10 Raspberry Pi Projects For Learning IoT
The Raspberry Pi isn't just a great platform for building Internet of Things project: It's a super platform for learning about the IoT. Here are ten projects to help built IoT skills.
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is, arguably, the hottest topic in IT. Every organization wants to participate in the IoT, and many IT professionals want to know how to add IoT skills to their resume. There are lots of options for learning about IoT, but nothing really beats the hands-on experience.
One of the key learning platforms for IoT is the Raspberry Pi. The RasPi is a popular platform because it offers a complete Linux server in a tiny platform for a very low cost. In fact, one of the most difficult parts of using Raspberry Pi for learning about IoT is picking the right projects with which to begin.
If you go out and look on the Web you'll find thousands of projects based on the RasPi. Some are ambitious, many are silly, and some are great for learning about both the Raspberry Pi and common components of the IoT. I went out in search of projects in that last group.
What makes a great IoT learning project? In my opinion it takes a few things. The first is the use of some common sensor or controller types. I like custom-built hardware as much as the next geek, but for an education project you don't really want to go wild with the hardware builds.
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Next, the project should have something interesting going on in the control software. While I don’t think you need an epic development project for a meaningful learning experience, you should really do more than just call pre-existing scripts and applications.
Finally, the projects should be interesting and, dare I say it, fun. There's nothing worse than training that feels like drudgery. Good training projects should make trainees really want to move forward with their education.
That's what I went looking for, and I found a variety of projects that met my requirements. Here are 10 of the ones that I thought were best. We start with one that takes the RasPi to new heights.
Once in a while you just need to know how hot and humid things are in, say, your server rack. Because if either of those measurements ever hits triple digits you probably have a service call in store. (Trust me on this.) For those beginning the learning process with Raspberry Pi this is a good early step. It's fairly simple, though it gives you hands-on experience with sensors and network protocols. It's especially good if you live in some sort of extreme climate: You can hang it just outside your office window, arrange for it to talk to your Raspberry Pi Web server, and have all your friends and neighbors feel sorry for you.
One of the things that the Raspberry Pi is good for is acting as a central controller for a small fleet of lower-powered controllers (such as the Arduino). While it's doing that in-the-field control it will probably want to collect and report on conditions and changes to a database sitting back in the data center: Various Web protocols are a good way to do that. In this very simple project you can build a simple Apache Web server on the Linux OS sitting on the Raspberry Pi. For a slightly more advanced project, you can then build the Temperature and Humidity Sensor and have it communicate back to the Web Server RasPi, or get an entire armada of Arduinos with individual sensors and build a complete weather station that reports current conditions (along with trends and historical information) via the Web.
Putting together a cluster of low-cost embeddable computers isn't new -- it's been done with Arduino embedded machines and even simpler embedded controllers going back into the 1980s. Where this project moves ahead of the pack is in basing the application stack on Drupal -- a content management system that competes with Wordpress. So what can you learn with this project? Well, aside from Drupal (useful, but not especially IoT) you can pick up quite a bit about setting up multi-processor systems and Bramble clusters. That includes more than a little networking, so high-speed, tightly coupled computing is just the beginning.
Not all IoT projects can make use of a public Web server. Even with encryption or authentication, sometimes it's better to simply keep control and reporting traffic to a separate, private network. A Pirate Box makes use of torrent protocols and a private WiFi network to share files with other computers. While you might not want to use torrents for your enterprise projects, this project will teach the concepts of setting up private WiF networks and using a higher-level protocol to keep the bits flowing smoothly (and securely) between stations.
Touch screens are becoming the most common way for people to interact with computers that's well and good, but what if you have an IoT project where there isn't room for a computer screen? If that's the case, then what about a touch … vegetable. OK, a vegetable is a bit far-fetched but the same principles that allow you to use a root vegetable as an input device will allow you to use objects that are more, well, business-like. Unless you work in a company for which beets as input devices are normal. In which case I'd really like to hear from you. Really.
This one is a bit complex, I'll admit that. But who can resist a robot that gives treat to a puppy? The YouTube possibilities alone make this a compelling project. If you need specifics on what you'll learn, think switches and servos. Since servos are the most common way that embedded control projects make things move, it's worth getting to know them. And if you can get to know them while bringing a bit of happiness to your pup, then sit! Code! Good programmer!
Who doesn't need a good media center these days? With all the input types that the average television set must deal with, a simple box of switches no longer suffices for turning streams of bits into the beautiful programs that will leave you dazed and entertained for days on end. This project doesn't require much in the way of hardware hacking (for either the electronics or the case), though you're free to let your creativity run wild on the case design if that's your thing. One way or the other, though, you'll learn a great deal about standard input and output methods, basic switching, and dealing with storage. And at the end, your house will be the one everyone wants to visit when sports season is in full swing.
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