Skip to main content

Your submission was sent successfully! Close

Thank you for signing up for our newsletter!
In these regular emails you will find the latest updates from Canonical and upcoming events where you can meet our team.Close

Thank you for contacting us. A member of our team will be in touch shortly. Close

  1. Blog
  2. Article

Maarten Ectors
on 7 April 2016

When a projector and app-enabled software-defined radio cross paths


We had a chat with our head of IoT, Maarten, to discover what happens when a projector crosses paths with an app-enabled software-defined radio (limeSDR.org) Below is a list of pretty cool insights when the two cross paths that include talking to drones via hand gestures, hacking into walkie talkies and finding coverage where it doesn’t actually exist!

  • Use the SDR to receive television broadcasting and the projector as a TV screen
  • Add a WiFi app and avoid having to pay electricity for two devices
  • Add a 4G app, get spectrum from a telecom provider via a rest API and cover parts of a building that are not covered
  • Detect if people walk into the room with a mobile in their pocket and switch on the projector and off when nobody is around. If lights, heating, etc. can be controlled via an API then include this as well
  • Create your own IoT wireless protocol that can connect to sensors around the house and project a dashboard with real-time data
  • Use a gesture sensor with bluetooth that detects your hand movements, talk to a drone or toy car and control it via gestures and see what the drone or car sees on the projector
  • Put 3 projectors and triangulate where everybody in the office is walking based on their bluetooth or mobile signals. Connect to their online calendar and open automatically the Webex or Google hangout they are scheduled for and connect to the Wireless security camera in the room to stream what it sees to the other meeting invites. Use the built-in microphone to hear everything that is said
  • Track ships via AIS transmissions in a harbour or planes via Mode S and plot ships and planes on a Google Map via the projector
  • Project real-time data about the state of your car wheels via direct TPMS
  • Talk to all types of 2.4Ghz equipment like walkie talkies and baby monitors via the projector to show what activity there is
  • Build your own Low-Powered WAN receiver solution (see for instance LoRA) and show what is being received on the screen

Related posts


Felipe Vanni
13 November 2024

Join Canonical in Paris at Dell Technologies Forum

AI Article

Canonical is thrilled to be joining forces with Dell Technologies at the upcoming Dell Technologies Forum – Paris, taking place on 19 November. This premier event brings together industry leaders and technology enthusiasts to explore the latest advancements and solutions shaping the digital landscape. Register to Dell Technologies Forum – ...


Serdar Vural
12 November 2024

Bringing automation to open source 5G software at Ubuntu Summit 2024

5G Article

In today’s massive private mobile network (PMN) market, one of the most common approaches to PMN software and infrastructure are proprietary private business solutions. However, as our recent demonstrations at the October 2024 Ubuntu Summit in the Hague showed, open source software with enterprise-grade support is a cost-effective alterna ...


Amir Abdel Baki
7 November 2024

Life at Canonical: Freyja Cooper’s perspective as a new joiner in Communications

Ubuntu Article

Canonical has developed a unique onboarding process that enables new hires to quickly settle and establish themselves in our globally distributed environment. In this series, we interview team members who joined the company within the last year to ask them about their experience so far. In an earlier article, we heard from Amy Song, a ...