Arduino
IOT: Easily Learn IOT with Arduino Web Tutorials. Learn How to connect
your Arduino to the Web. Find out how to implement web servers with
example tutorial programs.
Arduino IOT revolutionises the way you can connect and automate your
devices. It used to be that you had to use an Internet Shield that
plugged into your Arduino and then connect that shield to the internet
via an internet cable to your router.
However, with the fantastic ESP range of devices, it is
now simpler than ever to setup an internet connection because they
implement WiFi operation with radio hardware built into the ESP board; so
there's no tricky setup.
For programming you simply plug into a USB port as you do for all Arduino boards.
You can put an ESP device anywhere and, as long as it has a power
source, it can connect to your local internet. No wires in sight!
Understanding Arduino IOT
Arduino IOT and IOT in general involves networking of your Arduino
boards, attached sensors and circuits so that you can interact with your
board through the internet. You can exchange data in both directions,
typically displaying gathered data on a web page, but also allowing you
to control the board directly from the web page.
For instance you could control a relay from the page to turn lights on
or off. Alternatively you could measure temperature and automatically
turn a heater on or off with another relay. The Wifi connection would
allow you to override the automatic action - say you were out all day
and did not want the heater on at all. You could even set the
temperature lower to save electricity by sending data from the web page
to the WiFi connected circuit.
You can even gather data to a cloud service so you don't have to have
the PC switched on all the time. You can just access that cloud data to
see updates of your WiFi connected sensor outputs.
Benefits of Arduino IOT
Simple connectivity: Boards with built in WiFi capability
are simple to use as they also allow you to program them as if they were
an Arduino Board e.g. ESP8266 or ESP32.
Sensor integration: Since the boards can be programmed as
standard Arduino boards, they use the same software architecture. It
means libraries are easily used on the WiFi boards to support existing
sensors such as humidity or temperature sensors etc. The sensors become
more useful as you can send the data to a web page or to the cloud which
you can then view in real-time. You can then use that sensor data
in environmental monitoring or home automation etc.
Data processing: Since the requirements to operate a WiFi
link are high, the processors are typically 32bit and run at 100s of MHz
frequencies. They are actually DSPs which means thay can also do a lot
of computation locally. You can use the processing capability yourself
(when the Wifi is inactive for instance) to process input data.
Automation: Connecting your boards over Wifi allows you to
control and automate processes and even remotely control your systems.
You could have a door bell and camera connected to the internet but also
control a relay powered door lock. So you could asses who is at the
door and let them in if needed.
Easy prototyping: As with all Arduino boards, ESP boards
connect using a USB connector that also acts as a power source during
development. The pre-programmed bootloader allows upload of your
programs at the push of a button. So you can quickly develop code and
try out different sensors very easily.
Starting out with Arduino IOT
Most of the following C/C++ examples deal with the WiFi aspect of
using the ESP32 or ESP8266 and some libraries will be different for each
but the web code ideas are the same. The question is which device
should you choose ESP32 or ESP8622.
The following pages give you a tutorial on setting up and using Arduino iot:
Arduino IOT: ESP32
ESP32 Programming
This tutorial shows you how to program an ESP32 CAM but the process is the same for any ESP32 board - just select the different board in the IDE.
First off you'll need to get an ESP32 board and program it using the Arduino IDE.
The link shows you how to program an AI thinker (Arduino CAM board) but
you can choose any of the available boards and follow the same process
for programming any ESP32 board (the libraries used are the same for any ESP32 board).
ESP32: Arduino web server
You will also want to know about serving web pages using an Arduino Web Server.
You an choose between a synchronous or asynchronous web server. In that
link find out what the difference is between the two and run code
examples to show their action.
ESP32: What is a WebSocket?
There's one problem when you use just a plain old web server and that
is: Every time you went to get an update to the page you have to reload
the page. If you wanted to see sensor readings every second you don't
really want to have to keep clicking the refresh button - that's where WebSockets come in.
ESP32: Implementing WebSockets
The ESP32 WebSocket Server
page shows you exactly how to implement websockets on an ESP32.
There are four steps showing you the various parts of the
WebSocket operation :
Server.
Client to Server.
Multibroadcast (There can be more than one active WebSocket).
Server to Client.
The code required to implement each of these elements is in that link and shows you exactly how WebSockets work.
Arduino IOT: ESP8266
ESP01 or ESP01S?
There are many boards that use the ESP8266 and one of the most
popular is the ESP01 (because it is the smallest ) but there are now two
versions so which should you use the ESP01 or the ESP01S?
ESP 01 Programming
Exactly how can you program an ESP01. This tutorial walks you thorugh
programming and ESP01 using only another Arduino board. In this case it
is an Arduino Uno but you could use any board with a built in USB to
serial interface (if the Rx/Tx are sent to pins). Click on the link ESP 01 Programming for more information.
Arduino IDE for NodeMCU
How to setup and program the NodeMCU V3
(ESP8266 ESP12e) board using the Arduino IDE. This example shows you
how to program the boot loader back into an ESP8266 (if you want to
change back from using LUA) and the it shows an example for
scanning for available WiFi network names.
Alexa Voice Control
The Easiest Alexa Voice Control Library Fauxmo; Easily
Emulate WeMo devices with simple code for custom smart home devices. You
can control relays and dimmable lights very easily with minimal code.
Talk to your projects to control them.
Arduino IOT: LUA programming
Lua is an interpreted programming language (in the same way that
python is also interpreted) meaning that you don't have to program the
entire Flash memory every time you update 'your' program. Lua uses a
slightly different programming language idea in that all actions are
event
driven.
Once the ESP8266 is programmed with Lua
functionality you can upload your program over the serial port. You
only upload your program and then use a Lua editor (Esplorer) to manage
your Lua programs.
Confused about these board variants? Which one is right for you?
Find out the exact differences between the ESP-01 and ESP-01S here and choose
the right one.
Note: Parts of this page were written using chatgpt
as a research assistant. Some images were created using leonardo.ai.
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