First Step Towards IoT With Arduino
What The Heck Is IoT?
IoT has become a buzzword in IT industry since last few years. We all are sick and tired of hearing colourless definitions from which majority is unnecessarily technical. Simply IoT is the network of interconnected devices which are embedded with sensors, software and network. What…Not again!! Okay, let’s make it simpler. IoT relates to devices which are accessible over any wireless medium like internet/bluetooth/WiFi or to simplify we can say accessible by our smartphones.
Note: IoT is not limited to smartphones only. It covers rather a wider domain.
In recent days, IoT is everywhere and is silently changing the way things have been working. Unknowingly, we all have performed a major role in the evolution of IoT. By 2025, it is estimated that there will be more than to 21 billion IoT devices. Here are some prevalent applications and achievements of IoT.
- Smart Home Automation
- Self Driving Cars
- Wearables (From FitBit to Smart Watch)
- Smart Retailers (Amazon Go)
- Smart Farming (Read More)
- Alexa / Google Home
The good news is that the majority of the applications are DIY-able with the help of some easily available tools and devices. Cheers!
Now let’s not test out your patience and dig deeper.
What is Arduino?
Arduino is a blessing for beginners in IoT world. Arduino is open source hardware and software platform with huge community to build real IoT devices. Good news is that it’s cheap and cheerful. To add on that it is super easy.
Yeah, pal! You’re right. Finally, the dreams are coming true. You are gonna build IoT devices on your own.
Here is the dashing pic of Arduino.
Calm down! It looks terrible. But trust me buddy it’s not. Arduino itself comes with USB port, DC power jack, 6 analog pins, 14 digital pins and many more. Don’t panic if you are not aware of these technical terms. It’s easier to access than it sounds. You’ll get to know better when we’ll start programming with real devices.
All the coolest IoT stuffs, we’ve seen on youtube videos only, are not so far from here.
Now let’s have a look at the software side. You can download Arduino IDE from here. It’s freely available and extremely small in size. Here is how it looks like:
The screen represents an empty project. These already defined methods are given by Arduino itself. The code you write in setup() will be executed once when it will be initiated and the code you write in loop() method contains the real logic. loop() is the method from where Arduino hardware gets instructions continuously about what to do. Simple, isn’t it? We’ll dive deeper into it later in the next part.
Wait! IDE has not done yet. To add on that It comes with all-in-one functionalities. It’s a one-stop solution to write, compile and upload your code to hardware. Furthermore, installing libraries and other dependencies are also much easier. All in all, Arduino is a full suite for IoT developers. Cool!! Isn’t it?
Well, you have come this far. I’m damn sure you too are eager to play with IoT devices and implement your own ideas. In the next part, we’ll control LED lights with Arduino and then finally with our Smartphones/Alexa/GoogleHome. For more cool projects, stay tuned.
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See you in the next part. Till then… Happy Learning! Happy Coding!
