# 499: This Is Your Problem

- Show: [Embedded.fm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm)
- Published: 2025-04-17
- Length: 50m
- Episode: 499
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem
- Listen: https://embedded.fm/episodes/499

## Summary

Janet Hansen, an LED artist and founder of Enlighted, discusses her 25-year career creating illuminated costumes for major entertainment clients like Daft Punk, the Rockettes, and Coldplay. She details the technical challenges of integrating electronics into wearable fabrics, including managing RF interference with DMX systems, selecting appropriate microcontrollers like the Teensy 4.1, and using the MSGEQ7 chip for audio-reactive effects. Hansen also explains her design philosophy on strain relief, battery placement, and the shift from custom commissions to selling her own art pieces like the 'Kaleidoscopic Comfort' installation.

## Chapters

- [0:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=6) Introduction and Background
- [6:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=404) Lighting Design for Broadway and Concerts
- [10:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=606) Technical Challenges: Durability and Wearability
- [17:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=1049) Electronics, Controllers, and Power Systems
- [21:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=1308) RF Interference and the Coldplay Project
- [32:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=1938) Business Model: Commissions vs. Art
- [45:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem#t=2724) Future Technologies and Advice

## Topics

- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Wireless & RF](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/wireless-and-rf)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- Enlighted (company)
- Teensy 4.1 (chip)
- MSGEQ7 (chip)
- Pixelblaze (tool)
- Daft Punk (other)
- Coldplay (other)
- Rockettes (other)
- Right Brain Electronics (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [3 Cent Micros And 1000s of LEDs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2018-10-21-3-cent-micros-and-1000s-of-leds) (The Amp Hour)
- [An Interview with Mike Harrison - X-ray Examining Xenogogue](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-05-an-interview-with-mike-harrison-x-ray-examining-xenogogue) (The Amp Hour)
- [Ep067: Winking Out of IoT, Seas of LEDs, Stuffing PCBs, and Vectrex is Awesome](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-05-15-ep067-winking-out-of-iot-seas-of-leds-stuffing-pcbs-and-vectrex-is-awesome) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [Ep 377: Parallel Pixels, Wiggly Consoles, and Seven Segments](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2026-07-10-ep-377-parallel-pixels-wiggly-consoles-and-seven-segments) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [429: The Fabric of Your Lungs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2024-02-09-429-the-fabric-of-your-lungs) (Making It)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-04-17-499-this-is-your-problem. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Embedded.fm.