Internet of Things (IoT) Use Case Internet of Things (IoT) Use Case

This tutorial builds a simple Internet of Things (IoT) application using JSON Studio and the
Gateway. In most IoT applications sensors, devices, phones etc. generate data that needs to be
collected in a central server and used for various application functionalities. JSON is the perfect
form to store IoT data because such data can be diverse (different devices produce different data),
data structures will change over time (different generations of devices may output different data
and certainly no one will upgrade all devices), etc. JSON is so flexible that different
devices/version etc. can create and send anything and this data can later be used for alerts,
maintenance, analytics etc.
Starting with version 2.2 the Gateway can be used to insert (or update) data in addition to the
classic use of the Gateway to query data - this is the main functionality used in this tutorial. The
stages of this tutorial are:
Build a device that generates JSON data.
Send that data to the Gateway and have the Gateway insert this data into the database.
Write a few queries, reports and graphs that use this data using JSON Studio and expose
them also through the Gateway.
Build application-specific functionality that should be called whenever a new device
message is received and that does some operation.
In order to keep the tutorial simple and focused on how to use the Gateway, the device used
below is simply the machine on which the tutorial is being built, a MacBook Pro machine. Using a
simple Unix-style command, you can get some metrics/readings about the current state of the
machine - e.g. temperature reading. For example, you can use a simple application called
Temperature Monitor that you can download from:
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
You can get temperature data using this utility from the command line or from a script. From the
command line:
$ ./TemperatureMonitor.app/Contents/MacOS/tempmonitor -c -l -a
SMART Disk APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E682 (J5500071GB4LND): 29 C
SMC AMBIENT AIR: 35 C
SMC BATTERY: 29 C
SMC BATTERY CHARGER PROXIMITY: 32 C
SMC BATTERY POSITION 2: 29 C
SMC BATTERY POSITION 3: 27 C
SMC CPU A PROXIMITY: 42 C
SMC GPU 1 CHIP: 39 C
SMC GPU DIODE: 42 C
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SMC LEFT PALM REST: 28 C
SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 2: 38 C
SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 3: 37 C
SMC PLATFORM CONTROLLER HUB: 38 C
Using this utility, we build a script that runs in a loop and extracts these readings every sixty
seconds and creates a JSON document from them that looks like:
{
"SMART Disk APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E682 (J5500071GB4LND)": 29,
"SMC AMBIENT AIR": 35,
"SMC BATTERY": 29,
"SMC BATTERY CHARGER PROXIMITY": 32,
"SMC BATTERY POSITION 2": 29,
"SMC BATTERY POSITION 3": 27,
"SMC CPU A PROXIMITY": 42,
"SMC GPU 1 CHIP": 39,
"SMC GPU DIODE": 42,
"SMC LEFT PALM REST": 28,
"SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 2": 38,
"SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 3": 37,
"SMC PLATFORM CONTROLLER HUB": 38,
"MAC": "40:6A:8E:4C:7A:D5",
"TS": {
"$date": "2014-08-14T20:00:31.000Z"
}
}
Note that in addition to the temperature readings the JSON document includes the date/time for
the measurement and the MAC address to identify the machine.
The gateway in this case is running on host qa6.jsonar.com and the collection into which all these
documents should be inserted is called iot1. The script will call curl in order to send the JSON data
to the IoT server (the Gateway). First, ensure that the curl command is indeed working correctly
and that data is inserted into the collection (the data below is arbitrary and only used for making
sure the data gets saved in the database):
$ curl --ssl -k https://qa6.jsonar.com:8443/sonarFinder/Gateway -d db=test -d port=47017 -d host=
{"output": { "serverUsed" : "qa6.jsonar.com:47017" , "ok" : 1 , "n" : 0}}
Specifically notice that type=insert so that the Gateway will be used to create a document per
each message it receives from the device. The output gives us an ok:1 , but to make sure lets
log into the Studio and look whether we now have a collection named iot1 with a document.
Indeed we do:
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Now we run the script so that it sends the temperature readings from the Mac every 60 seconds.
Our IoT server is now tracking the heat readings from the Mac (and hopefully many more such
devices).
Because the data is in the database and JSON Studio can build reports, graphs, aggregation
pipelines etc, the data can now be easily accessible. For example, the following graphs is the
result of a simple aggregation pipeline and plots temperature readings from the last half hour.
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And a full report of all values in the last half hour for this MAC address / device:
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Such reports and graphs can be viewed within JSON Studio or defined using the Studio and then
used directly from your own dashboards, applications or even Web sites. You can build complex
analytics on this device data within minutes. For example, the following pipeline gives you the
min/max/avg values for all devices or use the MAC address to parameterize and get the
min/max/avg values per device in a report or a dashboard:
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View the other tutorials in this series to see how easy it is to build queries, reports and graphs
using the Studio and how to expose them to applications and dashboards using the Gateway.
Finally, lets add a bit of application code to alert us if the temperature reading goes over a certain
value. Theoretically we could continuously query the database and see the inserted that but that is
both inefficient and is not really the paradign we want in IoT. Instead, we want to intercept each
JSON reading coming in and look at it before it is inserted into the database.
This is supported by the Gateway using the JSONTransformer interface:
public interface JSONTransformer {
/*
* Returns string or DBObject to be used in the various write operations.
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* Allows application-specific transformations.
* Return null if should not continue.
*
*/
public static enum WriteType { INSERT, UPDATE, UPSERT };
// Used for inserts
public String transform(String input, String collectionName, WriteType wt, HttpServletRequest
public Object transform(Object input, String collectionName, WriteType wt, HttpServletRequest
// Used for updates
public String[] transform(String input, String query, boolean upsert, boolean multi, String co
public Object[] transform(Object input, Object query, boolean upsert, boolean multi, String co
}
We will write a simple class that implements this interface and register it with the Gateway. Every
incoming document will be passed to our method before it gets inserted in the database. The class
is called before the insertion and receives the JSON to give you the opportunity to change the
JSON structure before it is inserted. You can do whatever you want - you can compute aggregate
functions, you can update a separate collection (e.g. a state collection); anything you can program
in Java. In our case we will not change the JSON but only pull out the temperature reading and
alert if it goes over a certain threshold (were just going to print it to the log file here for simplicity).
In a real scenario you can track the last few readings, track how fast the temperature is increasing
etc.
The class that does the work is:
public class IoTJSONTransformer implements JSONTransformer {
// Used for inserts
public String transform(String input, String collectionName, WriteType wt, HttpServletRequest
return input;
}
// Used for inserts
public Object transform(Object input, String collectionName, WriteType wt, HttpServletRequest
DBObject dbo = (DBObject)input;
int cpuTempReading = (Integer)dbo.get("SMC CPU A PROXIMITY"); // Get the measurement we're
if (cpuTempReading > 50) { // Very simple check for this exercise - normally more elaborat
System.out.println("SHUT DOWN MAC QUICKLY - IT'LL FRY!! Temperature is now " + cpuTempRe
System.out.println(dbo);
}
return input; // Not changing the stored JSON
}
// Used for updates
public String[] transform(String input, String query, boolean upsert, boolean multi, String co
String[] ret = {input, query};
return ret;
}
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// Used for updates
public Object[] transform(Object input, Object query, boolean upsert, boolean multi, String co
Object[] ret = {input, query};
return ret;
}
}
To register change the following entry in <install dir>/webapps/sonarFinder/WEB-INF/web.xml:
<context-param>
<param-name>jsonStudio.jsonTransformer</param-name>
<param-value>com.jsonar.util.DefaultJSONTransformer</param-value>
</context-param>
to:
<context-param>
<param-name>jsonStudio.jsonTransformer</param-name>
<param-value>com.jsonar.tutorial.IoTJSONTransformer</param-value>
</context-param>
Now if we run the script and place some load on the Mac (causing it to heat up because it is
working harder) the documents will show the temperature increase and as soon as the threshold
is reached we will see the following in the standard log:
SHUT DOWN MAC QUICKLY - IT'LL FRY!! Temperature is now 51
{ "SMART Disk APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E682 (J5500071GB4LND)" : 30 , "SMC AMBIENT AIR" : 35 , "SMC BA
"SMC BATTERY POSITION 2" : 29 , "SMC BATTERY POSITION 3" : 27 , "SMC CPU A PROXIMITY" : 51 , "SMC
"SMC LEFT PALM REST" : 28 , "SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 2" : 38 , "SMC MAIN HEAT SINK 3" : 37 , "SMC PLAT
"MAC" : "40:6A:8E:4C:7A:D5" , "TS" : { "$date" : "2014-08-14T21:09:31.000Z"}}
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