- Introduction
- Prerequisites
- List of hardware and pinouts
- Wiring schemes
- IoT Hub configuration
- Programming the ESP8266
- Autonomous operation
- Troubleshooting
- Data visualization
- See also
- Your feedback
- Next steps
Introduction
IoT Hub is an open-source server-side platform that allows you to monitor and control IoT devices. It is free for both personal and commercial usage and you can deploy it anywhere. If this is your first experience with the platform we recommend to review what-is-iothub page and getting-started guide.
This sample application performs collection of temperature and humidity values produced by DHT22 sensor and further visualization on the real-time web dashboard. Collected data is pushed via MQTT to IoT Hub server for storage and visualization. The purpose of this application is to demonstrate IoT Hub data collection API and visualization capabilities.
The DHT22 sensor is connected to ESP8266. ESP8266 offers a complete and self-contained Wi-Fi networking solution. ESP8266 push data to IoT Hub server via MQTT protocol by using PubSubClient library for Arduino. Data is visualized using built-in customizable dashboard. The application that is running on ESP8266 is written using Arduino SDK which is quite simple and easy to understand.
The video below demonstrates the final result of this tutorial.
Once you complete this sample/tutorial, you will see your sensor data on the following dashboard.
Prerequisites
You will need to have IoT Hub server up and running. The easiest way is to use Live Demo server.
The alternative option is to install IoT Hub using Installation Guide. Windows users should follow this guide. Linux users that have docker installed should execute the following commands:
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mkdir -p ~/.mytb-data && sudo chown -R 799:799 ~/.mytb-data
mkdir -p ~/.mytb-logs && sudo chown -R 799:799 ~/.mytb-logs
docker run -it -p 9090:9090 -p 7070:7070 -p 1883:1883 -p 5683-5688:5683-5688/udp -v ~/.mytb-data:/data \
-v ~/.mytb-logs:/var/log/thingsboard --name mytb --restart always thingsboard/tb-postgres
These commands install IoT Hub and load demo data and accounts.
IoT Hub UI will be available using the URL: http://localhost:8080. You may use username tenant@thingsboard.org and password tenant. More info about demo accounts is available here.
List of hardware and pinouts
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USB to TTL
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Resistor (between 4.7K and 10K)
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Breadboard
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2 female-to-female jumper wires
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10 female-to-male jumper wires
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3 male-to-male jumper wire
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3.3V power source (for example 2 AA batteries)
Wiring schemes
Programming/flashing schema
ESP8266 Pin | USB-TTL Pin |
---|---|
ESP8266 VCC | USB-TTL VCC +3.3V |
ESP8266 CH_PD | USB-TTL VCC +3.3V |
ESP8266 GND (-) | USB-TTL GND |
ESP8266 GPIO 0 | USB-TTL GND |
ESP8266 RX | USB-TTL TX |
ESP8266 TX | USB-TTL RX |
DHT-22 Pin | ESP8266 Pin |
---|---|
DHT-22 Data | ESP8266 GPIO 2 |
DHT-22 Pin | USB-TTL Pin |
---|---|
DHT-22 VCC | USB-TTL VCC +3.3V |
DHT-22 GND (-) | USB-TTL GND |
Finally, place a resistor (between 4.7K and 10K) between pin number 1 and 2 of the DHT sensor.
The following picture summarizes the connections for this project in programming/debug mode:
Final schema (Battery Powered)
ESP8266 Pin | 3.3V power source |
---|---|
ESP8266 VCC | VCC+ |
ESP8266 CH_PD | VCC+ |
ESP8266 GND (-) | VCC- |
DHT-22 Pin | ESP8266 Pin |
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DHT-22 Data | ESP8266 GPIO 2 |
DHT-22 Pin | 3.3V power source |
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DHT-22 VCC | VCC+ |
DHT-22 GND (-) | VCC- |
The final picture:
IoT Hub configuration
Note IoT Hub configuration steps are necessary only in case of local IoT Hub installation. If you are using Live Demo instance all entities are pre-configured for your demo account. However, we recommend reviewing this steps because you will still need to get device access token to send requests to IoT Hub.
Provision your device
This step contains instructions that are necessary to connect your device to IoT Hub.
Open IoT Hub Web UI (http://localhost:8080) in browser and login as tenant administrator
- login: tenant@thingsboard.org
- password: tenant
Go to “Devices” section. Click “+” button and create a device with the name “ESP8266 Demo Device”.
Once device created, open its details and click “Manage credentials”. Copy auto-generated access token from the “Access token” field. Please save this device token. It will be referred to later as $ACCESS_TOKEN.
Click “Copy Device ID” in device details to copy your device id to the clipboard. Paste your device id to some place, this value will be used in further steps.
Provision your dashboard
Download the dashboard file using this link. Use import/export instructions to import the dashboard to your IoT Hub instance.
Programming the ESP8266
Step 1. ESP8266 and Arduino IDE setup.
In order to start programming ESP8266 device, you will need Arduino IDE installed and all related software.
Download and install Arduino IDE.
After starting Arduino IDE, open the preferences from the ‘file’ menu.
Paste the following URL to the “Additional board managers URL”: http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
Close the screen by clicking the OK button.
Now we can add the board ESP8266 using the board manager.
In the menu tools, click on the menu option Board: “Most likely Arduino UNO”. There you will find the first option “Board Manager”.
Type in the search bar the 3 letters ESP. Locate and click on “esp8266 by ESP8266 Community”. Click on install and wait for a minute to download the board.
Note that this tutorial was tested with the “esp8266 by ESP8266 Community” version 2.3.0.
In the menu Tools “Board “Most likely Arduino UNO” three new boards are added.
Select “Generic ESP8266 Module”.
Prepare your hardware according to the Programming/flashing schema. Connect USB-TTL adapter with PC.
In the menu Tools, select the corresponding port of the USB-TTL adapter. Open the serial monitor (by pressing CTRL-Shift-M or from the menu Tools). Set the key emulation to “Both NL & CR” and the speed to 115200 baud. This can be set in the bottom of terminal screen.
Step 2. Install Arduino libraries.
Open Arduino IDE and go to Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries. Find and install the following libraries:
- PubSubClient by Nick O’Leary.
- Adafruit Unified Sensor by Adafruit
- DHT sensor library by Adafruit
- Arduino IoT Hub SDK by IoT Hub
- ArduinoJSON by bblanchon
- Arduino Http Client
Note that this tutorial was tested with the following versions of the libraries:
- PubSubClient 2.6
- Adafruit Unified Sensor 1.0.2
- DHT sensor library 1.3.0
- Arduino IoT Hub SDK 0.4
- ArduinoJSON 6.10.1
- Arduino Http Client 0.4.0
Step 3. Prepare and upload a sketch.
Download and open esp8266-dht-mqtt.ino sketch.
Note You need to edit following constants and variables in the sketch:
- WIFI_AP - name of your access point
- WIFI_PASSWORD - access point password
- TOKEN - the $ACCESS_TOKEN from IoT Hub configuration step.
- thingsboardServer - IoT Hub HOST/IP address that is accessible within your wifi network. Specify “iothub.magenta.at” if you are using live demo server.
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Connect USB-TTL adapter to PC and select the corresponding port in Arduino IDE. Compile and Upload your sketch to the device using “Upload” button.
After application will be uploaded and started it will try to connect to IoT Hub node using mqtt client and upload “temperature” and “humidity” timeseries data once per second.
Autonomous operation
When you have uploaded the sketch, you may remove all the wires required for uploading including USB-TTL adapter and connect your ESP8266 and DHT sensor directly to the power source according to the Final wiring schema.
Troubleshooting
In order to perform troubleshooting, you should assemble your hardware according to the Programming/flashing schema. Then connect USB-TTL adapter with PC and select port of the USB-TTL adapter in Arduino IDE. Finally, open “Serial Monitor” in order to view debug information produced by serial output.
Data visualization
Finally, open IoT Hub Web UI. You can access this dashboard by logging in as a tenant administrator. Use:
- login: tenant@thingsboard.org
- password: tenant
in case of local IoT Hub installation.
Go to “Devices” section and locate “ESP8266 Demo Device”, open device details and switch to “Latest telemetry” tab. If all is configured correctly you should be able to see latest values of “temperature” and “humidity” in the table.
After, open “Dashboards” section then locate and open “ESP8266 DHT22: Temperature & Humidity Demo Dashboard”. As a result, you will see two digital gauges and two time-series charts displaying temperature and humidity level (similar to dashboard image in the introduction).
See also
Browse other samples or explore guides related to main IoT Hub features:
- Device attributes - how to use device attributes.
- Telemetry data collection - how to collect telemetry data.
- Using RPC capabilities - how to send commands to/from devices.
- Rule Engine - how to use rule engine to analyze data from devices.
- Data Visualization - how to visualize collected data.
Your feedback
Don’t hesitate to star IoT Hub on github to help us spread the word. If you have any questions about this sample - post it on the issues.
Next steps
- Getting started guides - These guides provide quick overview of main IoT Hub features. Designed to be completed in 15-30 minutes.
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Connect your device - Learn how to connect devices based on your connectivity technology or solution.
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Data visualization - These guides contain instructions how to configure complex IoT Hub dashboards.
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Data processing & actions - Learn how to use IoT Hub Rule Engine.
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IoT Data analytics - Learn how to use rule engine to perform basic analytics tasks.
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Advanced features - Learn about advanced IoT Hub features.
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Contribution and Development - Learn about contribution and development in IoT Hub.