Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The firmware source includes ESP8266 Wi-Fi, WiFiClient, ESP8266WebServer, and mDNS support and serves a BSides PDX 2015 Badger web UI.
SourceThe repository documents ESPlant as an ESP8266 WiFi kit for transmitting environmental data, with Arduino IDE, Espressif SDK, and esp-open-rtos programming paths.
SourceThe badge used a flexible substrate PCB with ATmega328P control, accelerometer input, USB serial, CR2032 power, and 32 LEDs driven through shift-register logic.
SourceThe board exposed CP2102 serial-over-USB, SPI SSD1306 OLED, I2C pressure/temperature and light sensors, a GPIO push button, and a PWM tricolor LED for driver-writing exercises.
SourceThe official events page says HITCON Wallet contained a Secure Element CoolWallet, electronic paper, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Low Energy.
SourceContemporary coverage says BSides Canberra 2016 delegates received a home-made Arduino badge, but does not identify exact board revision, display model, or production files.
SourceThe official BSidesSLC site says the 2025 E-Badge is built on the LilyGO T-Deck S3 platform.
SourceFreetronics documents LoliBot as a two-wheel robot kit with a Lolin32-Lite ESP32 brain, WiFi/Bluetooth, onboard 18650 power, USB charging, and skid-steering drive.
SourceThe 2024 Wombat badge combined a custom PCB, MS51FB9AE Nuvoton microcontroller, CH340G USB serial, micro-USB, RGB LED, six challenge LEDs, CR2032 holder, and slide switch.
SourceThe official CommSec Village page says the special-edition HITB2018PEK badge was based on an MTK series platform with 32M flash, 128MB RAM, a display screen, and UART provided.
SourceHITCON's official events page says the 2017 electronic badge was powered by a MediaTek chipset and included Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, joystick/game-controller input, infrared, and an LED display.
SourceAustralian Cyber Security Magazine reported that 2018 delegates received a handmade conference badge using a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC.
SourceThe 2017 repository documents the continued nRF51822/STM32F072 badge platform with OLED, BLE, battery management, touch buttons, USB, and AAA/USB power.
SourceThe official page describes the electronic badge as a PCB-based, modular artifact powered by multiple processors with two different systems integrated together.
SourceThe official CommSec Village page lists an STM32F103 MCU, W25Q32 flash, 1.3-inch OLED, 433 MHz RF receiver, IR receiver, six direction/action buttons, and six RGB LEDs.
SourceThe hardware README describes a Raspberry Pi RP2040 badge design derived from the Seeed XIAO 2040 with 16 MB SPI flash.
SourceThe Badge Village page says the specialized hacking tool uses a Raspberry Pi Pico as its core controller for fault-injection experiments.
SourceThe technical overview identifies an ATSAMD21G18A, ESP32-PICO-D4, LP5024 LED driver, 2.9 inch red/black/white e-paper display, capacitive touch, user LEDs, RGB LEDs, microSD, and user buttons.
SourceThe hands-on coverage and project-owner comments identify an STM32F103CBT6 ARM Cortex-M3 controller running at 72 MHz with the badge firmware built through STM32Duino-style tooling.
SourceThe repository README identifies the THOTCON 0xA badge base as a SparkFun ESP32 Thing Dev board.
SourceThe README directs builders through SparkFun nRF52832 Breakout Arduino compatibility and variant-file changes for the badge target.
SourceHackaday identifies the badge controller as a TI CC2640R2 with ARM Cortex-M3 core and Bluetooth capability, paired with a Holtek HT16D35B LED controller.
SourceThe BSides Ballarat page documents an interactive ESP32 badge with screen, controls, badge-to-badge communication, and SAO add-on support.
SourceThe writeup identifies the badge as a tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanner made from a WemOS board.
SourceThe 2017 badge combined a Wemos D1 Mini with OLED and RGB shields plus a switched AA battery holder on a laser-cut acrylic base.
SourceThe sketch README describes the Banglet board as a Feather-style nRF52/Bluefruit design modified into a wrist-worn form factor.
SourceThe 2018 badge moved to nRF52832 with OLED, BLE, NeoPixel RGB LEDs, buttons, battery management, and STM32 USB handling.
SourceThe 2019 badge kept the nRF52832/STM32F070 split with OLED, BLE, NeoPixel RGB LEDs, buttons, and Li-ion/USB power.
SourceThe ARAMCON badge combined an nRF52840 module, 2.9-inch e-paper display, accelerometer, flash, MP3/WMA audio codec, Cherry MX keys, NeoPixels, SAO connector, and KiCad PCB files.
SourceThe ESP32-S3 schematic backs ESP32-S3-WROOM, USB-C, SSD1306 OLED, WS2812B Mini LEDs, buttons, slide switch, I2C, and battery-rail claims; the repository's SAMD11-named tree contains an RP2040 schematic with USB-C, W25Q flash, battery, OLED, WS2812B Mini LEDs, and switches.
SourceThe hardware tree preserves KiCad schematic and board files whose schematic names RP2040, SPH0641LM4H microphone, PAM8302AAD amplifier, W25Q16JV flash, MCP1700 regulator, battery, buzzer, LEDs, micro-USB, BOOT, and RESET elements.
Sourcehelge's HiFi-Bodge project extends the badge as an audio-capable hardware add-on.
SourceCreator and attendee writeups document a hidden challenge beneath the published CTF path, with PCB inspection and extra LED behavior rewarding hardware probing.
SourceHackerware documents replacing C1 and C2 with 22 pF capacitors, then adding SMD LEDs and resistors at D9-D13 and R8-R12 to play the CTF and unlock airship lights.
SourceBadge.Team documents supported OV5647-based camera modules and calls out unsupported IMX519-based Raspberry Pi camera modules.
SourceThe guide documents an RP2040 microcontroller / Raspberry Pi Pico board manager for button inputs, LED control, battery charging/status, and power management.
SourceAfter removing the Omega shield and moving the jumpers from UART1 to UART0, the guide documents reconnecting at 115200 baud to see boot debug output and reach a root prompt.
SourceThe team built three development boards before final production so hardware wiring could be checked and firmware could be written while the final badges were produced.
SourceThe technical archive publishes schematic and Gerber documentation and states that the documentation is Creative Commons Attribution licensed.
SourceThe workshop guide documents optional bodge wires for the mislabeled I2C bus and switch-tab trimming to avoid shorted contacts.
SourceThe post-event teardown identifies the badge core as an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 and documents firmware extraction using ESP32-S3 tooling.
SourceThe badge page describes an 8-pin expansion header exposing GPIO for custom daughterboards and mods.
SourceThe badge exposed waveform-generator outputs, scope inputs, and through-hole prototyping space for filters, curve tracers, oscillators, analog video experiments, and external signal hacks.
SourceThe badge/topper arrangement exposed prototyping and expansion space, making the badge a workshop board rather than a closed souvenir.
SourceTechMaker documents a CAN-transceiver footprint for a CJMCU-2551/MCP2551 module plus a Shitty Addon Connector v1.69bis expansion header.
SourceThe badge exposed both Type A and Type B SAO connectors, with community notes tying SAO behavior and add-ons into the badge challenge trail.
SourceThe badge page documents two Shitty Add-Ons ports on the top corners of the badge and says the ports had no rotation.
SourceThe Supercon version added proto-board support and documented GPIO, I2C, serial, and SAO-style expansion paths for attendee-built peripherals.
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