Exploring the Internet of Things

This exploration into the Internet of Things involved a practical experiment utilizing a Raspberry Pi and the IBM Watson IoT Platform. The process provided insights into various facets of IoT development, which can be categorized as follows:

Rapid Application Development in the Cloud

The experiment leveraged the IBM Watson IoT Platform for rapid application development in the cloud. Key aspects included:

• Interacting with the IBM Cloud user interface for intuitive device management and data visualization setup.
• Deploying Node-RED to the IBM Cloud using a Starter Kit, which streamlined the setup process for visual flow programming.
• Utilizing the Node-RED Function node to implement custom logic and data transformations within the cloud environment, including making packages available to the function node for extended functionality.
• Controlling nodes using input data within the Node-RED flows to create dynamic and reactive IoT applications.
• Real-time reception and processing of environmental data transmitted from the Raspberry Pi within the Node-RED flows.
• Creation of dashboards within the IBM Cloud to immediately visualize and analyze the incoming sensor data.
• Understanding the streamlined process of connecting a physical device to a cloud service and visualizing its data with minimal coding through the IBM Cloud and Node-RED.

Rapid Application Development on Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi facilitated rapid application development at the edge. This involved:

• Setting up a Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi Sense Hat for environmental data collection.
• Installing the Raspbian Jessie OS on an SD Card as the operating system for the Raspberry Pi.
• Interacting with the Watson Internet of Things platform for device registration and management from the Raspberry Pi.
• Sending commands to a device (the Raspberry Pi) from the Watson Internet of Things platform.
• Exploring SenseHAT and SenseHAT simulator nodes in Node-RED for simplified interaction with the Sense Hat’s sensors and actuators.
• Setting up the Raspberry Pi for network connectivity and communication with the cloud platform.
• Using the Node-RED flow editor with Watson IoT platform directly on the Raspberry Pi for local data processing and rule creation.
• Experimenting with the QuickStart flow on Raspberry Pi to rapidly connect and visualize sensor data on the Watson Internet of Things platform without extensive configuration.

Lower Level Programming for the Internet of Things

While the experiment utilized higher-level tools and libraries for rapid development, it also touched upon lower-level programming concepts relevant to the Internet of Things:

• Interacting with IoT platform APIs to programmatically manage devices and data on the IBM Watson IoT Platform.
• Utilizing the SenseHAT Python API for direct control and data acquisition from the Sense Hat’s various sensors.
• Understanding the underlying principles and implementation of the MQTT protocol for efficient and reliable communication between devices and the cloud.
• Gaining experience with deploying an application to Bluemix (now IBM Cloud) to host custom backend logic for the IoT solution.
• Understanding the interaction between software and hardware interfaces on the Raspberry Pi for sensor data acquisition.
• Recognizing the importance of resource management and optimization when deploying applications on embedded devices like the Raspberry Pi.
• Appreciating the foundational layers that enable seamless data flow from the physical world to cloud-based applications.

This hands-on experiment provided a tangible understanding of the various levels of development involved in building IoT solutions, from rapid cloud and edge application development to the underlying lower-level programming considerations.