Astrolavos (*Ancient Greek: ἀστρολάβος*) is an astronomical instrument dating to the ancient time and served as a chart for the stars.

You and your friends are unique stars in the festival sky, and Astrolavos will help you find each other (#cringe)

1. Introduction

The project aims to be an Open SOURCE Festival Friend Finder. The tracker will show the direction and distance of the other paired trackers. The devices are connected to each other via LORA.

2. Tenets

  •  Open Source Free for anyone to use with their friend
  • Low Cost There are commercial solutions that cost north of 190 EUR. This project doe not to overthrow them. They are professional they know what they are doing. This project is an Open source alternative solution to the problem of finding the location of someone without cellular connectivity. Finding your friends at festivals can be sometimes be difficult or othertimes... well let's say stressful. Having a low cost option, will allow more people to use it feel safe and enjoy the festival at its fullest.
  • Low Power. In Festivals there is rarely sufficient access to power plugs. **Astrolavos** should be able to operate at least 36 hours (~3 festival days) with a single charge.
  • No Phone dependency You are at a festival disconnect and enjoy the moment.

3. Bill of Materials

4. Specifications

All the specifications need to be qualified. However the theoretical ones, are the following:

  • Range: Depends on the antenna but ~ 1.5km
  • Battery Life: >36 hours
  • Location Accuracy: ~15m 

5. Usage

5.1 User Inputs

5.2 Output (Display)

The display has a health bar on bottom that show the battery level, the GNSS status and the status of the magnetometer (magnetic compass). The main display has has up to 6 lines each one showing the distance and direction to a paired device.

There are two modes of operation:

  • Active Mode: When you are looking for your friends, the device will show the distance and direction to each of them. The display is on and doing some calculations on the background and as a result is consuming more power.
  • Isolation Mode: When you don't care about your friends, and just want to dance. The device will keep exchanging data, as your friends might actually care about you. In this mode the display is off and the device is consuming less power. It is recommended to be on this mode when you are not actively looking for your friends. It can be activated by pressing the small USR button on the top left corner of the device. The effect might take up to 2 seconds to take effect. In order to switch back to active mode, you need to press the button again.
  • Setup Mode: The user can enter the setup up mode by pressing the button on the top left corner of the device, when the device is booting. Setup mode allow the user to calibrate the magnetometer. The calibration parameters are stored in the Non-Volatile Memory of the device, so they will be available even after a power cycle. The calibration is done by rotating the device in all directions, until the calibration is complete. The display will show the progress of the calibration and will indicate when it is done. After the setup is completed, the device will reboot.

In addition to this there is an I WANT TO MEET option which can be activated by pressing the button the bottom right corner of the device. This will send a message to all paired devices that you want to meet them. The message will be shown on their displays as well as a clear indication on you own display, that you are transmitting this message. To stop transmitting this message, you need to press the button again.

4. Software

Take a look at the github repository: https://github.com/vpetrog/astrolavos


5. Current Status

5.1 Software

A working (at least beta version of the code is published). There are many ideas for future plans and extensions,...

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