Desenvolvimento e validação de módulo de comunicação MQTT para a plataforma BIPES para aplicações de internet das coisas

Abstract

A current trend is towards the adoption of alternative no-code programming methods, which allows the development of programs without writing even a line of code or knowing a programming language. One approach is to use blocks to constitute a visual programming paradigm. Making a metaphor for puzzle pieces, the commands snap together to form programs, and can only be joined in the appropriate places, avoiding errors of logic and syntax. Following this direction, the BIPES (Block based Integrated Platform for Embedded Systems) emerged as an open source environment that allows to develop, program, compile, deploy and test applications on embedded systems and Internet of Things devices. Totally based on the WEB, it does not require the installation of any additional software and supports boards such as ESP32, ESP8266, Raspberry Pi. Due to the nature of the project, there was a need to integrate a protocol admittedly appropriate for IoT, the MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport). Therefore, two modules (sets of blocks) were developed for the MQTT: one of them allows the complete configuration of the connection parameters and control over the messages exchanged, therefore it is aimed at a user with greater knowledge over the technology and who seeks more flexibility; another, nicknamed EasyMQTT, allows easy prototyping and deployment of applications containing MQTT, without complicated configurations, with an easy view of the acquired data, in addition to having an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows its integration in other applications. The modules were validated by solving a real problem of FITOTEC (Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology in Phytoproducts) located at UNESP – Assis campus, where it was necessary to monitor the temperature and humidity of an egg incubator for a few days. For this, two programs were created, one for each module developed, which were tested in the incubator for two different periods of time using an ESP8266. The results proved the stability of the developed modules, including their ability to recover from instabilities in the network, managing to recover and continue communicating after some consecutive connection failures. In addition, EasyMQTT has already been used in a short course about Internet of Things, and, at the time of writing this work, the EasyMQTT database already had 58 different sessions, totaling 87 topics and having processed an increasing number of 265,431 messages.