Introduction to Internet of Things

with Arduino and Python

About the Course

This course is an introduction to developing networked embedded systems. It will walk you through writing a program to collect data from a sensor with an Arduino UNO, sending that data to a computer over a serial connection, and then logging that data into a database.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a system collecting temperature data and reporting it to a database from which you can view historic plots of the data. This will give you a template from which you can record almost any type of data you could think of and get it into a saved format which can be easily analyzed later or for which actions can be triggered in real-time.

Notes On Using this Book Asynchronously

I originally wrote and developed this for the purpose of instructing the content live with hardware provided and an instance of the database accessible over LAN. If you're interested in following along remotely, check out the appendix items for a list of hardware you'll need to purchase and a non-comprehensive guide to setting up InfluxDB with Docker.

This Book is a Living Document

If you find a mistake, a broken link, or an opportunity to provide a better explanation, please file an issue on this course's GitHub repository!

Knowledge to Have Before the Course

This course assumes a small amount of prerequisite knowledge. While the content should be accessible if you've not programmed in Python or C++ before (the two languages the provided code are written in), the course will not explain the basics of programming. If you're taking the course with me in person, I've provided the hardware and no changes should be required. However if you're following along remotely, you'll need to be comfortable using a breadboard and perhaps soldering.

If you're new to programming, I suggest following along with the earlier chapters of Automate the Boring Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart. You can find the online version here. This will instruct you on how to install the tools, basics of programming like variables and functions, and basic concepts about the operating system and resources it makes available to you.

If you've new to electronics, Adafruit has put together a simple guide to getting started with Arduino and electronics in general. Naturally, they'll sell you a kit to do so, but similar kits are also available on Amazon or Sparkfun and from stores like Microcenter. I recommend shopping around as they contain various different kinds of hardware. Adafruit's course can be found here.

A Little About Myself

I've been developing embedded systems in industry for several years now working on smart home systems as well as in robotics. This is a field I've found to be very approachable for hobbyists and students due to the vast amount of information available online and the relatively low monetary cost of entry. I write about my projects in robotics and systems programming on my website if you're curious about my other projects or want updates as I write more courses (maybe).