Interfacing with the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi uses a variety of input/output devices based on protocols such as HDMI, USB, and Ethernet to communicate with the outside world. In this class you will learn how to use these protocols with other external devices (sensors, motors, GPS, orientation, LCD screens etc.) to get your IoT device to interact with the real world. Most physical devices use analog signals; however computer hardware is digital so in this class you will learn how these signals are converted back-and-forth and how this must be considered as you program your device. The basic design of a sensor-actuator system will also be covered. You will also learn how to build more sophisticated hardware systems using Raspberry Pi expansion boards to create fun and exciting IoT devices. Please note that this course does not include discussion forums.

• Module 1
• This module presents the use of the Raspberry Pi to connect to the Internet, from a user perspective. The first way to use the Raspberry Pi as a networked device is to use it as a general-purpose computer rather than as a programmed IoT device. Using networking with a Raspberry Pi in this way is similar to using the network from any Linux machine, and we present its use in this module. We also present the standard Internet protocols that must be understood in order to develop network programs.
• Module 2
• This module introduces the networking socket interface that is used to transfer data across the network programmatically. An essential aspect of the Internet of Things is for your IoT device to send and receive data on the Internet, and the socket interface is key to enabling that. We describe how to use socket in Python to act as both a client and a server.
• Module 3
• This module focuses on how to have your Raspberry Pi interact with online services through the use of public APIs and SDKs. Many interesting and useful services are available in the cloud and this module describes how to write code that accesses those services. We define what an Application Programming Interface (API) is and what a Software Development Kit (SDK) is. We present some API examples and we show the use of the Twitter API in detail using the Twython package.
• Module 4
• In this module we show how to use the Raspberry Pi to interface with more complicated sensors and actuators. We explore the use of the Raspberry Pi camera module and the use of a servo. The Raspberry Pi camera module is used through the picamera library, which we describe. Servos are controlled by generating pulse width modulated signals and varying their pulse width using library functions.