Tools for IoT Prototyping

Here we show some of the tools we use for lean prototyping. It depends a lot on personal preferences and experience what tool will suit you best. In our perception Arduino-related components are very versatile.
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Kai Dierkesmann

Business Design Coach

1. Example Tools

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Business Design IoT Sensor Kit

Hardware platform that can be fitted with any sensor available on the market to collect and transmit data via WLAN, LTE and Bluetooth, fully integrated into the Project Dashboard for real-time data visualization. 100% tailored to the needs in Business Design projects.

Arduino

Open-source platform with several very good communities for developing simple hardware and software systems (sensors, actuators, WiFi, LoRa, Bluetooth, 4G/LTE) . Nearly unlimited opportunities, but needs some skill in coding.

Communities

Taking advantage of existing communities makes life in Arduino IDE coding al lot easier. Arduino.cc, Adafruit.comMicrocontroller.net (German language), Github.com, Digistump.com and many many more.

Thinger.io

IoT platform to visualize data, browser based.

IFTTT.com

IoT Platform to launch web-based actions based on sensor data.

Tessel.io

Beautifully integrated IoT developer kit to connect up to two sensors per plug-in board. No hardware knowledge is required!

Rysta.io

The "iPhone" for IoT projects for collecting data from a variety of sensors according to the Plug&P(l)ay principle

Relayr.io

Middleware components for the rapid development of IoT solutions

Pinguino

Similar to Arduino with its own IDE development environment

and much more

This list is far from complete and is just a short summary. Make up your own mind and use a tool which fits your need.

2. Example Usage

As soon as it is clear what sensors, microcontrollers, transmitting units, data storage and power supply is needed , it makes sense to solder all electronics on one PCB (Printed Circuit Board). This way, we lower the risk of malfunctions. PCBs can be easily designed with freeware. There are several providers that will manufacture your PCBs, even one single PCB, for a few Euros and within a few days only.

3. Q & A

  • We don`t have anyone in the team who knows how to work with Arduino, what can we do? Ask with the organization, friends or family if there anyone with experienc in this. Also, there are many freelancers out there you can contact through common platforms. To shorten up this process, write me a line. I might be able to give some tips.