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Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 181.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/03/27 02:49
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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 Modify the default TBEL function to match with your device as described below:
213
214
215 ~1. Uncomment line 11:
216
217 var data = decodeToJson(payload)
218
219 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 18.15.08.png||height="219" width="500"]]
220
221
222 3. Modify the telemetry section to allow parsed data to be assigned to the fields.
223
224 telemetry: {
225 temperature: data.temperature,
226 humidity: data.humidity,
227 rawData: payloadStr
228 }
229
230
231
232 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
233 // Decode an uplink message from a buffer
234 // payload - array of bytes
235 // metadata - key/value object
236
237 /** Decoder **/
238
239 // decode payload to string
240 var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);
241
242 // decode payload to JSON
243 var data = decodeToJson(payload);
244
245 var deviceName = 'Device B';
246 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
247 var customerName = 'Customer C';
248 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
249 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
250 // use assetName and assetType instead of deviceName and deviceType
251 // to automatically create assets instead of devices.
252 // var assetName = 'Asset A';
253 // var assetType = 'building';
254
255 // Result object with device/asset attributes/telemetry data
256 var result = {
257 // Use deviceName and deviceType or assetName and assetType, but not both.
258 deviceName: deviceName,
259 deviceType: deviceType,
260 // assetName: assetName,
261 // assetType: assetType,
262 // customerName: customerName,
263 groupName: groupName,
264 attributes: {
265 model: 'Model A',
266 serialNumber: 'SN111',
267 integrationName: metadata['integrationName'],
268 manufacturer: manufacturer
269 },
270 telemetry: {
271 temperature: data.temperature,
272 humidity: data.humidity,
273 rawData: payloadStr
274 }
275 };
276
277 /** Helper functions 'decodeToString' and 'decodeToJson' are already built-in **/
278
279 return result;
280 {{/code}}
281
282 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.
283
284 For example, if your device name is **Device B**, you can change **Device A** to **Device B**.
285
286
287 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
288 var deviceName = 'Device A';
289 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
290 var customerName = 'Customer C';
291 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
292 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
293 {{/code}}
294
295
296 Once you modify the decoder function, click on the **Add** button.
297
298
299 [[image:mqtt-uplink.png||width="500"]]
300
301
302
303 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
304
305
306 [[image:data-converter-list-showing-uplink-dc.png]]
307
308
309 = 5. Add Integration =
310
311
312 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
313
314
315 [[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
316
317
318 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
319
320
321 The **Add integration** window appears.
322
323 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
324
325
326 **Basic settings:**
327
328 * **Integration type**: MQTT
329 * **Name**: MQTT integration NB/CB
330 * **Enable integration**: YES
331 * **Allows create devices or assets**: YES
332
333 Click **Next** button.
334
335
336 [[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="511" width="500"]]
337
338
339 **Uplink data converter:**
340
341 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
342 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
343
344 Click **Next** button.
345
346
347 [[image:add-integration-uplink-data-converter.png||height="511" width="500"]]
348
349
350 **Downlink data converter:**
351
352 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
353
354 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
355
356 Click **Skip** button.
357
358
359 [[image:integration-dl-skip.png||height="511" width="500"]]
360
361
362
363 **Connection:**
364
365 * **Host**: Cluster URL (Eg. **//011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//**)
366 * **Port**: 8883
367 * **Credentials**: Basic
368 * **Enable SSL**: YES
369 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
370 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
371 * **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.)
372 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
373
374 [[image:add-integration-connection.png||height="511" width="500"]]
375
376
377 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
378
379 * **Clean session:** YES
380 * **Retained**: YES
381
382 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
383
384
385 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
386
387
388 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
389
390
391 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
392
393
394 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
395
396
397 Click on the **Add** button.
398
399 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
400
401 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
402
403
404 [[image:new-integration-pending.png]]
405
406
407 = 6. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
408
409
410 == 6.1 How does it work? ==
411
412
413 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.
414
415 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **v1/devices/me/telemetry**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
416
417 (% 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.
418
419 {{code language="none"}}
420 {"IMEI": "S31B-NB", "temperature": 27, ......}
421 {{/code}}
422
423 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it automatically creates (provisions) the device mentioned in the **IMEI**, for example, S31B-NB.
424
425
426 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
427
428
429 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.
430
431 {{code language="none"}}
432 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}'
433 {{/code}}
434
435 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
436
437
438 [[image:integration-active.png]]
439
440
441 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**.
442
443
444 [[image:new-device.png]]
445
446
447 == 6.3 Viewing messages ==
448
449
450 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
451
452 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
453
454 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
455
456 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
457
458 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.
459
460 Click on the **Apply** button.
461
462 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
463
464
465 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 09.23.10.png]]
466
467
468 Now go to the **Events** tab.
469
470 Select the Event type as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
471
472 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.
473
474
475 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.38.59.png]]
476
477
478 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
479
480
481 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 18.39.12.png]]
482
483
484 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.
485
486
487 = 7. Creating a Dashboard =
488
489 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.
490
491
492 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.
493
494
495 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
496
497 {{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}}
498
499
500 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
501
502
503 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
504
505
506 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
507
508 Click on the **Add** button.
509
510
511 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
512
513
514 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
515
516
517 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
518
519
520 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
521
522
523 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
524
525
526
527 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
528
529
530 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
531
532
533 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
534
535 * **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.
536 * **Series**:
537 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
538 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
539 * Click on the **Add** button.
540
541 [[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]
542
543
544 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
545
546 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
547
548
549 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
550
551
552 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
553
554
555 {{code language="none"}}
556 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}'
557
558 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}'
559
560 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}'
561
562 {{/code}}
563
564 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
565
566
567 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
568
569
570 = 8. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =
571
572
573 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
574
575 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
576
577
578 **AT Commands**
579
580 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
581 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
582 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
583 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
584 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
585 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
586 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
587
588 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
589
590
591
592 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**.
593
594 {{info}}
595 The ThingsBoard uses the device's IMEI number included in the payload to create a device in the Devices section.
596 {{/info}}
597
598 [[image:image-4.png]]
599
600
601