With the rise of the Internet of Things, more objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate though the web. Advances in wireless networking technology and the greater standardisation of communications protocols make it possible to collect data from these sensors in real time from almost everywhere.
The aim of this experiment is to build a prototype using a Raspberry Pi computer and an Arduino sensors board to get an understanding of the process of extracting and reading data from sensors with a view to incorporate this technology to processes in the university.
The choice of hardware used for this experiment includes an Arduino board and a Raspberry Pi computer. This choice was made based on the following criteria:
• Cost: the equipment is affordable and inexpensive
• Reliability: Arduino boards are widely used to support sensors and are robust platforms to collect information and to test the principles required by the experiment. Raspberry PI as a low cost simplified computer platform that can be used as the server/web end.
• Access: both Arduino boards and Raspberry Pie are open source, what means access to the API to facilitate the development.