Description
The Baldrick Signals is a signal sniffer traffic monitor for a lack of a better term designed by iLightThat in the UK.
Baldrick was the faithful servant of fictional tv character Edmund Blackadder from the 4 seasons of Blackadder as well as several specials. The board, settings and the documentation borrow some of the legendary humour from the classic tv show.
The team at iLightThat have done it again, launching another board that fills a gap. Their description is below, but we love this little thing – it seems so pointless, but it really isn’t. What are your busy times? Should you turn your display on earlier or later – all this is available now, but after a chat with the iLightThat team, this thing has got a lot coming. How long do people stay? What songs are most popular (or what songs make people leave!!), could you start the show when a number of people are there, or turn the volume up when it gets busy etc – all of these things and a lot more are in their first 3 firmware updates.
The BaldrickSignals is the easy to use board to monitor your display popularity, using outputting device signals (and a configurable modifier) you can estimate your crowd numbers & see your popular times to plan accordingly.
BaldrickSignals Controller Features
- Barrel Powerjack accepting 5v – 24v with onboard power management and able to accept individual voltages (to avoid any BIG BADDA BOOMS)
- Small footprint for easy placement inside a project box
- Turnip Network Integration to allow actions based on crowd sizes (e.g adjusting volume or highlighting donation areas) Coming Soon
- Simple UI with CSV download and Google docs integration Coming Soon (though it will be logging data in the launch firmware, you just wont be able to access it till the next release due in the few days post launch)
In addition, we’ve tried to add some simple quality of life improvements such as a QR code which links directly to the manual (easy to read on a mobile in the dark).
Things to note.
1. This will ship with a 4db antenna – it will give a fairly controller range – perhaps 15mtrs radius depending on the housing and the background interference. You may get all the coverage you need with this, but if you want more, or to serve a far wider area, you can order on Amazon anything from 4db through to 18db antennas – just make sure they have an IPEX connector on to clip onto the board. Clipping the antenna on can be a little scary – it just needs a firm push with the connector squarely onto it. Removing is similiarly scary, but you just need to be mindful it is teeny tiny!
2. This board has an RTC (real time clock), this means it can ‘keep time’ when not connected to a network, should you want to leave it outside to log without having a network cable attached. You will need a CR2032 battery (not supplied) for the RTC to work.
Conformal coating over the pcb to reduce the chance of damage from condensation or precipitation
QR code on the pcb which links directly to the baldrickboard website
- Wireless Chip, the BaldrickSignals can run on either Wifi or Ethernet
- 100mb Ethernet Port, you can use this to connect to your show network.
- Power Jack, can take 5v to 24v (each side can take different voltages) and will automatically step down to power the components, no jumpers needed.
- Mounting Holes, the BaldrickSignals is classed as a small family member and uses that footprint.
- QR Code, an easy to scan QR code which will take you to the docs for easy troubleshooting
https://www.baldrickboard.com/docs/signals/introduction/
