IoT Design Project Overview

Each IoT design project involved building an IoT system comprised of an IoT input device, IoT cloud, IoT output device, and IoT dashboard. The IoT input devices had various input modules attached that could sense what is going on in the environment (e.g., light, temperature, moisture, motion) and could upload data into the cloud. We used Particle as our IoT cloud service. Each IoT output device downloaded data from the cloud and had various output modules attached to display data (e.g., LEDs, numeric display, piezo buzzer). An IoT dashboard enabled users to interact with the IoT system through the IoT cloud. We used Ubitdots as our IoT dashboard service. The following diagram illustrates the overall approach we used in our IoT systems.

The IoT design projects were centered around one of several themes: smart home, early disaster warning, wearable health monitoring, and digital agriculture. Each project is described in more detail below.

IoT Design Project: Smart Home

There has been quite a bit of excitement lately about smart homes that integrate sensors into everyday objects around the home including thermostats, appliances, doors/windows, and lights. These sensors can automatically learn about our behavior and autonomously interact with the cloud to improve our standard of living.

In this project, scholars will build a simple smart home system that is capable of monitoring temperature, humidity, light, and/or motion and then display status information. For example, a group might start by building an IoT input device with an ultrasound range finder input module to monitor motion for security purposes. Motion data would be sent into the cloud, and an IoT output device would periodically check this motion data to determine if it should initiate some kind of visual or audio alarm. As another example, a group might start by building an IoT input device with a temperature and light sensor. This environmental data would be sent into the cloud, and an IoT output device could periodically check this environmental data to display the temperature or trigger an alarm. Once scholars have designed, implemented, and tested a simple IoT system, they are also welcome to increase the sophistication of their system by creatively integrating other input and/or output modules that fit with the IoT smart home concept. Scholars should feel free to leverage their home environment. For example, scholars might use the ultrasound sensor to detect a real door in their home opening, or scholars might place their IoT device in the attic to monitor whether or not it is too hot.

IoT Design Project: Early Disaster Warning System

There has been significant work on wireless sensor networks to help provide early warnings for various disasters. Small, inexpensive devices are distributed to monitor for flash flooding, earthquakes, or structural issues in tunnels and bridges. As our world becomes better instrumented, our society will be better prepared for both natural disasters as well as disasters caused by poor maintenance. For example, early flash flood warnings in developing countries can enable downstream villages to move to higher ground. As another example, instrumented tunnels could automatically notify the cloud when they detect structural integrity issues, and then the cloud can even autonomously send a robotic system to investigate.

In this project, scholars will build a simple early disaster warning system that is capable of monitoring water, motion, and/or flex. For example, a group might start by monitoring for abnormal water levels using a water sensor. Water level data would be sent into the cloud, and an IoT output device would periodically check this data to determine if it should initiate some kind of visual or audio alarm. As another example, a group might use a sensitive accelerometer to detect small unexpected motions in the spirit of early earthquake detection, or a group might use a rotary analog sensor to detect small unexpected stress motions in the spirit of structural bridge monitoring. Again, this data can sent into the cloud to produce an alarm with an IoT output device. Once scholars have designed, implemented, and tested a simple IoT system, they are also welcome to increase the sophistication of their system by creatively integrating other input and/or output modules that fit with the IoT early disaster warning concept. Scholars should feel free to leverage their home environment. For example, scholars might use the water sensor in an outdoor pond/stream for flash flood detection (as long as it is within WiFi range!).

IoT Design Project: Wearable Health Monitor

Wearable computing is becoming more and more common. Activity monitors, such as smart bracelets and necklaces from Fitbit, smart rings from Oura, and smart watches from Apple and Samsung enable users to continuously record data on their exercise, sleep, and lifestyle. This data can then be used to make suggestions on healthier living. In the future, we can imagine wearable computing specifically tailored towards health monitoring. These devices can continuously monitor patients, and the corresponding medical data can be uploaded to the cloud for doctors to analyze.

In this project, scholars will build a simple wearable health monitor. An IoT input device can record motion through an accelerometer or step count through a push button and upload this information to the cloud. An IoT output device, in the spirit of what might be in a doctor's office, can periodically display the users health data using an LED and numeric display. Scholars can add more complex analysis to determine the users activity (sleeping, working, exercising) using the input sensors. Scholars could instead focus more on a device in the spirit of assistive devices for the disabled. For example, using an ultrasound sensor to help someone with trouble seeing avoid obstacles, or using the accelerometer to detect a fall. Once scholars have designed, implemented, and tested a simple IoT system, they are also welcome to increase the sophistication of their system by creatively integrating other input and/or output modules that fit with the IoT wearable health monitor system concept.

IoT Design Project: Digital Agriculture

Digital agriculture uses digital technologies, including Internet-of-Things devices, to monitor, analyze, and optimize agricultural systems. Wireless sensors can be used to monitor environmental factors with meter-level resolution, and field robots can use image processing to collect detailed images of each fruit in an orchard. This wealth of data is then sent to the cloud for analysis using state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to inform farmers on how to best improve the yield of their crops.

In this project, scholars will build a simple digital agriculture system. An IoT input device can monitor temperature, humidity, light, and soil moisture and upload this information to the cloud. An IoT output device can periodically display some of this data using a numeric display and then use an alarm to indicate abnormal conditions. Once scholars have designed, implemented, and tested a simple IoT system, they are also welcome to increase the sophistication of their system by creatively integrating other input and/or output modules that fit with the IoT digital agriculture system concept. Scholars should feel free to leverage their home environment. For example, scholars might decide to monitor their own home garden (as long as it is within WiFi range!).