Platform for Distance Learning of Microcontrollers and Internet of Things

Article Sidebar

PDF (Spanish) HTML (Spanish) EPUB (Spanish) PDF HTML
Published: Aug 17, 2022
Updated: 2022-08-17
Versions:
2022-08-17 (4)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17163/ings.n28.2022.05
Keywords:
platform, distance learning, microcontroller, internet of things, embedded systems, virtual laboratory

Main Article Content

Renata Pereira
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3266-2880
Cleonilson de Souza
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8182-3516
Darwin Patiño
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9850-0393
Juan Lata
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3272-6813

Abstract

Due to the increasing technological development in embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), devices based on microcontrollers are increasingly applied in various areas of knowledge. In this context, online educational platforms and products are considered virtual remote laboratories because students can access the physical devices anywhere as long as they have an Internet-connected computer system. In this sense, this work describes the design and development of a platform with four online educational products for teaching microcontrollers and IoT. These educational products are based on open-source software, allowing their free online distribution and can be accessed from a cloud server. The open-source and multiplatform (Linux, Windows®, and Mac OSX) approach allows more significant user interaction and accessibility. The online educational products make possible the programming of ESP32 firmware remotely via OTA (over the air) and Linux embedded systems based on Raspberry Pi (Rpi), enabling virtual microcontroller laboratory applications. In addition, online educational products allow the manipulation of GPIO pins via the Internet through a graphical interface of the ESP32 and ESP8266 microcontrollers and the Rpi. In this context, the proposed online platform, running on a cloud server, was tested, and the four online educational products of distance learning and actual application of microcontrollers and the Internet of Things have been validated and worked as designed.

Article Details

Issue
No. 28 (2022): july-december
Section
Special Issue: Electric Networks and Smart Cities
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

The Universidad Politécnica Salesiana of Ecuador preserves the copyrights of the published works and will favor the reuse of the works. The works are published in the electronic edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution/Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 Ecuador license: they can be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted and publicly displayed.

The undersigned author partially transfers the copyrights of this work to the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana of Ecuador for printed editions.

It is also stated that they have respected the ethical principles of research and are free from any conflict of interest. The author(s) certify that this work has not been published, nor is it under consideration for publication in any other journal or editorial work.

The author (s) are responsible for their content and have contributed to the conception, design and completion of the work, analysis and interpretation of data, and to have participated in the writing of the text and its revisions, as well as in the approval of the version which is finally referred to as an attachment.

References

C. Y. Yeh, Y. M. Cheng, and S. J. Lou, “An internet of things (IoT) maker curriculum for primary school students: Develop and evaluate,” International Journal of Information and Education Technology, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. 889–896, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.18178/ijiet.2020.10.12.1475

P. Jacko, M. Bereš, I. Kovacova, J. Molnár, T. Vince, J. Dziak, B. Fecko, S. Gans, and D. Kovac, “Remote IoT Education Laboratory for Microcontrollers Based on the STM32 Chips,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 4, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041440

D. Sarpong, G. Ofosu, D. Botchie, and F. Clear, “Do-it-yourself (DiY) science: The proliferation, relevance and concerns,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 158, no. May, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120127

D. De Roeck, K. Slegers, J. Criel, M. Godon, L. Claeys, K. Kilpi, and A. Jacobs, “I would DiYSE for it! A manifesto for do-it-yourself internet-of-things creation,” NordiCHI 2012: Making Sense Through Design - Proceedings of the 7th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 170–179, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/2399016.2399044

J. L. Victor, S. C. Jucá, R. I. Pereira, P. C. Carvalho, and L. M. Fernández-Ramírez, “IoT monitoring systems applied to photovoltaic generation: The relevance for increasing decentralized plants,” Renewable Energy and Power Quality Journal, vol. 17, no. September, pp. 536–545, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj17.368

R. I. Pereira, M. M. Camboim, A. W. Villarim, C. P. Souza, S. C. Jucá, and P. C. Carvalho, “On harvesting residual thermal energy from photovoltaic module back surface,” AEU - International Journal of Electronics and Communications, vol. 111, p. 152878, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeue.2019.152878

A. Morris and N. Lessio, “Deriving Privacy and Security Considerations for CORE,” Internet of Things and Cloud-based Services Conference, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 2–11, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3267357.3267363

D. Mijailovic, A. Dordevic, M. Stefanovic, D. Vidojevic, A. Gazizulina, and D. Projovic, “A Cloud-Based with Microcontroller Platforms System Designed to Educate Students within Digitalization and the Industry 4.0 Paradigm,” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 22, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212396

RaspberryPi Foundation, “Raspberrypi.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3tXNSUY

Red Hat, “Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Manual de referencia.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3xSVdpV

Red Hat-, “Red Hat SSH.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3NpD2OI

Wiringpi, “Wiring Pi.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/39QkERe

GCC, “GCC online documentation.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3Oi0UFb

CURL, “Command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs.” [Online]. Available: https://curl.se/

ESP, “ESP32 Series Datasheet,” Espressif Systems, pp. 1–65, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/2E6qqIt

ESP8266EX, “ESP8266EX Datasheet,” Espressif Systems, p. 31, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/2E6qqIt

M. Technology, “USB Microcontrollers with nanoWatt Technology,” Technology, 2006. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3OEOKpk

A. Kevin, “That ’ Internet of Things ’ Thing,” RFiD Journal, p. 4986, 2010. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3OdZmvI

E. Inga, J. Inga, and A. Ortega, “Novel approach sizing and routing of wireless sensor networks for applications in smart cities,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 14, pp. 1–17, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/s21144692

A. Peralta, E. Inga, and R. Hincapié, “Optimal Scalability of FiWi Networks Based on Multistage Stochastic Programming and Policies,” Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, vol. 9, no. 12, p. 1172, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3zZJicE

H. Tabrizchi and M. Kuchaki Rafsanjani, A survey on security challenges in cloud computing: issues, threats, and solutions. Springer US, 2020, vol. 76, no. 12. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-020-03213-1

E. Inga, M. Campaña, R. Hincapié, and O. Moscoso-zea, “Optimal Deployment of FiWi Networks Using Heuristic Method for Integration Microgrids with Smart Metering,” Sensors, vol. 18, no. 8, pp. 1–21, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082724

Firebase, “Firebase.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3blnhLa

S. E. Ooi, R. Beuran, and Y. Tan, “Secure iot development: A maker’s perspective,” 2021 IEEE International Conference on Omni-Layer Intelligent Systems, COINS 2021, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1109/COINS51742.2021.9524205

Github, “SanUSB / EspCloudUpdate.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3Nj8azh

J. I. Vega Luna, F. J. Sánchez-Rangel, G. Salgado-Guzmán, J. F. Cosme-Aceves, V. N. Tapia-Vargas, and M. A. Lagos-Acosta, “Red de monitorización para automatizar el sistema de enfriamiento de un centro de datos,” Ingenius, Revista de Ciencia y Tecnología, no. 24, pp. 87–96, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.17163/ings.n24.2020.09

S. Jucá and R. Pereira, “Aplicações práticas de sistemas embarcados Linux utilizando Raspberry Pi,” PoD Editoria, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3negu8Q

Github, “SanUSB / IOTUS.” [Online]. Available: https://bit.ly/3zWHxgx

S. C. Jucá, P. C. Carvalho, and F. T. Brito, “A low cost concept for data acquisition systems applied to decentralized renewable energy plants,” Sensors, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 743–756, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/s110100743

I. M. Dupont, P. C. Carvalho, S. C. Jucá, and J. S. Neto, “Novel methodology for detecting non-ideal operating conditions for grid-connected photovoltaic plants using Internet of Things architecture,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 200, no. September, p. 112078, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.112078

R. Pereira, I. Dupont, P. Carvalho, and S. Jucá, “IoT embedded linux system based on Raspberry Pi applied to real-time cloud monitoring of a decentralized photovoltaic plant,” Measurement Journal, vol. 114, pp. 286–297, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2017.09.033

R. Pereira, S. Jucá, and P. Carvalho, “IoT embedded systems network and sensors signal conditioning applied to decentralized photovoltaic plants,” Measurement, vol. 142, pp. 195–212, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2019.04.085