The brains of the operation is an Arduino Pro Mini. It controls two MAX7219s that drive the 42 LEDs plus the 7-segment display.

An Arduino Pro Mini drives an LSM303DLHC compass/accelerometer breakout board and a 12-LED NeoPixel ring. The heading is indicated with a red ‘Pixel between two yellow ones.

The creator of the Arduino RF Pro Mini open source development board Etienne, explains a little more about the inspiration behind the project. “ I’ve loved Arduino for years.