Electromagnetic Field (festival)
Technology-focused camping festival in the UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Electromagnetic Field (also known as EMF, or EMF Camp) is a camping festival in the UK, held every two years, for hackers, geeks, engineers and scientists.[1] It features talks and workshops covering a wide variety of topics.[2] EMF is a non-profit event run entirely by a team of volunteers.[3]
| Electromagnetic Field | |
|---|---|
Overhead view of Electromagnetic Field 2018 | |
| Status | active |
| Frequency | Biennially |
| Country | England |
| Inaugurated | August 2012 |
| Founder | Jonty Wareing, Russ Garrett |
Most recent | 16 July - 20 July 2026 |
Next event | TBA |
| Participants | 3500 |
| Filing status | Not for profit |
| Website | emfcamp.org |
Attendees of EMF receive an electronic conference badge, funded by sponsorship, which in 2014 included an LCD screen, Arduino-compatible microcontroller, and a radio transceiver.[4]
History
The first Electromagnetic Field event was held in 2012 at Pineham in Milton Keynes, and completely sold out a 499-person capacity. Each tent at EMF 2012 was provided with power and, via a 2.5 km direct microwave link to a data centre[5], internet. The microwave link provided 370 Mbit/s[6] to the campsite. Over 50 speakers gave talks, including Ben Goldacre.[7]
In 2013, a smaller interim one-day event called Electromagnetic Wave was held in London on board the MS Stubnitz.[8]
The main event was held again in 2014 at Hounslow Hall Estate, Newton Longville (near Milton Keynes). Over 1,200 tickets were sold.[9] As with the 2012 event, internet was provided by a direct microwave link which provided 436 Mbit/s.[10] The entire event had over 100 talks, workshops and events with a separate track for children. Notable speakers included Tom Watson MP and Simon Singh.[11] In addition there were 45 'villages'[12] that ran their own workshops and events including silver smithing, wood turning and making stroopwafels.
The 2016 event was held on 5–7 August at Loseley Park, Guildford[13] with an attendance of over 1,600. A 1 Gbit/s internet connection was provided by fibre, and the on-site network had a 10 Gbit/s backbone.[14]
Since 2018, Electromagnetic Field has been held at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire.[15][16] EMF 2020 was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,[17][18] but the event resumed in 2022.[19]
The 2026 event was held between July 16 - 19, 2026. Since 2024, a 40Gbit/s connection has been provided by fibre, with 1Gbit/s ports being standard, and 10Gbit/s ports available per request.[20]
List of events
| No. | Date | Location | Attendance | Internet connection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 31 August – 2 September 2012[21] | Pineham Park, Milton Keynes | 499 | 370 Mbit/s (direct microwave link) |
| 2nd | 29-31 August 2014[22] | Hounslow Hall Estate, Newton Longville, Milton Keynes | > 1,200 | 436 Mbit/s (direct microwave link) |
| 3rd | 5-7 August 2016 | Loseley Park, Guildford | > 1,600 | 1 Gbit/s (fibre) |
| 4th | 31 August – 2 September 2018 | Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire | 2,500 | 1 Gbit/s (fibre)[23] |
| 5th | 2-5 June 2022 | Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire[24] |
2,800 [25] |
1 Gbit/s (fibre) |
| 6th | 30 May - 2nd June 2024 | Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire | 3000 | 40 Gbit/s (fibre) |
| 7th | 16 July - 19 July 2026[26] | Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire | 3500 | 40 Gbit/s (fibre) |
Badges
Each event, up to and including the 2024 event had a custom, programmable, battery-powered badge.
For the first event in 2012 the badge was named TiLDA, based on an ATMega 32U4 and was Arduino-compatible.
The 2014 badge (TiLDA MKe) was an Arduino Due-compatible badge. It was the first to come with an LCD, and all subsequent EMF badges included an LCD screen. It included Accelerometer and Gyroscope sensors, along with a long-range wireless transceiver.[27]
The 2016 badge was named TiLDA MK3, and dropped Arduino-compatibility for sake of Micropython. It was built around the STM32L4 microcontroller, and included a WiFi module, gyroscope and magnetometer.[28][29]
The 2018 badge (TiLDA MK4) included a SIM800 GSM module and T9 number keypad.[30]
The 2022 badge was renamed to TiDAL.[31] It was a badge in a USB-C thumbdrive format, with an LCD screen, a joystick, and various buttons.[32]
For 2024, the event debuted the Tildagon badge, planned to be used for all future events alongside hardware "hexpansion" boards. The Tildagon badge is based on an Espressif ESP32-S3 with 2MB of RAM and 8MB of storage.[33]
The 2026 badge, known as Spaceagon, featured a re-used 2024 backboard and screen along with a new frontboard and middleboard. These boards included a joystick, compass and touch-sensitive areas.[34] An optional keyboard hexpansion known as 'Keebdeck' was also available.
Synchronization with other events
In the years when Electromagnetic Field does not occur, Chaos Communication Camp (in Germany) and one of the Hack-Tic hacker events (in the Netherlands) occur alternately.