Aunisoma: Burning Man 2025

Perception

Our perception of reality is colored by how we think and feel. As people play with the project, they can look through the windows at other people and at the city, see it shifting colors based not just on how they interact but on how others interact with the piece. This reflects how we live together: our perceptions can be shifted by others, by the external world, and how we see something at one moment may not be the same in the next moment. I want exploration of the piece to be fun, while sparking thought about recognizing each other and how we live together in a multi-colored world that is often out of our control.

Electronics

Walter Smith has designed and built the panel controller boards that drive the LEDs. They use an ARM microcontroller to interpret a simple serial protocol to drive 3 MOSFETs for red, green, and blue at 24V.

I'm using the Adafruit Grand Central SAMD51 microcontroller on the Arduino platform to run the animation logic. Last night I was able to get the Grand Central talking to the controller board over Serial UART.

The panel controller boards talk to each other now over radio, which means less cable runs to connect and potentially more freedom in how the panels are laid out. There's also cat5 connectors for fallback in case there's too much radio noise.

Software & Electronics

For 2025, we're using new controller panels and radio. The protocol remains basically the same as 2023. The Grand Central calculates each panel's color based on all the sensor readings, telling the broadcast controller all the panel colors. The broadcast controller board then sends that information out to all the panels. Each panel controller board reads its color, sets the corresponding PWM for each color through the MOSFETs, and responds with its sensor values. 

Structure

The panels use specialized acrylic that contains microscopic embedded reflective particles to disrupt the refracted light from the LEDs on the edge outwards, making the clear acrylic glow brightly. The acrylic is mounted in steel frames, which are mounted on steel stands that are bolted into the ground using 12" lag bolts.

The steel frames were fabricated by Cyclefab (my neighbors) and I welded the stands with guidance and help from my friend and professional metalworker Molly and Panda.

Next Steps

Software & Electronics

Connect PIRs to panel controller board, verify sensor reading works over the protocol

Test multiple panel boards with full panels

Update animation code

Structure

Build prototype electronics enclosure

Order enclosures & mounting hardware

Clean panel frames

Test LED strips in all frames

Build enclosures

Run full test

From 2023

Perception III

Using Format