MegaStorageRemote

A compact end-to-end embedded-to-mobile project: capture raw IR pulses with simple IoT hardware (RaspberryPi), transform and import them into the app, and control the MegaStorage CD player from an Android phone - demonstrates fullstack signal-to-mobile integration.

The why

The MegaStorage 300 CD works like a jukebox, but you need to keep track of the CDs you add yourself, with paper notes (e.g. 'Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses' at position 23). This app rids me of the paper, and also allows me to control the CD player remotely via infrared.

The how

I chose C# .NET Android among other technlologies because :

• it has a good support in VSCode
• infrared only exist on Android Xiaomi so I do not need cross platform (.NET MAUI)
• it mimics the native Java Android infrared API which is easy to use (no additional library)

Step 1 : Retroengineering the MegaStorage official remote's IR codes

Infrared codes are pulses in microseconds e.g. :

pulse 2410
space 595
pulse 1205
space 602

Using the KY-022 we can receive infrared codes from the remote. Then we can integrate them into our Android app to use the Xiaomi's infrared emitter.

ssh antoine@raspberrypi

sudo ir-ctl -r -d /dev/lirc0

Make sure to reformat the IR codes accordingly, see this file

Step 2 : Testing the IR codes

I simply created the most basic UI with some buttons to reproduce the initial remote behaviour.

I first tried with simple commands (power on/off, numbers, ...). Then I started chaining commands (Three, Two, Enter, ...). From that point onwards, I knew that the project was 100% doable.

Step 3 : Building the UI and 'industrializing'

I chose to go for a 100% code approach so that I would not bother learning complicated stuff for such basic needs.

I did not overcomplicate thing as the perimeter of the project is small and very predictable since it is limited to the hardware capabilities. For that same reason, there are no automated tests, plus it is also impossible to assert proper IR transmitting programmatically. The storage is 100% local to the phone, it avoids spending money on a server.

Features

• Power on/off
• Register/replace a CD
• Play a CD among the registered list

Running the app

The application is specifically designed for infrared capable phones (Xiaomi). Run/debug it with the .NET MAUI IDE tech stack.