Stephen Tierney

Automated Cat Deterrent with Frigate, ESPHome, and Home Assistant

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I made a small Home Assistant system that detects cats in the backyard with Frigate and turns on a sprinkler for 30 seconds.

ESPHome HW211 Component

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I published an ESPHome external component for HW211-family heat pump controllers, generating local Modbus sensors and optional controls for Home Assistant.

Heat Pump Hot Water Wi-Fi Adapter

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I replaced the proprietary Wi-Fi module in my heat pump hot water system with a local ESPHome adapter built using a Waveshare ESP32-S3-RS485-CAN module.

Cloud-Free PETKIT Feeder

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I converted a PETKIT Fresh Element Mini dry food dispenser to run locally with ESPHome, removing the need for a cloud connection.

Disk Shelf Fan Controller

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I added an ESPHome fan controller to my disk shelf, using a DS18B20 temperature probe, PWM fan control, and a small script to log HDD temperatures.

Room Controllers

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I turned my ESPHome LVGL light touchpads into reusable room controllers for lamps, weather, screen sleep, and per-room aircon control.

ESPHome Weekly Roundup: 4th May

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ESPHome weekly roundup for 4 May: Maxi1134's highly suspicious bed presence project using 16 load cells, HX711 sensors, and Home Assistant.

SydPy: Taking Back the Streets

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I spoke at SydPy about open navigation, NaviLens, and using Python to build a free alternative for resolving navigation tags in public spaces.

Teaching at Scale - UNSW Seminar

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I gave a UNSW seminar on teaching at scale, sharing strategies for active learning, tutorial support, marking, and programming education.

ESPHome Weekly Roundup: 27th April

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ESPHome weekly-ish roundup from Discord: BLE MIDI Remote for ESPHome, SnapSpot, and RealDeco's Sendspin Headphones.

ESPHome Weekly Roundup: 18th April

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ESPHome weekly roundup for 18 April: a tiny Sendspin speaker amplifier, ESPControl for smart home touch pads, and esphome-zerocode.

Evening Lights with Ambient Lux

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I updated my Home Assistant evening lights automation to use the ambient light sensor from my Ecowitt weather station, so the lamps turn on when it is actually dark.

Ecowitt Weather Station

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I set up an Ecowitt weather station locally with WSView Plus and Home Assistant, then mounted the WS69 sensor array above the greenhouse.

Rocket Lamp

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I converted a strange looking mains powered lamp to be USB-C powered and programmable using ESPHome.

Smart Soy Light

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I converted a Heliograf soy sauce lamp into a Home Assistant controlled smart light using ESPHome.

Single Image Blind Parameter Recovery

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I developed a selection procedure for image formation and solver hyperparameters for image restoration tasks, which removes the need for hand tuning. I provide a proof that the estimator is unbiased and derive estimator variance, confidence bounds and provide guidance on practical usage.

ASCILITE Innovation Award and Allan Christie Innovation Award

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I were awarded both the Innovation Award and Allan Christie Innovation Award at ASCILITE 2025 for our Karel initiative.

Empowering women to code: Playful learning with Karel

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

This paper presented at ASCILITE 2025 discusses how our Karel initiative is empowering women in programming.

Taking Back the Streets: NaviLens and the Fight for Open Navigation

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I presented at the Data and AI track of PyCon AU 2025 about the potential problems of NaviLens.
Video here.

wyoming-whisper-intel

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I assembled a docker container or wyoming and whisper on intel GPUs. It is built on the intel/oneapi-basekit container.

Rathole Maintainer

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I became a maintainer of the rathole project, which is a secure, stable and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal, written in Rust.

caddy-hostnames

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I released caddy-hostnames, which automatically publishes .local hostnames from Docker containers via mDNS using Caddy-Docker-Proxy.

freelens

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

This project provides a reference implementation of NaviLens and ddTag for educational or personal use.

Enhancing Programming Ability with Playful Learning and Karel

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the Education track of PyCon AU 2024 about our use of Karel to increase in confidence, interest and ultimately ability in programming.
Video here.

Wayne Lonergan Award for Outstanding Leadership in Teaching

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I were awarded the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) Wayne Lonergan Award, which is the most competitive teaching award in the school and is accompanied with a $10,000 AUD prize. We were awarded for leading significant initiatives in modernising programming education, which has impacted over 10,000 enrolments in courses we have coordinated and over 7,000 enrolments in other courses.

Update: Visualisations and Generalisations for Two Candles, One Cake

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've updated a previous post on the Two Candles, One Cake problem by providing new visualisations and generalisation ability.

Update: Too Many Guns

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've updated the Too Many Guns site to use MapLibre and partial property updates. The later change removes the need for client side callbacks.

Playful Extra-Curricular Learning In Programming Education

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum about our project using Karel to help students visualise code execution and encourage students to practise programming.

Playful Extra-Curricular Learning In Programming Education

Tue, 14 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I spoke at a Business Analytics 'Brown Bag' with Alison Wong about our project using Karel to o help students visualise code execution and encourage students to practise and develop their programming skills.

2023 Educational Innovation Award

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I received the Educational Innovation Award in the category 'Transform assessment and feedback practices' for my feed-forward assessment design in QBUS5010 Introduction to Dashboarding.

Assurance of Learning Through Testing

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the Education track of PyCon AU 2023 about our approach to assurance of learning for automatically marked assessments.

Collaborative Programming in the Classroom: Approaches and Insights

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the Education track of PyCon AU 2023 about realtime collaborative programming in a university education context.

Winner: Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I were awarded a Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant to the value of $5000 for the support the design, deployment, and evaluation of a games-based, playful, or simulated learning intervention.

Engaging Students as Collaborative Partners: A Reflective Approach to Topic Selection

Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I co-presented at the University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum about a reflective approach to students as partners that was developed for QBUS5010 Intro to Dashboarding and Data Visualisation. The approach was designed and deployed by Andrew Cram, Enosh Yeboah, Alison Casey and myself.

Academic of the Year - Beta Gamma Sigma Honour Society

Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The University of Sydney Business School's honour society, Beta Gamma Sigma recognises academic staff and business professionals through the Chapter Honouree Award.

The student who nominated me wrote:

Dr. Tierney is very passionate about the subjects he teaches, especially in area of coding. He was the unit coordinator for Qbus5010 and Buss6002, in which he was very supportive. Especially in Ed Discussion, consultation sessions and emails, he was very active and responded in a timely manner. Moreover, his teaching materials were easy to understand and well-organised, which allows me to master the knowledge more thoroughly. His passion in the field really inspired me to pursue mine.

Working Together: The Benefits of Providing Choice in Topic Selection

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I co-authored a blog post about a reflective approach to students as partners that was developed for QBUS5010 Intro to Dashboarding and Data Visualisation. The approach was designed and deployed by Andrew Cram, Enosh Yeboah, Alison Casey and myself.

Promoted to Senior Lecturer

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I was promoted from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer in the 2022 promotions round. The position is equivalent to Associate Professor in the US.

Toolbox & Innovator Award

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As a team, Alison Wong, Priyanka Cheema and myself were awarded the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) Toolbox & Innovator Award, which recognises high quality, novel teaching practices and exceptional contributions to the USBS teaching community.

Detecting and Reducing Academic Misconduct in Programming Assessments

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Priyanka Cheema and I presented at the University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum about detecting and reducing academic misconduct in an introductory programming unit.

Dynamic Pictures for Greater Information Engagement

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I co-presented at the University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum about embedding dynamic and interactive visualisations in learning material using plotly.

QBUS5010: Intro to Dashboarding and Data Visualisation

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I designed and developed this introductory dashboarding unit with assistance from Ardi Mirzaei. Students learn how dashboards systems work, how they are built and to analyse dashboard designs using principles of visual analytics. The students use plotly Dash to implement their dashboards.

Frame Game Solver

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote a proof of concept solver for John Siracusa's Frame Game. I created an interactive dashboard and wrote an overview of how it works.

Two Candles, One Cake

Sat, 16 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I solved the 'Two Candles, One Cake' problem using Python. Symbolic, numeric and simulation solutions are provided.

Dynamic Pictures to Support Learning in Business Analytics

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Co-authored blog post on interactive elements of BUSS6002.

Optimal Diagnosis Strategies: Lessons from Wordle

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I spoke at a Business Analytics 'Brown Bag' seminar on wordle strategies and the broader applications for diagnoses and sequential experimental design.

Wordle Solver

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote a fast solver for wordle written in Python. This package offers multiple solving strategies and empirical comparison of each.

At the Turn of the Tide – Teaching Python in Real-Time at Scale

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the University of Sydney Business School Learning and Teaching Forum about our innovative approach to teaching online.

LTR390 Support in ESPHome

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I added support for the LTR390 UV and ambient light sensor to ESPHome. Pull request on Github.

SCD4X Support in ESPHome

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I added support for the SCD4X CO2 sensor to ESPHome. Pull request on Github.

Top teachers should have a 50 per cent pay rise, expert says

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

This Sydney Morning Herald article uses visualiations from my 'Teacher Pay Comparison' dashboard.

Python + Ed: code for collaborative learning

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I was interviewed by the USYD Co-Design Research Group about our innovative approach to teaching online.

At the Turn of the Tide – Teaching Python in Real-Time at Scale

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Alison Wong and I presented at the Education track of PyCon AU 2021 about our innovative approach to teaching online.

PMSA003I Support in ESPHome

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I added support for the PMSA003I particulate matter sensor to ESPHome. Pull request on Github.

Efficient Sparse Subspace Clustering by Nearest Neighbour Filtering

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

KNN filtering reduces computation requirements for Subspace Clustering. Theorertical justification is provided and empirically validated. View on Google Scholar. I was responsible for conceptualization, methodology, investigation, software, validation, writing - original draft.

SHT4X Support in ESPHome

Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I added support for the SHT4X temperature and humidity sensor to ESPHome. Pull request on Github.

Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education)

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I completed the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education). The 1 year course is designed to develop scholarly, research-led approaches to teaching while engaging in activities and tasks aimed at cultivating critical reflection about higher education.

Fellow of the HEA

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

On 10th March 2021 I was admitted as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. This accreditation is in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.

QBUS5011: Introduction to Programming

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I designed and devleped this introductory programming unit. The unit teaches programming with Python and covers traditional programming topics such as OOP and data structures, through to everyday business tasks such as handling and visualising data.

Forecasting website

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Andrey Vasnev and I presented at ISF 2020 about the Forecast Lab, which provides easily accessible economic and financial forecasts.

binsmooth

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote a Python implementation of 'Better Estimates from Binned Income Data'. This technique allows distributions to be estimated from binned data.

Teacher Pay Comparison

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I made a supplemental dashboard to accompany submission to 'Valuing the teaching profession' inquiry. The dashboard uses plot.ly Dash and the code is available on Github.

Robust Functional Manifold Clustering

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

We extend subspace clustering to data that represents functions and curves. View on Google Scholar.

Too Many Guns

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

I recreated this Greens NSW website using Dash. Code on Github.

dash-multi

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote a wrapper for Dash to support multi page apps.

jitcache

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote a Python package for function caching that prevents re-entrant calls.

Selective Multi-Source Total Variation Image Restoration

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

We show that fusing multiple noisy images under a total variation penalty improves reconstruction. This idea can be selectively applied to individual pixels of each source image in the case of corrupted sections of images. View on Google Scholar.

Low Rank Sequential Subspace Clustering

Sun, 12 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

We show that forcing the affinity matrix of SpatSC to be low-rank improves performance. View on Google Scholar.

Affinity Pansharpening and Image Fusion

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

We show that the pixel affinity from a high resolution image can be used to enhance low resolution images of the same scene. This technique is general enough to support fusion between any image types. View on Google Scholar.

Subspace Clustering for Sequential Data

We show that subspace clustering on sequential data can be dramatically improved by incorporating spatial constraints. View on Google Scholar.

Image Matting for Sparse User Input by Iterative Refinement

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We show that iteratively refining an alpha matte can lead to impressive results with very sparse labels. View on Google Scholar.

Natural Image Matting with Total Variation Regularisation

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

We show that total variation regularisation improves alpha mattes. View on Google Scholar.