GPS data upload and visualization using LinkIt ONE and ThingsBoard

Introduction

ThingsBoard is an open-source server-side platform that allows you to monitor and control IoT devices. It is free for both personal and commercial usage and you can deploy it anywhere. If this is your first experience with the platform we recommend to review what-is-thingsboard page and getting-started guide.

This sample application shows the capability to track GPS location of LinkIt ONE device and perform further visualization on the map. It performs collection of latitude and longitude values produced by GPS module. Collected data is pushed to ThingsBoard for storage and visualization. The purpose of this application is to demonstrate ThingsBoard data collection API and visualization capabilities.

The GPS module is a built-in module of LinkIt ONE. LinkIt ONE pushes data to ThingsBoard server via MQTT protocol by using PubSubClient library for Arduino. Data is visualized using the map widget which is a part of a customizable dashboard. The application that is running on LinkIt ONE is written using Arduino SDK which is quite simple and easy to understand.

Once you complete this sample/tutorial, you will see your device GPS and battery data on the following dashboard.

Prerequisites

You will need to have ThingsBoard server up and running. Use either Live Demo or Installation Guide to install ThingsBoard.

This tutorial was prepared for Windows OS users. However, it is possible to run it on other OS (Linux or MacOS).

List of hardware

LinkIt One GPS and WIFI Antenna are shipped with a board.

ThingsBoard configuration

Note ThingsBoard configuration steps are necessary only in case of local ThingsBoard installation. If you are using Live Demo instance all entities are pre-configured for your demo account. However, we recommend reviewing this steps because you will still need to get device access token to send requests to ThingsBoard.

Provision your device

This step contains instructions that are necessary to connect your device to ThingsBoard.

Open ThingsBoard Web UI (http://localhost:8080) in browser and login as tenant administrator

Go to “Devices” section. Click “+” button and create a device with the name “LinkIt One Demo Device”.

Once device created, open its details and click “Manage credentials”.

Copy auto-generated access token from the “Access token” field. Please save this device token. It will be referred to later as $ACCESS_TOKEN.

Click “Copy Device ID” in device details to copy your device id to the clipboard. Paste your device id to some place, this value will be used in further steps.

Provision your dashboard

Download the dashboard file using this link. Use import/export instructions to import the dashboard to your ThingsBoard instance.

Programming the LinkIt One device

If you already familiar with basics of LinkIt One programming using Arduino IDE you can skip the following step and proceed with step 2.

Step 1. LinkIt ONE and Arduino IDE setup.

In order to start programming LinkIt One device, you will need Arduino IDE installed and all related libraries. Please follow this guide in order to install the Arduino IDE and LinkIt One SDK:

It’s recommended to update your firmware by following this guide. To try your first LinkIt One sample, please follow this guide.

Step 2. PubSubClient library installation.

Open Arduino IDE and go to Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries. Find PubSubClient by Nick O’Leary and install it.

Note that this tutorial was tested with PubSubClient 2.6.

Download and open gps_tracker.ino sketch.

Note You need to edit following constants and variables in the sketch:

WIFI_AP - name of your access point

WIFI_PASSWORD - access point password

WIFI_AUTH - choose one of LWIFI_OPEN, LWIFI_WPA, or LWIFI_WEP.

TOKEN - the $ACCESS_TOKEN from ThingsBoard configuration step.

from ThingsBoard configuration step. thingsboardServer - ThingsBoard HOST/IP address that is accessible within your wifi network. Specify “demo.thingsboard.io” if you are using live demo server.

gps_tracker.ino resources/gps_tracker.ino #include <PubSubClient.h> #include <LWiFi.h> #include <LWiFiClient.h> #include <LGPS.h> #include <LBattery.h> #define WIFI_AP "YOUR_WIFI_AP" #define WIFI_PASSWORD "YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD" #define WIFI_AUTH LWIFI_WPA // choose from LWIFI_OPEN, LWIFI_WPA, or LWIFI_WEP. #define TOKEN "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" gpsSentenceInfoStruct gpsInfo ; char thingsboardServer [] = "YOUR_THINGSBOARD_HOST_OR_IP" ; LWiFiClient wifiClient ; PubSubClient client ( wifiClient ); unsigned long lastSend ; void setup () { Serial . begin ( 115200 ); LGPS . powerOn (); Serial . println ( "GPS started." ); InitLWiFi (); client . setServer ( thingsboardServer , 1883 ); lastSend = 0 ; } void loop () { LWifiStatus ws = LWiFi . status (); boolean status = wifi_status ( ws ); if ( ! status ) { Serial . println ( "Connecting to AP ..." ); while ( 0 == LWiFi . connect ( WIFI_AP , LWiFiLoginInfo ( WIFI_AUTH , WIFI_PASSWORD ))) { delay ( 500 ); } Serial . println ( "Connected to AP" ); } if ( ! client . connected () ) { reconnect (); } if ( millis () - lastSend > 1000 ) { // Update and send only after 1 seconds getAndSendGPSData (); lastSend = millis (); } client . loop (); } void getAndSendGPSData () { Serial . println ( "Collecting GPS data." ); LGPS . getData ( & gpsInfo ); Serial . println (( char * ) gpsInfo . GPGGA ); char latitude [ 20 ]; char lat_direction [ 1 ]; char longitude [ 20 ]; char lon_direction [ 1 ]; char buf [ 20 ]; char time [ 30 ]; const char * p = ( char * ) gpsInfo . GPGGA ; p = nextToken ( p , 0 ); // GGA p = nextToken ( p , time ); // Time p = nextToken ( p , latitude ); // Latitude p = nextToken ( p , lat_direction ); // N or S? p = nextToken ( p , longitude ); // Longitude p = nextToken ( p , lon_direction ); // E or W? p = nextToken ( p , buf ); // fix quality const int coord_size = 8 ; char lat_fixed [ coord_size ], lon_fixed [ coord_size ]; convertCoords ( latitude , longitude , lat_direction , lon_direction , lat_fixed , lon_fixed , coord_size ); Serial . print ( "Latitude:" ); Serial . println ( lat_fixed ); Serial . print ( "Longitude:" ); Serial . println ( lon_fixed ); if ( buf [ 0 ] == '1' ) { // GPS fix p = nextToken ( p , buf ); // number of satellites Serial . print ( "GPS is fixed:" ); Serial . print ( atoi ( buf )); Serial . println ( " satellite(s) found!" ); } else { Serial . println ( "GPS is not fixed yet." ); } // Obtain battery level String batteryLevel = String ( LBattery . level ()); String batteryCharging = LBattery . isCharging () == 1 ? "true" : "false" ; // Just debug messages Serial . print ( "Sending gps location and battery level: [" ); Serial . print ( lat_fixed ); Serial . print ( lon_fixed ); Serial . print ( " Battery level: " ); Serial . print ( batteryLevel ); Serial . print ( " Battery charging: " ); Serial . print ( batteryCharging ); Serial . print ( "] -> " ); // Prepare a JSON payload string String payload = "{" ; payload += " \" latitude \" :" ; payload += lat_fixed ; payload += ", " ; payload += " \" longitude \" :" ; payload += lon_fixed ; payload += ", " ; payload += " \" batteryLevel \" :" ; payload += batteryLevel ; payload += ", " ; payload += " \" batteryCharging \" :" ; payload += batteryCharging ; payload += "}" ; // Send payload char attributes [ 100 ]; payload . toCharArray ( attributes , 100 ); client . publish ( "v1/devices/me/attributes" , attributes ); Serial . println ( attributes ); } void InitLWiFi () { LWiFi . begin (); // Keep retrying until connected to AP Serial . println ( "Connecting to AP ..." ); while ( 0 == LWiFi . connect ( WIFI_AP , LWiFiLoginInfo ( WIFI_AUTH , WIFI_PASSWORD ))) { delay ( 500 ); } Serial . println ( "Connected to AP" ); } void reconnect () { // Loop until we're reconnected while ( ! client . connected ()) { Serial . print ( "Connecting to ThingsBoard node ..." ); // Attempt to connect (clientId, username, password) if ( client . connect ( "LinkIt One Device" , TOKEN , NULL ) ) { Serial . println ( "[DONE]" ); } else { Serial . print ( "[FAILED] [ rc = " ); Serial . print ( client . state () ); Serial . println ( " : retrying in 5 seconds]" ); // Wait 5 seconds before retrying delay ( 5000 ); } } } void convertCoords ( const char * latitude , const char * longitude , const char * lat_direction , const char * lon_direction , char * lat_return , char * lon_return , int buff_length ) { char lat_deg [ 3 ]; // extract the first 2 chars to get the latitudinal degrees strncpy ( lat_deg , latitude , 2 ); // null terminate lat_deg [ 2 ] = 0 ; char lon_deg [ 4 ]; // extract first 3 chars to get the longitudinal degrees strncpy ( lon_deg , longitude , 3 ); // null terminate lon_deg [ 3 ] = 0 ; // convert to integer from char array int lat_deg_int = arrayToInt ( lat_deg ); int lon_deg_int = arrayToInt ( lon_deg ); // must now take remainder/60 // this is to convert from degrees-mins-secs to decimal degrees // so the coordinates are "google mappable" // convert the entire degrees-mins-secs coordinates into a float - this is for easier manipulation later float latitude_float = arrayToFloat ( latitude ); float longitude_float = arrayToFloat ( longitude ); // remove the degrees part of the coordinates - so we are left with only minutes-seconds part of the coordinates latitude_float = latitude_float - ( lat_deg_int * 100 ); longitude_float = longitude_float - ( lon_deg_int * 100 ); // convert minutes-seconds to decimal latitude_float /= 60 ; longitude_float /= 60 ; // add back on the degrees part, so it is decimal degrees latitude_float += lat_deg_int ; longitude_float += lon_deg_int ; if ( strcmp ( lat_direction , "S" ) == 0 ) { latitude_float *= - 1 ; } if ( strcmp ( lon_direction , "W" ) == 0 ) { longitude_float *= - 1 ; } // format the coordinates nicey - no more than 6 decimal places snprintf ( lat_return , buff_length , "%2.6f" , latitude_float ); snprintf ( lon_return , buff_length , "%3.6f" , longitude_float ); } int arrayToInt ( const char * char_array ) { int temp ; sscanf ( char_array , "%d" , & temp ); return temp ; } float arrayToFloat ( const char * char_array ) { float temp ; sscanf ( char_array , "%f" , & temp ); return temp ; } const char * nextToken ( const char * src , char * buf ) { int i = 0 ; while ( src [ i ] != 0 && src [ i ] != ',' ) i ++ ; if ( buf ) { strncpy ( buf , src , i ); buf [ i ] = 0 ; } if ( src [ i ]) i ++ ; return src + i ; } boolean wifi_status ( LWifiStatus ws ) { switch ( ws ) { case LWIFI_STATUS_DISABLED : return false ; break ; case LWIFI_STATUS_DISCONNECTED : return false ; break ; case LWIFI_STATUS_CONNECTED : return true ; break ; } return false ; }

Connect your LinkIt One device via USB cable and select Serial Debug COM port in Arduino IDE. Compile and Upload your sketch to the device using “Upload” button.

After application will be uploaded and started it will try to connect to ThingsBoard node using mqtt client and upload “latitude” and “longitude” attributes once per second.

Troubleshooting

When the application is running you can connect your device to Serial Debug COM port in Arduino IDE and open “Serial Monitor” in order to view debug information produced by serial output.

Data visualization

Finally, open ThingsBoard Web UI. You can access this dashboard by logging in as a tenant administrator. Use

in case of local ThingsBoard installation.

Go to “Devices” section and locate “LinkIt One Demo Device”, open device details and switch to “Attributes” tab. If all is configured correctly you should be able to see “latitude”, “longitude” and battery status attributes and their latest values in the table.

After, open “Dashboards” section then locate and open “LinkIt One GPS Tracking Demo Dashboard”. As a result, you will see the map widget with a pointer indicating your device location and a battery level widget (similar to dashboard image in the introduction).

See also

Browse other samples or explore guides related to main ThingsBoard features:

Your feedback

Don’t hesitate to star ThingsBoard on github to help us spread the word. If you have any questions about this sample - post it on the issues.

Next steps





