Book Image

BeagleBone Home Automation Blueprints

By : Rodolfo Giometti
Book Image

BeagleBone Home Automation Blueprints

By: Rodolfo Giometti

Overview of this book

BeagleBone is a microboard PC that runs Linux. It can connect to the Internet and can run OSes such as Android and Ubuntu. BeagleBone is used for a variety of different purposes and projects, from simple projects such as building a thermostat to more advanced ones such as home security systems. Packed with real-world examples, this book will provide you with examples of how to connect several sensors and an actuator to the BeagleBone Black. You’ll learn how to give access to them, in order to realize simple-to-complex monitoring and controlling systems that will help you take control of the house. You will also find software examples of implementing web interfaces using the classical PHP/HTML pair with JavaScript, using complex APIs to interact with a Google Docs account, WhatsApp, or Facebook. This guide is an invaluable tutorial if you are planning to use a BeagleBone Black in a home automation project.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
BeagleBone Home Automation Blueprints
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Setting up the hardware


The Z-Wave technology, which is oriented to the residential control and automation market, is designed to be suitable for battery-operated devices. In fact, one of its main goals is to minimize the power consumption. Despite this fact, it provides reliable and low-latency transmission of small data packets at data rates of up to 100 kbps, and a simple yet reliable method to wirelessly manage sensors and control lights and appliances in a house.

Note

For more information on Z-Wave, a good starting point is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Wave.

In our project, we're going to use a Z-Wave controller on a USB dongle, one slave device powered by the same plug where it's connected to, and one multisensor device that can be powered by batteries or via an external USB connection.

Setting up the Z-Wave controller

The Z-Wave controller I used in this prototype is shown in the following image:

Note

The device can be purchased at the following link (or by surfing the Internet): http...