Making the DEF CON 29 Badge (Live)
Badge creators Michael and Katie Whiteley join The Dark Tangent on stage to share the engineering, chip shortage hurdles, and puzzles of the DC29 badge.
Summary
The Journey of Designing the DEF CON 29 Badge
Creating the official electronic badge for DEF CON 29 required overcoming global semiconductor shortages, manufacturing shutdowns, and pandemic logistics.
Live Hardware Teardown and Circuit Architecture
Michael and Katie Whiteley walk through the custom circuit board design, power management constraints, and LED matrix display hardware.
Embedded Firmware and Challenge Puzzles
The designers discuss the embedded microcontroller firmware, communication protocols, and multi-stage interactive cryptographic puzzle game built into the badge.
Community Maker Lessons and Hardware Resiliency
The session provides hardware hackers and makers with practical lessons in component substitution, rapid prototyping, and embedded software testing.
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