Making Things Talk

Making Things Talk

by Tom Igoe
Released September 2007
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596510510

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Book description

Building electronic projects that interact with the physical world is good fun. But when devices that you've built start to talk to each other, things really start to get interesting. Through a series of simple projects, you'll learn how to get your creations to communicate with one another by forming networks of smart devices that carry on conversations with you and your environment. Whether you need to plug some sensors in your home to the Internet or create a device that can interact wirelessly with other creations, Making Things Talk explains exactly what you need. This book is perfect for people with little technical training but a lot of interest. Maybe you're a science teacher who wants to show students how to monitor weather conditions at several locations at once, or a sculptor who wants to stage a room of choreographed mechanical sculptures. Making Things Talk demonstrates that once you figure out how objects communicate -- whether they're microcontroller-powered devices, email programs, or networked databases -- you can get them to interact. Each chapter in contains instructions on how to build working projects that help you do just that. You will:

  • Make your pet's bed send you email

  • Make your own seesaw game controller that communicates over the Internet

  • Learn how to use ZigBee and Bluetooth radios to transmit sensor data wirelessly

  • Set up communication between microcontrollers, personal computers, and web servers using three easy-to-program, open source environments: Arduino/Wiring, Processing, and PHP.

  • Write programs to send data across the Internet based on physical activity in your home, office, or backyard

  • And much more

With a little electronics know-how, basic (not necessarily in BASIC) programming skills, a couple of inexpensive microcontroller kits and some network modules to make them communicate using Ethernet, ZigBee, and Bluetooth, you can get started on these projects right away. With Making Things Talk , the possibilities are practically endless.

Publisher resources

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Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Preface
    1. Who This Book Is For
    2. What You Need to Know
    3. Contents of This Book
    4. On Buying Parts
    5. Using Code Examples
    6. Using Circuit Examples
    7. Acknowledgments
  3. Chapter 1. The Tools
    1. It Starts with the Stuff You Touch
    2. It’s About Pulses
    3. Computers of all Shapes and Sizes
    4. Good Habits
    5. Tools (1/2)
    6. Tools (2/2)
    7. Using the Command Line (1/4)
    8. Using the Command Line (2/4)
    9. Using the Command Line (3/4)
    10. Using the Command Line (4/4)
    11. It Ends with the Stuff You Touch
  4. Chapter 2. The Simplest Network
    1. Layers of Agreement
    2. Making the Connection: The Lower Layers
    3. Saying Something: The Application Layer (1/3)
    4. Saying Something: The Application Layer (2/3)
    5. Saying Something: The Application Layer (3/3)
    6. Flow Control (1/2)
    7. Flow Control (2/2)
    8. Conclusion
  5. Chapter 3. A More Complex Network
    1. Network Maps and Addresses
    2. Clients, Servers, and Message Protocols (1/5)
    3. Clients, Servers, and Message Protocols (2/5)
    4. Clients, Servers, and Message Protocols (3/5)
    5. Clients, Servers, and Message Protocols (4/5)
    6. Clients, Servers, and Message Protocols (5/5)
    7. Conclusion
  6. Chapter 4. Look, Ma, No Computer! Microcontrollers on the Internet
    1. Introducing Network Modules (1/2)
    2. Introducing Network Modules (2/2)
    3. An Embedded Network Client Application (1/3)
    4. An Embedded Network Client Application (2/3)
    5. An Embedded Network Client Application (3/3)
    6. Serial-to-Ethernet Modules: Programming and Troubleshooting Tools (1/2)
    7. Serial-to-Ethernet Modules: Programming and Troubleshooting Tools (2/2)
    8. Conclusion
  7. Chapter 5. Communicating in (Near) Real Time
    1. Interactive Systems and Feedback Loops
    2. Transmission Control Protocol: Sockets & Sessions (1/5)
    3. Transmission Control Protocol: Sockets & Sessions (2/5)
    4. Transmission Control Protocol: Sockets & Sessions (3/5)
    5. Transmission Control Protocol: Sockets & Sessions (4/5)
    6. Transmission Control Protocol: Sockets & Sessions (5/5)
    7. Conclusion
  8. Chapter 6. Wireless Communication
    1. Why Isn’t Everything Wireless?
    2. Two Flavors of Wireless: Infrared and Radio (1/3)
    3. Two Flavors of Wireless: Infrared and Radio (2/3)
    4. Two Flavors of Wireless: Infrared and Radio (3/3)
    5. Radio Transceivers (1/2)
    6. Radio Transceivers (2/2)
    7. An XBee Serial Terminal (1/4)
    8. An XBee Serial Terminal (2/4)
    9. An XBee Serial Terminal (3/4)
    10. An XBee Serial Terminal (4/4)
    11. What About Wi-Fi?
    12. Buying Radios
    13. Conclusion
  9. Chapter 7. Sessionless Networks
    1. Look, Ma: No Microcontroller!
    2. Who’s Out There? Broadcast Messages (1/5)
    3. Who’s Out There? Broadcast Messages (2/5)
    4. Who’s Out There? Broadcast Messages (3/5)
    5. Who’s Out There? Broadcast Messages (4/5)
    6. Who’s Out There? Broadcast Messages (5/5)
    7. Directed Messages (1/3)
    8. Directed Messages (2/3)
    9. Directed Messages (3/3)
    10. Conclusion
  10. Chapter 8. How to Locate (Almost) Anything
    1. Network Location and Physical Location
    2. Determining Distance (1/3)
    3. Determining Distance (2/3)
    4. Determining Distance (3/3)
    5. Determining Position Through Trilateration (1/2)
    6. Determining Position Through Trilateration (2/2)
    7. Determining Orientation (1/2)
    8. Determining Orientation (2/2)
    9. Conclusion
  11. Chapter 9. Identification
    1. Physical Identification (1/6)
    2. Physical Identification (2/6)
    3. Physical Identification (3/6)
    4. Physical Identification (4/6)
    5. Physical Identification (5/6)
    6. Physical Identification (6/6)
    7. Network Identification (1/3)
    8. Network Identification (2/3)
    9. Network Identification (3/3)
    10. Conclusion
  12. Appendix A. And Another Thing
    1. Other Useful Protocols
    2. Proxies of All Kinds
    3. Mobile Phone Application Development
    4. Other Microcontrollers
    5. New Tools
  13. Appendix B. Where to Get Stuff
    1. Hardware
    2. Software
  14. Appendix C. Program Listings
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3 (1/2)
    4. Chapter 3 (2/2)
    5. Chapter 4
    6. Chapter 5 (1/2)
    7. Chapter 5 (2/2)
    8. Chapter 6
    9. Chapter 7
    10. Chapter 8
    11. Chapter 9 (1/3)
    12. Chapter 9 (2/3)
    13. Chapter 9 (3/3)
  15. Index
    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    5. E
    6. F
    7. G
    8. H
    9. I
    10. J
    11. K
    12. L
    13. M
    14. N
    15. O
    16. P
    17. Q
    18. R
    19. S
    20. T
    21. U
    22. V
    23. W
    24. X
    25. Y
    26. Z

Product information

  • Title: Making Things Talk
  • Author(s): Tom Igoe
  • Release date: September 2007
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596510510