RoadTest: Particle Mesh Wi-Fi Bundle + Grove Sensor Kit
Author: dixonselvan
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
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?: There ain't a comparable Mesh ecosystem like Particle available, as far as I am aware. However, the individual endpoints/ gateways/ repeaters (Xenon, Argon) can be compared with Arduino MKR Wi-Fi 1010, ESP32.
What were the biggest problems encountered?: Device Cloud communication - An application firmware which was under development (by me) is suspected (not confirmed/ investigated) to be the cause of a disconnect of Argon from the cloud. This disconnected the entire Mesh network ( 2 Xenons + 1 Argon) from the cloud. Thus making it impossible to communicate and flash the devices from the Web IDE. I reached out for support but before their help could arrive (though the support took a day or two to get back), the issue was fixed after a local flash from Particle WorkBench (By connecting the Argon with a USB cable to the computer).
Detailed Review:
Table of Contents
Particle announced a new IoT Connectivity added to their portfolio (read the press release by clicking here) on February 13, 2018. It's the Mesh apart from Wi-Fi and Cellular. With Particle Mesh, developers can create low-power, low-cost, resilient local device networks. The Particle Mesh devices are the third generation devices. They changed the IoT game from ‘the need for every device requiring cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity to connect to the cloud’ to ‘devices communicating with one another and then data/ message being cascaded or sent back to a single Wi-Fi or LTE connected gateway to the cloud’. Thus forming a local Mesh network of devices with a gateway to connect with the cloud. The three important features making this generation of devices intelligent are,
Having seen the local communication, let's see what does the resilient network mean. These are self-healing networks which help you protect from lost data and downtime. So if one endpoint fails the network automatically self-heals to the nearest device. The ultra-low power consumption enables long-living battery-powered endpoints.
So, what are the mesh-ready third-generation of Particle devices? They are,
Let's now quickly run through what these devices are capable of. The Argon is a powerful Wi-Fi enabled development kit which can act either as a standalone Wi-Fi endpoint or Wi-Fi enabled gateway for Particle Mesh networks (Wi-Fi + Mesh + Bluetooth). It is priced at $27 (click here) and also comes in a kit version which is priced at $35 (click here). The Boron comes in an LTE version supported only for North America and 2G/ 3G version supported for a list of countries given here. The Boron LTE is a powerful LTE CAT-M1/NB1 enabled development board that can act as either a standalone cellular endpoint or LTE enabled gateway for Particle Mesh networks. The Boron GSM is a powerful 2G/3G enabled development kit that can act as either a standalone cellular endpoint or 2G/3G enabled gateway for Particle Mesh networks. LTE version is priced at $53 (click here) and also comes in a kit version which is priced at $59 (click here). The Boron 2G/ 3G kit is priced at $78 (click here). The Xenon is a low-cost mesh-enabled development board that can act as either an endpoint or repeater within a Particle Mesh network (Mesh + Bluetooth). It is priced at $15 (click here) and comes in a kit version priced at $21 (click here).
Source: https://www.particle.io/mesh
Apart from the hardware, Particle offers Device Cloud - a powerful set of tools to build, connect and manage the mesh-ready third-generation Particle devices (Argon, Boron, and Xenon). It is available for prototyping with a group of 10 total devices up to 1 Wi-Fi or cellular gateway. Device Cloud access is free for the first 10 devices. Some other notable features are,
Source: https://www.particle.io/mesh
There is one last thing but also an important one, the Device OS. This was previously referred to as system firmware. It is a low-level firmware code that supports Particle device's basic functions. Similar to an operating system for a computer, Particle Device OS provides a foundation for other applications to run on (application firmware). True that Particle Device OS abstracts much of the complexity away from the traditional firmware development experience. Some responsibilities of the Device OS include,
What's more? Device OS is an open-source embedded operating system. Read more about the Device OS here - https://docs.particle.io/tutorials/device-os/device-os/
Some other features to mention are,
To get started with Particle Mesh, check out the quickstart documentation and example projects from Particle. In order to grab a quick overview, check out this Element14 webinar - Accessible IoT: Rapid Prototyping to Scale with Particle. Click here if you would like to know more about me. Thank you rscasny, Element14 Community and Particle for providing me this wonderful opportunity to road test the Particle Mesh Wi-Fi Bundle + Grove Starter Kit.
Schedule -
Week 1 - Unboxing, Out of the Box Demo/ First Impressions
Week 2 & 3 - Simple Project
Week 4 - 7 - Complex Project
Week 8 - Summary and Conclusion
Simple Project -
Complex Project -
A project to make an IoT system for commuters and for home automation. One of the Xenon kits will be placed in my bike which will collect data while commuting like traffic (using Ultrasonic Sensor) and when I return back to my parking after my commute, it will share the collected data with the Argon kit in my home. This Argon kit will then instruct the other Xenon kit in my home to turn on the light and fan automatically after a minute (the time it takes for me to enter into my house from the parking). Also, either a Xenon or Argon kit will be connected to the temperature and humidity sensor which will monitor and collect the room temperature and humidity whose value will be displayed in the 4-Digit display.
Stretch goal -
The road test bundle/ kit package arrived safely in a corrugated/ cardboard box and the contents inside were cushioned by paper. Thanks to UPS and rscasny. This time, I will not be doing the unboxing of the package. Thanks to tariq.ahmad for providing me the assistants, the Element14 blue men. They will be doing the unboxing with the help of some more friends!
The road test bundle/ kit contains the following,
Below is the unboxing video of Particle Mesh Wi-Fi Bundle + Grove Starter Kit.
Apart from Device OS and Device Cloud, Particle offers a wide range of developer tools. They are as listed below.
Let's see the installation or how to access some of the above developer tools briefly below,
| {tabbedtable} Tab Label | Tab Content | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web IDE | Link - https://build.particle.io/build
The Web IDE is an easy to use tool with powerful features like programming, compiling and flashing your Particle devices with the developed application firmware. You can access it from any device which can support browser. For instance, you can program the Particle device from your smartphone browser! It also has a list of devices added to your account. It has quite a wide range of libraries, example apps and app explorer (where you can manage your apps.
Below are the steps for accessing the Web IDE.
Accessing the Web IDE:
| |||||||
| Particle WorkBench | Link - https://www.particle.io/workbench/
The Particle WorkBench is a Professional IoT development environment on Windows, macOs, Linux, powered by Visual Studio Code. You can build, debug, and deploy code from a local environment with zero setups. It is like the Web IDE installed in your computer and available offline and with more functionalities. You can flash your Particle devices locally from WorkBench. It has all the tools, libraries, and extensions you need in a single, easy-to-install package. It utilizes Microsoft's Visual Studio Code as an editor because of which you get a lightweight, yet powerful experience with your Particle-powered products.
Some salient features of Particle WorkBench are,
Source: https://www.particle.io/press/
If you need help with the Visual Studio Code, here is the getting started documentation - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs?start=true
Installing the Particle WorkBench:
Once the installation is complete, open Visual Studio Code. A pop-up will appear asking to install Particle WorkBench dependencies. Click Install.
The total size of Microsoft Visual Studio code after Particle WorkBench installation is around 200+MB.
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Mobile Apps | Link - Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.particle.android.app iOS - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/particle-iot/id991459054 |
References:
References:
Particle serves as a one-stop-shop for all IoT needs while serving for all levels of expertise - from beginners to experts and for all stages of the product life cycle - prototype to production. There are numerous possibilities with this kit and the Particle team has made the getting started experience nice and smooth with all their documentation and support. Here are some of the Pros and Cons identified after two months of road testing the bundle/ kit - 'Particle Mesh Wi-Fi Bundle + Grove Starter Kit'.
Pros
Cons
This is one kit which does not allow you to stop making/ building. With all the amazing capabilities and integrations available, hope to see you again in another project. This marks the end of the road test review (however you have some useful links/ reference below this). Please leave your valuable comments and suggestions in the comments section below.
* Information/ content provided in this road test review is as-is obtained during the time of writing this review and is subjected to change when the respective body owning the product/ service/ application, changes the information/ content. So please refer the official pages (links available in the 'Useful Links/ Reference' section at the bottom of this review page) for the latest information/ content.
Top Comments
Well laid out road test review dixonselvan. Must have taken a while to make that unboxing video!
Kind regards.
Thanks, three-phase Yes it took some time than I actually anticipated.
Well this was another great roadtest dixonselvan and I really like the 'branding' of your videos with the extra large and comic font stating what each is about.
There is so much information provided…