Hackable Hardware for the Internet of
Things(an incomplete overview, by Nicolas Saint-Arnaud)
April 2015
Overview
• What is the “Internet of Things” ?
• Components: processor, battery, I/O, wireless
• Development Boards
• Demos!
“The Internet of Things”
• Home Automation
• Wearables
• Everything else = IoT
Components
processor
Inputs and Outputs(I/O)
battery wireless
Wireless Communication
• WiFi
• BLE: Bluetooth Low Energy
• Mesh networking in Home Automation: Z-Wave, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4)
Development Boards• Arduino• Raspberry Pi• LightBlue Bean• mbientlab MetaWear• Electric Imp• LittleBits• More…
Raspberry Pi• $20 to $35
• Linux + Python
• HDMI out, audio out, USB
• up to 17 digital I/O pins
• WiFi USB $10
• camera module $25
LightBlue Bean• $30
• BLE
• operates on coin battery ~1 week
• 6 digital I/O pins, 2 analog pins
• 3-axis accelerometer, temperature sensor
• Wireless programming (C language, Arduino compatible)
• iOS, Android, OSX, Windows 8
mbientlab MetaWear• $45
• BLE
• comes with rechargeable 100mAH lithium battery ~ 1-2 weeks
• 4 analog/digital pins + 4 digital pins
• 26mm x 17mm x 2.5mm
• temperature sensor, vibrator
• iOS, Android
Electric Imp• $30 + $13 breakout board
• WiFi with BlinkUp (TM)
• 2 analog/digital pins + 4 digital pins
• Squirrel Language
• Cloud infrastructure
• 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm
• iOS, Android
LittleBits CloudBit
• $100 for CloudBit starter kit
• magnetic plug and play
• Intel Edison ~$50 WiFi, BLE, USB, GPIO
• Spark Photon ~$20 WiFi, GPIO
• … many more coming out
Troubleshooting Hardware
• Saleae Logic analysers
• starting at $109
• OSX, Windows, Linux
• https://www.saleae.com/
