IDT Wireless Flow Rate, Humidity&Temp Sensing Kit - Review

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RoadTest: IDT Wireless Flow Rate, Humidity&Temp Sensing Kit

Author: thamizharasan

Creation date: 30 Apr 2019

Evaluation Type: Electromechanical

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:

What were the biggest problems encountered?: 1. Charged some 8$ by AWS

Detailed Review:

IDT (Integrated Device Technology, Inc.) develops system-level solutions that optimize its customers’ applications. IDT’s market-leading products in timing, serial switching and interfaces

are among the company’s broad array of complete mixed-signal solutions for the communications, computing, consumer, automotive and industrial segments.

ZMDI (Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG) is a global supplier of sensing and digital power semiconductor solutions for automotive, industrial, medical, mobile sensing, information technology and consumer applications. These solutions enable customers to create the most energy-efficient products in sensing, power management and lighting. ZMDI's strength in the automotive and industrial segments provides IDT immediate design-in leverage for wireless charging, power management, and timing and signal conditioning. ZMDI’s high-power programmable power devices complement IDT’s existing low- and medium-power devices, creating a new industry franchise for high-performance, scalable power management solutions ideal for everything from solid state drives to data centers and 4G/5G base stations.

ZMDI is now IDT, after the acquisition of ZMDI by IDT in 2015.

The SDAWIR evaluation kit demonstrates using the 6LoWPAN ZWIR4512 low power wireless module to communicate humidity, temperature, and flow sensor measurement data to the kit’s 6LoWPAN-WiFi hub. The hub functions as a WiFi hub, allowing a linked device to display and graph the measured data in real time.

The kit’s hub can also link to an end-user’s WiFi hub, which also allows any network device to display and graph the data in a web browser. The kit’s hub also permits sending the measurements to Amazon® Web Services with all the required permissions and setup of the data to be viewed worldwide. The end-user only needs an Amazon Web Service account.

The sensors, FS2012 flow sensor and HS3001 humidity and temperature sensor, are mounted in a 5cm clear plastic cube that contains a ZWIR4512 wireless module to communicate with the hub. The WiFi hub and the sensor cube are powered by a separate AC/DC wall mount adapter.

The hub utilizes a Raspberry PI Zero W to provide the WiFi hub function interfaced to the ZWIR4512 wireless module. The hub is using Raspbian LXDE Lightweight Desktop Environment. Raspbian is a Debian-based computer operating system for the Raspberry Pi. The hub micro SD card is fully loaded and ready for operation.

Unboxing the IDT SDAWIR Wireless Flow Rate, Humidity&Temp Sensing evaluation kit

It was very neatly packed with custom made slots for each component, so that they don't get damaged / disturbed during transportation.

The best part is the USB convertors, 2x Power Adapters & various plug types provided to use globally & of good quality.

The WiFi Hub is based on Raspberry Pi Zero mounted in a neat enclosure box.

Raspberry Pi Zero with a memory card having a custom made Operating System with a Web Server.
Everything well constructed & integrated to work in silent boot mode with auto-run instructions for the program / scripts.

IDT’s 6LoWPAN wireless modules enable secure low-power communication for sensors and small Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IDT provides a user-programmable, royalty-free stack with mesh routing capability. The IEEE 802.15.4-based modules are ideal for sensors and other IoT small devices used in industry and building automation, smart city lighting, environmental sensing, health monitoring, smart metering, and keyless entry systems.

IDT’s 6LoWPAN modules act as gateways and sensor nodes to enable easier sensor networking.
IDT’s portfolio of 6LoWPAN wireless modules are ideal for applications that have low bandwidth and power requirements, as well as applications requiring more firmware storage and processing power.

6LoWPAN wireless module offer:

• Compatibility with all IPv6 standards – Native communication with computers of mobile devices through IEEE 802.15.4
• Lower power – Maximizes battery life
• Small footprint – Compact modules ideal for solutions with size constraints
• FCC and CE certification – Sub-GHz transceiver module is certified for use in North America and Europe
• Standard firmware – Features IDT SensorShare firmware, a 6LoWPAN protocol open standard stack, with no associated license fees and no royalties
• Mesh routing features – Self-healing ad-hoc mesh network to cover large areas and long ranges
• End-to-end security – Secure communication based on open standard protocols

• Compact silicon carbide coating of the element enables use with liquids as well as gasses.  Also makes the element inert to the passing media.

• Solid-State Thermopile Sensing with no cavity which makes cleaning easy & eliminates the possibility of clogging

• Low Voltage, 3 to 5VDC

Connect the 2x Power Adapters to IDT Wireless Hub & IDT Wireless Flow Sensor module.

Now, Connect your laptop/desktop to the Wi-Fi SSD named ISG-Demo (doesn't require any password)

Wait approximately 1min (for the scripts to download & update the URL address),
Then, open the Internet Browser & navigate to the address demo.isg
Move the cursor below just the IDT logo (mouse-over effect), to get the (Mouse-Over effect)
Click on Network Configuration & configure the Wi-Fi SSID having an active Internet Connection & click on Connect button.

From the Menu, Click on the Live Sensor Graph

I also tested the Flow Sensor (FS2012) by blowing some air to the tube connected to the inlet of the Flow Sensor.
And noticed the raise in the Flow & Temperature readings.

The Messages box at the bottom, displays all the Alert Messages generated.

Optionally, the Name of the Sensor module can also be changed (i changed it to SmartCity-Sensor), to set some meaningful identification.

I changed it to 'SmartCity-Sensor'

The Firmware Version of the Sensor Module, can be seen here:

Additional Parameters can be defined here

Now, lets take the Sensor Generated Data to AWS Cloud for creating meaningful information from the raw data generated.

• Open https://aws.amazon.com
• Login (or) Create a free-tier account (but beware, Kibana Service is NOT free & they charge you for streaming this data to dashboard).
• Under Services, navigate to the service 'IAM'

• Under Users, click 'Add User' & specify a name for the user account.

• Click Next: Permissions

• Select Attach existing policies directly and enable the check-mark on the policy name Administrator access.

• Ignore the Set permissions boundary option

• Click on Next: Review

• This will result in a Success... message. On this page, click the Download .csv button to download the AWS Credentials file (you need this file soon later).
  

Now, navigate back to demo.isg portal

Under AWS Credentials, choose the downloaded .csv file

Ensure you get the message Connected as <user account> mentioning the User Account you created in AWS portal under IAM Service earlier.
Next, under Thing Configuration, mention exactly IDT_SDAWIR03_Demo & Click Connect

Under Messages, you should be now seeing a series of 'Success' messags.

Under Elasticsearch Configuration, mention a Domain Name of your choice (typically alpha-numerical)...my case i choose Domain Name a12

Now, click on the Kibana (blue text) which has an embedded link to take you to the Kibana Service in AWS Cloud.

Follow the instructions given in bullet point (see below screenshot)

To setup AWS so the data can be easily viewed, clock on the Create Visualization button in the Kibana box.
This will control the process and show messages in the Message box as the visualization is created for all the 3x Sensor transmitters.

Click on Dashboard & click on each of the 3 Visualization elements created in previous step.

Choose Meter as the desired Dashboard Element, to get the following Dashboard Visualization for the 3x Sensor types generating respective Sensor Data.

Suggestions for further enhancement:
1. Integrate GPS module, for location tracking.

2. Integrate a Mobile App with the Dashboard Information, to make it handy.

3. Integrate with RTC clock

4. Integrate with local Data Logger (as a redundant option to storing on cloud).

Final Verdict:

1. This is a fantastic product with various Industrial IoT use cases.

2. Having so many possibilities & enhancement options.

3. Very Precise & Near Accurate Sensors

4. Very Neat Design overall & most importantly very modular, NO WIRES seen anywhere.

5. Raspberry Pi is automated to the best, to start the Web Service & Connect as Wireless Hub very transparently.