Make: Getting Started with the Photon: Making Things with the Affordable, Compact, Hackable WiFi Module

205 Pages·2015·3.6 MB·English

by  Simon Monk

M Make:
Technology & Engineering / Electronics
a
Make: Getting Started with the Photon k
e
:

The Photon is an open source, inexpensive, programmable, WiFi- Getting Started
G
enabled module for building connected projects and prototypes. e
t
Powered by an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller and a Broadcom WiFi t
i
n
chip, the Photon is just as happy plugged into a hobbyist’s breadboard as g
with the Photon
S
it is into a product rolling off of an assembly line.
t
a
While the Photon—and its accompanying cloud platform—is designed rt
e
as a ready-to-go foundation for product developers and manufacturers, d

it’s great for Maker projects, as you’ll see in this book. You’ll learn how to w
i
t
get started with the free development tools, deploy your sketches over h

WiFi, and build electronic projects that take advantage of the Photon’s th
e
processing power, cloud platform, and input/output pins. What’s more,
P
the Photon is backward-compatible with its predecessor, the Spark Core. h
o
t
Whether you’re building a one-off project for fun or designing a prototype o
n
for something you’ll make in the tens or hundreds of thousands, the
Photon is ready to be its brain.
With Make: Getting Started with the Photon, you’ll make:
S
» A bell that rings any time you’re mentioned on Twitter
i
m
» A suite of Morse code message applications o
n
» Light- and temperature-sensing devices M
o
» The Web-controlled Photon roving robot (PhoBot)
n
k
» A magic tug-of-war rope game you can play across the world!
With its easy-to-use, Arduino-compatible programming language, huge
collection of contributed third-party libraries, and wide selection of shields
and add-ons, the Photon is perfect for everyone, from artists to engineers!
Your first building block in the Internet of Things
Making Things with the Affordable,
US $19.99 CAN $22.99
Compact, Hackable WiFi Module
ISBN: 978-1-4571-8701-8
Make: Simon Monk
makezine.com Foreword by Zach Supalla
M Make:
Technology & Engineering / Electronics
a
Make: Getting Started with the Photon k
e
:

The Photon is an open source, inexpensive, programmable, WiFi- Getting Started
G
enabled module for building connected projects and prototypes. e
t
Powered by an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller and a Broadcom WiFi t
i
n
chip, the Photon is just as happy plugged into a hobbyist’s breadboard as g
with the Photon
S
it is into a product rolling off of an assembly line.
t
a
While the Photon—and its accompanying cloud platform—is designed rt
e
as a ready-to-go foundation for product developers and manufacturers, d

it’s great for Maker projects, as you’ll see in this book. You’ll learn how to w
i
t
get started with the free development tools, deploy your sketches over h

WiFi, and build electronic projects that take advantage of the Photon’s th
e
processing power, cloud platform, and input/output pins. What’s more,
P
the Photon is backward-compatible with its predecessor, the Spark Core. h
o
t
Whether you’re building a one-off project for fun or designing a prototype o
n
for something you’ll make in the tens or hundreds of thousands, the
Photon is ready to be its brain.
With Make: Getting Started with the Photon, you’ll make:
S
» A bell that rings any time you’re mentioned on Twitter
i
m
» A suite of Morse code message applications o
n
» Light- and temperature-sensing devices M
o
» The Web-controlled Photon roving robot (PhoBot)
n
k
» A magic tug-of-war rope game you can play across the world!
With its easy-to-use, Arduino-compatible programming language, huge
collection of contributed third-party libraries, and wide selection of shields
and add-ons, the Photon is perfect for everyone, from artists to engineers!
Your first building block in the Internet of Things
Making Things with the Affordable,
US $19.99 CAN $22.99
Compact, Hackable WiFi Module
ISBN: 978-1-4571-8701-8
Make: Simon Monk
makezine.com Foreword by Zach Supalla
Getting
Started with
the Photon
Simon Monk
Make: Getting Started with the Photon
by Simon Monk
Copyright © 2015 Maker Media. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by Maker Media, Inc., 1160 Battery Street East, Suite 125, San Francisco,
CA 94111.
Maker Media books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promo-
tional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://safaribookson-
line.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales depart-
ment: 800-998-9938 or [email protected].
Editor: Roger Stewart
Production Editor: Kristen Brown
Proofreader: Sharon Wilkey
Interior Designer: David Futato
Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery
Illustrator: Rebecca Demarest
Technical Reviewers: Dr. Stephen Hall and Brett Walach
May 2015: First Edition
Revision History for the First Edition
2015-04-24: First Release
See http://oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=9781457187018 for release details.
The Make logo and Maker Media logo are registered trademarks of Maker Media, Inc.
Make: Getting Started with the Photon, the cover image, and related trade dress are
trademarks of Maker Media, Inc.
While the publisher and the author have used good faith efforts to ensure that the
information and instructions contained in this work are accurate, the publisher and
the author disclaim all responsibility for errors or omissions, including without limita-
tion responsibility for damages resulting from the use of or reliance on this work. Use
of the information and instructions contained in this work is at your own risk. If any
code samples or other technology this work contains or describes is subject to open
source licenses or the intellectual property rights of others, it is your responsibility to
ensure that your use thereof complies with such licenses and/or rights.
978-1-457-18701-8
[LSI]
Contents
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
1/The Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Internet of Things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Sparks in the Clouds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Other IoT Platforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Arduino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Intel Edison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
A Tour of the Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Spark Core vs. Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Programming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2/Quick Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Signing Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Connecting to WiFi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Connecting a Core. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Connecting a Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Controlling Pins with the Tinker App. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Project 1. Blink the Tiny Blue LED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Project 2. Control the Photon’s LED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3/Programming the Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Web IDE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Coding an App. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Morse Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Flashing SOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
iii
Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The int Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The float Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Other Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Arrays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Strings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Ifs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Project 3. Morse Code Flasher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4/Breadboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
How a Breadboard Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Attaching an LED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Digital Outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Project 4. Morse Flasher (External LED). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Attaching a Switch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Digital Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Project 5. Morse Flasher with Switch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Running the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Analog Outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
analogWrite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
An Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
A Real Analog Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5/The Internet of Things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Project 6. Control an LED over the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Trying It Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Interacting with loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Running Functions from a Web Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
iv Contents
Project 7. Control Relays from a Web Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Project 8. Morse Code Text Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Analog Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Project 9. Measuring Light over the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Project 10. Measuring Temperature over the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6/If This Then That. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
If This Then That. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Project 11. Temperature Email Alerts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Project 12. Ring a Bell for Tweets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
IFTTT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Project 13. Flash Email as Morse Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
IFTTT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7/Robotics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Project 14. Web-Controlled Robot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Contents v
Software (Photon). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Software (Web Page). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8/Machine-to-Machine Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Publish and Subscribe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Temperature Monitor Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
IFTTT and Publish/Subscribe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Advanced Publish and Subscribe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Publish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Subscribe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Project 15. Magic Rope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Using the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
9/Advanced Photon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Configuring a Photon Using USB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Factory Reset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Programming a Photon Using Particle Dev. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Debugging with the Serial Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Electron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Power Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
A/Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
B/Photon LED Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
C/Photon and Core Pinouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
vi Contents
Foreword
According to MIT Technology Review, 2013 was the year of the
Internet of Things. The following year, Cisco said 2014 was the
year of the Internet of Things. This year, CNBC says that 2015 is
the year of the Internet of Things. It is likely that every year for
the next decade will be the “year of the Internet of Things.” But
what does that mean, exactly?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a broad concept that suggests
that as the cost of connectivity comes down, more and more
objects around us will be Internet-connected. We’re used to
thinking about the Internet in terms of devices with screens:
your personal computer, for instance, and your smartphone.
The Internet of Things covers devices that you wouldn’t typically
think about being connected to the Internet, and includes cate-
gories like wearables (Fitbit, smart watches), smart home (con-
nected lights, appliances, and toys), the industrial Internet
(feedback systems on wind turbines), smart cities (connected
parking meters and traffic lights), smart farms (connected irri-
gation systems), and more. It’s a category that is difficult to
define because of its breadth, but the common thread is that
things that weren’t connected before are becoming connected
now.
I believe that the Internet of Things is the third wave of personal
computing (the first being the PC, and the second being smart-
phones). And, unlike the tech press, I don’t think we’ve reached
the “year of the Internet of Things” quite yet. I believe we’re still
in the prototyping days, where even most IoT products coming
to market are just the first experiments that will give way to a
large, vibrant ecosystem in a few years’ time. This is like the
early 90s for the Internet, or the early 2000s for smartphones.
And, like PCs and smartphones, the rapid growth that we’re see-
ing now—and that we’ll continue to see for the next decade—will
present massive opportunities for the people who jump in early.
Industries will change, jobs will be created, and fortunes will be
made and lost.
This book is about a tool: the Photon. The Photon is a simple
development kit, but it represents a starting point that can take
you much further. Your journey may start with the Photon and
end with a connected garage-door opener for your house. Or it
may end with a connected garage-door opener that you bring to
market and sell to hundreds of thousands of people around the
world.
For you, dear reader, the “year of the Internet of Things” will be
the year that you join in. Every great company starts as an idea,
and every great product starts as a prototype. What will you
build first?
—Zach Supalla, Founder and
CEO of Particle, April 2015