Managing Multiple IoT Cloud Devices - Same Software

Development Tools Cloud IoT
1

I have already accepted that each Thing needs a duplicate dashboard on the Arduino Cloud side. But since each device (MKR1010) gets a unique Thing ID, I'm wondering if there is a clever way to make sure multiple devices get flashed with the correct one?

For example, right now I have to comment ArduinoCloud.setThingId() calls to make sure my device is getting setup with its Thing ID. It would be nice if I could read that from NVM or something. I've tried using "flash as EEPROM" but it wipes on every upload.

I do have an SD card attached to each where I store data, so I might just use that, but I only like that slightly more than commenting code.

2

I use the mac address to make a device ID.

void connectToMQTT()
{
  byte mac[5]; // create client ID from mac address
  WiFi.macAddress(mac); // get mac address
  String clientID = String(mac[0]) + String(mac[4]) ; // use mac address to create clientID
  while ( !MQTTclient.connected() )
  {
    MQTTclient.connect( clientID.c_str(), mqtt_username, mqtt_password );
    vTaskDelay( 250 );
  }
  MQTTclient.setCallback ( mqttCallback );
  MQTTclient.subscribe   ( topicOK );
} //void connectToMQTT()

That way I can just copy this function from one project to another.

3

I don't see exactly how this solves the issue using Arduino Cloud.

ArduinoCloud.setThingId() requires the Thing ID generated from the cloud (e.g., d9f22913-a94c-4278-81d5-8f7374b91c9e).

My understanding is that this ID is cryptographically associated. Unless I'm missing a connection between the Thing ID and MAC...?

4

Oi! I use my own MQTT Broker. I did not know that the ArduinoCloud thingy required a MQTT Broker generated unique device ID. I can understand why they need to generate unique broker ID's.

5

Thanks anyways! I guess I’m imagining a common scenario where you want to monitor 15 widgets in some factory using identical Arduinos… I feel like I’m missing something obvious, unless you really have to manually manage all of those thing IDs despite them all running the exact same software.

6

Here's an interim solution stemming from Shannon's suggestion to get the MAC (which should be unique for each MKR1010). Here is a sketch (DisplayMAC.ino) to get the MAC:

#include <ArduinoIoTCloud.h>

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  byte mac[5];
  WiFi.macAddress(mac);
  for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    Serial.print("0x");
    Serial.print(mac[i], HEX);
    if (i < 4) {
      Serial.print(", ");
    } else {
      Serial.println("");
    }
  }
  delay(5000);
}

In a separate file (iot_things.h), paste the Things ID from Arduino Cloud and the MAC from the sketch above (this file can be gitignore'd):

const char THING_ID_G0[] = "c443ac0d-a86A-4f40-a83f-1ebb71b3cbdb";
const char THING_ID_G1[] = "d1f22913-a94c-4228-81d5-8f7374ba1c9e";
const byte MAC_G0[5] = { 0x48, 0x5A, 0x3C, 0x24, 0xBF };
const byte MAC_G1[5] = { 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF };

That creates a MAC <-> Thing ID map. Then in the main ino file:

#include <iot_things.h>
...
void initIotProperties() {
  byte mac[5];
  WiFi.macAddress(mac);

  bool doProperties = true;
  if (memcmp(mac, MAC_G0, 5) == 0) {
    ArduinoCloud.setThingId(THING_ID_G0);
  } else if (memcmp(mac, MAC_G1, 5) == 0) {
    ArduinoCloud.setThingId(THING_ID_G1);
  } else {
    doProperties = false; // no match, skip adding properties
  }

  if (doProperties) {
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(adcGrams, READ, 1 * SECONDS, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(motorActive, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(killSwitch, READWRITE, ON_CHANGE, onKillSwitchChange);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(sdCard, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(doClosedLoop, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(temperature, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(humidity, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
    ArduinoCloud.addProperty(version, READ, ON_CHANGE, NULL);
  }
}

So every time there is a new cloud device, these things need to update, but at least it solves OAD/re-flashing headaches.

7

I am not sure if I understand correctly what you want to do but there's a tool in Arduino IOT, which I think is quite new, called "Arduino Cloud CLI" that might correspond to what you need. Make a search in google and see.

8

Yup, that appears to be the next best thing! Thank you.

9

Anther solution can be the one presented here:

https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-iot-cloud-disconnects/1030704/2?u=jarriaga

I have done this to the wifi SSID and PASS but you can adapt to de Device ID

10

Yesterday I found this video which can be of great use for what you want to do.
And it is the best solution for what I ant to do either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnfX9YJbaU8

11

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