Cy Edgar Keener

Find out what it takes to untether your Arduino prototypes from your laptop, and deploy them in the field for environmental or biological purposes. Learn the basics of batteries, solar, Wi-Fi / cellular / satellite communication and sleep modes. Get the download on batteries – what kinds are out there and all the factors that determine how long a battery will last. Try out different solar panels, and learn about charge controllers. Check out cellular communication from Particle.io, and satellite communication via the Rock Block. Find out why sleep modes are so important, and see a range of hardware approaches to reducing power consumption such as using a bare microprocessor and switching auxiliary devices. See how to bring all this info together using both datasheet and empirical approaches to building a current budget, so you can predict how long your untethered device will last. Info and strategies can be applied to a range of projects including wearables, IOT devices, and environmental / biological monitoring. This session will be a mix of info, hardware show and tell, and hands-on activities with a variety of sensors.

Cy Keener is an interdisciplinary artist who uses environmental sensing and kinetic sculpture to record and represent the natural world. He is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Emerging Technology at the University of Maryland’s Department of Art. His work includes a range of data-based installations to visualize diverse phenomena including sea ice, wind, rain and ocean waves. He received a Master of Fine Arts from Stanford University, and a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. Cy has completed commissioned installations at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Stanford University, Suyama Space in Seattle, and the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas. Over the past year Cy has presented his work at the International Symposium on Electronic Art in Durban South Africa, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C., and OCAD University in Toronto.