This weblog covers many open source projects, from monitoring energy consumption to tracking temp/motion/etc around the house – as well as just having fun with all sorts of sensors and wireless communication.

The following hardware projects are being worked on at Jee Labs:

• JeeNode [link] – a small hardware module with an on-board ATmega328 MPU and an RFM12B wireless transceiver for the 433/868/915 MHz ISP frequency bands. It’s compatible with the Arduino IDE.
• JeeNode USB [link] – a variation of the basic JeeNode which includes an on-board USB connector and FTDI chip. Implemented with SMT components. Has 3 LEDs: RX (green), TX (red), and Activity (blue).
• JeeLink [link] – the JeeLink is like a tiny JeeNode USB, but without port headers to attach other things to. It includes 1 Mbyte of flash memory and comes in a clear plastic case, in the shape of a USB stick.
• JeePlug [tag] – a breadboard to connect some sensors, lights, chips, whatever. JeePlugs can easily be mixed, matched, and re-used. Various “plugs” are being created to hook up a variety of interfaces and sensors.

There are actually a couple more, but these tend to move at a slightly slower pace:

• JeeHub [tag] – uses a JeeNode, but specialized as gateway for collecting data from other JeeNodes and connecting to a computer. The first version includes an embedded Linux module with Ethernet port.
• CNC [tag] – a CNC router and a 3-D printer are being built at the Jee Labs, to learn about CNC and to try out some ideas with stencils, pcb’s, enclosures, front-panels, etc. Or maybe it’s all just an excuse to have fun…
• MuxShield [tag] – a shield for the Arduino which turns it into a 5-line serial multiplexer. It can also store a flash image and re-flash up to 5 attached FTDI-connected boards, such as JeeNodes, RBBB’s, etc.

As for the software which tends to be continuously in flux, here’s a list:

• Ports [link] – a library for simple I/O on the four “ports” of a JeeNode (though it’s not JeeNode-specific). The sources are in subversion, with a zip archive snapshot updated from time to time.
• RF12 [link] – an interrupt-based driver for RFM12(B) modules by HopeRF, connected to the MPU with SPI. Available as library for the Arduino IDE (also, code and zip). Used by the Ports library for remote ports.
• JeeMon [link] – this is a switchboard-type networked application for physical computing devices. It lets you collect, store, process, and visualize incoming data from attached devices, as well control them.

And then there’s this no-man’s land mix of hardware, software, and low-tech:

• Projects On Foam [link] – this is a new low-cost/low-tech approach to setting up projects with JeeNodes and JeePlugs, which makes it easy to try out things and then reuse everything in other projects again later.
• Low Power [tag] – this is not a project, but a frequently recurring topic on this weblog. All items related to reducing the power consumption for battery-operated use have been tagged for easy reference.
• Sensors [tag] – various types of sensors with matching drivers. Some interfaces are trivial, others share an I2C bus, yet others use dedicated code. All code can be found in the Ports library.
• JeeBot [tag] – a low-priority / fun project to create a battery-powered robot vehicle controlled by a JeeNode. First goal is to just get going, but making it self-balancing would be even more fun.

Follow the links for more information. Or use the “Search” box below, it works well.