ThingsBoard - DRAGINO

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**Table of Contents:**

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Draft Document

= 1. Introduction =

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.

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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**.

= 2. Prerequisites =

To complete this tutorial, you need to have the following:

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* ThingsBoard cloud account

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* MQTT Broker (public or private) such as,

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** **[[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.**

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** [[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.

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** [[lns1.thingseye.io>>http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] - This is Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate to use.

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== 2.1 ThingsBoard Cloud ==

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Go to [[https:~~/~~/thingsboard.io/>>https://thingsboard.io/]]

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Click on the **Try it now**.

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[[image:thingsboard-1.png]]

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Select either the **North America** or **Europe** region. Here, we use the Europe region.

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[[image:thingsboard-2.png]]

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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**.

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Click on the **Sign up** button.

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[[image:thingsboard-3.png||height="651" width="500"]]

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You will be navigated to the following page.

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[[image:thingsboard-5.png||height="109" width="500"]]

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simultaneously, you will receive an email to confirm your email address. Click on the **Activate Your Account** button.

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[[image:thingsboard-4.png||height="249" width="500"]]

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Now losing to the account using your credentials:

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[[image:thingsboard-6.png||height="244" width="500"]]

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== 2.2 HiveMQ Cloud ==

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=== 2.2.1 HiveMQ Cloud ===

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Go to [[https:~~/~~/www.hivemq.com>>https://www.hivemq.com]]

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Click on the **Start Free** button.

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[[image:hivwmq-1.png]]

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Click on the **Sign Up FREE Now** button in the **HIVEMQ CLOUD** section.

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[[image:hivemq-2.png]]

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Click on the **Sign Up** button.

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You can sign up with HiveMQ using your **GitHub**, **Google**, or **LinkedIn** account.

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If not, provide your **email address** and a **password** to create an account by clicking on the **Sign Up** button.

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[[image:hivemq-3.png]]

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You will receive an email to verify your email address. Click on the **Confirm my account** button.

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[[image:hivemq-4.jpg||height="889" width="400"]]

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You will be redirected to a page asking you to complete your profile. Once done, click the **Continue** button.

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[[image:hivemq-5.png||height="655" width="700"]]

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Select the CloudMQ Cloud plan you need. For testing purposes, select the **Serverless FREE** plan by clicking on the **Create Serverless Cluster** button.

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[[image:hivemq-6.png]]

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You will be navigated to the **Your Clusters** page. Click on the **Manage Cluster** button.

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[[image:hivemq-7.png]]

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In your cluster page, you can find some useful parameters you need to create a MQTT connection.

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**URL**: This is the host name. Click on the copy button to copy it.

**Port**: 8883

Click on the **Getting Started** tab to setup the username and the password as the connection credentials.

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[[image:hivemq-8.png]]

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In the '**Create Connection Credentials**' section, provide a **username** and **password**, then click the **Add** button.

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[[image:hivemq-9.png]]

If everything is successful, you will see the following message.

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[[image:hivemq-10.png||height="206" width="500"]]

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You will need these MQTT connection parameters when configuring the MQTT integration in the '**Add Integration**' section.

=== 2.2.2 emqx ===

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.

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[[image:emqx.png||height="420" width="500"]]

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=== 2.2.3 Ins1.thingseye.io ===

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[[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.

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If customers need to use this MQTT connection with ThingsBoard, they need to contact the TE team to obtain three license files.

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[[image:ins1.png||height="310" width="500"]]

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= 3. Data Converters =

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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.

== 3.1 Uplink ==

In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Data converters**.

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[[image:data-converters-list-empty.png]]

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On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on the **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.

[[image:create-new-converter-menu.png||height="259" width="500"]]

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The **Add data converter** window will appear. Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.

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Click on the **JavaScript** button.

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Delete the default decoder function in the code editor. Now copy and paste the following decoder function written in **JavaScript** in to the **code editor**. This decoder function is compatible for both NB and CB series devices.

//Version: 0.1

// decode payload to string

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var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);

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// decode payload to JSON

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var objdata = {};

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var obj1 = {};

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var data = decodeToJson(payload);

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var deviceName = data.IMEI;

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delete data.IMEI;

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var modelname = "Dragino " + data.Model;

//var mod = data.mod

delete data.Model;

//delete data.mod

var timestamp = new Date().getTime();

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for (var key in data) {

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if (Number(key)) {

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obj1[key] = data[key];

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obj1[key][obj1[key].length - 1] = Number(new Date(

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obj1[key][obj1[key].length - 1]));

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}

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//Alec submitted25/02/25

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//turn old key into new

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else if (key === "Reading") {

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objdata["reading"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "work mode") {

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objdata["work_mode"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "hum") {

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objdata["humidity"] = data[key];

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}else if (key === "hum2") {

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objdata["humidity2"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "hum3") {

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objdata["humidity3"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "tem") {

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objdata["temperature"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "tem2") {

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objdata["temperature2"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "tem3") {

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objdata["temperature3"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "DS18B20_Temp") {

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objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "ds18b20_temperature") {

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objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "DS18B20_temperature_pro") {

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objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "tdc send flag") {

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objdata["tdc_send_flag"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "trigger mode") {

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objdata["trigger_mode"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "soil dielectric constant") {

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objdata["soil_dielectric_constant"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "door open num") {

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objdata["door_open_num"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "door duration") {

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objdata["door_duration"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "count time") {

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objdata["count_time"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "last open time2") {

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objdata["last_open_time2"] = data[key];

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} else if (key === "last open time3") {

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objdata["last_open_time3"] = data[key];

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}

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//Alec submitted25/02/25

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else {

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objdata[key] = data[key]

}

}

var listdata = [{

"ts": timestamp,

"values": objdata

}]

for (var key1 in obj1) {

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if (modelname == "Dragino RS485-NB") {

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listdata.push({

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"ts": obj1[key1][obj1[key1].length - 1],

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"values": {

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"Payload": obj1[key1][0],

}

})

} else {

listdata.push({

"ts": obj1[key1][obj1[key1].length - 1],

"values": {

"values": obj1[key1]

},

})

}

}

var result = {

deviceName: deviceName,

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deviceType: modelname,

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attributes: {

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model: modelname,

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//customerName: "NB-CB",

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//groupName: "NB-CB",

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//integrationName: metadata['integrationName']

},

telemetry: listdata

}

function decodeToString(payload) {

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return String.fromCharCode.apply(String, payload);

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}

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function decodeToJson(payload) {

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// covert payload to string.

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var str = decodeToString(payload);

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// parse string to JSON

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var data = JSON.parse(str);

return data;

}

return result;

Click on the **Add** button.

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[[image:mqtt-uplink.png||width="500"]]

You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.

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[[image:data-converter-list-showing-uplink-dc.png]]

== 3.2 Downlink ==

On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on the **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.

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[[image:create-new-converter-menu.png||width="500"]]

The **Add data converter** window will appear. Name it ‘**MQTT Downlink Converter NB/CB**’ and select the Type as **Downlink**.

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Click on the **TBEL** button if not selected it by default. Now copy and paste the following encoder function written in **TBEL (ThingsBoard Expression Language)** in to the **code editor**. This encoder function is compatible for both NB and CB series devices.

// Encode downlink data from incoming Rule Engine message

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// msg - JSON message payload downlink message json

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// msgType - type of message, for ex. 'ATTRIBUTES_UPDATED', 'POST_TELEMETRY_REQUEST', etc.

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// metadata - list of key-value pairs with additional data about the message

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// integrationMetadata - list of key-value pairs with additional data defined in Integration executing this converter

/** Encoder **/

var data = {};

// Process data from incoming message and metadata

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data.tempFreq = msg.temperatureUploadFrequency;

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data.humFreq = msg.humidityUploadFrequency;

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data.devSerialNumber = metadata['ss_serialNumber'];

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// Result object with encoded downlink payload

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var result = {

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// downlink data content type: JSON, TEXT or BINARY (base64 format)

contentType: "JSON",

// downlink data

data: JSON.stringify(data),

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// Optional metadata object presented in key/value format

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metadata: {

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topic: metadata['deviceType']+'/'+metadata['deviceName']+'/upload'

}

};

return result;

Click on the **Add** button.

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[[image:add-downlink-data-converter.png||height="529" width="500"]]

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You should see that the newly added **MQTT Downlink** Converter NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.

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[[image:data-converters-list.png]]

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= 4. Add Integration =

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In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.

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[[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]

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On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.

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The **Add integration** window appears.

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In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:

**Basic settings:**

* **Integration type**: MQTT

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* **Name**: MQTT integration NB/CB

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* **Enable integration**: YES

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* **Allows create devices or assets**: YES

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Click **Next** button.

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[[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="511" width="500"]]

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**Uplink data converter:**

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* Click on the **Select existing** button.

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* **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.

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Click **Next** button.

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[[image:add-integration-uplink-data-converter.png||height="511" width="500"]]

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**Downlink data converter:**

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* Click on the **Select existing** button.

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* **Downlink data converter**: Select **MQTT Downlink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.

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Click **Next** button.

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[[image:add-integration-downlink-data-converter.png||height="511" width="500"]]

**Connection:**

* **Host**: Cluster URL (Eg. 011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud)

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* **Port**: 8883

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* **Credentials**: Basic

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* **Enable SSL**: YES

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* **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)

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* **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)

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* **Topic: v1/devices/+/telemetry** (the + replaces any 'device name' will create a device in the Entities -> Devices)

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* **QoS:** 0-At most once

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[[image:add-integration-connection.png||height="511" width="500"]]

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Click on the **Advanced settings** button.

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* **Clean session:** YES

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* **Retained**: YES

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[[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]

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Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.

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[[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]

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If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.

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[[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]

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Click on the **Add** button.

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You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.

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Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**

[[image:new-integration-pending.png]]

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= 5. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =

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== 5.1 How does it work? ==

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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.

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The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **v1/devices/me/telemetry**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.

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(% id="cke_bm_37386S" style="display:none" %) (%%)The MQTT payload format is as follows, which is common for all **~-~-NB** and **~-~-CB** series devices. The **IMEI** field is mandatory and is used to provision a new device with the name assigned to it in ThingsBoard.

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{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27, ......}

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Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it automatically creates (provisions) the device mentioned in the **IMEI**, for example, S31B-NB.

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== 5.2 Sending messages ==

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On the terminal, issue the following MQTT command which simulates the device S31B-NB. The message payload contains the fields temperature and humidity, which hold the values S31B-NB and 27, respectively. This payload is also (technically) known as telemetry.

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mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -t "v1/devices/me/telemetry" -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -m '{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27}'

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If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.

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[[image:integration-active.png]]

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Also, a new device named **S31B-NB** will appear under **//Entities -> Devices -> All//**. This means the first MQTT message triggers ThingsBoard to provision a device named **S31B-NB**.

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[[image:new-device.png]]

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== 5.3 Viewing messages ==

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Go back to the **Integrations** page.

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Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.

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Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).

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Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.

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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.

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Click on the **Apply** button.

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Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.

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[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 09.23.10.png]]

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Now go to the **Events** tab.

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Select the Event type as **Debug** from the dropdown list.

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Now you can see all the Uplink messages you are simulating through the MQTT broker. The status should be OK if there is no errors in your integration.

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[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.38.59.png]]

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Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.

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[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.39.12.png]]

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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.

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= 6. Creating a Dashboard =

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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.

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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.

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First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:

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{{code language="none"}}mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -t "v1/devices/me/telemetry" -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -m '{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 22, "humidity":80}'

In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.

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[[image:dashboard-1.png]]

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In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.

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Click on the **Add** button.

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[[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]

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Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.

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[[image:dashboard-3.png]]

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In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.

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[[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]

In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.

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[[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]

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Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:

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* **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.

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* **Series**:

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** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.

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** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.

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* Click on the **Add** button.

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[[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]

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The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.

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Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.

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[[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]

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Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.

mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -t "v1/devices/me/telemetry" -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -m '{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 22, "humidity":70}'

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mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -t "v1/devices/me/telemetry" -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -m '{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27, "humidity":72}'

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mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -t "v1/devices/me/telemetry" -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -m '{"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 19, "humidity":80}'

The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.

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[[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]

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= 7. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =

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Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **S31B-NB**.

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First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.

**AT Commands**

* **AT+PRO=3,3 **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.

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* **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> **

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* **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**

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* **AT+CLIENT=null**

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* **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**

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* **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**

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* **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**

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Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.

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The following image shows the uplink payload of a real Dragino device. The publish topic is **TS01-NB**, and the device name is **861275077962896**, which is represented by the **IMEI**.

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[[image:image-4.png]]

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Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

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