Thank you to Peter Holzhauser for writing in and sharing his latest open-source project, "Etherbulb," a technical-art project that builds on his ESPSoup project that we previously posted.

Etherbulb turns an ESP32-C3-based smart bulb into an ambient RF spectrum monitor.  Etherbulb uses the ESP-SDR discovery to capture IQ data at 80 MSps 25 times per second, then runs an FFT on the chip, covering 2.13 to 2.73 GHz. This range includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee/Thread, analog FPV video, and LTE/5G Bands 1, 7, and 38. The signals are then mapped to visible colors, such as blue for Bluetooth and green for Wi-Fi, with brightness scaling with signal strength.

The bulb serves its own web dashboard with a live waterfall, spectrum and signal log, and it stays on your Wi-Fi network while listening. You can assign colors, brightness, and sensitivity per signal type, or drag a range on the waterfall to create custom rules. It includes 26 presets, from ExpressLRS to microwave ovens, plus 412 mobile network bands for 39 European countries. Supported hardware includes a 12W RGBCW E27 bulb, flashable over Wi-Fi, and the BTF SP530E LED strip controller, which needs a first UART flash and can drive five strips at once, one per signal type.

AI Disclaimer: This code lists Claude as a contributor.