This is a forum for the Broadcom WIFI/ARM combo board I was raving about last night: emw3165.com
And from the small world department, I just noticed this forum’s domain is registered in Asheville, North Carolina!
“Smart machines interacting and communicating with other machines, objects, environments and infrastructures, resulting in volumes of data generated and processing of that data into useful actions that can ‘command and control’ things and make life much easier for human beings … similar to the world envisioned in the 1970s cartoon The Jetsons, only better.”
-Freescale, from their white paper “What the Internet of Things (IoT) Needs to Become a Reality”
This is a forum for the Broadcom WIFI/ARM combo board I was raving about last night: emw3165.com
And from the small world department, I just noticed this forum’s domain is registered in Asheville, North Carolina!
Tonight starting at 6pm is the NC’s Regional Internet of Things free conference (except for parking) at the Raleigh Convention Center. See the first link for the schedule. Of particular note is that you can see Qualia Networks Chariot mesh board in action.
I have been working on this IOT thing for a while and wanted to share some details of my latest project. In using the data loggers, I have found that just as I need to be able to use different sensors, I also need to be able to support different methods of recording and reporting data. My first data logger used a MicroSD card for disconnected data collection. Then, I built a version which connected using a cellular network. For this next version, I used WiFi.
I started this project using the Atmel 328p but soon came to a realization, with WiFi, I needed more working memory and would need a more powerful chip. After some trial and error, I decided to use the wonderful Teensy 3.1 from PJRC. This is an Arduino compatible ARM processor with much more memory and speed.
The basic build contains the following components:
The basic idea is that this board will connect to GPS, obtain a GPS fix and report its location to Ubidots. Ubidots can then display this information in a number of ways including showing the location and the number of times the sensor had been moved that day as the dashboard below shows:
Here is the carrier board in detail:
Here is what the basic board looks like:
And here it is inside its protective Pelican case:
I have posted the firmware sketch and the carrier board Design files to my Github repository.
A few design notes:
I hope this information is helpful. Please leave comments or contact me if you have questions. Also, you can follow me on Twitter @chipmc86 to hear about more over time.
Chip
Following up on Chip McClelland’s IoT presentation at this month’s meeting at NCSU, here’s a Freescale/Arm high level take on what’s needed to build out the Internet of Things. The figure on page 10 and the table on 11 are handy to get a feel for different communication schemes out there.