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Open Source IoT Lab for Educational Institutions August 2019 www.theiet.in/IoTPanel

Open Source IoT Lab for Educational Institutions

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Jagatheeswaran Senthilvelan

Lead - IoT and Robotics Division, Auxo Technology Labs

Ganesh Shankar

Founder and CEO, FluxGen Engineering Technologies


1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Internet of Things is an emerging topic of technical, social, and economic significance.

Consumer products, durable goods, cars and trucks, industrial and utility components,

sensors, and other everyday objects are being combined with Internet connectivity and

powerful data analytic capabilities that promise to transform the way we work, live, and play.

Projections for the impact of IoT on the Internet and economy are impressive, with some

anticipating as many as 100 billion connected IoT devices and a global economic impact of

more than $11 trillion by 2025.

This white paper is designed to help the educational institutions to set up a basic research

laboratory for IoT Technology which can accommodate 30 students at a time. The Internet of

Things engages a broad set of ideas that are complex and intertwined from different

perspectives. This paper also outlines how an IoT lab can be segmented and how one can

manage the inventory. This paper explains each segment of an IoT Lab with the required

components that helps research work in order to bring new technologies to the market and

make it available to the masses in a short time. It also helps institutions to kick-start and plan

to establish their IoT Lab with a minimal amount of investment.

2. Components of the IoT Lab:

A typical IoT lab should have the following segments / components. It will be easy to manage

the inventory if it is organised in such segmented manner. The segments are:

1. IoT Hardware

a. Sensors and Actuators

b. Development Boards

c. Wireless Modules

d. Test and Measurements Equipment (Electronics)

e. Basic Hardware Tools

2. IoT Platforms and Software

a. Open Source Softwares

b. Open Source IoT Platforms


IoT Hardware - Sensors and Actuators:

Sensors

An electronic sensor detects and measures a physical phenomenon, such as

temperature, pressure, force, or acceleration, and provides a corresponding output, usually in

the form of an electronic signal. The basic list of necessary sensors is given below. The list

and quantities can be extended based on development and projects.

S.No. Components Quantity

1 Digital Temperature and Humidity Sensor DHT 22 10

2 BMP 280 - Atmospheric Pressure Sensor 10

3 Soil Moisture Sensor 10

4 LM 35 Temperature Sensor 10

5 Ultrasonic Sensor HC SR-04 10

6 Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) 10

7 PIR Motion Sensor 10

8 TSOP IR Transmitter and Receiver 10

9 IR Transmitter and Receiver 10

10 Microphone (Sound Sensor) 10

11 Joystick Sensor 10

12 Accelerometer and Gyroscope GY521 MPU 6050 10

13 Limit Switches 10

14 Reed Switch 10

15 Rotary Encoder 10

16 Vibration Sensor 10

17 Capacitive Touch Sensor 10

18 Transistor Module 10

19 LDR 10

20 Push Button 10

21 RC 522 RFID Readers 10

22 Water Vapour sensor 10

23 Tilt Sensor 10


24 DS 18B20 Contact Temperature sensor module 10

25 Water flow sensor 10

26 Touch sensor 10

27 Fingerprint sensor 10

28 Turbidity sensor 10

29 Load Cell weight sensor 10

30 Gas Sensor MQ 135 10

31 RTC DS1307 10

32 Flex Sensors 10

33 Dust Sensor 10

34 PN532 NFC Reader 10

35 Rpi Camera 5MP 10

Actuators

Actuators convert an electrical signal to the corresponding physical quantity such as

movement, force, sound, display etc. The actuator is a part of any machine which is

responsible for mechanical rotation or controlling. The basic list of necessary actuators is given

below. The list and quantities can be extended based on development and projects.


1 I2C OLED Display 10

2 Backlight LED 10

3 4 Channel Relay 10

4 RGB LED 9W 10

5 Solid State Relays 25 A 10

6 Arduino Speaker 10

7 RPi Touch Display 3.5' 10

8 E-Ink Display 2.7' 10

9 Buzzer module 10

10 LED 10

11 9W LED 10

12 12V DC Geared Motor 550RPM 10


IoT Hardware - Development Boards

The development boards are off the shelf boards that can be programmed with a development

platform. It enables quick-and-easy product prototyping. It can interact with realworld sensors,

control motors, display information, and perform near-instantaneous calculations. It enables

anyone to create unique projects. The basic list of necessary development boards is given

below. The list and quantities can be extended based on development and projects.


1 Arduino Uno 5

2 Arduino Mega 5

3 ESP 8266 WiFi Development Board 5

4 ESP32 WiFi+BLE Development Board 5

5 Raspberry Pi Zero W (Mini Computer) 5

6 Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Mini Computer) 5

7 MSP 430 Launch Pad board 5

8 STM32F4 Nucleo Board 5

9 ARM Development Board 5

10 PIC Development Board 5

11 Nvidia Jetson Mini (Mini Computer) 5

12 Esplora Arduino Development Board 5

13 Arduino MKR WiFi Development Board 5

14 Arduino Nano Development Board 5

13 LCD Display 16*2 10

14 Coin Vibration Motor 10

15 Solenoid Valve 230V AC 10

16 Small DC Motor 10

17 7 Segment Display 10

18 Stepper Motor 5V with Driver 10

19 Micro Servo Motor 9g 10

20 Buzzer module 10


IoT Hardware - Wireless Modules:

A Wireless module (radio frequency module) is usually a small electronic device used to

transmit and/or receive radio signals between two devices. In an IoT system, it is often

desirable to communicate with another device wirelessly. The basic list of necessary Wireless

Modules is given below. The list and quantities can be extended based on development and

projects.


1 ZigBee XBee S2C Pro with Development Board 10

2 LoraWAN Module SX1278 with Development Board 10

3 Bluetooth Module HC - 05 10

4 Bluetooth Low Energy Module HM - 10 BLE4.0 10

5 NRF 2.4Ghz Module 10

6 GSM 2G/GPRS Module 10

7 NFC Reader and Modules 10

8 RFID Reader and Modules 10

9 GPS Module 10

10 Z Wave RF Modules 10

11 RF transmitter and receiver 433 MHZ 10

12 HC - 12 Long Range RF Module 10

IoT Lab - Design, Test and Measurement Equipment:

Test and measurement equipment underpins the product design process, enabling engineers

to verify their design is working in the way they want. These are also essential to find out where

the problems are. The basic list of necessary Test and Measurement Equipment is given below.

The list and quantities can be extended based on development and projects.


1 Fluke 117 Multimeter 2

2 Fluke 101 Multimeter 2

3 Dual Supply RPS (0 - 30V) 2

4 Oscilloscope 2

5 Soldering Station 2


6 Hot Glue Gun 2

7 Signal Generator 2

IoT Platforms and Software - Open Source Softwares:

Electrical CAD design tools:

Electrical CAD software can automate all design tasks and facilitate drafting productivity. You

can easily create electrical and electronic diagrams, schematics, control circuit diagrams, and

documentation. It would be as easy as placing electrical symbols and attaching the wires.

Based on our experience we have selected two of the best open-source Electrical CAD design

tools exclusively for College Students to get hands-on experience on the same.

KiCad

KiCad is a free software suite for electronic design automation. It facilitates the design

of schematics for electronic circuits and their conversion to PCB designs. KiCad was

originally developed by Jean-Pierre Charras. It features an integrated environment for

schematic capture and PCB layout design.

Fritzing

Fritzing is an open-source initiative to develop amateur or hobby CAD software for the

design of electronics hardware, to support designers and artists ready to move from

experimenting with a prototype to building a more permanent circuit. It was developed

at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Electronic Circuit Simulator Softwares:

Electronic circuit simulation uses mathematical models to replicate the behaviour of an actual

electronic device or circuit. Simulation software allows for modelling of circuit operation and is

an invaluable analysis tool. Electronics simulation software engages the user by integrating

him or her into the learning experience. These kinds of interactions actively engage learners

to analyze, organize, and evaluate the content and result in learners constructing their

knowledge. Two of those best open-source simulation software are:

QUCS

Quite Universal Circuit Simulator is a free-software electronics circuit simulator

software released under GPL. It gives you the ability to set up a circuit with a graphical

http://www.kicad-pcb.org/

http://fritzing.org/

http://qucs.sourceforge.net/


user interface and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the

circuit.

TinkerCAD - Circuits

TinkerCAD - Circuits is an online platform created by Autodesk for hardware hackers.

It provides a browser-based application for designing, simulating electronic circuits and

creating PCB boards. Autodesk circuits simulator can simulate Arduino-based projects

for testing designs and programs before creating them in real life.

Analytics and Numerical Computing Softwares:

Analytical and Numerical Computation is the area of mathematics and computer science that

creates, analyses, and implements algorithms for obtaining numerical solutions to problems

involving continuous variables. Such problems arise throughout the natural sciences, social

sciences, engineering, medicine, and business. Software to implement common numerical

analysis procedures must be reliable, accurate, and efficient. Moreover, it must be written to

be easily portable between different computer systems. Such two best open-source software

are given below:

Scilab

Scilab is another open-source option for numerical computing which runs across all of

the major platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux included. Scilab perhaps the best-

known alternative outside of Octave, and like Octave, it is very similar to MATLAB in

its implementation, although exact compatibility is not a goal of the project's

developers.

GNU Octave

GNU Octave may be the best-known alternatives to MATLAB. In active development

for almost three decades, Octave runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux alike, and is

packaged for most major distributions. If you're looking for a project that is as close to

the actual MATLAB language as possible, Octave may be a good fit for you; it strives

for exact compatibility, so many of your projects developed for MATLAB may run in

Octave with no modification necessary.

Mechanical Design CAD/CAM Tools:

CAD/CAM stands for computer-aided design & computer-aided manufacturing. CAD/CAM

software is used to design and manufacture prototypes, finished products and production run.

Best of such two free software for students are given below:

https://www.tinkercad.com/circuits

https://www.britannica.com/science/mathematics

http://www.scilab.org/

https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/


Auto Desk Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is the first 3D CAD, CAM, and CAE tool of its kind that connects your entire

product development process in a single cloud-based platform that works on PC, Mac,

and mobile devices. Fusion 360 offers free use to qualifying hobbyist makers through

a simple 3-step activation process.

Auto Desk Inventor

Autodesk Inventor is a 3D mechanical solid modelling design software developed by

Autodesk to create 3D digital prototypes. It is used for 3D mechanical design, design

communication, tooling creation and product simulation. This software enables users

to produce accurate 3D models to aid in designing, visualizing and simulating products

before they are built.

IoT Platforms and Software - Open Source IoT Platforms:

IoT platforms are regarded as the most critical component of the IoT ecosystem. Any IoT

device has to connect to other IoT devices and applications (mostly cloud-based) to transfer

information using standard Internet protocols. The gap between the device sensors and data

networks is filled by IoT platforms. IoT platforms connect the data to the sensor arrangement

and provide insights using back-end applications to make sense of the plethora of data

generated by the countless sensors. Let’s now look at the IoT platforms that fulfil all the above

requirements and are the best in the business.

ThingsBoard.io

ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform for data collection, processing,

visualization, and device management. It enables device connectivity via industry

standard IoT protocols - MQTT, CoAP and HTTP and supports both cloud and on-

premises deployments.

Adafruit.io

Adafruit.io is a cloud service - that just means we run it for you and you don't have to

manage it. You can connect to it over the Internet. It's meant primarily for storing and

then retrieving data but it can do a lot more than just that!

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/students-teachers-educators

https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/inventor-professional

https://thingsboard.io/

https://io.adafruit.com/


Firebase Cloud

Firebase Cloud is a cross-platform cloud solution for messages and notifications for

Android, iOS, and web applications, which currently can be used at no cost. The

service is provided by Firebase, a subsidiary of Google.

Thinger.io

Thinger.io platform is an Open Source platform for the Internet of Things, it provides a

ready to use scalable cloud infrastructure for connecting things. Makers and

companies can start controlling their devices from the internet in minutes, without

worrying about the required cloud infrastructure.

Ubidots

Ubidots offers a platform for developers that enables them to easily capture sensor

data and turn it into useful information. Connect, Develop, and Deploy IoT Applications

with Ubidots Intuitive IoT Development Platform.

Conclusion

Imagine a world where everything has gone smart and people want real-world quick

solutions to every problem. They don’t have the time even to cook the food they need to stay

alive. In a hurry to the office early morning, a person forgets to switch off his Air Conditioner

at home. In another scenario, he wants the water heater to get switched on before he arrives

at home. There are similar examples of home automation and industrial automation where

the dependency on machines and self-decision capability has been seen in several cases.

Another one for your reference is that you get an illness attack while work or at a gym, what

would you like to have in that situation? An emergency call to the nearest ambulance. Right?

Exactly. If you would be wearing a health monitoring device which keeps on calculating your

health checks and is IoT enabled too, it will continuously record your health data and will

keep it in the records. And if the network is well connected to the nearby hospital or

ambulance, it will trigger an alarm and will send the data to the nearest ambulance for a call

at the location of your device which is again connected with GPS and internet. Sounds

Good? Yeah. This is the power of IoT enabled devices and data network. Now the question

arises why do we need an IoT lab? The answer lies in the discussion above. Engineers,

students, hobbyists, professionals, freelancers are working on these technologies all across

the globe and companies are investing billions of dollars to harness this technology. To

manufacture or invent a whole new technology and related technologies we need

infrastructure and skilled human resources who have the knowledge to work on the devices,

https://firebase.google.com/

https://thinger.io/

https://ubidots.com/


software, communication networks and controlling mechanisms. So don’t waste your time

and invest today in your Internet of Things (IoT) Lab.

To make all the research work

happen in order to bring new

technologies to the market

and make it available to the

masses in less time and low-

cost solutions companies and

institutions are investing

heavily to be a part of this

technology and the race to

conquer the world has already

been started.


Follow us on:

https://twitter.com/IETIndia

www.facebook.com/IETIndia

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu21pZYLQjlgAE1SA1QfEVw

The IET is one of the world’s largest engineering

institutions with over 168,000 members in 150

countries. It is also the most multidisciplinary – to

reflect the increasingly diverse nature of

engineering in the 21st century.

The IET is working to engineer a better world by

inspiring, informing and influencing our members,

engineers and technicians. The Institution of

Engineering and Technology – India, the IET office

started operations in India in 2006, in Bangalore.

Today, we have over 12,000 members and have

the largest membership base for the IET outside of

the UK. Given the increasing global importance of

India as an engineering hub our aim is to make an

impact that has relevance both locally and

internationally. We want to do this through working

in partnership with industry, academia and

government, focusing on the application of practical

skills within both learning & career lifecycles, driving

innovation and thought leadership through high

impact sectors. Our volunteer led panels are means

through which we deliver our strategy. The IET

India IoT Panel was born out of this focus.

IET India launched its IoT panel on February 20,

2015 with Dr Rishi Bhatnagar (President – Aeris

Communication) as the Chairperson. The panel,

being a first of its kind in India, focuses not only on

technology but the application aspect of IoT in

various segments.

The focus of the panel is to facilitate discussions

that will help in making the inevitable connected

world more efficient, smart, innovative and safe. It

will lay emphasis on technology, security and

regulatory concerns and the need for nurturing

capabilities and talent for quicker adoption of IoT in

all spheres.

The IET India IoT Panel aims at providing a

platform for stakeholders to become an

authoritative, but neutral voice for the evolving

movement of IoT in India. It aims to enable all the

IoT practitioners (including people from the

hardware – devices, portables, sensors, software,

business) and IoT enablers (including people from

regulatory area, training area, investors in IoT, end

users) to work together on relevant areas to make

this industry efficient as well as robust. The panel

envisions laying a solid foundation by supporting

policy makers, industry in the next step of adoption

of IoT.

The panel works through 12 Working Groups -

Healthcare, Social Impact, Digital Communications,

Smart Cities, Skill Development, Standards,

Regulatory and Legal, Cyber Security, Utilities,

Manufacturing, Ganga Rejuvenation, BFSI and

Agriculture.

If you are interested in volunteering for the IET or

joining one of our panels, please write to us at

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ietindia/

https://twitter.com/IETIndia

http://www.facebook.com/IETIndia

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu21pZYLQjlgAE1SA1QfEVw

mailto:[email protected]

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