The ARTF data receiver parses text messages from remote sensors and stores the data in a sqlite3 database. A lightweight web frontend provides visualizations in the form of line charts. The software is designed to work on a pcDuino2 with Linksprite Sim900 GSM Shield.
The software is also designed to operate without an Internet connection. In this scenario updates must be applied manually.
There are two ways the software can be installed on a pcDuino2.
This approach requires an Internet connection to download the repository and third party dependencies.
Step 1
Open LXTerminal by double clicking on the desktop icon. Alternatively,
CTRL+ALT+T will also open a terminal.
Step 2
Download and run the script by running the following command:
wget –quiet https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UAA-EQLNES/ARTF-Data-Receiver/master/install-scripts/pcduino-install.sh -O - | bash
Step 3
Test if the installation was successful by opening Chromium and navigating to
http://localhost:5000. You should see a demo of the dashboard with dummy data.
Step 4
The next few steps assume that the LinkSprite Sim900 GSM shield is using the default baud-rate of 19200.
The data receiver expects the GSM shield to listen at a baud-rate of 115200. Any slower and incoming text messages may become garbled.
Make sure the jumpers on the shield are set to hardware serial and that the red light is on. In addition, the shield will need a SIM card with text message plan.
Step 5
In the terminal, run the following commands:
cd ~/ARTF-Data-Receiver
python cmd_tester.py -b 19200
Step 6
Once the program starts, type:
AT+IPR=115200
If you get an OK, type:
exit
Step 7
Turn on the artf-data-receiver service:
sudo start artf-data-receiver
You can test that the receiver is working by sending a text message to the receiver. All incoming messages are logged to a text file. For your convenience the file can be viewed from the web frontend.
Step 8
The latest versions of the pcDuino2 have 4GB of on-board storage, however only 2GB are usable initially. The good news is that this can be fixed by running a simple script.
Click here for instructions on how to expand the NAND flash.
The default settings used by the data receiver and viewer application are
located in the file default_settings.py. The default settings are for the demo
application that uses dummy data. Do not edit the file directly.
Instead create a file called settings.cfg in the same directory to override
the defaults.
The following is a quick overview of the settings:
HOST
This is the IP address that the server will bind to. 127.0.0.1 configures the
server to be accessible only through pcDuino2 web browser.
Change the the IP address to the one assigned by your DHCP server to make it viewable by machines on the local network.
Alternatively, using 0.0.0.0 should also do the trick.
PORT
This is the port number that the server will bind to. 5000 is used by default
since it does not require admin privileges.
You can use port 80, but the start up configuration file will also need to be
adjusted. This file can be found at /etc/init/artf-data-viewer.conf.
You will need to remove the following lines:
setuid ubuntu
setgid ubuntu
The settings will not take effect until the pcDuino2 is restarted or you manually restart the service. This can done be using this command:
sudo restart artf-data-viewer
SITE_TITLE
This is displayed on the tab of the browser
REFRESH_INTERVAL
The interval that the browser polls the server for new data. Default is
20 minutes.
SQLITE3_DB_PATH
This is the path to the SQLite database file. By default this points to the demo database. Change this to the following or something similar:
SQLITE3_DB_PATH = 'data/artf_sensors.sqlite3'
This will create the database in the data directory found the in
ARTF-Data-Receiver folder.
SENSOR_TYPES
Sensor types provides a description of the data that your sensors will send to the data receiver application. This information is used to process messages and label data correctly.
The demo application uses the following sensor types:
SENSOR_TYPES = (
("d", "Water", "distance meters; temperature celsius"),
("g", "Gate", "distance meters"),
("s", "Soil", "moisture percent; temperature celsius"),
)
The first parameter is the short identifier sent by your remote sensors. The second parameter is a human-readable label that is stored in the database. The third parameter is a semi-colon separated list that contains the type of measurement and the unit of measure for each sensor reading captured and sent back.
Each sensor type is wrapped in its own set of parenthesis.
This is a very important setting. If done incorrectly, the data logger will reject incoming data or label it incorrectly.
SENSOR_NAMES
This is an optional field. It's only purpose is to provide human-readable names to better identify remote sensors.
SENSOR_NAMES = {
'sensor_0': 'Machu Picchu Sensor',
'sensor_1': 'Yellowstone Sensor',
'sensor_2': 'Sagarmatha National Park Sensor',
'sensor_3': 'Banff Sensor',
}
In the demo configuration file, the values on the right side will typically be the phone number associated with the remote sensor, and the value on the left side is th human readable name.
Make sure to double check that the syntax is correct. Otherwise the server will not start.
DATA_LOGGER_ERROR_FILE
This parameter specifies the location of the log file generated by the data
receiver application. By default it writes to a demo log file located in the
log directory of the PcDuino folder. This should be changed to something
like the following:
DATA_LOGGER_ERROR_FILE = 'log/artf_sensors.log'
This file is useful for making the sure the data logger is correctly communicating with the remote sensors.
These services will start on boot, so there is no need to start them yourself.
Start the data viewer
sudo start artf-data-viewer
Restart the data viewer
sudo restart artf-data-viewer
Stop the data viewer
sudo stop artf-data-viewer
Show the status of the data viewer
sudo status artf-data-viewer
Start the data receiver
sudo start artf-data-receiver
Restart the data receiver
sudo restart artf-data-receiver
Stop the data receiver
sudo stop artf-data-receiver
Show the status of the data receiver
sudo status artf-data-receiver
This tutorial describes how to create a bootable SD card image from the pcDuino2.
From there, you may want to save time and reuse image with other pcDuino2s.
One option is to copy the disc image to a computer so that it can be downloaded and burned to new SD cards later.
The following instructions are for OSX.
Step 1
Insert the microSD card that contains the disc image to be copied.
Step 2
Open the OSX Terminal app.
Step 3
Type the following to get list of disks on your system:
diskutil list
Step 4
Find the path to the microSD. It should be /dev/disk1 if you aren't using any
other USB/SD drives.
There should also be a path to your hard drive. It should be /dev/disk0. Make
sure you do not select the hard drive disk or you could corrupt your operating
system. Be very careful here.
Step 5
For step 6, replace /dev/rdiskX with the disk you located in step 4.
For example /dev/rdisk1.
Step 6
sudo dd if=/dev/rdiskX of=~/Desktop/artf-data-receiver.img bs=1m
The pcDuino2 has the option to boot from an SD card.
These instruction are for OSX since the procedure has not been tested on Windows or Linux yet. The process is similar to what you'd do with a Raspberry Pi disc image.
These instructions use Keka to unzip the disc image.
Step 1
Download the artf-receiver.img.xz to your Desktop.
Step 2
Unzip the file with Keka. Right click on the artf-receiver.img.xz file. Select
Open With and find Keka.
The image is 4GB uncompressed, so it will take a while to complete.
Step 3
Insert a new microSD card. If it is not new you may want to erase it using the Disk Utility application
Step 4
Open the OSX Terminal app.
Step 5
Type the following to get list of disks on your system:
diskutil list
Step 6
Find the path to the microSD. It should be /dev/disk1 if you aren't using any
other USB/SD drives.
There should also be a path to your hard drive. It should be /dev/disk0. Make
sure you do not select the hard drive disk or you could corrupt your operating
system. Be very careful here.
A good hint is to look for the disk that is 4GB and not 200+GB
Step 7
For step 8, replace /dev/diskX with the disk you located in step 6.
For example /dev/disk1.
Step 8
To unmount the microSD card, type:
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX
Step 9
For step 10, replace /dev/rdisk1 with the disk you located in step 6. Make sure
you add the "r". For example /dev/rdisk1
Also replace ~/Desktop/artf-receiver.img with the location where you put the
pcduino2 SD card image. This step assumes you moved the file to the Desktop.
Step 10
To burn the disc to the microSD card, type:
sudo dd bs=1m if=~/Desktop/artf-receiver.img of=/dev/rdiskX
Step 11
Step 10 should take 10 - 30 minutes
Step 12
Once the command finishes, you will probably seen an error message pop up. Click "Eject".
Step 13
The pcDuino2 should now boot from the image on the SD card instead of from the on-board NAND flash.
Step 14
Test if the installation was successful by opening Chromium and navigating to
http://localhost:5000. You should see a demo of the dashboard with dummy data.