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Guard and track your assets

Guard your valuable assets, get immediate notification when they move without your consent and keep track in real time about their exact location.

Networks based on the LTE-M protocol enable real time bi-directional communication which provides next to exact location of your assets the ability to instruct changes in the behaviour of the IoT device.

This experiment showcases how to “digitally” lock/unlock your valuable things.

When you lock or unlock the object, an object state will be updated and a notification including the location will be sent over using a rule.

When the monitored object is in lock status and starts moving an alarm asset is send over and a rule will send a notification, at the same time the GPS location will be sent every 60 seconds from the device to Maker until the object is unlocked.

Prerequisites

Hardware

  • Sodaq SARA AFF R410M

Software

Setup

Hardware

Hardware schema

  • Insert the SIM card in the SIM card holder on the SODAQ AFF board
  • Connect SARA board to your computer through USB

Make sure you have good GPS coverage. Indoors can be a problem in certain cases.

Set up sketch

  • Connect the Sodaq SARA AFF board to your computer over USB
  • Open your Arduino IDE
    • Go to Tools > Board: and select the SODAQ AFF board
    • Under Tools > Port select the USB port to which your device is connected

Select board and port in Arduino IDE

  • In your Arduino IDE, open the example ‘Guard_and_Track’ under File-> examples -> arduino-ltem-rdk-master.

Authenticate your device

  • Open the tab “keys.h” of the example sketch
  • Change the DeviceID and DeviceToken values with the values that can be found in the Authentication section of the Settings Menu of the previously created device in the Maker Application.

Authenticate your device

Run the example

Simply hit the upload icon in the Arduino IDE. This will save the sketch, compile it and upload it to your Arduino. Since this sketch incorporates a “Sleep” mechanism it is possible that you have to restart the device by pressing the “RESET” button.

You can now watch the values change in Maker.

Next to that the LED located on the LTE-M RDK board, helps you identify the behaviour of the device.

LED sequence/timeline

Alternatively, you can open the Tools > Serial monitor of the Arduino IDE.

  • Make sure you select the correct COM port to listen (under Tools > Port )
  • When the monitor is open, make sure the Baud rate is set to 115000

Enable extended Debugging

Get more insights on how the behaviour of the LTE-M RDK, the modem and/or network by enabling the Debug function in the sketch. This can be done by changing the false statement to true in the function LTEmModem modem, as indicated in the screenshot below.

Enable extended Debugging

Next steps

Create pinboard

To visualise our data, we will create a pinboard. For more information on pinboards, please check how to use pinboards.

  • Select the “+ Create Pinboard” in the top right of the asset overview screen
  • Make sure you have checked the Assets you want to pin in this case Lock.
  • Select the Arrange pinboard icon (pencil) to enter the pinboard edit mode
  • Click the settings icon of the Asset Lock, click_ edit control_ and continue by selecting the Lock/Unlock as control (feel free to select another one).
  • And save…or pin another asset like location.

For extra options to customise your controls, please check the Controls page.

Set up & configure automation rule

Rules give devices the ability to interact, and create automation. Specifically for this kit and experiment we have created some example rules that can be switched on and adapted to your specific needs:

  • Notify me when my asset is locked/unlocked
  • Notify me when my locked asset is moving

Time to configure and setup rules! We will activate a provisioned rule.

  • In the Ground menu on the left of the screen, Select Rules
  • Select the rule Notify me when my device in locked/unlocked, and discover how this rule is assembled.
  • Close the rule window, now activate the toggle to enable.
  • Now change the state of the Asset Lock directly in the Asset view or by using the previously created Pin.

That’s it! You were notified in the Maker application, by mail and/or push notification on your mobile phone!

For more information on rules, please check how to use rules.