Chapter 13Wireless Communication and Control
This chapter describes how the Raspberry Pi can be configured to wirelessly communicate to the Internet, and to wirelessly interface to devices and sensors using different communication standards. The chapter begins with a description of how Bluetooth communications can be used to develop a wireless RPi remote-control framework using mobile apps. Next, a description is provided on how the RPi can be configured to connect to the Internet using USB Wi-Fi adapters. The discussion on Wi-Fi continues with a description of how the low-cost NodeMCU (ESP8266) Wi-Fi microcontroller can be used to build a local network of wireless things, which can communicate sensor values to the RPi and to an IoT PaaS. The ZigBee protocol is then used to build peer-to-peer wireless networks that use the popular XBee ZigBee devices. Finally, NFC/RFID is used to build a simple security access control system. By the end of this chapter you should be able to choose an appropriate wireless communication standard to suit your needs and you should be able to build sophisticated wireless IoT applications.
Equipment Required for this Chapter:
- Raspberry Pi (any model)
- RPi 3 or USB Bluetooth adapter (e.g., Kinivo BTD-400)
- Access to an Android mobile device
- RPi 3 or USB Wi-Fi adapter (e.g., Wi-Pi)
- NodeMCU microprocessor (version 2)
- ZigBee modules (ideally the Digi XBee Series 2 ZigBee model)
- An XBee USB Explorer and two XBee-to-breadboard adapters
- An RFID card reader ...
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