Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
Let's summarize what we did in this project. We built a simple weather station based on Ar-
duino that can automatically upload data to the Web using the Xively web service. Com-
pared to the approach we used in the previous chapters, this approach allows building
autonomous systems that automatically send data to a remote service that stores data in the
cloud. This means that your data is safe in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere in
the world; you just need an Internet connection and your Xively account name and pass-
word.
Let's see what the major takeaways from this chapter were. First, we built our project
around a temperature and humidity sensor, a light-level sensor, and the CC3000 Wi-Fi chip.
We assembled everything around an Arduino board and a breadboard for the connections.
Then, we wrote a simple Arduino sketch to make sure that we made the correct hardware
connections.
After that, we went to our web browser and created an account on the Xively web service.
Inside the account, we create a new device to host the measurements coming from our pro-
ject, and also a set of channels that will receive the individual measurements, for example,
the temperature or the light level. We also got a feed ID and an API key that were neces-
sary for our Arduino board to know where to send the data.
Finally, we wrote the final Arduino sketch to upload data to Xively. We tested the sketch to
make sure that Xively was receiving data correctly, and also checked on the device's dash-
board on Xively that the data was correctly received.
In the next chapter of the topic, we are going to take the same principles and apply them to
another domain of home automation: energy monitoring. We are going to build a current
and power sensor that will automatically send power consumption data to the Web, so you
can monitor your energy consumption online.
