---
sheet_format: 1.0
id: 2024-08-maci-112
title: "Le radar du sommeil satellise des rapsberry débuggés"
title_en: "The sleep radar puts debugged Raspberries into orbit"
speaker: Erwan Rougeux
with: [Horacio Gonzalez, Sylvain Wallez, Emmanuel Bosquet]
date: 2024-08-19
event: "Message à caractère informatique #112"
place: "online / studio"
format: podcast
language: fr
duration: "51:46"
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU
slides: null
topics: [home automation, home assistant, mmwave radar, raspberry pi, hardware security, nanosatellites, web audio, semiconductors]
source: "Summary written by Claude (AI) from the local Whisper transcript, with statements attributed to Erwan by local identification of his voice only (other speakers are not identified). Not a verbatim transcript; check the recording before quoting."
review: spot-checked
review_date: 2026-10-18
---

# Le radar du sommeil satellise des rapsberry débuggés

**In one sentence:** An episode of Clever Cloud's MACI podcast recorded on 19 August 2024. Erwan Rougeux covers the RP2350 hacking challenge, nanosatellites, and his mmWave radar sensors for presence, fall and sleep-cycle detection in Home Assistant.

## TL;DR
Host Horacio Gonzalez is joined by Sylvain Wallez (Elastic), Emmanuel Bosquet (Clever Cloud traffic team) and Erwan Rougeux (international growth at Clever Cloud), recorded the same day as episode 111. Sylvain tells how he came to code music in the browser with Web Audio and Tone.js; Erwan adds his own audio experiments. Sylvain then presents a Japanese lithography process that could challenge ASML's monopoly, which leads to a digression on US extraterritorial power. Erwan presents the Raspberry Pi RP2350 hacking challenge and microcontroller-based nanosatellites, then his mmWave radar sensors, which detect still presence, falls and sleep phases, and the smart alarm he is building on Home Assistant. The episode ends on garden irrigation, an open-hardware air-quality sensor and measuring everything at home, before 1980s German pop.

## Erwan's key points
- He once coded an ambient-sound mixer for his role-playing sessions with Web Audio, and was struck by convolution: loading an impulse recorded in a cave to give any sound that echo ([8:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=516s)).
- A reggae fan, he asked ChatGPT (the GPT-3 era) for Fourier-transform code to make his electric guitar sound like Bob Marley's. After a weekend of debugging the generated code, it worked fairly well ([9:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=542s)).
- He presents the challenge launched by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Hextree.io to hack the new RP2350 microcontroller: $10,000 to extract a secret protected by secure boot, until 7 September, timed with DEF CON. The aim is to show the chip is resistant as it spreads into consumer embedded devices and IoT ([18:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1105s)).
- He notes that Raspberry Pis are common "man in the middle" tools in hardware hacking, for example to intercept BitLocker decryption keys. The chip alone can be soldered onto your own board, turns up in car radios, and he says it can run Linux or Rust code ([19:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1195s), [20:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1259s)).
- He sees such chips enabling constellations of light, low-power micro- and nanosatellites, which cut launch payloads. Space technology once reserved for NASA or SpaceX becomes accessible, including to research in Africa; he cites Senegal's recent first satellites and Morocco before it ([23:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1433s), [25:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1517s)).
- He compares cheap infrared (PIR) motion sensors, which lose you if you sit still, with mmWave radar sensors (24 and 60 GHz). His C1001 detects a still person and movement velocity, so it can send a fall alert. He uses them to keep an eye on his ageing parents from afar, an example of how new technology helps families care for older relatives ([27:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1644s)).
- Reading the datasheet, he found a sleep mode that tells deep, light and REM sleep apart. He is building a smart alarm that wakes him in a light phase, a little before or after the set time, through Home Assistant and the Android app ([29:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1761s), [32:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1945s)).
- He calls Home Assistant his home hub, now so mainstream that automations need no code. His "my whole life is controlled" line was a deliberate joke: you keep control of the assistant ([33:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2002s), [34:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2086s)).
- For irrigation he bought Zigbee water valves on AliExpress, with separate zones for the vegetable garden and fruit trees, linked to the weather forecast. A community blueprint set it up in ten minutes, and it uses less water than the Gardena app ([36:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2173s)).
- His advice for starting: don't plan everything, pick one priority, and the rest follows, an "endless gear" that drew him in. He says he has more than 1,700 entities in Home Assistant ([50:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=3005s), [47:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2872s)).

## Outline
- [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=0s) Opening and introductions: Erwan (international growth at Clever Cloud), Emmanuel Bosquet (traffic team, Sozu), Sylvain Wallez (tech lead of Elastic's client SDKs), host Horacio Gonzalez.
- [1:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=113s) Sylvain's path to music: electronics as a teenager, piano lessons as an adult, then coding scales as arrays of frequencies.
- [6:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=371s) His talk built only with the browser's Web Audio and Web MIDI APIs, plus Tone.js ("the jQuery of Web Audio"); from a 440 Hz beep to a small electro-pop track.
- [8:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=516s) Erwan: an ambient mixer for role-playing games, convolution reverb, and a Bob Marley guitar tone coded with ChatGPT.
- [11:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=665s) Sylvain's link: an Okinawa research institute's alternative to EUV lithography, reportedly ten times cheaper and outside ASML's export restrictions.
- [14:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=860s) Geopolitical digression: US extraterritorial laws, a documentary on the French army's technological dependence, the dollar and the DoJ; US industrial policy compared with Europe's.
- [17:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1069s) Erwan: the RP2350 hacking challenge and its $10,000 bounty.
- [19:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1195s) Raspberry Pis in hardware hacking; the bare chip in car radios.
- [21:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1316s) Another participant on single-board computers versus microcontrollers, and the blurring line between them.
- [23:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1433s) Erwan: nanosatellite constellations, Senegal and Morocco.
- [25:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1550s) Another participant recalls working on satellite control centres in the 1990s, as satellites moved from custom builds to standard platforms.
- [26:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1607s) Erwan's mmWave radar sensor: PIR limits, still-presence and fall detection.
- [29:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1761s) Sleep-cycle detection from breathing and micro-movements.
- [30:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1856s) Erwan's smart-alarm project, from Philips' dawn-simulating lamp to waking in a light sleep phase.
- [33:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2002s) Everything runs through Home Assistant, Android app actions and calendar access; the "whole life controlled" joke.
- [35:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2116s) Garden irrigation without soldering: an ESP board, relays, YAML. Erwan adds Zigbee valves, zones, weather and blueprints.
- [38:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2289s) An AirGradient open-hardware air-quality sensor (CO2, particles, NOx), its firmware reworked with ESPHome; an "on air" light when the webcam is on.
- [42:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2521s) "You only understand what you measure": CO2 in a closed bedroom. Likely Erwan suggests adding mmWave to the sensor and mentions his Kibana at home.
- [44:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2641s) Sylvain: Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 4 with SQLite history, not Elasticsearch; logging Tisséo park-and-ride occupancy reveals Toulouse's evening patterns.
- [47:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2841s) Android Auto, car data over OBD2, entity counts; Bluetooth thermometers and a humidity-driven bathroom fan.
- [50:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=3005s) Erwan: start with one priority and let it grow.
- [50:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=3038s) Closing music picked by Sylvain: "Da Da Da" by Trio, 1980s German pop.

## Notable quotes
> "On est en train d'arriver sur des technologies qui étaient réservées à des élites qui maintenant sont accessibles à tout le monde." — Erwan Rougeux, [24:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1491s)
*"We are reaching technologies that were reserved for elites and are now accessible to everyone."*

> "Home Assistant est mon hub à la maison, tous mes capteurs, toute ma vie domotique est réunie en un seul endroit." — Erwan Rougeux, [33:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2002s)
*"Home Assistant is my hub at home; all my sensors, my whole home-automation life, in one place."*

> "C'est toujours quand ça plante que tu te rends compte réellement du gain de temps et du gain de vie que ça t'apportait." — Erwan Rougeux, [37:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2257s)
*"It's always when it breaks that you really see how much time and life it was giving you."*

> "Tu n'as pas besoin de dire tiens il faut que je fasse tout ça, tu dis juste tiens c'est ça ma priorité." — Erwan Rougeux, [50:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=3005s)
*"You don't need to say 'I have to do all of this'; you just say 'this is my priority'."*

## Questions this answers
**Q: What was the RP2350 hacking challenge?**
A: Erwan explains that the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Hextree.io offered $10,000 to whoever could extract a secret protected by the RP2350's secure boot, with submissions until 7 September 2024, to prove the chip's security ([18:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1105s)).

**Q: What is an mmWave presence sensor and why use one instead of PIR?**
A: Erwan says PIR sensors are cheap but miss people who keep still. An mmWave radar such as the C1001 detects a still person, measures movement velocity to detect falls, and wires easily to an ESP board ([27:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1644s)).

**Q: Can a radar sensor track sleep cycles?**
A: Yes, according to Erwan: the C1001 has a sleep mode that tells deep, light and REM sleep apart from breathing and micro-movements. He plans to use it in Home Assistant to wake up in a light phase ([29:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1761s)).

**Q: How do you automate garden irrigation with Home Assistant?**
A: One participant uses an ESP board and relays configured in YAML, with no soldering. Erwan uses Zigbee valves, several zones, the weather forecast and a community blueprint, and finds it more water-efficient than the Gardena app ([35:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2116s), [36:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=2173s)).

**Q: Why do microcontrollers matter for small satellites?**
A: Erwan argues that cheap, low-power boards make light micro- and nanosatellite constellations possible, reducing launch payloads and opening space to new countries such as Senegal ([23:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=1433s)).

**Q: How should a beginner start with home automation?**
A: Erwan's advice is to choose one priority, a lamp or the dishwasher, rather than planning everything; the rest follows naturally ([50:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKnsoLMWU&t=3005s)).

## Mentioned
Clever Cloud, Elastic, Sozu, Sunny Tech, RivieraDev, Web Audio API, Web MIDI API, Tone.js, Ableton Live, Science Étonnante, Arturia, ChatGPT, Bob Marley, ASML, TSMC, Nvidia, Okinawa, Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, SpaceX, NASA, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Hextree.io, RP2350, DEF CON, BitLocker, Android Auto, Rust, Linux, Senegal, Morocco, Alcatel Espace, DFRobot C1001 mmWave sensor, ESP32, Philips, Home Assistant, Android, AliExpress, Zigbee, Gardena, ESPHome, AirGradient, Kibana, Elasticsearch, SQLite, Raspberry Pi 4, Tisséo, Toulouse, OBD2, Trio, "Da Da Da", Horacio Gonzalez, Sylvain Wallez, Emmanuel Bosquet