I was giving a small demo on Raspberry Pi 3, using windows 10 IoT core. Some people asked me if the Raspberry Pi 3 is the only device that can be used for IoT. Then, I explained to them that we have different types of IoT devices, ranging from microcontrollers to systems on board. I decided to write this article for the same reason.
Microcontroller vs. System on Board
Microcontrollers are compact computers with processors, memory, and peripherals, but they are very compact in size and can perform a limited task whereas System on Board is full-fledged computers that can be used for a lot of activities, like playing games, playing music, watching HD videos, performing complex computing, and installing different types of apps and software, etc.
IoT Components
So, I am going to explain all those devices, along with peripherals used with IoT devices. But, before that, I will explain some areas where we can use IoT.
IoT Usage Example
Control electronic devices: We can control any electronic device using Pi. If you are using Windows 10 IOT Core Insider for Raspberry Pi 3, you will find a sample program Blinky, already created, which can be used to set and control the blinking of a LED light. You can also control other electronic devices, like DC fans, etc.
Control electrical devices: You can control your electrical devices also, using a relay circuit and connecting through Pi.
Real-world implantations
The above examples are simple which can be done very easily by a few lines of codes. But, real implementations start when we use a combination of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared rays, Azure data posting stream analytics, and many more things with the help of sensors. So, we can say that sensors play a vital role in IoT implementations. We can use a wide range of sensors with IoT. Some real-world implementations can be done like:
Smart Parking, Smart Lighting, Smart Roads, Smart Fridge, Smart AC, Smart House, Smart Power Grid, Smart Product Management, Smart Animal Farming, Smart Agriculture, Smart Storage Tank, track your activity, Smart Retail, Smart Supply Chain, Connected Cars, Smart Manufacturing, and many more smart things around the world.
The basic purpose of IoT is connecting the devices through the internet. Those devices can be anything, e.g., mobile phones, camera, music system, audio player, video player, smartwatch, wall mounted watch, fans, calendar, hospitals, home, hotel, restaurant, healthcare devices, bus, car, cycle, TV/monitor, chair, beds, water bottles, purifiers, gas cylinders, traffic signals, printer, scanner, 3D printer, medical appliances, and many more things.
I am going to give you a simple example of how these things can be implemented very easily. Let’s take an example of searching a lost Key Chain.
Searching your lost key chain: Suppose you lost your key in the car parking lot or inside the shopping mall, then, it is very hard to find it. But, if your key chain is having Wi-Fi, you can search it easily because when you reach a Wi-Fi coverage area, your smartphone will automatically show you that the particular Wi-Fi network is available. So, you can search in that specific area. Or suppose, if your Key chain is having some preloaded music, you can play that and find it within a second.
It can also be implemented through infrared rays. We can use different types of sensors with a key chain that can send data to a particular data center and we can find it based on the analytics of those data. It’s a very simple example and IoT can be implemented on thousands of different scenarios, which totally depends upon our requirements and thinking. Let’s have a look at some IoT boards.
IoT Boards
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a very low-cost computer of credit card size, by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered educational charity of the UK.
Features of Raspberry PiThere are 5 models available on the official website of Raspberry pi. Those Models are,
I am not going to explain about all the devices, but I can put a layout of Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi 3 Model B so that you can understand very easily what changes are done and what is the difference between the first Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi Zero) and the latest Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi 3 Model B)
Raspberry Pi Zero
Raspberry Pi 3
Image Source: www.element14.com
IoT Devices from Intel
Many of us are familiar with Intel boards and processors for our PC and laptop. We know that Intel is a leading manufacturer of CPU and boards. Intel has developed some boards which can be used for IoT development.
Intel® Galileo
Image Source: https://www.cooking-hacks.com
There are different versions of Intel Galileo e.g. Intel Galileo Gen. 1, Intel Galileo Gen. 2, etc. If you are interested in Intel Galileo, you can explore it.
Intel Edison
Arduino
You can explore a complete list of Arduino boards for the Internet of Things, here.
Netduino
Netduino is .NET-programmable microcontroller which is available in different models. Some of them are: