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Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 205.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/04/21 16:52
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1 **Table of Contents:**
2
3 {{toc/}}
4
5 {{warning}}
6 Draft Document
7 {{/warning}}
8
9
10
11
12 = 1. Introduction =
13
14
15 This document guides you on integrating Dragino **-NB** and **-CB** series devices data with ThingsBoard. For this guide, we use ThingsBoard Cloud, which is one of the ThingsBoard versions that allows you to try it for free.
16
17 The **NB series** devices end with the suffix **-NB**, and the **CB series** devices end with the suffix **-CB**. For example, **S31B-NB** is an **NB device**, and **S31-CB** is a **CB device**.
18
19
20 = 2. Prerequisites =
21
22 To complete this tutorial, you need to have the following:
23
24 * ThingsBoard cloud account
25 * MQTT Broker (public or private) such as,
26 ** **[[HiveMQ Cloud>>https://www.hivemq.com]] - You can create a free account to try it or subscribe for a paid account. - We use HiveMQ Cloud as the MQTT broker to build example in this tutorial.**
27 ** [[emqx>>https://www.emqx.com/zh/mqtt/public-mqtt5-broker]] - The public MQTT server is only used for MOTT learning and testing, and should not be used in the production environment.
28 ** [[lns1.thingseye.io>>http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] - This is Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate to use.
29
30 == 2.1 ThingsBoard Cloud ==
31
32
33 Go to [[https:~~/~~/thingsboard.io/>>https://thingsboard.io/]]
34
35 Click on the **Try it now**.
36
37
38 [[image:thingsboard-1.png]]
39
40
41 Select either the **North America** or **Europe** region. Here, we use the Europe region.
42
43 [[image:thingsboard-2.png]]
44
45
46 You can sign up with your **Google**, **GitHub**, **Facebook**, or **Apple** account. If not you can create an account with providing your **name**, **email address** and a **password**.
47
48 Click on the **Sign up** button.
49
50 [[image:thingsboard-3.png||height="651" width="500"]]
51
52
53 You will be navigated to the following page.
54
55 [[image:thingsboard-5.png||height="109" width="500"]]
56
57
58 simultaneously, you will receive an email to confirm your email address. Click on the **Activate Your Account** button.
59
60
61 [[image:thingsboard-4.png||height="249" width="500"]]
62
63
64 Now losing to the account using your credentials:
65
66
67 [[image:thingsboard-6.png||height="244" width="500"]]
68
69
70 == 2.2 HiveMQ Cloud ==
71
72 === 2.2.1 HiveMQ Cloud ===
73
74
75 Go to [[https:~~/~~/www.hivemq.com>>https://www.hivemq.com]]
76
77 Click on the **Start Free** button.
78
79 [[image:hivwmq-1.png]]
80
81
82 Click on the **Sign Up FREE Now** button in the **HIVEMQ CLOUD** section.
83
84 [[image:hivemq-2.png]]
85
86
87 Click on the **Sign Up** button.
88
89 You can sign up with HiveMQ using your **GitHub**, **Google**, or **LinkedIn** account.
90
91 If not, provide your **email address** and a **password** to create an account by clicking on the **Sign Up** button.
92
93
94 [[image:hivemq-3.png]]
95
96
97 You will receive an email to verify your email address. Click on the **Confirm my account** button.
98
99
100 [[image:hivemq-4.jpg||height="889" width="400"]]
101
102
103 You will be redirected to a page asking you to complete your profile. Once done, click the **Continue** button.
104
105
106 [[image:hivemq-5.png||height="655" width="700"]]
107
108
109 Select the CloudMQ Cloud plan you need. For testing purposes, select the **Serverless FREE** plan by clicking on the **Create Serverless Cluster** button.
110
111
112 [[image:hivemq-6.png]]
113
114
115 You will be navigated to the **Your Clusters** page. Click on the **Manage Cluster** button.
116
117 [[image:hivemq-7.png]]
118
119
120 In your cluster page, you can find some useful parameters you need to create a MQTT connection.
121
122 **URL**: This is the host name. Click on the copy button to copy it.
123
124 **Port**: 8883
125
126
127 Click on the **Getting Started** tab to setup the username and the password as the connection credentials.
128
129
130 [[image:hivemq-8.png]]
131
132
133 In the '**Create Connection Credentials**' section, provide a **username** and **password**, then click the **Add** button.
134
135
136 [[image:hivemq-9.png]]
137
138
139
140 If everything is successful, you will see the following message.
141
142
143 [[image:hivemq-10.png||height="206" width="500"]]
144
145
146 You will need these MQTT connection parameters when configuring the MQTT integration in the '**Add Integration**' section.
147
148
149 === 2.2.2 emqx ===
150
151
152 The [[emqx>>https://www.emqx.com/zh/mqtt/public-mqtt5-broker]] public MQTT server is only used for MOTT learning and testing, and should not be used in the production environment.
153
154
155 [[image:emqx.png||height="420" width="500"]]
156
157
158 === 2.2.3 Ins1.thingseye.io ===
159
160 [[lns1.thingseye.io>>http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] is the Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate file, Certificate file, and the Private key file to use.
161
162 If customers need to use this MQTT connection with ThingsBoard, they need to contact the TE team to obtain three license files.
163
164 [[image:ins1.png||height="310" width="500"]]
165
166
167
168 = 3. Data Converters =
169
170
171 In **ThingsBoard**, **Data Converters** are components used to transform incoming or outgoing data between different formats, typically to convert raw telemetry data from devices into a structured format that ThingsBoard can understand, or vice versa.
172
173 **In this section, you will create a universal uplink data converter for all Dragino NB-IoT devices. The uplink decoder converts any MQTT message coming from a device into key-value pairs that can be used to display and visualize data using various widgets on the dashboard**.
174
175
176 == 3.1 Uplink ==
177
178
179 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Data converters**.
180
181
182 [[image:data-converters-list-empty.png]]
183
184
185 On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.
186
187
188
189 [[image:create-new-converter-menu.png||height="259" width="500"]]
190
191
192 The **Add data converter** window appears.
193
194 Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.
195
196 Click on the **TBEL** button if it has not been selected by default.
197
198 Replace the default TBEL decoder function with the following universal TBEL decoder function, which decodes MQTT payload from any Dragino NB-IoT device.
199
200
201 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
202 // decode payload to JSON
203 var pattern = "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss";
204 var objdata = {};
205 var obj1 = {};
206 var data = decodeToJson(payload);
207 var deviceName = data.IMEI;
208 data.remove("IMEI");
209 var modelname = "Dragino "+ data.Model;
210 //var mod = data.mod
211 data.remove("Model");
212 //delete data.mod
213 var timestamp = new Date().getTime();
214 foreach (entry: data.entrySet()) {
215 var key = entry.getKey();
216 var value = entry.getValue();
217 //objdata[key] = data[key]
218 if(key.matches("^-?\\d+$")){ //is number
219 obj1[key]=data[key];
220 var index = obj1[key].length-1;
221 obj1[key][index]=new Date(obj1[key][index],pattern).getTime();
222 }
223 else if (key==="bat"||key==="BAT"){
224 objdata["battery"] = data[key];
225 }
226 else{
227 objdata[key] = data[key];
228 }}
229 var listdata = [{"ts":timestamp,"values":objdata}];
230 foreach ( entry1: obj1.entrySet()){
231 var key1 = entry1.getKey();
232 var value1 = entry1.getValue();
233 var index = obj1[key1].length-1;
234 var ts = obj1[key1][index];
235 if (modelname=="Dragino RS485-NB"){
236 listdata.push({"ts":ts,"values":{"Payload":obj1[key1][0]}});
237 }
238 else{
239 listdata.push({"ts":ts,"values":{"values":obj1[key1]}});
240 }
241 }
242 var result = {
243 deviceName: deviceName,
244 deviceType: modelname,
245 attributes: {
246 model: modelname
247 //customerName: "NB-CB",
248 //groupName: "NB-CB",
249 //integrationName: metadata['integrationName']
250 },
251 telemetry: listdata
252 };
253 return result;
254 {{/code}}
255
256
257 Once you modify the decoder function, click on the **Add** button.
258
259
260 [[image:mqtt-uplink-converter.png||height="498" width="500"]]
261
262
263
264 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
265
266
267
268 [[image:data-converters-list.png]]
269
270
271 = 4. Add Integration =
272
273
274 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
275
276
277 [[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
278
279
280 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
281
282
283 The **Add integration** window appears.
284
285 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
286
287
288 **Basic settings:**
289
290 * **Integration type**: MQTT
291 * **Name**: MQTT integration - Device A
292 * **Enable integration**: YES
293 * **Allow create devices or assets**: YES
294
295 Click **Next** button.
296
297
298 [[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="504" width="500"]]
299
300
301
302
303 **Uplink data converter:**
304
305 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
306 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
307
308 Click **Next** button.
309
310
311 [[image:add-integration-ul-data-converter.png||height="505" width="500"]]
312
313
314
315 **Downlink data converter:**
316
317 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
318
319 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
320
321 Click **Skip** button.
322
323
324 [[image:integration-dl-skip.png||height="511" width="500"]]
325
326
327
328 **Connection:**
329
330 * **Host**: Host URL (Eg. **//011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//**)
331 * **Port**: 8883
332 * **Credentials type**: Basic
333 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
334 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
335 * **Enable SSL**: YES
336 * **Topic: device/a** (The topic can be anything; you can even use just the device name.)
337 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
338
339 [[image:add-integartion-connection.png||height="505" width="500"]]
340
341
342 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
343
344 * **Clean session:** YES
345 * **Retained**: YES
346
347 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
348
349
350 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
351
352
353 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
354
355
356 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
357
358
359 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
360
361
362 Click on the **Add** button.
363
364 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
365
366 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
367
368
369 [[image:integration-added.png]]
370
371
372
373 = 5. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
374
375
376 == 5.1 How does it work? ==
377
378
379 We use the Mosquitto MQTT client to simulate MQTT messages, acting as a virtual device. First, install the Mosquitto client on your computer from [[this link>>url:https://mosquitto.org/download/]]. The Mosquitto client publishes messages to the MQTT broker (HiveMQ) on a specified MQTT topic. ThingsBoard subscribes to these messages using the same topic.
380
381 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **/device/a**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
382
383 (% id="cke_bm_37386S" style="display:none" %) (%%)The MQTT payload format is as follows:
384
385 {{code language="none"}}
386 {"IMEI": "350693903995577", "temperature":25, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}
387 {{/code}}
388
389 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it forwards this payload to the matching device through the integration.
390
391
392 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
393
394
395 On your computer's terminal, issue the following MQTT command which simulates the device '**Device A'**. The message payload contains the fields IMEI, temperature, humidity, and pressure, which hold the values 350693903995577, 30, 80, and 1005 respectively. This payload is also (technically) known as telemetry.
396
397 {{code language="none"}}
398 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
399 {{/code}}
400
401 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
402
403
404 [[image:integration-active.png]]
405
406
407 == 5.3 Viewing messages ==
408
409
410 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
411
412 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
413
414 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
415
416 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
417
418 Turn on the **All messages (15 min)** option. This will enable displaying all messages in the **Events** tab. This setting will expire in 15 minutes, and you will need to repeat the same steps if you want to view the messages in the Events tab later.
419
420 Click on the **Apply** button.
421
422 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
423
424
425 [[image:debug-enabled.png||height="301" width="700"]]
426
427
428
429
430 Now go to the **Events** tab.
431
432 Select the **Event type** as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
433
434 Publish another message (of course, you can repeat the previous message by pressing the UP arrow on your keyboard and then press Enter key) to your MQTT broker from your terminal, for example:
435
436 {{code language="none"}}
437 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
438 {{/code}}
439
440 Now you can see that uplink message in the **Events** tab (Click the **refresh** button if you didn't see any messages in the Events tab). The status should be **OK **if there is no errors in your integration.
441
442
443 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.49.31.png]]
444
445
446
447 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
448
449
450 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.47.52.png]]
451
452
453
454
455 Now, you have successfully tested your integration with a simulated uplink payload and verified that it is received by ThingsBoard, and the device is provisioned.
456
457
458 = 6. Creating a Dashboard =
459
460 ThingsBoard **Dashboards** provide a powerful way to visualize and monitor real-time and historical data from connected devices. They allow users to create interactive, customizable panels displaying telemetry data, device status, and other key metrics. With a variety of widgets, including charts, maps, and tables, dashboards help users gain insights, track trends, and manage IoT deployments efficiently.
461
462
463 This section guides you on how to create a dashboard to display temperature and humidity data from the device on a time-series chart. You may also use other widgets in ThingsBoard to display data according to your requirements.
464
465
466 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
467
468 {{code language="none"}}mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'{{/code}}
469
470
471 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
472
473
474 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
475
476
477 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
478
479 Click on the **Add** button.
480
481
482 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
483
484
485 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
486
487
488 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
489
490
491 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
492
493
494 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
495
496
497
498 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
499
500
501 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
502
503
504 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
505
506 * **Datasource** - select **Device A** device you provisioned.
507 * **Series**:
508 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
509 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
510 * Click on the **Add** button.
511
512 {{info}}
513 You can add only the relevant fields from the device's payload to display data on a widget. These fields are called 'keys'.
514 {{/info}}
515
516 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-31 at 06.51.15.png||height="485" width="700"]]
517
518
519 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
520
521 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
522
523
524 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
525
526
527 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
528
529
530 {{code language="none"}}
531 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":70, "pressure":1005}'
532
533 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":27, "humidity":72, "pressure":1005}'
534
535 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":19, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
536 {{/code}}
537
538 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
539
540
541 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
542
543
544 = 8. Configure Physical NB-IoT Sensor =
545
546
547 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
548
549 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
550
551
552 **AT Commands**
553
554 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
555 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
556 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
557 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
558 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
559 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
560 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
561
562 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
563
564
565
566 The following image shows the uplink payload of a real Dragino device. The publish topic is '**TS01-NB' that contains fields in the payload, IMEI, IMSI, Model, temperature, etc**. Note that we have created a device named **TS01-NB** in the **Devices** section in advance.
567
568
569 [[image:image-4.png]]