Controlling LED Arrays on TCP/IP Networks

The new Color LED matrix controllers from Spark Fun Electronics provide a fun way to control 8 x 8 color (RGB) LED matrices. Connecting directly onto a common cathode RGB 8 x 8 LED array, the controller "back pack" provides a simple serial interface to the LEDs. This eliminates the headaches of switching 192 discrete LEDs on and off.
While this is all nice, we still need some way to control the LED controller; something that will send it the image data. This tutorial focuses on controlling one or more LED matrices over TCP/IP using an embedded ethernet board. The LED array becomes a server on the network and may be updated from any computer on the network running a simple JAVA client program. This is a versatile way to control the matrix and it allows for huge expansion. In this tutorial, one LED matrix is connected to the network. But using the same techniques, many LED matrices may be controlled over the network. And if this network is connected to the internet and properly set up, the LED matrices may be controlled from anywhere in the world! LINK