STRAIDE's Matrix Setup uses 64 illuminated elements for appealing visualizations in midair. Each element features a single SK6812 LED for individual illumination. All LEDs are connected to a central PCB in the lower Display Element Unit via 3m long tone arm wires. 8 LEDs make up a column, and overall 8 columns are connected to 8 digital pins of an NodeMCU ESP32. This wifi-capable microcontroller connects to the central server and receives websocket messages containing new color information. These are repeatedly send to the 8 strains of LEDs, and (with low latency) color works in unison with the actuation of the spheres.
messageType | messageID | LED0 red | LED0 green | LED0 blue | LED0 white | LED1 red | LED1 green | ...
messageType: 0x01 for new colors
messageID: sequential numbers 0-255
LED: index = y * DIMX + x and red(byte)