Internet of Things with Raspberry Pi and the Microsoft Cloud

Windows 10 IoT Core is the latest product from Microsoft running on embedded systems with ARM technology. This course teaches how to access the ports and components of the Raspberry Pi 3 Board to manage sensors and read data. The read data is then computed, formated and sent to the Azure Cloud. It can then be used for further analysis and actions. Alle examples are written in C#.

Introducing the Raspberry PI 3 world

• The course participants will be shown what options they have with the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Windows IoT (Internet of Things) Core. For larger projects the connection to Azure Cloud is indispensable. It shows how sensor data are centrally evaluated and stored without a large infrastructure. This type of data management is extremely flexible. It shows how to use the "Microsoft Azure IoT Starter Kit". For this purpose a variety of apps are developed. An app reads sensor data and stores that data in Azure. Another app, on another system, reads this data for evaluation.

Installation and commissioning of Windows 10 IoT Core

• The development machine can be either a Windows 10 or a Windows 7/8 PC. Depending on the operating system, a different approach is necessary. The student sets up his development computer according to the needs. It loads the current flash image of Windows 10 IoT Core onto its system and copies the image onto an 8 GB MicroSD Class 10 card and connects the development computer and the Raspberry Pi 3 board with the respective peripherals (HDMI cable, monitor and mouse , optional), and an Ethernet cable for network access and boots the system from the installed MicroSD. The first boot takes about 10 minutes.

Description of the Raspberry Pi 3 hardware

• In the process, the participants learn where the pins of the GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output Pins), I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit), UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) and the SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) interfaces are located.

Description of the Windows 10 IoT Core

• The Windows 10 IoT Core version includes a limited user interface that only allows you to configure network connectivity and time zones. There is no start menu, no launcher and you can only run exactly one app with UI (User Interface). The control can be done via mouse and keyboard. However, several "headless apps" can be executed in parallel.

Remote access to the Windows 10 IoT Core

• The student learns from his PC to communicate with the Raspberry Pi Board via the various access options. He uses the following remote tools: the Remote PowerShell, Secure Shell, FTP, administrator shares and the integrated web browser.

Available commands

• The student learns with the provided functions (IoT startup, net use, SetPassword ping, etc) to adapt his target to the needs.

The development environment

• As a development environment, the free edition of Visual Studio 2015 RC can be used and additionally an IoT extension and an SDK (Software Development Kit) will be installed. In principle, the following development languages ​​can be used for project development, C #, VB.NET and C ++. It also supports Node.js and Python. We are currently using C #. It shows which features to install in Visual Studio 2015. He can then use the project templates to develop universal apps. He can also use these apps on the following devices: IoT devices with Raspberry PI, mobile devices, PC / Desktop, Surface and Xbox. He uses three types of deployment and debugging methods. Use the debugger in Visual Studio to test the app on the RasPi, load the app via the web interface, or publish and apply the app through the Microsoft Store.

Raspberry Pi and Cloud (Azure IoT Hub)

• The participant sets up an AZURE test account at Microsoft and stores his data there for further processing. He knows how to set up the cloud and how to register the Raspberry Pi 3 on the Azure IoT Hub.

Exercises

• There are many exercises available. Starting with Hello Raspberry Pi 3, Hello LED, GPIO App, Sensor App, App2App Communication, etc.

Basic knowledge of C# in the .Net Framework

Available kit for the students

Students will be provided with a HW kit, the Vilros Raspberry Pi 3 Ultimate Starter Kit or similar, as well as a book, Raspberry Pi for Windows 10 IoT Core: the practical introduction for users and developers.