Tag Archives: LoRa

Recap: Hands-on Session with Things Network Board & a Helium Network Board (IoT)

John Lindsay presented a light overview of the Things Network and Helium Network based on the following topology:

There was a Things Uno connected with a breadboard with a photoresistor and LEDs and a Things Node (modified SparkFun board with several incorporated sensors). Originally, the plan was to rely on existing Things Network and Helium Network gateways. Fortunately, our benefactors at Object Spectrum provided a Things Network gateway and a Helium Network gateway.

The presentation continued with an overview of a complete application/system architecture using the Invisileash dog collar as the working example, where the dog collar includes a radio and GPS (“device”). When the dog is lost, the dog collar transmits GPS information over the Things Network (“gateway”) and a companion mobile app (“application”) uses the GPS data to display the dog’s location.

Facilitating the application layer, The Things Network and Helium Network include some basic integrations like HTTP integration and MQTT. The Thing Network includes a storage integration and AWS IoT integration (Helium plans to release this integration).

Before attendees started working with the boards, an application created by John based on the “Dog Collar” example was shown as a walkthrough for the stack, from device to application. The breadboard was the “electronic dog collar with the radio and GPS,” which would transmit the sensor data over the gateway. The Things Network converted the sensor data in JSON packets for the storage integration and published the dog collar data over MQTT. The sample Android app screen pictured below allowed the dog owner to activate the GPS (published over MQTT), receive position data (subscribed over MQTT,  along with storage integration), and display it on a map to assist finding the lost dog.

I believe that everyone who attempted was able to connect the prototyping board to their computer and send sensor payloads to their account and trigger the LEDs from their account over The Things Network.

June Sensor Forum – The Things Network, Low-Power Wide-Area Network

DFW Sensor Bytes – Local Tech Updates

Prior presenter SensorSphere, now Orbii, is a remote controlled robotic sphere with video and various sensors options, such as sound or environment. They have a launched a crowdfunding campaign which is coming to a close soon.

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June Event

We started the discussion of the recent launch of the  iSeeFlood App, launched, in part, by University of Texas at Arlington associate professor D.J. Seo. The app allows users to input flooding reports in order to help deal with localized flooding.The app adds another layer to existing flood gauges for modeling urban water flow and will work with the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere network of radars stationed across the DFW.

The event continued with keynote speaker Nik Kitson, the Dallas ambassador for The Things Network and the founder of Haxiot, a company offering LoRaWAN products.

The Things Network is an open crowdsourced Internet of Things wireless network. The Things Network ambassadors hope to convince enough inhabitants of a city to purchase and install the network equipment to create citywide coverage . It took six weeks to launch the network in Amsterdam. Planned services for the Amsterdam network include Trakkies, a service for finding your lost goods.
Getting Started with The Things Network.