Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 189.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/03/27 22:54
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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.
209
210 Let's create an uplink data converter for the device named '**Device A**'. Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter - Device A**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.
211
212 Click on the **TBEL** button if it has not been selected by default.
213
214 Modify the default TBEL function to match with your device as described below:
215
216
217 * Uncomment** line 11**:
218
219 //var data = decodeToJson(payload)//
220
221
222 * **Line 13**: Assign your device name to the **deviceName** field. - We used **Device A** as it is to match with our device, **Device A **in the Devices section.
223 * From **line 38**: Modify the telemetry section to allow parsed data to be assigned to the fields.
224
225 //telemetry: {
226 temperature: data.temperature,
227 humidity: data.humidity,
228 rawData: payloadStr
229 }//
230
231
232 The modified uplink decoder function to match with **Device A** is shown below.
233
234 {{code language="JavaScript"}}
235 // Decode an uplink message from a buffer
236 // payload - array of bytes
237 // metadata - key/value object
238
239 /** Decoder **/
240
241 // decode payload to string
242 var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);
243
244 // decode payload to JSON
245 var data = decodeToJson(payload);
246
247 var deviceName = 'Device A';
248 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
249 var customerName = 'Customer C';
250 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
251 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
252 // use assetName and assetType instead of deviceName and deviceType
253 // to automatically create assets instead of devices.
254 // var assetName = 'Asset A';
255 // var assetType = 'building';
256
257 // Result object with device/asset attributes/telemetry data
258 var result = {
259 // Use deviceName and deviceType or assetName and assetType, but not both.
260 deviceName: deviceName,
261 deviceType: deviceType,
262 // assetName: assetName,
263 // assetType: assetType,
264 // customerName: customerName,
265 groupName: groupName,
266 attributes: {
267 model: 'Model A',
268 serialNumber: 'SN111',
269 integrationName: metadata['integrationName'],
270 manufacturer: manufacturer
271 },
272 telemetry: {
273 temperature: data.temperature,
274 humidity: data.humidity,
275 rawData: payloadStr
276 }
277 };
278
279 /** Helper functions 'decodeToString' and 'decodeToJson' are already built-in **/
280
281 return result;
282 {{/code}}
283
284
285 Once you modify the decoder function, click on the **Add** button.
286
287
288
289 [[image:ul-data-converter-device-a.png||height="524" width="500"]]
290
291
292 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
293
294
295 [[image:ul-data-converter-added.png||height="257"]]
296
297
298
299 = 5. Add Integration =
300
301
302 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
303
304
305 [[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
306
307
308 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
309
310
311 The **Add integration** window appears.
312
313 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
314
315
316 **Basic settings:**
317
318 * **Integration type**: MQTT
319 * **Name**: MQTT integration - Device A
320 * **Enable integration**: YES
321 * **Allows create devices or assets**: YES
322
323 Click **Next** button.
324
325
326 [[image:add-integration-basic-settings.png||height="504" width="500"]]
327
328
329
330
331 **Uplink data converter:**
332
333 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
334 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
335
336 Click **Next** button.
337
338
339 [[image:add-integration-ul-data-converter.png||height="505" width="500"]]
340
341
342
343 **Downlink data converter:**
344
345 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
346
347 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
348
349 Click **Skip** button.
350
351
352 [[image:integration-dl-skip.png||height="511" width="500"]]
353
354
355
356 **Connection:**
357
358 * **Host**: Host URL (Eg. **//011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//**)
359 * **Port**: 8883
360 * **Credentials type**: Basic
361 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
362 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
363 * **Enable SSL**: YES
364 * **Topic: device/a** (The topic can be anything; you can even use just the device name.)
365 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
366
367
368
369 [[image:add-integartion-connection.png||height="505" width="500"]]
370
371
372 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
373
374 * **Clean session:** YES
375 * **Retained**: YES
376
377 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
378
379
380 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
381
382
383 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
384
385
386 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
387
388
389 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
390
391
392 Click on the **Add** button.
393
394 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
395
396 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
397
398
399 [[image:new-integration-pending.png]]
400
401
402 = 6. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
403
404
405 == 6.1 How does it work? ==
406
407
408 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.
409
410 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **/device/a**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
411
412 (% id="cke_bm_37386S" style="display:none" %) (%%)The MQTT payload format is as follows:
413
414 {{code language="none"}}
415 {"IMEI": "350693903995577", "temperature":25, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}
416 {{/code}}
417
418 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it forwards this payload to the matching device through the integration.
419
420
421 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
422
423
424 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.
425
426 {{code language="none"}}
427 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
428 {{/code}}
429
430 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
431
432
433 [[image:integration-active.png]]
434
435
436
437
438 == 6.3 Viewing messages ==
439
440
441 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
442
443 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
444
445 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
446
447 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
448
449 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.
450
451 Click on the **Apply** button.
452
453 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
454
455
456 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 09.23.10.png]]
457
458
459 Now go to the **Events** tab.
460
461 Select the Event type as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
462
463 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.
464
465
466 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.49.31.png]]
467
468
469
470
471 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
472
473
474 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.47.52.png]]
475
476
477
478
479 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.
480
481
482 = 7. Creating a Dashboard =
483
484 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.
485
486
487 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.
488
489
490 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
491
492 {{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}}
493
494
495 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
496
497
498 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
499
500
501 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
502
503 Click on the **Add** button.
504
505
506 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
507
508
509 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
510
511
512 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
513
514
515 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
516
517
518 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
519
520
521
522 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
523
524
525 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
526
527
528 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
529
530 * **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.
531 * **Series**:
532 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
533 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
534 * Click on the **Add** button.
535
536 [[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]
537
538
539 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
540
541 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
542
543
544 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
545
546
547 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
548
549
550 {{code language="none"}}
551 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}'
552
553 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}'
554
555 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}'
556
557 {{/code}}
558
559 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
560
561
562 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
563
564
565 = 8. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =
566
567
568 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
569
570 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
571
572
573 **AT Commands**
574
575 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
576 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
577 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
578 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
579 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
580 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
581 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
582
583 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
584
585
586
587 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**.
588
589 {{info}}
590 The ThingsBoard uses the device's IMEI number included in the payload to create a device in the Devices section.
591 {{/info}}
592
593 [[image:image-4.png]]

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