I made a cell phone [video]

[lynaghk]

I gave this talk. Slides are here: https://keminglabs.com/talks/#bangbangcon2015

I'll post some photos of the current version and more details on my twitter (@lynaghk) tomorrow (in 10 hours).

Software is all on an 8-bit Atmel microcontroller, written in C in the style of Harel Statecharts (http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/seoc/2005_2006/reso...).

[platz]

Enjoyed your talk YOW! talk which elaborated on statecharts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2-EYSeWaPg I was aware of them before, but you did a good job of providing the motivation and tying it back with functional concepts. Very Interesting!

[lynaghk]

Photos of two current phone designs and PCBs are here: https://twitter.com/lynaghk/status/632937349458956288

[samlewis]

Super cool, any chance of some pictures or a video of the finished product?

[djhworld]

Really enjoyed your talk, was very amusing, but very inspirational too!

[ubercow]

What was that 3D/CAD software you were using?

[e12e]

Very nice! :-)

Could you list the name of the various CAD packages you used? (For the PCB layout and modelling the box)?

[zaf]

Hey, great talk and thanks for the link to the paper.

[izqui]

This is crazy cool. Thanks for the talk

[UnoriginalGuy]

I wish the audience's audio wasn't much MUCH louder than the speaker. I had to turn the audio up to hear him, but the laughing was so loud I had to turn it down every few seconds.

Also a fun video to watch, but he kind of skips over some of the most interesting technical details (like writing the software).

[revx]

Hi! I shot the video. We had some problems with the mic hookup on stage so I was using a mic all the way back at the camera that wasn't nearly as directional as I hoped. Apologies to everyone's eardrums !

[nikmobi]

Agreed, my neighbors probably hate me right now from the audio.

On a serious note, though, I hope a write up with more details pops up.

[byuu]

The worst part was that the jokes weren't even funny. It sounded more forced than a '90s sitcom laugh track.

"As you can see, I got a G-" <HAHAHAHAH>, "that's like ... a good grade" <HAHAHAHAHAHAH>, "of course, an E is for excellent" <BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! ::standing ovation::>

... why am I so cynical? ;_;

Agreed though, the actual concept was really cool! Maybe to the author, try subtitling the video given the bad audio? Then we could just watch the video muted, and the (minor) problem would be solved :)

(and feel free to downvote this, I know I sound like a monster, complaining about laughter >_>;)

[listic]

I thought cell phone companies don't appear from nowhere because governments and/or organizations like FCC in the USA are not allowing just anyone to sell radio communication equipment (is that why cellular modems are never open sourced, right?)

Is it because of the regulations that we don't see lots of cell phone manufacturers? If it wasn't for that, from this presentation I get the feeling that cellphones could be made to spec quite easily, say, by your regular hardware Kickstarter campaign: at least, the cellular modem shown in the presentation looks really self-contained.

[posborne]

I work for a wireless design services company. There is a large divide between using a Cellular module (e.g. Telit LE910) versus doing a chip-down Cellular design (e.g. Qualcomm/Infineon). This design has a module at its core.

Modules are based around the chipsets but they do the most expensive certification (both FCC and Carrier) work for you. As a purchaser of the module, you pay for this on each module.

Certifying a cellular end device is usually <$50K (depending on number of bands, # of carriers, fallback, etc.). Certifying a new chip-down cellular design can easily exceed $1-2M in just certification and testing costs. Development costs and complexity will also be increased.

[superuser2]

The FCC requires that RF transmitters behave cooperatively - using the correct parts of the spectrum, not producing interference on other parts. Verifying this behavior is a relatively sophisticated task of electrical engineering, requiring specialized knowledge, expensive calibrated measurement equipment, RF-isolated test facilities, etc. Naturally, the cost burden for this testing falls on the manufacturer, not the taxpayer. So... we do allow "just anyone" to sell radio equipment, as long as they can pay to prove it behaves within the limits of the law. But big players like Motorola are in a much better position to do this than a dude in his basement.

Carriers have paid big bucks for exclusive licenses to useful swaths of the spectrum, and in return they get enforcement to make sure only devices they control can transmit on their spectrum. The FCC would not license a radio capable of transmitting on Verizon spectrum not approved by Verizon.

But this is specific to the radio - the FCC doesn't care about the rest of the phone (or whatever device it is). You can buy a cellular radio chip for your Arduino because it is FCC certified and you can only provide inputs like SMS and audio, not an arbitrary signal to transmit.

[voltagex_]

From memory your phone OS just talks to the baseband through AT commands, they're separate.

[mkoryak]

He mentioned that he bought that cnc machine like it was no big deal. I looked them[1] up, the cheapest one was 6 grand!!

Does there exist a sub 500$ cnc router that you can actually build interesting stuff with and interface with a computer?

[1]http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/basicPRSsystems.htm

[Ardren]

There are some cheap CNC routers. They often require a bit of setup (i.e. sold as kits) or have questionable quality (3020). I'm not sure you'll find a high quality solution under $500 though.

Shapeoko 3[1] is $1000 USD

X-Carve[2] kits are $800 (upgrade to the Shapeoko2)

3020 Clones[3] are around $500-800 (all over ebay)

[1]http://www.shapeoko.com

[2]https://www.inventables.com/technologies/x-carve

[3]http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=3020+cnc+rout...

[TheHydroImpulse]

And the ones that cost $6,000 aren't that good (although definitely good enough for hobbyists). Most of the milling machines have a really limiting range at that price point. You can only really mill out flat objects.

Take a look at the X-Carve [0] for a cheaper alternative.

There's also the Othermill [1].

[0]: https://www.inventables.com/technologies/x-carve [1]: https://othermachine.co/othermill/features/

[lynaghk]

I bought a ShopBot Desktop with a spindle, and it cost about $8,000. I decided that I wanted to focus on my phone project, rather than on trying to get a cheaper/homemade machine to work properly. (It's the same reason I bought an Apple laptop.)

If your budget is limited but you still want to get a sense of designing/making physical objects, buy a lot of Renshape foam, x-acto knife, and laser print designs to trace/cut.

Once you do that for a few hundred hours on your designs, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to mill them out for you = )

[barronlroth]

On the speaker page for the conference this took place at, it says that Kevin is a hobbyist industrial designer. Likely a good purchase for him!

[barely_stubbell]

There exist plenty of "Desktop" CNC Routers -- these are generally cheaper but have a smaller workable space than what comes to mind when you think of a classic CNC Router.

[ghostbrainalpha]

That guy is smarter than me, funnier than me, and most importantly works harder than me.... but I have an iPhone.

[lucb1e]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with the iPhone part?

[elkhourygeorges]

This is so cool. This guy kept everybody laughing and listening while presenting how to make a cellphone :)

[chadzawistowski]

Similar project by Adafruit https://learn.adafruit.com/arduin-o-phone-arduino-powered-di...

[mkeeter]

...and by Dave Mellis at the Media Lab: http://web.media.mit.edu/~mellis/cellphone/

[carlesfe]

Very nice! I've been following these tutorials in the hope of building my own cell phone sometime soon.

If you want a more step-by-step tutorial, Ben Heck's youtube channel is a very good source. He specifically has a DIY cellphone

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SlcVTfP4MA

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAbppnXpfHc

[swampthinker]

Are there any pictures of the finished product? I'm intrigued.

[cryowaffle]

The audience reactions were like being at a wedding, anything you say is hilarious.

[owaislone]

Feels like I'm watching some sitcom. Does anyone else feel the people are laughing too much?.. or probably the microphone is very near to the audience.

[r3bl]

Yup, I do agree that some things were really funny, but it felt like the audience started laughing no matter what he said.

[shreyas056]

Yup, felt the same

[trevmckendrick]

He (they?) are working on a new "luxury" phone it appears. More info here: https://keminglabs.com/phone

[sammermpc]

If folks are interested in this kind've thing, this is an interesting Arduino-based project: http://web.media.mit.edu/~mellis/cellphone/

[Shed]

Kevin - what a wonderfully inspiring and HILARIOUS talk. You're fantastic! I create products myself (but with nowhere near your level of technical talent) - you can see some here if you want: http://bit.ly/shedcreations). Loved your delivery, intelligence, wit and raw perseverance. All wonderful. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook and please also post up an image of your finished phone - it wasn't so clear to see the finished article on your video. "Showbiz: always leave them wanting something more!". Much love, Shed www.ShedSimove.com

[JackWebbHeller]

Which conference is this?

I tried Googling "!!Con" and obviously the exclamation marks don't count as part of the search term. Apparently Google doesn't know what I mean by "exclamation mark exclamation mark con" either. There's also no link in their YouTube channel...

[kparaju]

It's called BangBang Con

[deutronium]

Very impressive, I notice he's using a chip for GSM/GPRS - UC15EA.

I'm wondering if anyone's used an SDR to make a cellphone, as I've seen GSM base stations implemented with SDR, but not cellphones before.

[vvpan]

As a person who does not use a smart phone but feels that nobody puts thought into the dumb phones - this has crossed my mind many times. Very very interesting.

[sleepychu]

"Don't tell the FCC kthx!"