why on earth would you need a "smart" glue gun that transmits data to your phone?
"Maybe the LED on the glue gun could just change from, say, red to green when it reaches optimum temperature."
Way to miss the point here. It's not about the glue gun, it's about an inexpensive way of broadcasting status. The glue gun is just an example of how to think outside the box.
But seeing as we're on the subject, a glue gun could communicate a number of things through it's 32bit datastream. Temperature yes, but also type of glue installed, heater service hours or impending blockages/feed errors. It could also communicate status to other devices, so for example your home could use the LED to spot that you left the glue gun on when you left for work, whether this was likely to become dangerous, and if so identify which socket it's plugged into and turn it off remotely.
I can also imagine situations where this could be used for security; whereas a Bluetooth connection requires handshaking and therefore two-way data transfer and associated vulnerability, this is effectively an opto-isolated one-way channel which can communicate data with zero risk of getting hacked.
Literally millions of use cases for tech like this.
That's all well and good but let's be reasonable: manufacturers today aren't going to include $1 of additional parts and labor without charging you $10 for it - which is of course their right - but as with "smart" TVs, refrigerators, etc, the way they're going to offset that cost increase is by turning the functionality into a new revenue stream: ad placement, walled gardens, data collection. Scan your hot glue gun to see what the temperature's at, here's an ad for glue sticks on sale at Walmart. Buy a surge protector from Home Depot, you've got to download the Home Depot Connect app to see if the MOV's burnt out. Have a smart refrigerator with a camera in the door, Samsung knows what appliances you have in your kitchen and when you use them. And that's just the beginning: now we're going down the rabbit hole of functionality = microprocessor = DRM. "We've embedded a tiny RFID chip into every stick of hot melt adhesive so your glue gun will automatically adjust its temperature for optimum performance. To ensure safety and consistent functionality, your glue gun will only turn on when it recognizes that a genuine stick of 3M hot melt adhesive has been inserted. Each RFID tag is unique and since we know how much glue has been fed through thanks to the glue usage sensor, it is impossible to reuse the tag in another stick. This is also to ensure safety."
Call me paranoid.
"so for example your home could use the LED to spot that you left the glue gun on when you left for work, whether this was likely to become dangerous, and if so identify which socket it's plugged into and turn it off remotely."
How fucking bright is this LED you can see it from your place of work????
Or do you mean you plaster you house in" Smart" cameras, to send a signal to your phone, to alert you to turn it off?
Here's what the people that have ability to think do. Turn it off when you have finished using it. Crazy I know...and get this, turn it off without a phone, just use that funny thing the wall.
IOT users. Always looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
PS. Plenty of devices of all sorts have auto standby, including glue guns.
Even my cheap "dumb" TV does.
The clue is in "your home". Wanna try again?
Here's what the people that have ability to think do. Turn it off when you have finished using it.
Shit happens, people get distracted. Even the ones that can think. Not sure whether to congratulate or pity you if nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever distracted you.
I too detest the current trend of insisting everything be "smart", but you really seem to enjoy overreacting.
Here's what the people that have ability to think do. Turn it off when you have finished using it.
People who actually have the ability to think realise that there are a number of circumstances in which things can accidentally be left on (and also accidentally turned on - eg cat chasing a fly that lands on the switch). Sure I've only done it a couple of times in my life but I know I could answer the phone while working on something (no point turning the heaty thing off for a few seconds phone talk) only to get some news or an urgent request that has me distressed or racing out the door in a hurry, thoughts of things making sure everything is turned off far from my mind. I also use heaty things (eg soldering iron) quite often, sometimes several days a week. Turning it off is something so common I have to check if I have a doubt (same as locking the door, I do it at least once every day so no way to recall a specific time.
That said, I do agree with not having all the cameras and other IoT crap around. Me? I have a safe work bench. If I leave something there and it gets all hot and sweaty then there's no way fire can spread even with flaming melted plastic running off. Try to be sure I have things turned off, check them anyway, but also work in a place where flames aren't scary. Much simpler - and safer - then having an excess of IoT-infested cheap tat.
@Lord Elpuss - "zero risk of getting hacked"
Really?
It's a line-of-sight data leak. The possibility of blinking lights on a modem leaking data was reported a few years ago (couldn't find a Reg. link).
As a movie-plot-scenario, how about using a modulated laser pointer to reflect a dot, feeding false data into [critical system] and causing [disaster] for the hero to face?
"@Lord Elpuss - "zero risk of getting hacked"
Really?
It's a line-of-sight data leak."
Yes really; a data leak is not the same as hacking. A data leak might be the result of a hack, but a leak and a hack are not the same thing. Plus it's not really a 'leak' if it's broadcasting by design.
Re your movie plot scenario, the critical system would need to have a receiving component in order to receive the modulated input from the laser pointer; an LED is transmit-only so your laser pointer would have nothing to communicate with.
Which of course won't stop Hollywood making a movie about it...
One of the examples in the video was a "one-time security token", which is exactly the sort of thing that shouldn't be broadcast. Yes, a data leak isn't the same as hacking, but the data might be useful in a hack (e.g. the token), or part of the target data. You've recognised that it is a broadcast system, but the designers don't seem to be thinking that way, and IoT product developers might come up with all sorts of dodgy uses.
My movie plot scenario, I was thinking of someone reading data using this method, and an attacker uses a laser to overwhelm the genuine signal and feed in false data. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
"One of the examples in the video was a "one-time security token", which is exactly the sort of thing that shouldn't be broadcast"
Given that the whole point of the token is to be received by something, It would be pretty useless if it couldn't be broadcast; that's how it gets it's job done ;))
Re the laser, I understand now and that's not a bad idea. Read the signal sent by the LED, burn out the LED diode using a high powered burst then use the laser on lower power to illuminate the now non-functioning shell with your own replicated and weaponised code. I like (and am slightly scared by) your thinking.
"a fixed 6-bit preamble, an 8-bit payload, 4-bit parity, and a fixed 8-bit postamble"
Seriously? So we only get 8 bits to play with in 26 transmitted bits? I get the need for some pre- and post-amble, but 4 bits of parity and only 8 bits of data? That can't convey any useful info.
Most have no thermostat. It's just a dumb heating element and a neon across the mains. The trigger is purely a mechanical hoop pulling the glue stick into the heated barrel.
Some have a low / high power switch for cooler or hotter sticks. I'm not sure if a tap on the heater or more likely a rectifier added in series (half power) that is shorted out by the switch.
Suitably mounted, the entire glue stick will puddle at the nozzle.
oohh... thats got the brain thinking.... add some gyros, accelerometers, lasers, ir and temp sensors etc... think of the beautiful stats!
trigger ferocity
adhesive deployment velocity
tip to source distance
deployment angle
adhesive at tip temp
adhesive at material temp
glue viscosity target
jesus, im getting a hardon at the possibilities!!! may need a slightly bigger LED!!
I agree, feels like way too much overhead per message. Probably a case of "not invented here" or not looking at what already exists.
Maybe they would be better with 10b8b encoding, and having reserved patterns for start and end. Or even look at serial communications which managed start/stop/parity bits with far less overhead.
Actually reading the paper in more detail, and looking at the code, the postamble doesn't actually exist, it is just the preamble again for the next data, so any 16 bits contains 6 bits of preamble (and hopefully allows them to take any 16 bits and determine which 10 are interesting)
But the 10 bits are 8 data + 2 parity in the paper, but 8+4 in the example code.
So somewhere around 50% of the bandwidth is overhead. So looks like plenty of room to optimise the framing of data.
The 1980s wants its Philips RC5 back.
Though it is 14bits, using 5 for address and 6 for data. It and variations are still very common. Because the typical phone camera has no IR filter, the IR LED is visible as a bright bluish tinged white spot. If you use three of the 32 addresses, you can have a 18 bit payload, or more if you cunningly use the control bit.
So security / encryption so only an authorised application understands the payload? I'd have used maybe 1024 bits payload with added FEC framing to give 2048 bits. I'd have to think about it and discuss it with security experts. This sounds more amateurish than student projects I advised on over 10 years ago.
They've shown that you can, but they haven't shown why. I suppose that's not always a prerequisite for innovation, but it's not obvious what the point is here.
I thought this was going to be an article about some kind of side channel attack which decoded the modulations of power LEDs to infer information about the processing that's being done on the device.
Doh. Isn't that the whole point of these thing anyway?
Spying is the name of the game.
Selling the data is what it is all about
Doing things (even those things) in the Privacy of your own home is just soooooooo yesterday.
[see icon]
but it won't make one bit of difference
Well, apart from a few of us refuseniks who won't have any of this Sh1t in our homes.
Spying is the name of the game.
Great. So now we'll have to put tape over every status LED, in addition to the webcam. Oh, and also our keys and locks, fingers, lips, and faces (including our eyes). We can't tape over our license plates, but there might be other options.
“Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull.”
― George Orwell, 1984
I imagine that there are industrial applications. Situations where wired or wireless connections are difficult to implement or unreliable. Might even be some domestic utility.
It could be used to help you control other devices. Why, instead of moving, you could point your phone (or a near phone-sized device) at the TV and hit a button and it starts pulsing a LED in the direction of the TV. The TV can "read" these pulses and knows to turn itself on (or off) as a result.
Why, you could even use this to change channels, or volume levels! The possibilities are endless! You could build something like that into stereos, or car radios (but why? The controls are always inches from your fingers), or even garage doors!
I think I shall file a patent on this idea. And since you use it to remotely control devices, I shall call it a "remote control"
I must admit the glue gun example is pretty dumb, but it could be used so that electricity meters can transmit a reading instead of having to replace them with smart meters. It could be used to tell me the temperature of the oven, without needing to add an actual display.
It could tell me my laptop battery power, without needing the nice LEDs on the side (when it's in standby mode)
It could be attached to a bus shelter and give more information about the next bus (but I suppose once you've put the connection in place you might as well have a display?)
Headphone ramaining battery?
Outside temperature and pressure or other weather info.
If I had a fitbit it could tell me loads of stuff.
Medical applications? Blood glucose monitor? Insulin levels? (specialist)
Novelty applications? A birthday card with a text message inside that you can read using an app? (OK I'm floundering a bit now).
But these are just things that I can think of after 20 seconds. This could be a really interesting technology.
There speaks a man who's never built any hardware. I see this as a simple, visible light IrDA I can read with my phone. The number of circuit boards I've built with at least one LED is... well, pretty much all of them. Hooking it up to any spare microcontroller pin and flashing a status message? Yep, sounds useful to me.
The old TI 9989 microprocessor had, IIRC, an instruction that allowed you to send bursts of binary data from a pin. Faced with an experimental setup with a groaning slow debug interface, it was possible to use this and an IO pin to drive two LEDs: one to reset the data channel and one to send the data. Yes it could have been done with one LED but red and green is way cooler. Now when playing with PICs I use a dual colour LED and suitable receiver diodes.
In those days the receiver had a red and a green sensitive diode which operated the aforesaid reset line and a suitably clocked shift register, allowing a 16 bit memory location to be displayed and updated as often as you liked (like every time you wrote to it.)
I can see the utility. I like "dumb". If it doesn't need an internet connection then I am in favour.
When I got to the bit about the WiFi router broadcasting it's password, I realised what this was.... Amateur. Anyone on this forum could tell you what trouble you're in for there! WPS is already enough for "easy to connect without having to engage brain", and at least that is not on constantly! If you have to press a button to engage guest wifi broadcast, it's the same.
A temporary token to enforce line of sight...? How does that work, you need two way communication for authentication. Once you've broadcast your message, its out there and can be replayed.
This sounds more like an excuse to force the use of a mobile phone so advertising markers can be connected up. I bet if implemented it's an add on to an already 'smart' device - so I will never have the pleasure of evaluating it in the real world
TBH, it's no different from the sticker on the bottom of every router with it's SSID & Password written down. You could take a photo of the sticker then "its out there and can be replayed". It's no worse.
And for things like a smoke alarm which is hard to access and read details off the bottom, it's a decent use case - probably far cheaper than an LCD to display it's battery status, or time-since-last-alert or whatnot.
As with all tech - it's not perfect and not for everything. but it could be handy. so meh, I like it.
"
And for things like a smoke alarm which is hard to access and read details off the bottom, it's a decent use case - probably far cheaper than an LCD to display it's battery status, or time-since-last-alert or whatnot.
"
But unlike a simple battery state green/amber/red/flashing red LED that you will see whenever the smoke alarm is in sight, or the annoying "battery low" beep that keeps you awake until you change (or disconnect) the battery, it requires that you load up an app and point your phone at the alarm. How many people are likely to do that regularly?
I am really struggling to think of any application that could not be done more easily & conveniently by more conventional methods.
"it's no different from the sticker on the bottom of every router with it's SSID & Password written down
Disagree". You cant read the sticker from under a tv from outside a window across the street... wont be featured in selfies/ social Media videos..... with databases of SSIDs used for geolocation... I can see this being used to stalk, intimidate or hack....
Those usually have a neon.
Technically a neon can be used instead of an LED.
However while the CPU is less than $1, a circuit board, PSU, other parts etc puts the price a lot higher.
Also the data rate possible on most Router LEDs etc is quite low. Unless they think 1 to 100 bps is fast enough. I suppose each light source only needs to be a unique address. I think pre-programmed self-adhesive "stamps" with an IR LED is a better idea than trying to program existing devices or retrofit controllers to existing LEDs and neons. Maybe with a small solar cell and only responding on interrogation from the AR goggles to save power. You can use an LED as a photodiode or detect IR modulation on the solar cell illumination.
This is more a coffee break chit chat idea than something practical.
This is just lovely geeky Sci-Fi come true. Sure a lot of it is not actually very useful but it's still extremely cool if you're into coding and so on.
If smart-glasses had ever taken off this could be really neat, as it is the problem is you'll 99% of the time point your phone at something and nothing will happen, which will make it not worth trying.
Hey all,
I am an author on the paper. This is a great discussion - very exciting ideas shared!
The main idea is to use a LightAnchor to transmit a UID or an IP and then use it to open a connection outlet with a higher throughput. In some applications, the ID is enough to link an interface. In future however, we are looking to develop higher bit rate systems (currently we can do up to 120 bits per second).
Feel free to reach me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/realkaranahuja
Well I think it's a cracking idea; there are hundreds of use cases for a simple one-way data stream which can be read simply cheaply and without needing handshaking.
In a previous life I'd have been interested in working on this with you; but for now I wish you the best of luck. Cheers.
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