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Remote Monitoring & Control
Blog Plant a seed and watch it grow...  (Part 2: grafting in a new branch called mDash)
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  • Author Author: BigG
  • Date Created: 14 Aug 2019 10:32 AM Date Created
  • Views 2768 views
  • Likes 8 likes
  • Comments 5 comments
  • esp32
  • mdash
  • watering plant
  • remotemonitoringcontrolch
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Plant a seed and watch it grow...  (Part 2: grafting in a new branch called mDash)

BigG
BigG
14 Aug 2019
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • mDash – an IoT platform for ESP32 devices.
    • ESP32 Smart Light Example
  • Next steps

 

 

Preface

 

For an IoT (Internet of Things) project to be truly remote it needs to have Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware upgrade capability and all data communication needs to be secure.

 

From that basis, you can then start to think about the other requirements such as having a means to know that if remote unit is still working or has stopped working. Then, an often overlooked criterion, which I find is rather useful during the field testing phase, and possibly beyond, is a means for remote diagnostics and a means for running specific “scripts” to test and evaluate different logic or different parameters remotely. Then the rest is fairly standard. You need to have a means to store data, a means to query and a means to analyse.

 

So, taking all this into account and as I’m all about keeping it simple, the Do-It-From-Scratch (DIFS) option is out the window. This leaves you with very few options.

 

There are two obvious ones that spring to mind, which, in no particular order, would be Electric Imp and Particle.io. These are often referred to a managed cloud services and both providers use specific devices that “plug into” their cloud ecosystem.

 

Well there is now a third. It is this new option, which I’ve decided to graft into (or splice into) my project. It’s a cloud platform service called mDash.

 

 

Introduction

 

Taking the first definition that came up on Google (source: North Dakota State University)

image

Grafting (top working), is a way to change a large tree from old to a new variety. It is also a method of using a root system better adapted to soil or climate than that produced naturally by an ungrafted plant. By using special understocks or interstems,grafting is a way to produce dwarf plants.

 

And for those gardening enthusiasts, more information about “grafting” can be found here: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/hort/info/fruit/graft.htm

 

This splicing technique is nothing new, as highlighted by this informative graphic (on the right), which was apparently published in 1884 in the book “Cassell's popular gardening”.

 

So what has this got to do my with fuzzy plant project.

 

Well, it describes a method from changing the old project into a new variety. This of course takes time and plenty of “graft” behind the scenes. When you have spliced in something new, the end result does not look like much, initially, but then grows into something quite special.

 

So this blog is more about the new piece that is about to be spliced into my fuzzy plant project. It is the managed cloud platform service developed by Cesanta, the developers of Mongoose-OS.

 

 

mDash – an IoT platform for ESP32 devices.

 

mDash is an IoT cloud platform that is designed specifically for ESP32.

 

The reason I liked this, is that the ESP32 is commonly available and I just happened to have one and it suited my Fuzzy Plant project.

 

Another reason I liked this option, was that it offered a good free tier for developers. The free tier allows for a maximum of 3 devices and it will store up to 500 database records operating on a FIFO (first in, first out) basis.

 

Then the features offered were exactly what I was after. Rather than rewriting what is already on their website, I created an introduction video that walks you through the system (apologies for the poor sound quality):

 

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ESP32 Smart Light Example

 

They have also an End-to-End Reference Project where they supply all the code etc. on their GitHub page.

 

https://github.com/cesanta/mdash-smart-light

 

As this is a new cloud offering it was really important for me to understand how this new system worked and this took a good bit of time. Fortunately, their reference project architecture was very similar to what I wanted for my Fuzzy Plant project, and thus it would benefit my project if I first worked through their project carefully to determine suitability and then what needed adapting.

 

image

 

 

Here are two more videos that explain how it all works.

 

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Next steps

 

image

 

For the next blog post I will then show the all the new components for my Fuzzy Plant project and how I am now grafting in this new branch of IoT Remote Monitoring functionality. This includes the use of two capacitive moisture sensors.

 

image

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Top Comments

  • genebren
    genebren over 6 years ago +3
    BigG, mDash looks pretty cool. I really like the OTA as well as the RPC features that this software provides. This is something that I am going to have to keep in mind for future projects. I worked on…
  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago +1
    Very good details and pictures. What camera did you use and some stats it you know them (focal point and MP)?
  • BigG
    BigG over 6 years ago in reply to clem57 +1
    Thanks. Good pics? I wouldn't think it has much to do with my 3 year old Samsung phone (and 3MP camera), so probably helped by a good bit of sunlight and then my PC photo editor.
  • BigG
    BigG over 6 years ago in reply to genebren

    You're welcome. Yes, mDash is pretty good. Still getting used to it, and so far so good as the more I learn the more I like.

     

    Your Zigbee lighting systems project sounds interesting. I think the boys involved in LoRa could learn a thing or two from you as I saw the other day that OTA is being offered over LoRaWAN.

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  • genebren
    genebren over 6 years ago

    BigG,

     

    mDash looks pretty cool.  I really like the OTA as well as the RPC features that this software provides. This is something that I am going to have to keep in mind for future projects.

     

    I worked on a large ZigBee project for an automated lighting systems, where we would have 100's of nodes active in the building.  The OTA function was extremely slow as ZigBee traffic has a lot of overhead as it 'echoes' messages throughout the mesh.  I rewrote a layer of our OTA process, where we could send incremental update files (diffs) so we could stitch together the new FLASH image, based on the existing files and the 'OTA' changes.  This allowed us to be able to update the mesh with new firmware in a couple minutes, versus the several hours that it use to take.

     

    Thanks for the great info!

    Gene

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  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago in reply to BigG

    OK then the lighting was just right.image

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  • BigG
    BigG over 6 years ago in reply to clem57

    Thanks.

     

    Good pics? I wouldn't think it has much to do with my 3 year old Samsung phone (and 3MP camera), so probably helped by a good bit of sunlight and then my PC photo editor.

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  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago

    Very good details and pictures.image What camera did you use and some stats it you know them (focal point and MP)?

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