Hackaday Podcast · 17 Sept 2021 · 50m · Episode 136
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys review a week of hardware hacks, including Daniel Estevez's decoding of Voyager 1 telemetry using open-source radio tools and Paul McClay's ultra-low-cost, high-precision desktop milling machine. They also analyze the mechanical design of the PS5's adaptive triggers, Matthias Wandell's DIY inductive current sensor for mains power, and Chris Combs's large-scale 7-segment display art. The episode concludes with discussions on autonomous electric cargo ships and NASA's DART asteroid deflection mission.
makers and hobbyists
Other shows on the same ground, closest first.
Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the recent Antares rocket explosion, the Hackaday Prize space trip controversy, and the passing of Tom Maglioli from Car Talk. They also cover U-beam's wireless charging technology, Dr. Greg Shaver's ultrasound chip startup, and DIY projects including a Tony Stark Halloween costume and reflow oven modifications.
Oleg Kutkov, a reverse engineer from Kyiv, details his work reverse engineering SpaceX Starlink terminals and satellites, explaining how he bypassed security to access the underlying Linux kernel and custom 'SpaceX Launcher' software. He discusses the technical challenges of using a HackRF supercluster to monitor Starlink beacons, specifically citing phase noise issues, and describes his Allsky Camera project which was repurposed for medical research. Kutkov also covers his Tesla LTE modem replacement and the use of tools like Saleae logic analyzers and IDA Pro in his hardware hacking process.
Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Amp Hour podcast. They discuss the trend of hackerspaces entering academia, citing Case Western Reserve's 'Think Box' and MIT Media Lab as examples of institutional makerspaces. The conversation shifts to the retro release of the HP 15C Voyager calculator, analyzing its ARM-based architecture and power efficiency, followed by a technical deep dive into power budgeting, DC-DC converter margins, and the reliability of typical vs. worst-case specs. They conclude by reviewing the Texas Instruments TMP006 infrared sensor and critiquing TI's 'Thank an Engineer' marketing campaign.
Dave Jones of EEVblog and Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics discuss their upcoming in-person meeting in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting plans for maker meetups and tech tours. Jones details his firmware hack of the Keysight 1000X-Series oscilloscope to unlock higher bandwidth and sample rates, while also noting a footprint error in his Mixy Tube clock project. The conversation shifts to industry news, including the CIA's Vault 7 leaks, the use of silicon carbide electronics for Venus landers, and the security risks of IoT devices like the Cloud Pet teddy bear.
Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss the Voyager 1 probe's recent recovery from a memory chip failure, highlighting the sustaining engineering efforts required to maintain 46-year-old space hardware. They analyze the decline of US-based electronics trade shows, noting the cancellation of events like Embedded Systems Conference and the consolidation of others like Embedded World, driven by reduced corporate travel budgets. The conversation also covers the discontinuation of the Zilog Z80 processor, the practicality of niche hardware like the 'jumperless' breadboard, and the challenges of running complex software like Sigrok on low-power microcontrollers.
The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Hackaday Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.