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IoT — What is the Internet of Things?

Author

Kalle

Date Published

This AI-generated image illustrates a futuristic smart home interior, heavily integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The living space is modern and sleek, with large windows offering a stunning view of a city skyline at sunset. The room is filled with holographic interfaces and icons floating around, indicating various smart home functions such as "Wearables," "Smart Home," and "IoT." In the foreground, a cozy living area features a sofa, a coffee table with a teapot and cups, and a futuristic-looking vacuum robot on the floor, which is embedded with circuit-like patterns. The kitchen area to the left is equipped with smart appliances, all controlled via holographic displays on the walls. A person is interacting with a touch screen on a smart refrigerator, while another person is seated at a desk, working on a computer that also displays multiple holographic interfaces. The entire scene is bathed in a warm, ambient light that enhances the high-tech, yet comfortable atmosphere of the smart home. The integration of technology into everyday living is depicted seamlessly, showcasing a vision of the future where advanced technology is effortlessly woven into the fabric of daily life.

Like all heavily hyped buzzwords the question of what the IoT actually is can't be answered in a short way. The topic ranges from embedded programs running on extremely restricted hardware, to machine learning algorithms running on large server clusters. And in between there is a whole industry searching for the right way to standardize management of entities in this growing network ( RAMI 4.0 initiative (german)).

From a software developer's perspective I see these main areas:

  1. Programs running on the edge collecting data
  2. Servers digesting the information
  3. Actors available on the edge triggered by (outside-)conditions
  4. Platforms providing tools to analyze the collected data

Each area on its own can be arbitrarily complex, but the complexity in IoT comes almost always from large scale. Starting with a very small scaled system on the other hand is quite easy so getting a foot in the door is not as difficult as you might think. Platforms like Arduino or Raspberry Pi have opened the field of programmable electronics to the masses. Also it's easier than ever to run programs in the cloud so there is not much left to be an active part of the internet of things.

This course will focus on introductions to all these topics, the "thing" in the examples and exercises will be a Raspberry Pi zero. So the hardware is not very restricted and can even run programs written in JavaScript. And it is possible to remote control the small computer over the network with ssh.

Tasks

  • Install a code editor, recommended: Visual Studio Code
  • Install Node.js to run and develop JavaScript programs
  • If you are on Windows you might need to get an ssh client PuTTY is the most used one. (Windows 10 is equipped with a built in solution)

This AI-generated image shows a neatly organized workspace featuring a Raspberry Pi Zero, surrounded by electronic components, tools, a laptop, a smartphone, and a cup of coffee, highlighting DIY tech projects.

IoT — Setup and first steps with the Raspberry Pi Zero

Set up and start using the Raspberry Pi Zero, including preparing the operating system, enabling WiFi and SSH, and finding the device on your network. Learn to install Node.js and create a simple project to make an LED blink using JavaScript.

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