2025 One Hertz Challenge: Abstract Aircraft Sculpture Based On Lighting Regulations
The 2025 One Hertz Challenge is really heating up with all kinds of projects that do something once every second. [The Baiko] has given us a rather abstract entry that looks like a plane…if you squint at it under the right conditions.
It’s actually quite an amusing abstract build. If you’ve ever seen planes flying in the night sky, you’ve probably noticed they all have similar lights. Navigation lights, or position lights as they are known, consist of a red light on the left side and a green light on the right side. [The Baiko] assembled two such LEDs on a small sliver of glass along with an ATtiny85 microcontroller.
Powered by a coin cell, they effectively create a abstract representation of a plane in the night sky, paired with a flashing strobe that meets the requirements of the contest. [The Baiko] isn’t exactly sure of the total power draw, but notes it must be low given the circuit has run for weeks on a 30 mAh coin cell.
It’s an amusing piece of PCB art, though from at least one angle, it does appear the red LED might be on the wrong side to meet FAA regulations. Speculate on that in the comments.
In any case, we’ve had a few flashers submitted to the competition thus far, and you’ve got until August 19 to get your own entry in!
hackaday.com/2025/08/12/2025-o…
