Davis Vantage Pro2 Weather Station Data
2021 Firework Show Video
Projects
(Spring 2017-Present)
The goal of this project was to design and build a homemade computer-controlled firework launcher that would autonomously launch fireworks in time with music. The launch box is controlled wirelessly from a launch panel through a smartphone web browser so that the firework display can be fired by a user standing a safe distance away from the pyro.
I used a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as the brain for the project since it is a fully functioning computer that has the ability to execute multiple tasks simultaneously, has a 3.5 mm jack for audio output, and has built-in wireless capability.
Videos:
2024 Firework Show
2023 Firework Show (click here to watch)
2022 Firework Show
2021 Firework Show
2021 Firework Show (Close-Range Camera)
2020 Firework Show
2019 Firework Show Highlights
2018 Firework Show
2017 Firework Show Finale
Photos:
(Winter 2011-Present)
This project consists of one Falcon F16v3 pixel controller with two SRx1-PSU Smart Receivers, one 16-channel AC Light-O-Rama light controller, and 13 LOR Cosmic Color Ribbon controllers. The AC light controller was programmed using the LOR Sequencer software, and all of the RGB pixels were programmed using xLights open source software. Starting in 2011, for a number of years I ran the light show from LOR software on an old Windows laptop. In 2020, I began to run the show on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B using the open source Falcon Player (FPP) software. Audio is output through a low power FM transmitter on 105.3 so that visitors can enjoy the synchronozed musical display through their car radio.
In 2020 I added a pixel screen and an interactive text-messaging feature (demonstrated in the 2020 video below) which allows visitors to text their name to see it displayed on the lights! Names are validated against a database of approved names and valid names scroll across the pixel screen in between songs.
In 2024 I added RGB 7x7x7 icicle lights along the roof eaves (using two SRx1-PSU Smart Receivers). I also expanded the text messaging feature where viewers receive a reply status text message indicating whether or not their name will be shown on the display in between songs. I also implemented Remote Falcon, where viewers can visit http://www.alexanderlights.com/control to control the display and choose the next song that plays.
YouTube Videos:
2024 Christmas Light Display - Little Drummer Boy
2023 Christmas Light Display - The Polar Express
2022 Christmas Light Display - Full Show
2021 Christmas Light Display - Full Show
2020 Christmas Light Display - Highlights
2020 Christmas Light Display - Full Show
2020 Christmas Light Display - It Is Finished
Photos:
(Winter 2017)
This project is the homemade Alexander electronic Christmas bell choir! My dad had the idea for this project and we worked on it together during the winter of 2017. The project uses music composition software on a laptop to output a MIDI signal to an Arduino microcontroller which is programmed to control solenoids that ring each of the 20 handbells. I designed a custom printed circuit board (using open source KiCAD EDA software) to process the MIDI signal between the computer and the microcontroller, which is the purple board in the pictures below. The software was written in C to run on an Arduino Mega microcontroller.
Special thanks to Steve Shamlian (https://www.shamlian.net/) for inspiration on this project.
YouTube Videos:
Photos:
(Fall 2014)
For this project, I developed and maintained a cross-platform mobile iOS and Android app for Bartlett United Methodist Church, a local church in Bartlett, Tennessee. I began developing the app during the summer of 2014 while I was a Junior in high school. I chose to develop with a platform called Corona SDK, which is a software development kit that allows you to develop cross-platform native apps using a scripting language called Lua. Once an app is coded in Lua, Corona can compile it to most mobile platforms so that it runs natively on mobile devices such as an iPhone or Android device.
I refactored the iOS app in 2020 by developing a brand new code base using Swift and Xcode, Apple's native SDK.
The Bartlett UMC app is available for free on the Apple app store here.
The app is also available for free on the Google Play store here.
(Spring 2020)
I designed this project to control wall-mounted air conditioners remotely across the internet from a web browser.
Photos:
(Spring 2019)
This was a project I completed for an embedded systems course in college. The purpose of the project was to develop an effective way to store guns safely while also having the ability to access them very quickly if needed.
A user speaks a pre-defined password to an Amazon Alexa device, such as an Amazon Echo, to request for a gun safe to be locked or unlocked. A custom Alexa skill that I programmed then runs on an Amazon Web Services Lambda server to process the voice request and the Alexa skill makes an asynchronous HTTP request to the API of an Internet of Things data logging server called ThingSpeak. The ThingSpeak data channel keeps track of whether the lock is currently open or closed. Based on the request made by the user, the Alexa skill updates the state of the lock stored on ThingSpeak via an API.
An ESP8266 microcontroller, which is mounted inside the gun safe and is connected wirelessly to the Internet, periodically checks the ThingSpeak server to see if the state of the lock has been updated by the user’s request. If the state of the lock has changed, the microcontroller controls a driver circuit which ultimately drives a solenoid lock attached to the door of the gun safe.
YouTube Video:
(Spring 2019)
This was a team project I completed in college. The purpose of this project was to create an internet-connected water leak detection system that could quickly and remotely notify a homeowner of a water leak and automatically shut the water off to the affected area to reduce water damage.
YouTube Video:
(Summer 2018)
I volunteered on this project during the summer of 2018 in between my Junior and Senior years of college. I served as an Engineering Team Leader for the project alongside fellow Herff College of Engineering Biomedical Engineering students and helped develop the electrical control system and software for the speed control of the cars. The software was programmed in C for use on an Arduino Nano microcontroller.
Click here to view the official press release for the project!
Photos:
