Instructor: Dr. Li
Email: xhli@citytech.cuny.edu
Office Hours: See announcement on the Blackboard
Note: With the waning of COVID-19, the office hours have been back to in-person.
Welcome to CET4925 Internet of Things, a fascinating and rapidly booming technology field! This webpage can simply be reached by googling “City Tech IoT Dr. Li”.
Course Description
Introduction to architecture of Internet of Things (IoT) and basics of the key technologies for developing an IoT system, including physical computing, communication and connectivity, and IoT clouds. A variety of IoT implementations and applications are introduced. Students use some of the technologies with experimental hardware platforms to implement a prototype IoT system.
Grading PolicY
| Items | Percentage |
|---|---|
|
Attendance |
10% |
|
Labs |
25% |
|
Midterm Project Proposal |
15% |
|
Final Project Report |
15% |
|
Final Project & Extra Credits |
35% |
A: 93~100 A-: 90~92.99 B+: 87~89.99 B: 83~86.99 B-: 80~82.99 C+: 77~79.99 C: 70~76.99 D: 60~69.99
Syllabus and Course Documents
- Course Syllabus: Detailed information about the course and course policies, including requisites, grading policy, learning outcomes and other course policies.
- Lab Reports Requirements: Detailed requirements on lab experiments and lab reports (including report’s content and format).
- Guide on How to Write Technical Reports: A very good guide written by IET (Institute of Engineering & Technology, one of the largest international non-for-profit engineering professional organizations, dated back to 1871). Copyright@IET.
Weekly Schedule
Note: Due to discontinuation of IoT services on IBM Cloud and Google Cloud in 2023, the weekly schedule has been revised. See updated schedule here.
| Week# | Topics | Notes on Course Project |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Intro to the course, course project, project videos, and project ideas.
Ch 1: Intro and Architecture of IoT: history, applications, examples |
Team-up; Research /brainstorm project ideas; Order Photon |
|
2 |
Ch 1: Intro and Architecture of IoT (Contd): Architecture, ecosystems |
Team-up finishes; Research/ brainstorm project ideas. Start to order parts/components |
|
3 |
Ch 2: Physical computing platforms for IoT: MCU, MPU/SBC, PLC and FPGA; and comparison of all platforms
Lab 1: Get started with Particle |
Get project approved by instructor; Search & order parts & supplies |
|
4 |
Ch 3: Review/Primer of C++ OOP Programming
Ch 4:. I/O for IoT
Lab 2: Input with Photon (digital/analog): temperature or IR sensor
Lab 3: Output with Photon (digital/analog), Dimmer light, DC brushed motor, DC servo motor or text LCD display
|
Discuss project design; Divide the jobs; Continue ordering parts |
|
5 |
Ch 5: Connectivity Technologies: From FieldBus and WSN, to WiFi/Celluar/ZigBee/BLE/Z-Wave/RuBee, and the latest Thread, LoRa, Sigfox and NB-IoT |
Continue with project design; Continue ordering parts |
|
6 |
Ch 6 & Lab 4: IoTing via IFTTT
Midterm project proposal due in two weeks |
Continue with project design; Continue ordering parts; Start to develop project proposal |
|
7 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud: Introduction and ReST
Due to the discontinuation of IoT services of IBM Cloud and Google Cloud, the following labs 5~8 have been retired. Click the "Weekly Schedule" menu on the top for updates.
Lab 5: Intro to IBM Watson IoT Platform (Quickstart) Handout: Get Started with IBM Watson IoT Platform Handout: Dr. Li's example code of sending data to IBM Watson IoT Platform Quickstart |
Continue with project design; Finish ordering parts; Start to build the project -- the physical platform.
Midterm Proposal due next week |
|
8 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud (contd.) -- MQTT
Lab 6: Using MQTT to send data to IBM Watson IoT Platform & Data visualization
Handout: Visualize real-time data by IBM Watson IoT Platform
Handout: Dr. Li's example code of sending data for visualization on IBM Watson IoT Platform
Link: MQTT library for Photon: https://github.com/hirotakaster/MQTT |
Continue building the project hardware components/subsystems.
Project proposal Due! See Blackboard for the exact due date. |
|
9 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud (contd) -- Node-RED
Lab 7: Node-RED app to tweet an alert message according to remote sensor readings
Handout: Dr. Li's Example Node-RED flow for generating Twitter alert messages |
Continue building the project: system physical platform is in shape; program and test sensors |
|
10 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud (contd): Data Analytics and Cloud Computing for IoT
Lab 8: Control remote devices via Node-RED and IBM Cloud
Handout: Dr. Li's example code on Photon subscribing & responding to string commands from IBM Cloud
Handout: Example Node-RED flow for sending commands to remote devices
Handout: Another Example Code: Photon subscribes and responds to JSON-formatted commands from IBM Cloud |
Continue building the project: program and test actuators |
|
11 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud (contd) -- AWS IoT
Lab 9A: IoTing via AWS -- AWS IoT Core
Handout: Dr. Li's example code -- Photon sends sensor data to and receives commands from AWS IoT Core over MQTT TLS
Handout: A Brief instruction on using Particle CLI to create a project, compile and flash the code to Photon
MQTT.fx: a MQTT client software (very handy! Highly recommended for testing MQTT connection!)
How to use MQTT.fx: an example connection profile (screenshot); and an simple guide (link here)
Lab 9B: IoTing via AWS -- Node-RED with AWS EC2 |
Finish setting up IoT Cloud and start the programming with the Cloud
|
|
12 |
Ch 7: IoT Cloud (contd) -- AWS IoT
Lab 9C: IoTing via AWS -- Lambda Functions for IoTing
Lab 9D: IoTing via AWS -- AWS Greengrass (optional) |
Final testing of each component, and integrate everything together |
|
13 |
Ch 7 IoT Cloud — Microsoft Azure IoT
Lab 10: Intro to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub and IoT Central
|
Integrate everything, preliminary system testing.
Bring in everything and work on the project next week |
|
14 |
Project hours |
Test and refine the entire system |
|
15 |
Final project demonstration |
Tech Documentations
- Particle’s Official Documentation: Particle.io maintains excellent tech documentations. See official “Get Started”, “Tutorials” and “Reference” via the links here.
- Particle Community: An online discussion forum hosted by Particle. Highly suggested for Q&A.
- Get Started with IBM Watson IoT Platform: IBM’s official tech documentations on IBM Watson IoT Platform.
- GitHub Repository of C++ Client Library for IBM Watson IoT Platform: GitHub’s repository of IBM’s official paho MQTT C++ library for connecting/managing devices, and MQTT with IBM Watson IoT Platform.
- AWS IoT Developer Guide: the official AWS IoT developer guide by AWS. See the latest document as of 2019 at HTML version | PDF link. Copyright@Amazon
- AWS IoT Workshop: a GitHub repo featuring a simple workshop on using ESP32 with AWS IoT Core.
- AWS IoT C++ Device SDK: official AWS SDK for connecting a device to AWS IoT using C++.
- Intel’s official documentation on mraa C/C++ library: Intel’s MRAA library is a low Level library for communication and interfacing with I/O on a variety of boards (GPIO, PWM, I2C, SPI, UART, …). It supports RasPi, Banana Pi, Beaglebone, Onion Mega2 and UP, It allows you to program in C++, Python, JavaScript or Java.
Course Project Requirements & Documents
- Course Project General Requirements
- Parts List for Course Project: A reference part list for course project. Complete part list is determined by the actual need of your project.
- Websites to Order Parts: Some popular websites where you can order parts/supplies.
- Requirements on Midterm Project Proposal: Detailed requirements on the project proposal regarding its content and format. Note — Additional requirements: A project management profile (a Gantt chart for your project timeline and task division) MUST be included in the proposal. You can use Microsoft Project or an open-source software named as “ProjectLibre” to creat such a chart. See “ProjectLibre” blow for details.
- Requirements on Final Project Report: Detailed requirements on the final project report’s content and format.
- ProjectLibre: ProjectLibre is an open source project management software, as a leading alternative to Microsoft Project. Use it to create the project management profile (called “Gantt Chart“) for your Project Proposal. Download ProjectLibre via link here.
- A Tutorial on ProjectLibre: A simply tutorial of ProjectLibre which was developed and used by another class in Fall 2012. Follow the steps described here and get familiar with ProjectLibre.
Projects in the current semester
- TBA
Projects in Previous semesters
Spring 2023
- Smart Medicine Bottle
- Smart Refrigerator
- Intelligent Traffic Light Control System
- Smart Sprinkler System
- Internet Video Doorbell
- GPS Tracker
Spring 2022
- Smart Refrigerator
- Smart Mirror
- GPS Tracker
- IoT Irrigation System
- Smart Sprinkler
- IoT Pet Food & Water Feeder
- Internet Video Doorbell
- IoT Door Lock
Spring 2021
- Smart Drop-off Security Box
- GPS Tracker
- Smart Precision Irrigation System
- Automated Valet
- Internet Video Doorbell
- Smart Door Lock
Spring 2020
- Long-range Mesh Network for Wildfire Monitoring & Detection
- Fall Detection & Alert IoT System for Senior Citizens
- GPS Tracker
- Precision Irrigation System
- Weather Forecast Awared Smart Sprinkler
- Smart Mailbox
- Flood Detection IoT System
Spring 2019
- Smart Intersection: IoT Traffic Control for Smart City
- IoT Garbage Bins
- Automotive Telemetry
- Internet Video Doorbell
- IoT Intercom
Spring 2018
- Weather Awared Smart Sprinkler
- Smart Assistive Medicine Bottle
- IoT Intercom
- IoT Home Security System
Spring 2017
- IoT Central Cooling & Heating System
- IoT Indoor Plant Watering System
- IoT Safe
- Smart Curtain
Info on Entrepreneurship
- IoT Startups and Companies in NYC: Do you know that 138 IoT startups in NYC have raised total $1566M by January, 2023?! Check NY’s hottest IoT startups and successful companies featured by builtinnyc.com via the link here.
- IoT Landscape 2018: A great and comprehensive review and outlook of IoT ecosystem published by Matt Turck in FirstMark Capital (a VC in New York City). Previous reports are here: IoT Landscape in 2016 and IoT landscape in 2014. Copyright@Matt Turck, Demi Obayomi and FirstMark Capital.
- IoT Angel List: Get to know what is happening now out there in IoT stratup community. In addition, you may find a job in one of the startups via this website.
- CUNY Startups Bootcamp & Accelerator: Teamed up with industry partners, entrepreneur mentors and CUNY faculty, any student/faculty startups at any CUNY campus can join this 6-weeks-long course to get the best of best ready to pitch at CUNY Startup’s NYC Roadshow. As part of the roadshow, outstanding startups will have the opportunity to pitch their new ventures to potential investors, as well as pitch to accelerators. See details at: https://www.cunystartups.com/accelerator
Events & Announcements
- Frontier Tech: Robotics, Drones, IoT & More Meetup: features SwipeSense (location-aware sensors for hospitals), Muse (brain-sensing headband for meditation), Numina (camera sensing solution to measure street activity), and Apprentice.io (Industrial augmented reality for pharmaceuticals). A great opportunity to get to know what is happening out there in industry world and create some social networks. See event details on https://www.meetup.com/Hardwired-NYC/events/
- Job Opening — Hardware Engineer: Smallhold, a Brooklyn-based IoT agriculture technology company that builds climate-controlled minifarms for restaurants and retailers, is hiring a hardware engineer. See the official website for detailed description and how to apply: https://www.smallhold.com/hardware-engineer
- Summer Intern Opportunities: Brooklyn Navy Yard had direct collaboration with our College and hired many of our City Tech students in the past as summer interns. The internship program in Brooklyn Navy Yard is open to accept applications. A variety of intern positions are offered by the companies inside Brooklyn Navy Yard. Check details at the link: https://brooklynnavyyard.org/employment/summer-internship/
- Open Lab is Available! Please be advised that effective from the 5th Thursday of this semester, open lab will be available in room V606, V608 and V613. You are welcome to use these lab rooms and equipment there to work on your projects or lab experiments. Open Lab hours are: Thursdays 11:20AM-2:00PM. See department secretary for details.
Archived Events & Announcements
- “Signal Processing and Predictive Analytics in IoT”:: A talk featuring Stuart Feffer (founder of Realityai) in Build Grand Central (335 Madison Ave, Manhattan) on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 6~8PM. See the talk abstract and event agenda at: https://www.meetup.com/IoT-NY/events/248205840/
- Aging Innovation Challenge from the New York State Department of Health: The NY State Department of Health calls on students to propose innovations that can support the elderly with an activity of daily living, such as eating or bathing. $50,000 in prizes up for grabbing.Deadline to submit proposals is April 30th, 2018. See https://www.herox.com/aginginnovationNY for more details.
- Seminar of “Big Data Analytics and its Applicaitons in Business “: The Computer Engineering & Robotics Technology Seminar Series features “Big Data Analytics and its Applications in Business” by Dr. Shim from College of Staten Island/CUNY on May 4, 2017 (Thur), during 12:45~1:45PM, in room V614. A great opportunity to learn the latest technologies and developments on big data and data analytics.
- NJ Tech Council IoT Conference 2017 on April 26, 2017: The annual NJ Tech Council IoT Conference 2017 will feature AWS IoT cloud and AT&T foundry, Smart City, smart transportation, many IoT projects demo and networking reception. It will be hold at Steven Insititution of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, on April 26, 2017. If interested, please contact Dr. Li for free-registration promotion code by April 12. See the link here for detailed conference agenda.
- Brooklyn Tech Triangle Technology Company Tour is scheduled on Friday, April 8, 2016. See the Blackboard for details.
- Good news: Schneider Electric is Hiring! Schneider Electric is one of the leading companies in the fields of energy managment and infrastruture equipments all over the global. It has several different openning, both full-time and part-time. They come to our campus to recruit. You are highly suggested to attend their info session on March 3, 2015, 1-2PM, at room N402. They will come back on March 19 for interviewing. Please see CET Dept. Secretary for more details!
- Brooklyn Tech Triangle U: A series of events to connect the Tech+Arts+Academic communities in Brooklyn MetroTech, DUMBO and Brooklyn Navy Yard. Career events on March 5 and 6, 2015: http://brooklyntechtriangle.com/tech-u/#career-events
- MobileWeek NY 2015 Hiring Mixer: Join the official MobileWeek Hiring Mixer hosted at Yelp! Which is free for all developers and designers! Date: April 21, 2015, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM, Venue: YELP! Office NYC | 11 Madison Ave, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10010 See MobileWeek official website for details: http://mobileweek.co/hiring/
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Last updated in January, 2024.