Alain Pannetrat discusses his journey from tinkerer to open-source hardware engineering 

Welcome to Tech Explorations Podcast episode 3.

In this episode, Peter Dalmaris (that’s me) talks with Alain Pannetrat. Alain is the founder of OMSLO, a company that designs, manufactures, and sells open-source hardware, with a focus on wired IoT. Alain also works as a product manager and researcher for the Cloud Security Alliance. He has previously worked as an IT expert for the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) and as a smart card security consultant in the banking industry. He holds a PhD in applied cryptography but discovered his passion for electronics when he bought his first Arduino Uno.

In my conversation with Alain, we discuss NOCAN, a platform that uses CAN bus to network dozens of Arduino nodes with a single wire. NOCAN is a fascinating technology, and we spent much of the interview talking about it. However, I was also very impressed by Alain’s experience in setting up a business around NOCAN and running two successful Kickstarter campaigns. When it comes to electronics and manufacturing, Alain is completely self-taught. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this conversation.

Peter: Alain, a pleasure to have you on the Tech Explorations Podcast. How are you today?

Alain: Fine, thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Peter: It’s amazing. So, you’re in Athens. What is it like now in Athens?

Alain: It’s gray outside. Totally not what you’d expect for Greece.

Peter: Yeah, not the picture that most people have in mind. But you’re actually not Greek—you’ve been in Greece for quite a few years, but you’re French. How did you end up in Greece?

Alain: Yeah, it’s a bit more complicated. I’m French, as you can tell by the name, but my mother is Canadian, and I live in Greece. So yes, I’m pretty confused. I married a Greek, actually. That’s what happened.

Peter: You’re a citizen of the world!

Alain: Exactly, yes.

Peter: Well, I’m eager to talk about quite a few things because you have a very interesting background. You have a security background—software, right? And now you’re an Arduino person, a maker with Raspberry Pi, and you’re both an entrepreneur and a maker.

Tell us a little bit about your background, and then we’ll get into all the good stuff.

Alain: I’m the founder of a small company called OMSLO that designs, manufactures, and sells microcontroller systems for makers. Everything I do is open-source hardware. My main product is the NOCAN platform, which is an IoT platform for makers. What sets it apart from other IoT platforms is that it’s wired instead of wireless. There’s no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, and nothing like that.

Peter: That’s the opposite of where the trend is going!

Alain: Absolutely.

Peter: We’ll come back to that because it’s fascinating. But your background is not in electronics. You come from cryptography, right?

Alain: Yes, I did a PhD in cryptography. After that, I worked in smart card security in the banking industry and then joined the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL), which implements privacy laws. I was a technical advisor there. A few years ago, I joined the Cloud Security Alliance, which deals with best practices for cloud security.

Peter: That’s quite an interesting background. And it’s quite far from what you’re doing now with OMSLO and NOCAN. How did you make the transition from cloud security and government work to building IoT hardware?

Alain: There is a connection between security and electronics, particularly the idea of hacking things. I’ve always been fascinated by tinkering and finding creative solutions. So while my formal background is in software and security, electronics felt like a natural extension of that curiosity.

Peter: And when it comes to electronics, are you self-taught?

Alain: Yes, totally self-taught. But it’s amazing what you can learn today with all the resources available online—courses, YouTube videos, etc. In just a few years, I’ve learned so much. It’s a great time to be a self-learner.

Peter: Absolutely. The golden age of self-education. So, how did you get introduced to platforms like Arduino and Raspberry Pi?

Alain: I probably picked up my first Arduino about 10 years ago. I liked the idea of blinking an LED and controlling things. I’m a programmer at heart, but I love the feeling of controlling something in the real world. I didn’t fully dive into electronics until I moved to Greece about six or seven years ago. That’s when I started exploring more deeply.

Peter: What was the project that got you deeper into electronics?

Alain: I had an interest in building sensor networks. When I moved to a family house with a garden, I thought about automating watering and monitoring the environment. But what really triggered my deeper involvement was a series of burglaries in the neighborhood. I saw a burglary happening across the street, and that made me think about building surveillance systems using Arduino and sensors.

Peter: Your security background coming out there! So you built a system using Arduino and sensors for surveillance. Was that the project that eventually led to NOCAN?

Alain: Not quite, but it was a turning point. I started playing with the Arduino more seriously, and a few years later, I came up with the idea for NOCAN. The burglaries pushed me to think about IoT applications for security and automation.

Peter: Let’s talk about NOCAN now. I see that it uses a wired network instead of wireless. Can you explain how the system works?

Alain: NOCAN is a platform that uses the CAN bus to network Arduino-compatible nodes. You have a Raspberry Pi as the gateway, and you can connect multiple nodes using a single wire. The Raspberry Pi manages the network, and you can program each node to perform different tasks—like controlling a relay, measuring temperature, or monitoring humidity. The nodes are powered and communicate through the same wire.

Peter: That’s interesting. You’ve gone against the trend of wireless IoT. What made you choose wired communication?

Alain: Wireless is popular, but it has limitations—especially in terms of reliability and power consumption. CAN bus, which comes from the automotive industry, is very reliable and resilient in noisy environments. It also has a priority system, which ensures that critical messages (like brake signals in a car) are always delivered first. For home automation, especially in a garden or a large house, wired communication makes sense.

Peter: So the Raspberry Pi manages the network, but the nodes can communicate with each other, right?

Alain: Exactly. The Raspberry Pi assigns addresses to the nodes and acts as a gateway between the network and the outside world. You can connect the system to a smartphone, use MQTT, or access it through a RESTful API.

Peter: That sounds powerful. What’s an example of a simple application someone could build with NOCAN?

Alain: A basic application would be monitoring temperature and humidity in different locations—say, inside and outside the house. You can visualize the data on a dashboard and even control a watering system based on the sensor readings. The beauty of NOCAN is that you can reprogram the nodes remotely without physically accessing them.

Peter: That’s very convenient. Now, let’s switch gears and talk about your Kickstarter campaigns. You’ve run two campaigns—one failed, and the second succeeded. What did you learn from that experience?

Alain: My first Kickstarter failed because I didn’t have enough experience with marketing and social media. The second time around, I was more prepared, and the campaign was a success. The idea evolved as well. Initially, I used the classic Arduino UNO format with an Atmel 328 chip. In the second version, I switched to an ARM Cortex-based design, which worked much better.

Peter: And you assembled the boards yourself?

Alain: Yes, I assembled around 600 boards myself. It’s one thing to make five or ten boards, but when you scale up to hundreds, new challenges arise. You need a pick-and-place machine, a reflow oven, and a good testing setup. I learned a lot about manufacturing and quality control.

Peter: That must have been intense! What’s next for NOCAN and OMSLO?

Alain: We’ve added MQTT compatibility and a web interface. My next goal is to document the RESTful API and create Python bindings so people can control the network from external devices. The hardware itself works well, so now it’s about expanding the software and making it even more useful.

Peter: Sounds exciting! Finally, what advice would you give to someone just starting out with Arduino or electronics?

Alain: Start with a project—something that excites you. Break it down into smaller steps, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. There are so many resources available today. You can learn anything if you take the time to experiment and try things out.

Peter: Great advice! It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Alain. Thank you for sharing your story.

Alain: Thank you, Peter. It’s been great!

That’s all for this episode. You can find links to resources mentioned in this episode and more information about Alain on our website, techexplorations.com. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and we’ll see you next time!