What is IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of interconnected devices which have unique identities that allow them to transfer data across a network without human to human or human to machine involvement. In order for these devices to respond. The IoT devices are embedded with sensors, processors and communication hardware to provide a successful exchange of data with other devices over the Internet.
How can we use Raspberry Pi for IoT projects
The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology that enables users to communicate with other devices wirelessly from a remote location. Using an IoT technology with Raspberry Pi makes it easy and cost effective to access other devices from a remote location, which can be extremely useful. This article will teach how to use the Raspberry Pi for IoT projects.
As we all know, the Raspberry Pi is controlled by its GPIO pins, and if you want to build an IoT project, you will need to set those pins to allow the input and output options for the Raspberry Pi. These pins are proved to be beneficial in connecting you with IoT devices (which include sensors such as light sensors, motion sensors, sound sensors, and so on).
There are different IoT projects you can create using Raspberry Pi and below is the list of few IoT projects which are helpful for daily life use.
1: Smart Energy Monitoring
If you want to build a project that will serve humanity, then you will need to give this project a go. The smart energy monitoring based IoT project will allow you to check the amount of energy a certain appliance is consuming. In this method, you can have a check on your appliances and may adjust their energy to save the extra energy consumption and it will be useful for the environment as well. To create this project, you will have to acquire the following components.
- Analog to Digital Convertor (ADC)
- Raspberry Pi 4
- AdaFruit.IO
- A voltage and current sensing units
The voltage and currents will act as a power supply option for Raspberry Pi and you will need to carefully acquire this option that works best for your device. The ADC and the Raspberry Pi device will do the processing required for this project while the AdaFruit.IO will be vital to keep the project information and it will serve as an IoT device to store all your information on the cloud. You may easily access this information wherever you want.
2: Smart Home Appliances
Most of you had already heard about the word smart home. It’s an automated home where all appliances are acting smartly and allow you to access them from a remote location quite easily. This project is pretty much straightforward for someone who is new to the Raspberry Pi community and you can operate the appliances with the built-in Bluetooth module of your Raspberry Pi device. The only thing you will need is to acquire smart devices that can easily be connected with your WiFi and after having it done you can then operate these devices from your Raspberry Pi device. You will need to join a cloud so that you can access these devices from a remote location as well because at this stage IoT will come into business. To set up this project, you will need to acquire the following tools.
- Raspberry Pi 4
- Power Supply
- Smart Devices (like smart bulbs, smart fans and so on)
3: Face Recognition for Door Lock
The importance of Face Recognition technology has increased a lot in today’s digital world as it provides extra security protection for your homes and offices. Face Recognition is an AI based technology that offers you a guaranteed protection solution fairly effective for your living environment. It is quite similar to the one you have already experienced on your smart phones. With the Raspberry Pi in touch, you can build a facial recognition system at relatively cheaper as compared to other system available in the market. This system will be set on your door lock so that a person who tries to enter your home and office must need to pass a facial recognition check and you may control this through while having to sit on the chair. To construct this project, you will have to purchase the following components.
- Raspberry Pi 4
- Relay Module
- Solenoid Lock
- Jumper Wires
- Power Supply
- Camera Module
4: Estimate the Crowd size
In this pandemic crisis, you will certainly need to build a project that would predict the crowd size and provide a warning about the danger. This project would be an ideal choice to be placed in the public areas as it would keep a check on the crowd whether they are following the social distancing guidelines or not and you can inform the authorities upon violation of the rules. The project will utilize the object detection technology to monitor the crowd movement and this movement can easily be watched through an IoT technology if you have a Raspberry Pi device. To develop this project, you will require the following necessary tools.
- Raspberry Pi 4
- OpenCV (Library of Programming Functions)
- Camera Module to monitor the crowd
- ThingSpeak (a platform to count the number of people)
5: Smart Attendance System
The smart attendance system is a wonderful technique to find out the presence of people through authentication devices. You will find many similar systems in the market but when you have a Raspberry Pi device, you should go for making this project by yourself as it won’t require any expensive components to start with and you will develop this project relatively easier. You may also establish an online interface that will help you to keep check and balance on the individual who sign in to your attendance system. The Raspberry Pi will be useful in that case as you will need Python codes to setup the process and the GPIO pins will be used to build the circuit. To construct this project, the following components will be required.
- Raspberry Pi 4
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag
- Jumping Wires
- LCD screen
Conclusion
Raspberry Pi has attracted many people around the globe because of its diverse features, and its use is not restricted to a particular platform since it has become a helpful device to construct IoT projects. One can think of creating IoT projects that will bring them benefits in their living style and the above listed projects will prove that how simple is to make such projects with the help of Raspberry Pi that even a beginner can create these projects at home.
