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Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 194.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/03/28 00:23
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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 [[image:add-integartion-connection.png||height="505" width="500"]]
368
369
370 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
371
372 * **Clean session:** YES
373 * **Retained**: YES
374
375 [[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png||height="510" width="500"]]
376
377
378 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
379
380
381 [[image:check-connection.png||height="83" width="300"]]
382
383
384 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
385
386
387 [[image:connection-success.png||height="511" width="500"]]
388
389
390 Click on the **Add** button.
391
392 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
393
394 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
395
396
397 [[image:integration-added.png]]
398
399
400
401 = 6. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
402
403
404 == 6.1 How does it work? ==
405
406
407 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.
408
409 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **/device/a**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
410
411 (% id="cke_bm_37386S" style="display:none" %) (%%)The MQTT payload format is as follows:
412
413 {{code language="none"}}
414 {"IMEI": "350693903995577", "temperature":25, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}
415 {{/code}}
416
417 Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it forwards this payload to the matching device through the integration.
418
419
420 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
421
422
423 On your computer's terminal, issue the following MQTT command which simulates the device '**Device A'**. The message payload contains the fields IMEI, temperature, humidity, and pressure, which hold the values 350693903995577, 30, 80, and 1005 respectively. This payload is also (technically) known as telemetry.
424
425 {{code language="none"}}
426 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}'
427 {{/code}}
428
429 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
430
431
432 [[image:integration-active.png]]
433
434
435 == 6.3 Viewing messages ==
436
437
438 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
439
440 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
441
442 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
443
444 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
445
446 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.
447
448 Click on the **Apply** button.
449
450 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
451
452
453 [[image:debug-enabled.png||height="301" width="700"]]
454
455
456
457
458 Now go to the **Events** tab.
459
460 Select the **Event type** as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
461
462 Publish another message (of course, you can repeat the previous message by pressing the UP arrow on your keyboard and then press Enter key) to your MQTT broker from your terminal, for example:
463
464 {{code language="none"}}
465 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}'
466 {{/code}}
467
468 Now you can see that uplink message in the **Events** tab (Click the **refresh** button if you didn't see any messages in the Events tab). The status should be **OK **if there is no errors in your integration.
469
470
471 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.49.31.png]]
472
473
474
475 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
476
477
478 [[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.47.52.png]]
479
480
481
482
483 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.
484
485
486 = 7. Creating a Dashboard =
487
488 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.
489
490
491 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.
492
493
494 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
495
496 {{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}}
497
498
499 In **ThingsBoard**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
500
501
502 [[image:dashboard-1.png]]
503
504
505 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
506
507 Click on the **Add** button.
508
509
510 [[image:dashboard-2.png||height="526" width="500"]]
511
512
513 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
514
515
516 [[image:dashboard-3.png]]
517
518
519 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
520
521
522 [[image:dashboard-4.png||height="537" width="700"]]
523
524
525
526 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
527
528
529 [[image:dashboard-5.png||height="525" width="700"]]
530
531
532 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
533
534 * **Datasource** - select S31B-NB device you provisioned.
535 * **Series**:
536 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
537 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
538 * Click on the **Add** button.
539
540 [[image:timeseries-1.png||height="491" width="700"]]
541
542
543 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
544
545 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
546
547
548 [[image:timeseries-3.png||height="347" width="700"]]
549
550
551 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
552
553
554 {{code language="none"}}
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": 22, "humidity":70}'
556
557 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}'
558
559 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}'
560
561 {{/code}}
562
563 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
564
565
566 [[image:timeseries-4.png||height="316" width="700"]]
567
568
569 = 8. Configure NB-IoT Sensor =
570
571
572 Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
573
574 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
575
576
577 **AT Commands**
578
579 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
580 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
581 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
582 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
583 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
584 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
585 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
586
587 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
588
589
590
591 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**.
592
593 {{info}}
594 The ThingsBoard uses the device's IMEI number included in the payload to create a device in the Devices section.
595 {{/info}}
596
597 [[image:image-4.png]]