Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 178.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/03/27 01:16
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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. Creating Devices =
168
169
170 First, you need to create devices in ThingsBoard to represent your physical devices. For example, you can name it **Device A**, and the second device could be **Device B** or any name you prefer. The device name should be unique within the **Devices** space.
171
172
173 In the left navigation, click Entities -> Devices.
174
175 Click the **Add Device** button (the button with the **+** sign), and from the dropdown menu, click **Add new device**.
176
177 In the **Add new device** dialog box, enter the device name in the **Name** text box. For example, we will use **Device A**.
178
179 Click the **Add** button.
180
181 Skip the **connectivity testing** by clicking the **Close** button.
182
183 The device is created and listed on the **Devices** page. Note that its initial state is **Inactive** because it has not received any data yet.
184
185
186 = 4. Data Converters =
187
188
189 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.
190
191
192 == 4.1 Uplink ==
193
194
195 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Data converters**.
196
197
198 [[image:data-converters-list-empty.png]]
199
200
201 On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on the **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.
202
203
204
205 [[image:create-new-converter-menu.png||height="259" width="500"]]
206
207
208 The **Add data converter** window will appear. Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.
209
210 Click on the **TBEL** button if it has not been selected by default.
211
212 The default TBEL function is shown below.
213
214
215 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
216 // Decode an uplink message from a buffer
217 // payload - array of bytes
218 // metadata - key/value object
219
220 /** Decoder **/
221
222 // decode payload to string
223 var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);
224
225 // decode payload to JSON
226 // var data = decodeToJson(payload);
227
228 var deviceName = 'Device A';
229 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
230 var customerName = 'Customer C';
231 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
232 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
233 // use assetName and assetType instead of deviceName and deviceType
234 // to automatically create assets instead of devices.
235 // var assetName = 'Asset A';
236 // var assetType = 'building';
237
238 // Result object with device/asset attributes/telemetry data
239 var result = {
240 // Use deviceName and deviceType or assetName and assetType, but not both.
241 deviceName: deviceName,
242 deviceType: deviceType,
243 // assetName: assetName,
244 // assetType: assetType,
245 // customerName: customerName,
246 groupName: groupName,
247 attributes: {
248 model: 'Model A',
249 serialNumber: 'SN111',
250 integrationName: metadata['integrationName'],
251 manufacturer: manufacturer
252 },
253 telemetry: {
254 temperature: 42,
255 humidity: 80,
256 rawData: payloadStr
257 }
258 };
259
260 /** Helper functions 'decodeToString' and 'decodeToJson' are already built-in **/
261
262 return result;
263 {{/code}}
264
265 We use the same decoder function for all our devices. However, you need to modify a few things for each device. Among these, **deviceName** is a **mandatory** field. You should assign a device name to the **deviceName** field that matches the name of your device in the **Devices** section.
266
267 For example, if your device name is **Device B**, you can change **Device A** to **Device B**.
268
269
270 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
271 var deviceName = 'Device A';
272 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
273 var customerName = 'Customer C';
274 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
275 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
276 {{/code}}
277
278
279 Once you modify the decoder function, click on the **Add** button.
280
281
282 [[image:mqtt-uplink.png||width="500"]]
283
284
285
286 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
287
288
289 [[image:data-converter-list-showing-uplink-dc.png]]
290
291
292 = 5. Add Integration =
293
294
295 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
296
297
298 [[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
299
300
301 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
302
303
304 The **Add integration** window appears.
305
306 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
307
308
309 **Basic settings:**
310
311 * **Integration type**: MQTT
312 * **Name**: MQTT integration NB/CB
313 * **Enable integration**: YES
314 * **Allows create devices or assets**: YES
315
316 Click **Next** button.
317
318
319 [[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="511" width="500"]]
320
321
322 **Uplink data converter:**
323
324 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
325 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
326
327 Click **Next** button.
328
329
330 [[image:add-integration-uplink-data-converter.png||height="511" width="500"]]
331
332
333 **Downlink data converter:**
334
335 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
336
337 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
338
339 Click **Skip** button.
340
341
342 [[image:integration-dl-skip.png||height="511" width="500"]]
343
344
345
346 **Connection:**
347
348 * **Host**: Cluster URL (Eg. **//011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//**)
349 * **Port**: 8883
350 * **Credentials**: Basic
351 * **Enable SSL**: YES
352 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
353 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
354 * **Topic: v1/devices/me/telemetry** (The topic can be anything; you can even use just the device name. For example, you can use your device name here, such as devices/a/telemetry.)
355 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
356
357 [[image:add-integration-connection.png||height="511" width="500"]]
358
359
360 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
361
362 * **Clean session:** YES
363 * **Retained**: YES
364
365 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
366
367
368 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
369
370
371 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
372
373
374 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
375
376
377 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
378
379
380 Click on the **Add** button.
381
382 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
383
384 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
385
386
387 [[image:new-integration-pending.png]]
388
389
390 = 6. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
391
392
393 == 6.1 How does it work? ==
394
395
396 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.
397
398 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **v1/devices/me/telemetry**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
399
400 (% 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.
401
402 {{code language="none"}}
403 {"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27, ......}
404 {{/code}}
405
406 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it automatically creates (provisions) the device mentioned in the **IMEI**, for example, S31B-NB.
407
408
409 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
410
411
412 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.
413
414 {{code language="none"}}
415 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}'
416 {{/code}}
417
418 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
419
420
421 [[image:integration-active.png]]
422
423
424 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**.
425
426
427 [[image:new-device.png]]
428
429
430 == 6.3 Viewing messages ==
431
432
433 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
434
435 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
436
437 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
438
439 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
440
441 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.
442
443 Click on the **Apply** button.
444
445 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
446
447
448 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 09.23.10.png]]
449
450
451 Now go to the **Events** tab.
452
453 Select the Event type as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
454
455 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.
456
457
458 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.38.59.png]]
459
460
461 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
462
463
464 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.39.12.png]]
465
466
467 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.
468
469
470 = 7. Creating a Dashboard =
471
472 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.
473
474
475 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.
476
477
478 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
479
480 {{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}}
481
482
483 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
484
485
486 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
487
488
489 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
490
491 Click on the **Add** button.
492
493
494 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
495
496
497 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
498
499
500 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
501
502
503 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
504
505
506 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
507
508
509
510 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
511
512
513 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
514
515
516 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
517
518 * **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.
519 * **Series**:
520 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
521 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
522 * Click on the **Add** button.
523
524 [[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]
525
526
527 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
528
529 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
530
531
532 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
533
534
535 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
536
537
538 {{code language="none"}}
539 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}'
540
541 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}'
542
543 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}'
544
545 {{/code}}
546
547 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
548
549
550 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
551
552
553 = 8. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =
554
555
556 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
557
558 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
559
560
561 **AT Commands**
562
563 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
564 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
565 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
566 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
567 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
568 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
569 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
570
571 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
572
573
574
575 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**.
576
577 {{info}}
578 The ThingsBoard uses the device's IMEI number included in the payload to create a device in the Devices section.
579 {{/info}}
580
581 [[image:image-4.png]]
582
583
584

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