DC503 at DEF CON 26 · United States · 2018

DC503 DEF CON 26 VIP Banglet

Bluetooth LE wrist party badge

The DC503 DEF CON 26 VIP Banglet is a source-backed wrist-worn party badge documented by the Apache-2.0 `pdxbadgers/2018-banglet` repository and by BSidesPDX 2018's public Making of the Banglet talk listing.

DC503 DEF CON 26 United States Las Vegas Portland Unofficial Badge Party Badge Wrist Badge Banglet Bluetooth LE nRF52 NeoPixel BLEUART North America

EventDC503 at DEF CON 26

SeriesDC503

LocationLas Vegas, Nevada / DEF CON 26

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

3D design and PCB work

@jonhannis

The README credits @jonhannis for 3D design and PCB necromancer work; the 3D-print README also thanks @jonhannis.

Source

3D design and code

@pierce403 / @deanpierce

The README credits @pierce403 / @deanpierce for 3D design and code.

Source

PCB work

@office_deskjet

The README lists @office_deskjet among the PCB necromancers.

Source

PCB work

@securelyfitz

The README lists @securelyfitz among the PCB necromancers.

Source

board design and PCB work

@r00tkillah

The README credits @r00tkillah for board design and PCB necromancer work.

Source

board design, 3D design, and nRF52 example reference

Adafruit Industries

The README thanks Adafruit for board designs, 3D designs, and the nRF52 Arduino examples used as a reference trail.

Source

original concept, board design, and code

Nisha Kumar / @nishakm / @nishakmr

The README credits @nishakm / @nishakmr for original concept, board design, PCB work, and code; the BSidesPDX speaker page names Nisha Kumar for the Making of the Banglet talk.

Source

party-badge community

DC503

The repository title and README identify the artifact as the DEFCON 26 DC503 VIP Banglet.

Source

repository publisher

PDX Badgers

GitHub organization publishing the public 2018 Banglet source tree.

Source

talk archive publisher

BSidesPDX

Official publisher of the 2018 speaker page that documents the Making of the Banglet talk and describes the DC503 Bluetooth LE bangle.

Source

Why It Mattered

It records a Portland badgelife artifact that deliberately moved the badge from the neck to the wrist, mixing wearable enclosure design, Bluetooth LE interaction, NeoPixel lighting, and party-mode firmware in a DEF CON-adjacent community lineage.

Hardware

The public repository describes the Banglet as a wrist badge and Bluetooth recon device. Its sketch documentation says the board is essentially a Feather-style nRF52/Bluefruit design modified into Banglet form factor, with A0 as the NeoPixel strip data pin. The archive preserves Eagle board and schematic files plus hard and soft 3D-print bangle shells for enclosing the electronics with magnets, hinge wire, and heat-shrink support.

Software & Apps

The main Arduino sketch uses the Adafruit Bluefruit nRF52 stack, BLEUART service, scanner behavior, unique Portland street-style device names, NeoPixel output on A0, 12 LED definitions, a default scan mode, and `/list`-style terminal interaction. Companion sketches document BLEUART commands such as list, rainbow, patriot, and off, plus alternate demonstration modes for Bluetooth monitoring, blinking shells, dual-mode parsing, and LED patterns.

Lore

The repository README calls the project the DEFCON 26 DC503 VIP Banglet and describes a party badge whose hidden party modes live on BLEUART. BSidesPDX 2018's official speaker page frames Nisha Kumar's Making of the Banglet talk around that year's DC503 badge being a Bluetooth LE bangle rather than a badge.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge software behavior source-backed

Bluetooth recon scanner

The README calls the Banglet a fully functional Bluetooth recon device, and the main firmware starts scanner behavior while advertising a BLEUART service.