2021 GRANT RECIPIENTS
Project Name
Brief Project Description
Project Goals
Community Benefit
SigInt (signals intelligence) for the Masses
I’m putting together a SigInt hardware library (blueprints, 3d printables, BoM, code) for radio hacking for all to download, make, and use!
I would like to create a set of devices using inexpensive methodologies (COTS hardware, modules, 3d printing, Linux, open source software stacks, some electronic boards designed as needed) that enable fellow hackers to be able to investigate and interrogate radio-based hardware of all sorts.
1. Identify devices that is either prohibitively expensive or not created (examples of devices would be: radio-direction finding hand-held device, NLJD, updated SigInt tablet, radio mic/camera detection and location system)
2. Create proof-of-concept that does the thing identified
3. Provide full bill of materials, 3d printables, build steps, code, and notes to reproduce fully
4. Build a small amount of them (depending on cost, naturally), and get them in the hands of the community at no cost.
This project will provide new or remixed ideas on radio SDR operations, but ideas are the small thing.
This project will also provide full reproducible build instructions for said devices. I’ve already done this with the SigInt Tablet, and the autotuning antenna array.
Lastly, I would like to target people in the community (or perhaps semi-random) for people to receive the platform. The quantity made for this would highly depend on cost of hardware.
Freebie 5G
The FCC has announced a band of spectrum known as CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service), which offers spectrum access across three tiers. The last and lonely tier is tier 3: General Authorized Access (GAA). [ https://www.fcc.gov/35-ghz-band-overview ]
The intent of this project is to explore community driven mobile communications in the 5G space making use of this spectrum, which requires no licensing or purchasing.
By building a community 5G network, participants (neighbors, kids, students, whoever wants to help) will learn how 5G networks work, how to make them more secure, and gain valuable skills that will have immediate use.
I hope to learn about and teach others many important skills:
1. Demystify 5G networks by learning by example
2. Learn how to deploy and manage 5G networks
3. Provide a free, or minimal cost, fixed wireless network for my community
4. Contribute to many open source programs, including Open5GS and Magma
5. Hack and study the cyber security risks of 5G networks.
6. Take advantage of the CBRS spectrum. As citizens if we don’t use it, it will get taken by service providers and others instead.
We can start building a community/municpal internet service provider using fixed 5G solutions!
Machine Learning Datasets and Models for Automated Trash Identification
Globally, around 59% of the world’s waste ends up in a landfill, which leads to further environmental complications with pollutants leaching out into runoff or groundwater, land use change, and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, over 8 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans annually and only 20 rivers in developing countries account for 67% of the outflows due to the lack of centralized waste management infrastructure. Nearly 80% of plastics entering our ecosystems comes from land based sources. This waste can be used as resources for empowering people and communities instead of polluting ecosystems. Since the creation of centralized waste infrastructure is expensive, a different decentralized approach could empower people in places which lack proper management.
At Mycelium, we believe this problem can be addressed by implementing modern machine learning technology into standard waste receptacles, so that waste can be identified and sorted upon entering the receptacle. Instead of attempting to change human and societal behavior, we aim to decentralize waste management to make waste sorting convenient. Therein lies our goal for this project, and furthermore we aim to share our machine learning trash image dataset and trained model with the world via an open-source license. The ultimate goal is to create a compact automated trash collection system for separating waste by type for accelerating the circular economy. Such an automated system would enable efficient recovery of sorted waste for recycling or repurposing goals. However, this grant will exclusively be used to create an open-source dataset with a fully trained model which anyone around the globe can use to implement their own automated waste sorting systems.
Project Goals: Our main goal is to create an open-source dataset of images of trash of every type with a trained neural network for ultimately creating an intelligent trash can which can automatically separate waste. This grant will only be used for creating the dataset along with a custom-made trash can and a machine learning model for categorical identification of waste.
Measurement: Each waste category will have at least 2000 images taken with an installed camera inside our custom trash can. This will provide sufficient images to train a robust convolutional neural network model with a minimum threshold accuracy of 98 percent with high precision and recall scores. The deep learning model will be trained using the TensorFlow framework in Python and will be licensed as open-source on GitHub.
End Results: Our end results will be an extensive open source dataset containing all categories of domestic waste (plastics, cardboard, paper, styrofoam, aluminum, food, etc) and a trained model, shared on GitHub that anyone can use to add “intelligence” to their own trash can.
The project’s end results of a machine learning ready dataset and a trained model for categorical waste identification can benefit recycling companies as the sorted waste can be a direct input to their factories. Furthermore, this project will have a far reach impact since our dataset and model will be open-source so anybody around the globe can use our work without any cost. Mycelium’s vision is to enable and accelerate the circular economy with open-source technologies. We strongly believe that this project can benefit cities, especially in developing countries, to sort and use their waste instead of letting it flow into and damaging our ecosystems.
Ultimately, this project will lead to the creation of an automated trash can which will sort waste by its category. This will initially benefit the local community of Huntsville, Alabama, by reducing the amount of waste entering the local incinerator and landfill, and salvaging that which can be recycled. Local recycling facilities could additionally benefit by reducing the amount of hand sorting materials.
Jubilee: an Open-Source Multitool Motion Platform
Across the board, scientists, researchers, and hackers alike have found themselves tailoring existing equipment or scratch building CNC machines to explore custom automation applications. In the last decade, we’ve seen a hoard of original machine modifications and designs that harness cnc precision to deposit cellular media, mill circuit boards, and extrude pancake batter. But while the excitement to explore new workflows with machines is present, the bar for designing and building them is high–too high for the scientist or hacker looking to focus on their application.
Jubilee is a desktop open source toolchanging CNC machine design that makes customization a first class feature. With a proven mechanical design, building a Jubilee enables machine builders to focus on the tool and software elements of their project instead of belaboring the nuances of the motion. Unlike most open source projects, however, Jubilee was designed to be self-produced anywhere in the world by builders of all skill levels. Its documentation features a rich collection of colored step by step instructions, and its Bill of Materials includes several alternates for an international audience of builders.
In the last two years, Jubilee has spawned over 150 builds and over 1700 people around the world who congregate on the project’s community Discord server. Here, Jubilee builders share tools, insights, and even ship each other parts in a friendly environment of shared project interest. These builders have extended Jubilee to applications such as pen plotting, pipetting, multi-material 3d printing, and milling, they continue to drive the project forward to a number of original applications.
Finally, to date, Jubilee is not a commercial product. While some components are available by some community vendors, it largely stands as a collection of design files combined with instructions and a community of eager builders on Discord. This relationship as a “digital” object has given the project exceptional flexibility to accommodate design improvements.
Jubilee is intended to be a small-scale multi-tool cnc platform that readily lends itself to creating custom machine-driven workflows. These often take the form of new tools and/or custom bed plates in Jubilee’s small but growing library of hardware extensions. We would like to extend this library to include new tools including a camera inspection tool, a pipetting tool, and improved workflows for liquid handling and cnc engraving. Success isnt just having a new tool or bed plate design, but also having a documented path such that anyone can reproduce workflows that use these designs.Jubilee is also meant to be friendly to newcomers while providing the reliability of a well tested platform. As such, success can also be measured by the growing number of community replications of the machine. We have currently tracked 157 people actively building Jubilees in the wild as counted by self-announcement and images posted in Jubilee’s Discord Community. We would like to grow the number of Jubilees to 250-300 in the following year.
Finally, as Jubilee is intended to be hacker friendly, enabling modifications even for new machine builders, we would like to vastly overhaul the electronics assembly instructions of the project to produce a granular experience that does not require prior machine-building experience. Through transparency in the assembly process, we are convinced that curious machine builders will more seriously consider Jubilee as a reference design towards exploring custom cnc-driven workflows, even if building Jubilee is their first foray into working with mechanical hardware.
The combined community of scientists, researchers, hackers, as well as newcomers to the maker community can benefit from a project like Jubilee.
First, the openness of the project enables people to refer to it as a reference design for building their own small scale tool changing cnc platforms. The ability to scrutinize the design from the cad model directly, to the bill-of-materials and step-by-step instructions provides community-vetted design patterns for building similar platforms.
Second, for those building Jubilees or simply curious about the project, they can take part in a rich conversation about machine building in Jubilee’ Discord server. Here they can take advantage of the community “hive mind” in a newcomer-friendly space of people eager to build and extend the design as well as patiently troubleshoot other people’s setups. The welcoming nature of the community has spurred many new builders to comment that it surpasses the utility of a forum. It’s also a place to seek inspiration for new applications to share insights and to celebrate victories.
Finally the tool library provides a small but growing number of almost ready-to-go applications for various uses including milling, multi-material 3d printing, gel extrusion, optical inspection, and rudimentary liquid handling. The breadth of applications makes Jubilee a serious consideration for anyone looking for custom automation applications and who doesn’t want to start from scratch.