Articles

Mosquitto is usually the first candidate to come to mind when looking for an MQTT broker. However, by default, Mosquitto manages users using a password file. This makes it difficult to easily add or remove users, especially when the broker is deployed in Kubernetes.

A simple framework using Three.js and MQTT to easily create digital twins

With the cloud native multi-user MQTT platform deployed, I started designing IoT devices that I could distribute to end users. However, without a GUI, interacting with those devices would be difficult. Of course, one could install applications like MQTT dash or similar but this would require tedious configuration such as MQTT broker and topics. I wanted to give users a simpler UX so I made this simple control interface that automatically displays a users devices and allows those to be controlled.

A Node.js application which stores data from IoT devices sent over MQTT into an InfluxDB time-series database. It allows the management of multiple data sources into a MongoDB database.

This is an IoT ceiling light controller which includes an HC-SR501 PIR motion sensor. It is built around a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266 breakout board), which controls a homemade TRIAC breakout board. TRIACs provide the advantage of switching devices on and off silently, as opposed to a mechanical relay.

<p>LINE offers an API to developers looking into creating chat bots. I created my own so that I could send myself notifications.</p>

Keeping track of one's body weight usually involves manually writing down measurements on a spreadsheet or similar. To automate the process, I removed the electronics of a cheap scale, keeping only the load cells, and replaced it with my own.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us cannot participate in family gatherings or other similar events in person. Instead, some opt for video-call applications like zoom, but then get constrained to the field of view of camera of the device used for the call.

Have you ever left your apartment and couldn't remember if you locked your front door or not? Sadly, if it is unlocked, there is not much you can do about it until you get back home. This system is an attempt to solve the problem. Simply put, it consists of attaching an actuator to the door's original locking mechanism control it with through WiFi.

Although probably in the decline, infrared is a common way to remotely control household appliances such as air conditioners or TVs. Being able to turn on an AC unit without leaving the sofa is definitely comfortable, but sometimes it would be even better to be able to do it before even getting home. In order to control those various appliances, I designed a simple WiFi controlled IR emitter.