I didn’t really expect this personal entertainment project would cause much attention though, recently my friend started to ask about the progress of AirCares. One of my project manager friends started asking me if I need aid for project management. Sigh, what should I say – am I impacted by the global supply chain crisis? (which is true actually). Anyway, after recovering from some unexpected errands, here is the update!
The conclusion is here: Azure IoT Service Spike (/2021/10/23/azure-iot-service-spike/)
Tech Solution
The whole system includes basically two parts: a centralized server-side controller and a few clients which either provide status from sensors or stand by for executing some actions.
Client
I’m neither a hardware engineer nor interested in hardware for a long-term career goal, so I’ll just choose a popular, affordable single-board computer as far as it works. Not to say my friend Sean even provided me his project experience.
Then I’ll use Python or Node.js to write a small client-side program to collect temperature data and send signals to drive the circulation fan.
Server
A very nature idea for the server-side is Lambda+Api Gateway. While Lambda + API Gateway is nothing new to me, I was thinking if it would make more sense for me to explore the IoT service provided by popular Cloud Platforms.
I turned to Azure for two reasons: 1. I have had a personal Azure subscription with monthly credit, so I don’t need to pay extra money for any Cloud service as my traffic will be just minimal. 2. If there have been wheels, at least let me try if the wheels meet my requirement before I reinvent my customized wheels.
Budget
As I mentioned – I am really impacted by the global supply chain crisis, the inexpensive $10 Raspberry Pi Zero W is out of stock in adafruit. So I still need to figure where can I find a supplier without paying too much for the product or shipping.
| Item | Quantity | Subtotal |
| Raspberry Pi Zero W | 1 | $10 |
| Raspberry Pi Zero W (with header) | 1 | $14 |
| DS18B20 Digital temperature sensor + extras | 4 | $15.8 |
| Premium Male/Male Jumper Wires – 20 x 6″ (150mm) | 1 | $1.95 |
| Adafruit STEMMA Non-Latching Mini Relay | 3 | $17.85 |
| STEMMA JST PH 3-Pin to Male Header Cable – 200mm | 3 | $3.75 |
| Premium Female/Female Jumper Wires – 20 x 6″ (150mm) | 1 | $1.95 |
| Premium Female/Male ‘Extension’ Jumper Wires – 20 x 3″ | 1 | $1.95 |
| Adafruit Perma-Proto Half-sized Breadboard PCB – Single | 1 | $4.5 |
| Total | $71.75 |
Estimation
| Epic | Estimation |
| Manually create server-side Azure resource | Small |
| Details of server-side Azure Function | Medium |
| Build client-side software | Medium |
| Build client-side hardware | Large |
| Manage server-side resources per IaC | Large |
| Build extra QA environment plus CICD | Medium |
| System monitor | Small |
