Peripheral Stations are affordable and diverse computing devices that can be deployed ubiquitously, unlike traditional "internet of things" deployments that are centrally owned and operated, Peripheral Station are OWNED INDEPENDENTLY by individual citizens.
Citizens have full control of their peripheral nodes, they decide what data from their nodes are shared with who and how their nodes make impact on the environment they are in.
1. Affordable Prices
Like all other Crowd Infrastructure components, the focus of Peripheral Station is to remove the Cost and Skill barriers in
Peripheral Stations give your Private Cyberspace sensors and actuators at revolutionary price points and ease of use by combining free yet featureful software (e.g. ESPHome) with low cost yet powerful hardware (e.g. ESP32):
Peripheral Station Positioning
ESPHome is the default firmware that Peripheral Stations use, other firmwares like Meshtastic can also be used.
ESPHome supports large number of devices, each year we select one as our Peripheral Station reference implementation.
All Reference implementations are supported worldwide indefinitely (even if they are no longer being manufactured) and can participate in our buy back scheme so some one else can benefit from them.
ESP32 Notes:
There are many ESP32 modules if you are starting out stick to the ones that have already been used by other members.
ESP32's low cost means it only has a single 2.4G radio shred between wifi and bluetooth, since we need to operate both at the same time, we need to be aware of some limitations.
Peripheral Station 2023 (PS23)
The Peripheral Station 2023 version (PS23) is implemented with the Freenove ESP32-WROVER-DEV and its clones (board: esp-wrover-kit).
Using the esp32-wrover-e module with 2 rows of 20-pin headers.
The built-in battery charger and connector of the PS21 are very nice, but the provided headers are NOT SOLDERED on. If you do NOT need onboard battery try use the PS22 above (may be with a power bank) so you can attach cables to already soldered headers of the PS22 easily.
Currently the following processors are supported by ESPHome (and thus Peripheral Stations):
ESP32 and ESP8266 e.g. NodeMCU
RP2040 e.g. Raspberry Pi Pico WH
1. ESP32
There are a large number of ultra low cost wifi devices built around the ESP8266 and ESP32 (e.g. NodeMCUs) cores, making them ideal as peripheral stations.
The reference peripheral station implementations (PS23, PS22 above) can be extended with an almost unlimited number of ways with numerous sensors and actuators by NON-TECHNICAL folks, simply with breadboards and jumper wires.
Add eyes to your Private Cyberspace by attaching camera, add mouth by attaching a speaker, add sensors to capture data to make some income on the Citizen Synergy exchanges!
Although the header based reference implementations (PS23, PS22 above) can be extended with an almost unlimited number of ways with numerous sensors and actuators, their use of bread boards can be ugly and non user friendly.
Peripheral Stations can be built easier and looks better with higher cost and less flexible modular systems:
To kickstart the Hardware Innovation in the community, we are giving out a limited number of movement kits (each with a breadboard, 6 wires and a sensor) for FREE to anyone who promise they will assemble it when they purchase either the PS22 or PS23.
Gain insight into your environment e.g. who has being visiting your home and at what time ?
Just hook the movement kit up to a PS23 and point it to your front door. Any movements will trigger a photo to be taken and sent to your email.
Gain insight into yourself e.g. how many minutes on average you spent in the bathroom ?
Just hook the kit up to a PS22 and all movements in the bathroom are tracked. Privacy is assured as there is NO camera on the PS22.
This kit is just a START!
Keep adding more devices e.g. an ears (microphone), a mouth (speaker), a skin (temperature, humitidy sensor) etc.
Unlike the Cloud solutions YOU OWN it, you control its action and its data, you benefit fully from it.
Small Breadboard
Most breadboard are large in size, we have sourced small breadboards with only 55 holes. Their small size makes them the perfect companion to the small Peripheral Stations.
Model: ZY-55
Body: ABS plastic body - aluminium support plate complete with rubber feet
Colours: Black, Blue, Green, Mustard, Red, Yellow, White
Number of contacts: 55 (5 contacts for 11 files)
Contact pitch: 2.54 mm
Wire diameter: 21-26 AWG 0.4-0.7mm in diameter
Admissible power: 6W
Flow rate: 1A
Contact resistance: 10mΩ
Contact type: Phosphor bronze contacts with nickel plating, for 50.000 insertions tested 36V @ 2A
Operating temperature: -40 ° C ~ 125°C
Dimensions: 20 x 15 x 12mm
To kickstart the manufacturing spirit in disadvantaged communities, we are giving out a limited number of soldering kits (each with a soldering iron, 10 pressure sensor boards, 10 headers and enough lead-free solder to manufacture 10 sensors) for FREE to people in disadvantaged situations (e.g. in aged care homes, are long term unemployed etc.) when they purchase either the PS22 or PS23.
Soldering Iron
Lead-Free Solder
We know lead-free solder has inferior performance compared to lead solder (e.g. higher melting point leading to component stress etc. etc.) but priority has to be given to the health of beginners who do not have the knowledge nor tools to protect themselves.
Who knows they might like manufacturing after all and will ended up soldering many more than just the initial 10 sensors!
