Vishwakarma Government Engineering College

Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering

PRACTICAL NO: 02

AIM:- Overview of IoT Hardware.

OBJECTIVES:
1. What is IoT?

2. Overview of IoT Hardware with advantages and limitation

RATIONAL
The world is at the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and this revolution is very
much driven by the smarts in automating decision making and processes. Advancements in IT has
resulted in immense improvements in computational power across nearly all electronic devices and
enhanced capabilities in connecting the dots in an increasingly networked society. For successful
implementation of Internet of Things (IoT), the prerequisites are,

(a) Dynamic resource demand

(b) Real time needs

(c) Exponential growth of demand

(d) Availability of applications

(e) Data protection and user privacy

(f) Efficient power consumptions of applications

(g) Execution of the applications near to end users

(h) Access to an open and inter operable cloud system

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Introduction

Internet of things (IoT):

There is no unique definition available for Internet of Things that is acceptable by the world
community of users. What all of the definitions have in common is the idea that the first version of
the Internet was about data created by people, while the next version is about data created by
things. The best definition for the Internet of Things would be:

“An open and comprehensive network of intelligent objects that have the capacity to auto-organize,
share information, data and resources, reacting and acting in face of situations and changes in the
environment”

Describe How Internet of Things (IoT Works)?

Fig-1: Conceptual Schematic of Internet of Things

The Internet of things consists of a large network of interconnected devices. These devices transfer
and collect huge amounts of data about how they operate and details about the information they
store. This data is sent to large cloud servers located across the globe. The cloud sends relevant
instructions based on the information received.

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Fig-2: Components of Internet of Things

Components of IoT

IoT has 4 components that describe the functioning of most of the IoT systems:

1. Sensors/Devices for Sensing

These devices connect with the external physical environment. They collect the data from the
outside changes and store this information. A sensor senses the changes in the surroundings and
notes down these changes. This property makes sensors extremely useful in IoT applications.

For example, there are sensors in your phone such as GPS which track your location and guide you
to your destination. Cameras sense human movement to click pictures. Try finding out other
sensors in your mobile devices

2. Communication with Connectivity

Cloud servers process the data that sensors collect. But, in order to do so, they require
platforms. Connectivity is the connection among all IoT devices in any given IoT
ecosystem including sensors, routers, gateways, user applications and platforms. Connectivity
allows you to take control over the entire IoT system and hence it is crucial to select the right kind

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of connectivity path. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, cellular networks such as LTE or 5G all offer
connectivity to transmit large amounts of data.

3. Computation and Data processing

Once the entire data transmits to the platform, functions are performed on this data in order to
process the data and send back necessary outputs. In other words, data analysis must take place.
This step is the most important step in IoT technologies. The analysis must happen at a quick rate
to provide better results.

4. Actuation with User Interface

This is the final stage. This stage is in direct contact with the actuators for regulation and control
requirement. Actuators are received the commands from the master (Data Processing and
Analytics) act as slave for closing the loop. Some of the IoT system has direct contact to User
Interface and it gives the output that users see on their screen. Every IoT device has a different
interface as each device has a different task or purpose to accomplish.

How does IoT work?

As mentioned before, IoT is a giant network consisting of interconnected devices. IoT devices
have sensors embedded into them. These sensors are capable of sensing their surroundings. The
devices store the information in some form of data. These devices include appliances such as
mobile phones, coffee machines, microwaves, geysers, fire alarms, Air conditioners, cars and so
on.

The sensors embedded in these devices constantly emit data about the surrounding and on the
working information of these devices. IoT serves as a platform to dump all the data collected by
these devices.

IoT platform includes cloud servers and large databases. The IoT platform acts on the data. It
integrates and processes the information. Further, the platform analyses the data thoroughly to
gather important details. The platform then sends back instructions based on the data provided.

Finally, the data aggregation is shared with other devices for better performance in the future. It is
also done for improved user experience.
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Overview of IoT Hardware

IoT boards, also known as development boards or prototyping boards are basically hardware
platforms that are commonly used to build prototypes of manufacturer’s ideas. There’s a wide
variety available hardware and one can choose from between microcontroller-based boards, Single-
Board Computers (SBC) or even cellular-enabled IoT boards. Followings are the most popular
hardware for IoT based smarter application.

a) Embedded Controller based IoT Boards

a1. Arduino Uno Rev

a2. ESP32

a3. ESP8266

a4. Teensy 4.0

b) Cellular-enabled IoT board

b1. Particle Boron

b2. Adafruit FONA

b3. Particle Electron

c) The Single Board Computers (SBCs):

c1. Beagle bone Board

c2. NVIDIA Jetson Nano

c3. ODROID boards

c4. Raspberry Pi 3 & 4

a.1 Embedded Controller based Arduino Uno IoT Boards

Arduino Uno Rev3 (https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3) is an open-source

microcontroller board based on the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by the
tech company Arduino. The board is equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O)

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pins that may be interfaced to various expansion boards (shields) and other circuits. It has 14
digital input/output pins, 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power
jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. Since it has everything required for supporting the
microcontroller, one can simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-
to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

Advantages: Arduino Uno is easy to learn, has low costs, plus a wide array of sensors and several
third-party libraries. There are a large number of (online and free) resources that can be used with
this IoT board.

Fig-3: Arduino Uno Development Board

Disadvantages: When compared to Raspberry Pi, Arduino Uno needs some effort in order to carry
out tasks such as scheduling and database storage. So Arduino is not a great choice if you need
more processing power and memory.

Arduino Uno projects: Arduino Uno is perfect for projects such as programming a temperature and
humidity sensor, detecting motion with AC/ static electricity, controlling an automated soldering
robotic arm and so on.

a2. Embedded Controller based ESP8266

ESP8266 (https://www.espressif.com/en/products/socs/esp8266) is a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip

with full TCP/IP stack and microcontroller capability produced by Shanghai-based Chinese
manufacturer Espressif Systems. It contains a built-in 32-bit low-power CPU, ROM and RAM. It
is a complete and self-contained Wi-Fi network solution that can carry software applications as a
stand-alone device or connected with a microcontroller (MCU). The module embedded with a

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L106 32-bit RISC microprocessor core and comes fitted with an AT Command firmware that can
be used with any MCU via COM port. It has 16 GPIO pins. On the memory front, it has 32 KB
instruction RAM, 32 KB instruction cache RAM, 80 KB user-data RAM and 16 KB ETS system-
data RAM. Other features include WEP or WPA/WPA2 authentication.

Fig-4: ESP 8266 Development Board

Advantages: The advantages of the ESP8266 include its low cost, reliability and easily availability
in the market.

Disadvantages: Until sometime ago, most of its documentation was in Mandarin, although the
emergence of the ESP8266 community has helped translate several details about programming.

ESP8266 projects: Examples of ideal projects include tracking geo-location, building a wireless
web server, putting pressure sensors on railway tracks to detect animal presence and set off an
alarm (thus avoiding animal deaths on tracks), building smart plugs, humidity and temperature
monitoring, and even making a personal assistant of your own (think along the lines of SIRI,
Google Assistant, Alexa!).

a3. Embedded Controller based Teensy 4.0

Among the fastest microcontrollers available today, Teensy 4.0 can run at 600 MHz and take up
approximately 100 mA current while doing so. Moreover, Teensy 4.0 supports dynamic
clock scaling; in fact, Teensy 4.0 can also be over clocked beyond 600 MHz, it will work well
Teensy 4.0 also has a power shut off feature in that one can connect a pushbutton to the On/Off
pin, and completely disable the 3.3V power supply by holding the button for 5 seconds. Teensy
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Fig-5: Teensy 4.0 Development Board

4.0’s RTC (Real Time Clock) functionality can also keep track of date & time while the power is
off, provided a coin cell is connected to the voltage of the battery.

Advantages: Speed is certainly one of the main advantages here: testing on real-world examples
shows Teensy 4.0 to be capable of executing code more than five times faster than the Arduino
Uno, Plus it has a posse of peripherals, such as two 480 Mbps USB ports, 3 digital audio interfaces,
3 CAN busses, and multiple serial interfaces.

Disadvantages: Price and flexibility

Teensy 4.0 projects: Teensy 4.0 is a good choice for IoT projects such as audio synthesis and
analysis.

b-1 Cellular-enabled Particle boron IoT board

A development board that lets one connect a mesh network to over a cellular service, Particle
Boron can act as a standalone cellular endpoint or LTE(Long term evolution as 4G) enabled
gateway for Particle Mesh networks.

Fig-6: Particle Boron Development Board

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Based on the Nordic nRF52840 SoC (System on a Chip), it has a built-in battery charging circuitry.
In other words, it’s a lot like the Electron, except with more features such as mesh networking and
Bluetooth. It also boasts two SARA cellular modules, NFC, lots of GPIOs, LiPo charging and
more. The board can act as a standalone cellular endpoint or an LTE enabled gateway for a Particle
Mesh network.

Advantages: Particle Boron’s big advantage is that Particle Borons can communicate with each
other over WiFi and then pass on the information to a central station which is far away over a
cellular network.

Disadvantages: One big disadvantage of moving from Particle Electron to Particle Boron would be
the loss of surface mountability.

Particle Boron projects: The Particle Boron is a good choice as a gateway to link an entire group of
local endpoints where Wi-Fi is missing or unreliable; it is also ideal for connecting projects to the
Particle Device Cloud.

b2- Cellular enabled Adafruit FONA Development Board

Fig-7: Adafruit FONA Development Board

Adafruit FONA MiniGSM (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1946) is an all-in-one cellular phone

module that allows one to add voice, text, SMS and data to one’s project. This board allows one to
connect with any global GSM network with a 2G SIM. It also needs a 3-5V microcontroller.

Advantages: With an Adafruit FONA, one can make and receive voice calls from anywhere using a
headset, send and receive SMS messages, send and receive GPRS data (TCP/IP, HTTP, etc.) and
scan and receive FM radio broadcasts. Other advantages include buzzer vibrational motor control
allowing noiseless notifications and AT command interface with “auto baud” detection.

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Disadvantages: It needs accessories such as a SIM Card, Lipoly Battery, MicroUSB cable for
charging the battery and an external antenna. Also, not all SIM cards may work.

Adafruit FONA projects: Ideal IoT projects are the GPS logging and marking ones as also the
geofencing projects that send alerts when the board moves out of a marked area.

c-1 Single board computer based Beagle bone Development Board

The Beagle Board (https://beagleboard.org/black) is a low-power open-source single-board

computer produced by Texas Instruments in association with Digi-Key and Newark element14. It
runs on Ångström, a Linux distribution and was built by a small team of engineers as an
educational board that could be used in colleges around the world to teach open source hardware
and software capabilities. In that sense, it is a lot like the Raspberry Pi

Fig-8: The Beagle Bone Black Single board Computer Board

The Beagle Bone Black’s features include 512MB DDR3 RAM, 4GB 8-bit eMMC on-board flash
storage, 3D graphics accelerator, NEON floating-point accelerator and 2x PRU 32-bit
microcontrollers. On the connectivity front, it has USB client for power & communications, a USB
host, Ethernet, HDMI and 2x 46 pin headers.

Advantages: The Beagle Board, especially the Beagle Bone Black version, is easy and inexpensive
to set up and use. It consumes low power and thus needs no additional cooling or heat sinks. Plus
the Beagle Bone Black features 65 input and output pins and a huge number of supported
interfaces, making it ideal for projects dealing with electronics. Moreover, there’s the Pocket
Beagle, which provides identical computing performance to Beagle Bone Black along with 50 %

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reduction in size, 75 percent reduction in weight and 40 percent cheaper purchase price.

Disadvantages: The Beagle Board is not the best bet for complex multimedia and Linux-based
projects as it doesn’t have the graphical and audio capabilities that the Raspberry Pi has.

Beagle Board projects: Beagle Board is ideal for beginners in electronics and programming. So
projects that require reading from external sensors, commanding actuators (such as motors or light
systems), and networking are simpler and more efficient with the Beagle Bone Black than with a
Raspberry Pi.

c-2 Raspberry Pi-4 Single board computer based Development Board

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/) is

among the more recent versions of the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. This credit-card sized
electronic board comes with several improvements. For one, it has a USB-C for the power
connector and this USB can support an extra 500mA of current, thus offering1.2A for downstream
USB devices. The type-A (full-size) HDMI connector has been replaced with a pair of type-D
(micro) HDMI connectors; this in turn allows for dual display output within the existing board
footprint. The Gigabit Ethernet magjack is to the top right of the board, instead of the bottom right

in Raspberry Pi 3.

Fig-9: Raspberry Pi Single board computer based Development Board

In addition to this, the Raspberry Pi 4 boasts an overhauled operating system. The user interface

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has been modernized and updated applications include the Chromium 74 web browser. The legacy
graphics driver stack, allows for doing away with almost half of the lines of closed-source code in
the platform, in addition to offering the ability to run 3D applications in a window under X,
OpenGL-accelerated web browsing and desktop composition.

Advantages: As mentioned above, the Raspberry Pi 4 is faster and more capable than its
predecessors due to the scores of improvements. It can also play 4K video at 60 frames per second,
unlike Raspberry Pi 3. Other Pi 4 features include built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The board is also
capable of booting directly from a USB-attached hard drive or pen drive.

Disadvantages: The Raspberry Pi 4 can run Windows 10 but it’s important to keep in mind that it
is not anything like the full desktop version of Windows 10; it is but a low cost alternative.
Similarly, while it can run Windows desktop apps, it will need a lot of effort to make that happen,
and even then apps are more likely to run poorly. It also continues to lack internal storage but one
can use SD cards to address this.

Raspberry Pi 4 projects: Like its predecessors, the Raspberry Pi 4 is an incredibly useful IoT board
that can be used for numerous projects. Examples include filming one’s own stop motion video,
building one’s own Pi web server, a Raspberry Pi home security system, or a Raspberry Pi home
automation system, building a virtual jukebox, creating a network monitoring tool, a Raspberry Pi
robot and many more.

Conclusion

Assignment
1. Describe the scope of Raspberry Pi-4 as a single board computer

2. Briefly discuss the factors which make Arduino controllers more popular as IoT Devices?
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