July 15, 2016 at 09:33Mail.Ru Group and Intel IoT hackathon July 30–31: now with 6LoWPAN and LoRa networks
Two weeks ago, we already invited everyone to take part in the hackathon on the topic “Internet of Things”, which will be held July 30-31 at the Moscow office of Mail.ru Group, and learn how to work with such modern IoT platforms as Intel Edison microcomputers and Tarantool DBMS .
From that moment we received a lot of applications and descriptions of future projects - from quite specific to "do something cool." The authors of many of them planned to build prototypes of entire distributed systems for collecting and processing data - that is, in general, to implement real IoT projects with a scope from the “smart home” to quantitative agriculture.
Therefore, we decided to expand the range of equipment that will be available to the hackathon participants - and now it will include sets of wireless modules of the 6LoWPAN network developed by Unwired Devices, which, in combination with Tarantool and Edison, will make it possible for everyone to plan.
In total, technologies will be available to hackathon participants:
Moreover, representatives of the venture investor, CommIT Capital, owned by Rostelecom, will also visit the hackathon.
Submit your application and come!
PS What exactly will be included in the sets - under the cut.
6LoWPAN is one of the latest networking technologies designed specifically for the “Internet of Things”; in fact, IPv6 adapted for the 802.15.4 physical layer - which, in turn, is adapted for low-speed wireless networks with a small typical data packet size and a very large number of devices.
In addition, communication modules for LoRa networks (Unwired Range model) will be presented at the hackathon - with a range of up to 30 km (in words: thirty kilometers) in direct visibility, as well as some industrial solutions based on these technologies. However, from the point of view of working with Tarantool, there is not much difference between LoRa and 6LoWPAN - Unwired Range and Unwired Mesh are compatible both in connectors and in the upper level API, therefore, having worked out a project on one type of module, you can easily transfer it to another .
A complete list of Unwired Kit modules can be found on the company's website.. The modules included in the standard hackathon kit are listed below - but if we see interesting projects for which other modules or even entire devices may be useful, we will try to provide them as well.
Gateway module from LoRa and 6LoWPAN networks in Wi-Fi. Due to the high performance and memory capacity of Intel Edison , this is not just a packet translator between two different environments - but a complete server for processing and managing data received from the IoT network. Tarantool DBMS will be installed on Edison, making the solution to these problems even easier and more efficient.
In addition to Edison itself, the module has bi-directional logic level translators TI TXB0108 and TXB0102 (GPIO Edison works with 1.8 V, the rest of the set modules with 3.3 V), and 8 GPIO and a USB port are additionally output.
The 6LoWPAN radio module for the unlicensed band of 868-869 MHz, using the latest generation of TI SimpleLink chips - CC1310 . Range of work - up to 200 meters in direct line of sight at full speed (50 kbit / s). Each radio module can be connected to one or several sensors and actuators - made both in the native Unwired Kit format and in the Grove Starter Kit Plus format.
Programmer with JTAG support (for LoRa modules) and UART loader (for 6LoWPAN modules). It allows you to quickly update the firmware of the modules - for example, assemble one large one from two different sets, change the radio range or add a ready-made unit to the firmware to support the desired sensor, if you wish to combine several sensors on one radio module.
High-precision digital temperature, humidity and barometric pressure sensor - based on Sensirion SHT21 and STMicro LPS331AP chips . It will be useful both in a “smart house”, and, for example, in maintaining the climate in a greenhouse.
High-precision digital ambient light sensor - based on the TI OPT3001 chip with a sensitivity curve corresponding to the human eye. Great for automatic brightness control systems.
Capacitive high-frequency sensor of soil moisture and surface temperature. It does not have electrical contact with the soil, and therefore, unlike the common soil conductivity sensors, it is not susceptible to corrosion. An operating frequency of 50 MHz minimizes the dependence of sensor readings on the salt composition of the soil.
Self-contained power module with two AA batteries. Provides a voltage of 5 V and allows you to turn on the UMDK-RF modules with sensors far from the outlet (if the outlet is close - UMDK-RF can be powered from any charger with a microUSB connector).
Two conventional DC relays. High-quality Omron G6D relays are used , rated at 5 A at 250 V AC. However, if you need to switch a really powerful load, it is better to choose the UMDK-1RAC module with a special circuit that eliminates the arcing of relay contacts and reduces inrush currents.
Sensor adapter module from the Grove Starter Kit. Most sensors capable of operating at 3.3V are supported. In addition, remote sensors Unwired Devices - UMDK-ACC / T and UMDK-SOIL are connected to the same module.
Remote sensor for vibration (gyro-accelerometer ST LSM6DS3 ) and surface temperature (NXP LM75AD ). It is extremely useful in monitoring the state of industrial equipment - for example, by increasing the temperature or the amplitude of the vibrations, you can predict an immediate failure of the machine and plan its maintenance before this failure occurs.
Tarantool is a universal IoT platform that is a general-purpose DBMS with an application server inside. Tarantool is designed to work both on IoT devices and in the cloud, providing reliable synchronization between them in both directions. The main distinguishing feature of Tarantool is that it is very undemanding to resources. It can run on a single processor core, even very slow. It can work starting with a few megabytes of memory. It can store data on a slow and unreliable flash without killing it with constant overwrites (because Tarantool does not do it at all). At the same time, it reliably saves each transaction to disk or flash.
When developing using Tarantool as a local platform on IoT devices, you get the same system state on all devices and on a central server. Moreover, each device works independently with the current copy of the data even with blinking or idle access to the Internet (when access is restored, all data is instantly replicated in both directions).
Tarantool is a real powerful IoT platform for developing full-fledged and fast-running local applications with full synchronization between devices and a central server and with almost complete independence from Internet access.
Intel Edison is a powerful, ultra-compact, highly integrated “system on a module”, equipped with an Intel Atom processor with a frequency of 500 MHz, 4 GB of flash memory, 1 GB of RAM and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters. In the “Internet of Things” systems, Edison can provide excellent performance and ample opportunity to collect and process data on the gateway between the IoT network and the Internet - all this with extremely modest sizes and power consumption, which allows you to power Edison on battery if necessary.
Unwired Devices specializes in the development and manufacture of modern electronics, primarily embedded microcomputer and network communication devices. The company's interests include Internet of Things, Wi-Fi and mesh networks, LoRa networks, products for industrial lighting automation, wireless control and data collection, as well as a smart home and smart office systems.
Unwired Kit is a set of electronic modules designed for the rapid development of the Internet of Things devices: IoT-controllers and routers, mesh networks, LoRa networks with a long range, including various types of sensors, controls and actuators. In addition to typical modules, the set includes modules with interfaces widely used in industrial systems, such as DALI, PWM 0-10 V or RS-485.
CommIT Capital is a corporate fund of PJSC Rostelecom. The goal of CommIT Capital is to find innovative companies on the market whose business is complementary to the business of a telecommunications operator and invest in the best of them. Such companies should have unique competencies in their fields and have a high-tech product with export potential. In turn, the fund helps them develop and implement synergies with Rostelecom.
The priority areas for investment are companies developing products for the network infrastructure of the operator and data centers. No less interesting are enterprise-class solutions. The fund also considers projects with new products and services for Rostelecom end customers in the B2C, B2B and B2G segments.
The fund's portfolio includes Raidix (a developer of storage systems) and Brain4Net (solutions for operators and corporations in the field of SDN & NFV).
From that moment we received a lot of applications and descriptions of future projects - from quite specific to "do something cool." The authors of many of them planned to build prototypes of entire distributed systems for collecting and processing data - that is, in general, to implement real IoT projects with a scope from the “smart home” to quantitative agriculture.
Therefore, we decided to expand the range of equipment that will be available to the hackathon participants - and now it will include sets of wireless modules of the 6LoWPAN network developed by Unwired Devices, which, in combination with Tarantool and Edison, will make it possible for everyone to plan.
In total, technologies will be available to hackathon participants:
- Unwired Devices 6LoWPAN Set of Sensors and Control Devices
- Gateway between 6LoWPAN and Wi-Fi based on Intel Edison microcomputer
- Tarantool DBMS running on a gateway, providing data processing and reliable data replication
Moreover, representatives of the venture investor, CommIT Capital, owned by Rostelecom, will also visit the hackathon.
Submit your application and come!
PS What exactly will be included in the sets - under the cut.
6LoWPAN is one of the latest networking technologies designed specifically for the “Internet of Things”; in fact, IPv6 adapted for the 802.15.4 physical layer - which, in turn, is adapted for low-speed wireless networks with a small typical data packet size and a very large number of devices.
In addition, communication modules for LoRa networks (Unwired Range model) will be presented at the hackathon - with a range of up to 30 km (in words: thirty kilometers) in direct visibility, as well as some industrial solutions based on these technologies. However, from the point of view of working with Tarantool, there is not much difference between LoRa and 6LoWPAN - Unwired Range and Unwired Mesh are compatible both in connectors and in the upper level API, therefore, having worked out a project on one type of module, you can easily transfer it to another .
A complete list of Unwired Kit modules can be found on the company's website.. The modules included in the standard hackathon kit are listed below - but if we see interesting projects for which other modules or even entire devices may be useful, we will try to provide them as well.
UMDK-EDISON
Gateway module from LoRa and 6LoWPAN networks in Wi-Fi. Due to the high performance and memory capacity of Intel Edison , this is not just a packet translator between two different environments - but a complete server for processing and managing data received from the IoT network. Tarantool DBMS will be installed on Edison, making the solution to these problems even easier and more efficient.
In addition to Edison itself, the module has bi-directional logic level translators TI TXB0108 and TXB0102 (GPIO Edison works with 1.8 V, the rest of the set modules with 3.3 V), and 8 GPIO and a USB port are additionally output.
UMDK-RF / 868
The 6LoWPAN radio module for the unlicensed band of 868-869 MHz, using the latest generation of TI SimpleLink chips - CC1310 . Range of work - up to 200 meters in direct line of sight at full speed (50 kbit / s). Each radio module can be connected to one or several sensors and actuators - made both in the native Unwired Kit format and in the Grove Starter Kit Plus format.
UMDK-JTAG
Programmer with JTAG support (for LoRa modules) and UART loader (for 6LoWPAN modules). It allows you to quickly update the firmware of the modules - for example, assemble one large one from two different sets, change the radio range or add a ready-made unit to the firmware to support the desired sensor, if you wish to combine several sensors on one radio module.
UMDK-THP
High-precision digital temperature, humidity and barometric pressure sensor - based on Sensirion SHT21 and STMicro LPS331AP chips . It will be useful both in a “smart house”, and, for example, in maintaining the climate in a greenhouse.
UMDK-LIT
High-precision digital ambient light sensor - based on the TI OPT3001 chip with a sensitivity curve corresponding to the human eye. Great for automatic brightness control systems.
UMDK-SOIL
Capacitive high-frequency sensor of soil moisture and surface temperature. It does not have electrical contact with the soil, and therefore, unlike the common soil conductivity sensors, it is not susceptible to corrosion. An operating frequency of 50 MHz minimizes the dependence of sensor readings on the salt composition of the soil.
UMDK-2AA
Self-contained power module with two AA batteries. Provides a voltage of 5 V and allows you to turn on the UMDK-RF modules with sensors far from the outlet (if the outlet is close - UMDK-RF can be powered from any charger with a microUSB connector).
UMDK-2RDC
Two conventional DC relays. High-quality Omron G6D relays are used , rated at 5 A at 250 V AC. However, if you need to switch a really powerful load, it is better to choose the UMDK-1RAC module with a special circuit that eliminates the arcing of relay contacts and reduces inrush currents.
UMDK-GRV
Sensor adapter module from the Grove Starter Kit. Most sensors capable of operating at 3.3V are supported. In addition, remote sensors Unwired Devices - UMDK-ACC / T and UMDK-SOIL are connected to the same module.
UMDK-ACC / T
Remote sensor for vibration (gyro-accelerometer ST LSM6DS3 ) and surface temperature (NXP LM75AD ). It is extremely useful in monitoring the state of industrial equipment - for example, by increasing the temperature or the amplitude of the vibrations, you can predict an immediate failure of the machine and plan its maintenance before this failure occurs.
O tarantool
Tarantool is a universal IoT platform that is a general-purpose DBMS with an application server inside. Tarantool is designed to work both on IoT devices and in the cloud, providing reliable synchronization between them in both directions. The main distinguishing feature of Tarantool is that it is very undemanding to resources. It can run on a single processor core, even very slow. It can work starting with a few megabytes of memory. It can store data on a slow and unreliable flash without killing it with constant overwrites (because Tarantool does not do it at all). At the same time, it reliably saves each transaction to disk or flash.
When developing using Tarantool as a local platform on IoT devices, you get the same system state on all devices and on a central server. Moreover, each device works independently with the current copy of the data even with blinking or idle access to the Internet (when access is restored, all data is instantly replicated in both directions).
Tarantool is a real powerful IoT platform for developing full-fledged and fast-running local applications with full synchronization between devices and a central server and with almost complete independence from Internet access.
Ob Edison
Intel Edison is a powerful, ultra-compact, highly integrated “system on a module”, equipped with an Intel Atom processor with a frequency of 500 MHz, 4 GB of flash memory, 1 GB of RAM and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters. In the “Internet of Things” systems, Edison can provide excellent performance and ample opportunity to collect and process data on the gateway between the IoT network and the Internet - all this with extremely modest sizes and power consumption, which allows you to power Edison on battery if necessary.
Unwired devices
Unwired Devices specializes in the development and manufacture of modern electronics, primarily embedded microcomputer and network communication devices. The company's interests include Internet of Things, Wi-Fi and mesh networks, LoRa networks, products for industrial lighting automation, wireless control and data collection, as well as a smart home and smart office systems.
Unwired Kit is a set of electronic modules designed for the rapid development of the Internet of Things devices: IoT-controllers and routers, mesh networks, LoRa networks with a long range, including various types of sensors, controls and actuators. In addition to typical modules, the set includes modules with interfaces widely used in industrial systems, such as DALI, PWM 0-10 V or RS-485.
CommIT Capital
CommIT Capital is a corporate fund of PJSC Rostelecom. The goal of CommIT Capital is to find innovative companies on the market whose business is complementary to the business of a telecommunications operator and invest in the best of them. Such companies should have unique competencies in their fields and have a high-tech product with export potential. In turn, the fund helps them develop and implement synergies with Rostelecom.
The priority areas for investment are companies developing products for the network infrastructure of the operator and data centers. No less interesting are enterprise-class solutions. The fund also considers projects with new products and services for Rostelecom end customers in the B2C, B2B and B2G segments.
The fund's portfolio includes Raidix (a developer of storage systems) and Brain4Net (solutions for operators and corporations in the field of SDN & NFV).