Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 173.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/03/20 16:21
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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 = 3. Data Converters =
168
169
170 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.
171
172
173 == 3.1 Uplink ==
174
175
176 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Data converters**.
177
178
179 [[image:data-converters-list-empty.png]]
180
181
182 On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on the **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.
183
184
185
186 [[image:create-new-converter-menu.png||height="259" width="500"]]
187
188
189 The **Add data converter** window will appear. Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.
190
191 Click on the **JavaScript** button.
192
193 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.
194
195
196 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
197 //Version: 0.1
198 // decode payload to string
199 var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);
200
201 // decode payload to JSON
202 var objdata = {};
203 var obj1 = {};
204 var data = decodeToJson(payload);
205 var deviceName = data.IMEI;
206 delete data.IMEI;
207 var modelname = "Dragino " + data.Model;
208 //var mod = data.mod
209 delete data.Model;
210 //delete data.mod
211 var timestamp = new Date().getTime();
212
213 for (var key in data) {
214
215 if (Number(key)) {
216 obj1[key] = data[key];
217 obj1[key][obj1[key].length - 1] = Number(new Date(
218 obj1[key][obj1[key].length - 1]));
219
220 }
221 //Alec submitted25/02/25
222 //turn old key into new
223 else if (key === "Reading") {
224 objdata["reading"] = data[key];
225 } else if (key === "work mode") {
226 objdata["work_mode"] = data[key];
227 } else if (key === "hum") {
228 objdata["humidity"] = data[key];
229 }else if (key === "hum2") {
230 objdata["humidity2"] = data[key];
231 } else if (key === "hum3") {
232 objdata["humidity3"] = data[key];
233 } else if (key === "tem") {
234 objdata["temperature"] = data[key];
235 } else if (key === "tem2") {
236 objdata["temperature2"] = data[key];
237 } else if (key === "tem3") {
238 objdata["temperature3"] = data[key];
239 } else if (key === "DS18B20_Temp") {
240 objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];
241 } else if (key === "ds18b20_temperature") {
242 objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];
243 } else if (key === "DS18B20_temperature_pro") {
244 objdata["temperature_pro"] = data[key];
245 } else if (key === "tdc send flag") {
246 objdata["tdc_send_flag"] = data[key];
247 } else if (key === "trigger mode") {
248 objdata["trigger_mode"] = data[key];
249 } else if (key === "soil dielectric constant") {
250 objdata["soil_dielectric_constant"] = data[key];
251 } else if (key === "door open num") {
252 objdata["door_open_num"] = data[key];
253 } else if (key === "door duration") {
254 objdata["door_duration"] = data[key];
255 } else if (key === "count time") {
256 objdata["count_time"] = data[key];
257 } else if (key === "last open time2") {
258 objdata["last_open_time2"] = data[key];
259 } else if (key === "last open time3") {
260 objdata["last_open_time3"] = data[key];
261 }
262 //Alec submitted25/02/25
263 else {
264 objdata[key] = data[key]
265 }
266 }
267 var listdata = [{
268 "ts": timestamp,
269 "values": objdata
270 }]
271 for (var key1 in obj1) {
272 if (modelname == "Dragino RS485-NB") {
273 listdata.push({
274 "ts": obj1[key1][obj1[key1].length - 1],
275 "values": {
276 "Payload": obj1[key1][0],
277 }
278 })
279 } else {
280 listdata.push({
281 "ts": obj1[key1][obj1[key1].length - 1],
282 "values": {
283 "values": obj1[key1]
284 },
285 })
286 }
287 }
288 var result = {
289
290 deviceName: deviceName,
291 deviceType: modelname,
292 attributes: {
293 model: modelname,
294 //customerName: "NB-CB",
295 //groupName: "NB-CB",
296 //integrationName: metadata['integrationName']
297
298 },
299 telemetry: listdata
300 }
301
302 function decodeToString(payload) {
303 return String.fromCharCode.apply(String, payload);
304 }
305
306 function decodeToJson(payload) {
307 // covert payload to string.
308 var str = decodeToString(payload);
309
310 // parse string to JSON
311 var data = JSON.parse(str);
312 return data;
313 }
314
315 return result;
316 {{/code}}
317
318
319 Click on the **Add** button.
320
321
322 [[image:mqtt-uplink.png||width="500"]]
323
324
325
326 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
327
328
329 [[image:data-converter-list-showing-uplink-dc.png]]
330
331
332
333
334
335
336 = 4. Add Integration =
337
338
339 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
340
341
342 [[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
343
344
345 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
346
347
348 The **Add integration** window appears.
349
350 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
351
352
353 **Basic settings:**
354
355 * **Integration type**: MQTT
356 * **Name**: MQTT integration NB/CB
357 * **Enable integration**: YES
358 * **Allows create devices or assets**: YES
359
360 Click **Next** button.
361
362
363 [[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="511" width="500"]]
364
365
366 **Uplink data converter:**
367
368 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
369 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
370
371 Click **Next** button.
372
373
374 [[image:add-integration-uplink-data-converter.png||height="511" width="500"]]
375
376
377 **Downlink data converter:**
378
379 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
380
381 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
382
383 Click **Skip** button.
384
385
386 [[image:integration-dl-skip.png||height="511" width="500"]]
387
388
389
390 **Connection:**
391
392 * **Host**: Cluster URL (Eg. 011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud)
393 * **Port**: 8883
394 * **Credentials**: Basic
395 * **Enable SSL**: YES
396 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
397 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
398 * **Topic: v1/devices/me/telemetry** (The topic can be anything, even you can use just the device name, for example ts02-nb)
399 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
400
401 [[image:add-integration-connection.png||height="511" width="500"]]
402
403
404 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
405
406 * **Clean session:** YES
407 * **Retained**: YES
408
409 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
410
411
412 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
413
414
415 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
416
417
418 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
419
420
421 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
422
423
424 Click on the **Add** button.
425
426 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
427
428 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
429
430
431
432 [[image:new-integration-pending.png]]
433
434
435 = 5. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
436
437
438 == 5.1 How does it work? ==
439
440
441 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.
442
443 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **v1/devices/me/telemetry**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
444
445 (% 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.
446
447 {{code language="none"}}
448 {"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27, ......}
449 {{/code}}
450
451 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it automatically creates (provisions) the device mentioned in the **IMEI**, for example, S31B-NB.
452
453
454 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
455
456
457 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.
458
459 {{code language="none"}}
460 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}'
461 {{/code}}
462
463 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
464
465
466 [[image:integration-active.png]]
467
468
469 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**.
470
471
472 [[image:new-device.png]]
473
474
475 == 5.3 Viewing messages ==
476
477
478 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
479
480 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
481
482 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
483
484 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
485
486 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.
487
488 Click on the **Apply** button.
489
490 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
491
492
493 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 09.23.10.png]]
494
495
496 Now go to the **Events** tab.
497
498 Select the Event type as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
499
500 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.
501
502
503 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.38.59.png]]
504
505
506 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
507
508
509 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.39.12.png]]
510
511
512 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.
513
514
515 = 6. Creating a Dashboard =
516
517 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.
518
519
520 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.
521
522
523 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
524
525 {{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}'{{/code}}
526
527
528 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
529
530
531 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
532
533
534 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
535
536 Click on the **Add** button.
537
538
539 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
540
541
542 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
543
544
545 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
546
547
548 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
549
550
551 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
552
553
554
555 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
556
557
558 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
559
560
561 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
562
563 * **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.
564 * **Series**:
565 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
566 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
567 * Click on the **Add** button.
568
569 [[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]
570
571
572 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
573
574 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
575
576
577 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
578
579
580 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
581
582
583 {{code language="none"}}
584 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}'
585
586 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}'
587
588 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}'
589
590 {{/code}}
591
592 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
593
594
595 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
596
597
598 = 7. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =
599
600
601 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
602
603 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
604
605
606 **AT Commands**
607
608 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
609 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> **
610 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
611 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
612 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
613 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
614 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
615
616 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
617
618
619
620 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**.
621
622 {{info}}
623 The ThingsBoard uses the device's IMEI number included in the payload to create a device in the Devices section.
624 {{/info}}
625
626 [[image:image-4.png]]
627
628
629

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