How-To Intel IoT Code Samples: Storage unit flood detector in C++

This storage unit flood detector application is part of a series of how-to Intel IoT code sample exercises using the Intel® IoT Developer Kit, Intel® Edison board, cloud platforms, APIs, and other technologies.

From this exercise, developers will learn how to:

• Connect the Intel® Edison board, a computing platform designed for prototyping and producing IoT and wearable computing products.
• Interface with the Intel® Edison board IO and sensor repository using MRAA and UPM from the Intel® IoT Developer Kit, a complete hardware and software solution to help developers explore the IoT and implement innovative projects.
• Run these code samples in the Intel® System Studio IoT Edition (Eclipse* IDE for C/C++ and Java* development) for creating applications that interact with sensors and actuators, enabling a quick start for developing software for the Intel® Edison or Intel® Galileo board.
• Store water detection data using Azure Redis Cache* from Microsoft* Azure*, Redis Store* from IBM* Bluemix*, or ElastiCache* using Redis* from Amazon* Web Services* (AWS*), different cloud services for connecting IoT solutions including data analysis, machine learning, and a variety of productivity tools to simplify the process of connecting your sensors to the cloud and getting your IoT project up and running quickly.

What it is

Using an Intel® Edison board, this project lets you create a storage unit flood detector that:

• continuously checks the moisture sensor;
• sounds an audible warning when it looks like flooding;
• stores a record of each time moisture is detected, using cloud-based data storage.

How it works

This storage unit flood detector uses the sensor to constantly make sure your stored belongings are not destroyed by water.

If moisture level crosses a predefined threshold, it makes a sound to indicate a warning.

Optionally, it can also store system events using the Intel IoT Examples Datastore running in your own Microsoft* Azure*, IBM* Bluemix*, or AWS* account.

Hardware requirements

Grove* Home Automation Kit containing:

1. Intel® Edison board with an Arduino* breakout board
2. Grove* Base Shield V2
3. Grove* Moisture Sensor
4. Grove* Speaker

Software requirements

1. Intel® System Studio IoT Edition (Eclipse* IDE for C/C++ and Java* development)
2. Microsoft* Azure*, IBM* Bluemix*, or AWS* account

How to set up

To begin, clone the How-To Intel IoT Code Samples repository with Git* on your computer as follows:

$ git clone https://github.com/intel-iot-devkit/intel-iot-examples.git

Want to download a .zip file? In your web browser, go to https://github.com/intel-iot-devkit/intel-iot-examples and click theDownload ZIP button at the lower right. Once the .zip file is downloaded, uncompress it, and then use the files in the directory for this example.

Adding the program to Eclipse*

In Eclipse*, select Import Wizard to import an existing project into the workspace as follows:

1. From the main menu, select File > Import.
   
2. The Import Wizard dialog box opens. Select General > Existing Project into Workspace and click Next.
   
3. Click Select root directory and then the associated Browse button to locate the directory that contains the project files.
   
4. Under Projects, select the directory with the project files you'd like to import and click OK and then Finish to import the files into Eclipse*.
   
5. Your main .cpp program is now displayed in your workspace under the src folder.
   

Connecting the Grove* sensors

You need to have a Grove* Base Shield V2 connected to an Arduino*-compatible breakout board to plug all the Grove* devices into the Grove* Base Shield V2. Make sure you have the tiny VCC switch on the Grove* Base Shield V2 set to 5V.

1. Plug one end of a Grove* cable into the Grove* Moisture Sensor, and connect the other end to the A0 port on the Grove* Base Shield V2.
   
2. Plug one end of a Grove* cable into the Grove* Speaker, and connect the other end to the D5 port on the Grove* Base Shield V2.

Intel® Edison board setup

This example uses the restclient-cpp library to perform REST calls to the remote data server. The code can be found in thelib directory. The restclient-cpp library requires the libcurl package, which is already installed on the Intel® Edison board by default.

Datastore server setup

Optionally, you can store the data generated by this sample program in a backend database deployed using Microsoft* Azure*, IBM* Bluemix*, or AWS*, along with Node.js*, and a Redis* data store.

For information on how to set up your own cloud data server, go to:

https://github.com/intel-iot-devkit/intel-iot-examples-datastore

Connecting your Intel® Edison board to Eclipse*

1. In the bottom left corner, right-click anywhere on the Target SSH Connections tab and select New > Connection.
   
2. The Intel® IoT Target Connection window appears. In the Filter field, type the name of your board.
   
3. In the Select one of the found connections list, select your device name and click OK.
   
4. On the Target SSH Connections tab, right-click your device and select Connect.
   

If prompted for the username and password, the username is root and the password is whatever you specified when configuring the Intel® Edison board.

Running the example with the cloud server

To run the example with the optional backend data store, you need to set the SERVER and AUTH_TOKEN environment variables. You can do this in Eclipse* as follows:

1. From the Run menu, select Run Configurations.
   The Run Configurations dialog box is displayed.
2. Under C/C++ Remote Application, click doorbell.
   This displays the information for the application.

3. In the Commands to execute before application field, add the environment variables so it looks like this, except using the server and authentication token that correspond to your own setup:

   chmod 755 /tmp/flood-detect;export API_KEY="YOURKEY"; export SERVER="http://intel-examples.azurewebsites.net/counter/logger/flood-detect"; export AUTH_TOKEN="YOURTOKEN"

4. Click Apply to save your new environment variables.

Now, when you run your program using the Run button, it should be able to call your server to save the data right from the Intel® Edison board.

Running the code on the Intel® Edison board

When you're ready to run the example, click Run at the top menu bar in Eclipse*.

This compiles the program using the Cross G++ Compiler, links it using the Cross G++ Linker, transfers the binary to the Intel® Edison board, and then executes it on the board itself.

After running the program, you should see output similar to the one in the image below.

Then you get output from the sensor in the console, telling you if it is dry, moist, or wet.

When the sensor detects enough moisture, it sends a signal to the server, and the console output informs you of this.

For a complete list of the 18 How-To Intel IoT Code Samples in C++, go to this Intel® Developer Zone blog post 18 How-To Intel IoT Code Samples Now Available in C++.

For a complete list of the 18 How-To Intel IoT Code Samples in JavaScript*, go to this Intel® Developer Zone blog post Announcing 18 New How-To Intel IoT Code Samples.

For more details about this code sample, go to GitHub*.