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Internet of Things with ESP8266
Internet of Things with ESP8266

Internet of Things with ESP8266: Build amazing Internet of Things projects using the ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip

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Internet of Things with ESP8266

Chapter 2. First Projects with the ESP8266

Now that your ESP8266 chip is ready to be used and you can connect it to your Wi-Fi network, we can build some basic projects with it. This will help you understand the basics of the ESP8266.

We are going to see three projects in this chapter: how to control an LED, how to read data from a GPIO pin, and how to grab the contents from a web page. We will also see how to read data from a digital sensor.

Controlling an LED

First, we are going to see how to control a simple LED. The GPIO pins of the ESP8266 can be configured to realize many functions: inputs, outputs, PWM outputs, and also SPI or I2C communications. This first project will teach you how to use the GPIO pins of the chip as outputs:

  1. The first step is to add an LED to our project. These are the extra components you will need for this project:
  2. The next step is to connect the LED with the resistor to the ESP8266 board. To do so, the first thing to do is to place the resistor on the breadboard.
  3. Then, place the LED on the breadboard as well, connecting the longest pin of the LED (the anode) to one pin of the resistor.
  4. Then, connect the other end of the resistor to GPIO pin 5 of the ESP8266, and the other end of the LED to the ground.

    This is what it should look like at the end:

    Controlling an LED
  5. We are now going to...

Reading data from a GPIO pin

In the second project in this chapter, we are going to read the state of a GPIO pin. For this, we will use the same pin as in the previous project. You can therefore remove the LED and the resistor that we used in the previous project.

Now, simply connect this pin (GPIO 5) of the board to the positive power supply on your breadboard with a wire, applying a 3.3V signal on this pin.

Reading data from a pin is really simple. This is the complete code for this part:

// Import required libraries
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

void setup(void)
{  
// Start Serial (to display results on the Serial monitor)
Serial.begin(115200);

// Set GPIO 5 as input
pinMode(5, INPUT);}
void loop() {

// Read GPIO 5 and print it on Serial port
Serial.print("State of GPIO 5: ");
Serial.println(digitalRead(5));

// Wait 1 second
  delay(1000);
}

We simply set the pin as an input, read the value of this pin, and print it out every second. Copy and paste this code into the Arduino...

Grabbing the content from a web page

As the last project in this chapter, we are finally going to use the Wi-Fi connection of the chip to grab the content of a page. We will simply use the www.example.com page, as it's a basic page largely used for test purposes.

This is the complete code for this project:

// Import required libraries
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

// WiFi parameters
constchar* ssid = "your_wifi_network";
constchar* password = "your_wifi_password";

// Host
constchar* host = "www.example.com";

void setup() {
// Start Serial
Serial.begin(115200);

// We start by connecting to a WiFi network
Serial.println();
Serial.println();
Serial.print("Connecting to ");
Serial.println(ssid);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
  }

Serial.println("");
Serial.println("WiFi connected");
Serial.println("IP address: ");
Serial.println(WiFi...

Reading data from a digital sensor

In this last section of this chapter, we are going to connect a digital sensor to our ESP8266 chip, and read data from it. As an example, we will use a DHT11 sensor, which can be used to get ambient temperature and humidity.

You will need to get this component for this section, the DHT11 sensor (https://www.adafruit.com/products/386)

Let's now connect this sensor to your ESP8266:

  1. First, place the sensor on the breadboard. Then, connect the first pin of the sensor to VCC, the second pin to pin 5 of the ESP8266, and the fourth pin of the sensor to GND.

    This is what it will look like at the end:

    Reading data from a digital sensor

    Note

    Note that here I've used another ESP8266 board, the Adafruit ESP8266 breakout board. I will use this board in several chapters of this book.

    We will also use the aREST framework in this example, so it's easy for you to access the measurements remotely. aREST is a complete framework to control your ESP8266 boards remotely (including from the cloud), and...

Summary

In this chapter, we realized our first basic projects using the ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip. We first learned how to control a simple output, by controlling the state of an LED. Then, we saw how to read the state of a digital pin on the chip. Finally, we learned how to read data from a digital sensor, and actually grab this data using the aREST framework which we will use in several chapters of this book.

In the next chapter, we are going to go right into the main topic of the book, and build our first Internet of Things project using the ESP8266.

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Key benefits

  • Get to know the powerful and low cost ESP8266 and build interesting projects in the field of Internet of Things
  • Configure your ESP8266 to the cloud and explore the networkable modules that will be utilized in the IoT projects
  • This step-by-step guide teaches you the basics of IoT with ESP8266 and makes your life easier

Description

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of objects such as physical things embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity, enabling data exchange. ESP8266 is a low cost WiFi microcontroller chip that has the ability to empower IoT and helps the exchange of information among various connected objects. ESP8266 consists of networkable microcontroller modules, and with this low cost chip, IoT is booming. This book will help deepen your knowledge of the ESP8266 WiFi chip platform and get you building exciting projects. Kick-starting with an introduction to the ESP8266 chip, we will demonstrate how to build a simple LED using the ESP8266. You will then learn how to read, send, and monitor data from the cloud. Next, you’ll see how to control your devices remotely from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, you’ll get to know how to use the ESP8266 to interact with web services such as Twitter and Facebook. In order to make several ESP8266s interact and exchange data without the need for human intervention, you will be introduced to the concept of machine-to-machine communication. The latter part of the book focuses more on projects, including a door lock controlled from the cloud, building a physical Bitcoin ticker, and doing wireless gardening. You’ll learn how to build a cloud-based ESP8266 home automation system and a cloud-controlled ESP8266 robot. Finally, you’ll discover how to build your own cloud platform to control ESP8266 devices. With this book, you will be able to create and program Internet of Things projects using the ESP8266 WiFi chip.

Who is this book for?

This book is for those who want to build powerful and inexpensive IoT projects using the ESP8266 WiFi chip, including those who are new to IoT, or those who already have experience with other platforms such as Arduino.

What you will learn

  • Control various devices from the cloud
  • Interact with web services, such as Twitter or Facebook
  • Make two ESP8266 boards communicate with each other via the cloud
  • Send notifications to users of the ESP8266, via email, text message, or push notifications
  • Build a physical device that indicates the current price of Bitcoin
  • Build a simple home automation system that can be controlled from the cloud
  • Create your own cloud platform to control ESP8266 devices

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jul 29, 2016
Length: 226 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786468024
Category :
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Product Details

Publication date : Jul 29, 2016
Length: 226 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786468024
Category :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

14 Chapters
1. Getting Started with the ESP8266 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. First Projects with the ESP8266 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Cloud Data Logging with the ESP8266 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Control Devices from Anywhere Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Interacting With Web Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Machine-to-Machine Communications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Sending Notifications from the ESP8266 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Controlling a Door Lock from the Cloud Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Building a Physical Bitcoin Ticker Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Wireless Gardening with the ESP8266 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Cloud-Based Home Automation System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Cloud-Controlled ESP8266 Robot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
13. Building Your Own Cloud Platform to Control ESP8266 Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.1
(14 Ratings)
5 star 35.7%
4 star 14.3%
3 star 7.1%
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1 star 35.7%
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B.M Dec 26, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book arrived on time. At first glance it seems a well supported book and helpful after sale. It starts from a beginner state and develops into a relatively advanced stage. I cannot wait to try some of the projects. The figures are in black and white which are difficult to see. However, the colour versions are provided from the publisher's website. The codes can also be download which saves some typing.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Aug 11, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Few months ago I was under the impression that controlling stuff from my house over the Internet is very hard to accomplish, but I've discovered the ESP8266 and this book so, in matter of hours following the examples I was able not only to control them but also to be notified on their state change and see history of the events. It was a pleasure reading this book and I've learned something from each chapter. Now, only the sky is the limit on what I can control. Happy coding!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amlanshankar D. Dec 16, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good Book.
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Melinda Winchell Mar 04, 2017
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Husband loves the book
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ronthepicguy Nov 17, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
As a beginner with this module, it was good to have a book that took nothing for granted. Things are explained very clearly, and there does seem to be any danger of not getting the examples to work. The only complaint was some of the drawings; I like a schematic and there were not that many of them. That is a minor point, however. I really liked this book. Very useful.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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