Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
Let's summarize what we did in this chapter. We used the Ethernet shield to build an Inter-
net of Things project, as we connected the Ethernet shield directly to a cloud service. We
measured data on the Arduino board and sent this data to the cloud service Xively so that it
can be accessed and displayed from anywhere.
The advantage of this solution is that the data recorded on Xively is accessible from any-
where, and not only from your local network. You can also use the data and Xively to cre-
ate automated triggers based on the data. You can, for example, send a request to another
website based on the recorded data. You can also share the data that is recorded by your
device with colleagues or friends so that they can also monitor what your project is record-
ing in real time.
Of course, one of the drawbacks from this solution is that if your Internet connection is
down, the whole project won't work at all.
The following were the major takeaways from this chapter:
• We first built the hardware of this project, including the Ethernet shield and the
DHT11 sensor to measure temperature and humidity.
• Then, we went over to the Xively website and created an account there. We also set
up a device on the Xively interface, and created channels so that data can be recor-
ded on the Xively website. Finally, we also got a feed ID and API key so that the
Arduino sketch knows where to send the data.
• We then designed the Arduino sketch for this project. The Arduino sketch was re-
sponsible for measuring data, formatting it according to the Xively guidelines, and
sending it to Xively. We tested this sketch and made sure that Xively accepted the
data.
• Finally, we went again to the Xively website to visualize the data. We learned how
to visualize this data graphically, and saw the data arrive in real time.
In the next chapter, we are going to continue building Internet of Things applications. We
are going to use another web service called
Temboo
, which is a platform that can be inter-
faced with other services such as Gmail or Google Docs. We are going to use this service to
record data directly on a Google Docs spreadsheet and send automated e-mails based on
the recorded data.
