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Count visits

Improve facility management by taking into account actual usage based on real time measurements.

This example shows how a sensor can count visits to optimise cleaning based on usage rather than rigid fixed schedules. Now you can measure the number of toilet visits and inform you when this number exceeds 20 visits. Facility services can indicate by pushing the button when their cleaning job is done, and this action will reset the counter.

Prerequisites

Hardware

  • Sodaq Mbili
  • NB-IoT module with antenna and SIM card
  • Screw terminal
  • Magnetic door switch
  • Push button

Software

Setup

Hardware

Count visits schema

  • Insert the NB-IoT SIM card in the NB-IoT radio Module
  • Attach NB-IoT module with antenna and inserted SIM card to the MBili
  • Attach magnetic door switch to screw terminal connectors VCC and D1 as shown on the image below
    Screw terminal
  • Connect screw terminal to D4/D5 socket on the Mbili board
  • Connect button to D20/D21 socket on the MBbli Board
  • Connect Sodaq Mbili to your computer through USB
  • Turn power switch on the Mbili to ON

Set up sketch

  • Connect the Sodaq Mbili to your computer over USB
  • Open your Arduino IDE
    • Go to Tools > Board and select the SODAQ Mbili board
    • Under Tools > Port select the USB port automatically assigned by your computer to which your device is connected

Choose Sodaq Mbili board and port

  • In your Arduino IDE, open the example count-visits under File > Examples > arduino-nbiot-rdk-master.

Setup device credentials

If you did the first application on the previous page, your device is ready for use, and you can continue and run the example.
If not, please complete the following step.

  • Browse and open the keys.h file located in the arduino-nbiot-sdk-master Library folder, by default you can find it in:
    • Mydocuments/Arduino/Libraries/Arduino-nbiot-sdk-master folder for Windows
    • Documents/Arduino/Libraries/Arduino-nbiot-sdk-master folder for MacOS
  • Change the DeviceID and DeviceToken values with the values that can be found under Device Settings > Authentication section of your device in the Maker Application. In the keys.h file you will notice that the APN is already pre configured and should not be changed.

AllThingsTalk Device ID and Token

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/****
 * Enter your AllThingsTalk device credentials below
 */
#ifndef KEYS_h
#define KEYS_h
const char* DEVICE_ID = "LA1Sn4yuYx16YBAABqQQnSan";
const char* DEVICE_TOKEN = "maker:4VyRL0fr22kOm01qFyHqw3gE91MahfK1Q3zEfRg0";
const char* APN = "starter.att.iot";
#endif

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.

After uploading, you might need to flip the power switch on the Sodaq Mbili OFF and back ON to make sure the Mbili reboots and starts up our sketch.

You can now watch the values change in Maker.

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 57600

Next steps

Set up an automation rule

We want to get notified with the visit count:

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When counter >= 20
Then send notification

For a simple rule like this, we can use the rules wizard.

  • Click your name in the top right corner to enter the main menu
  • Select Your rules
  • Click + New Rule to create a new rule
  • Select Use rules wizard when creating a simple rule

Time to create our rule!

  • Select Device state change
  • Continue
  • Select your device from the dropdown menu
  • Select the Counter asset
  • Select Compare to some value
  • Select Greater than (>) as Value to compare
  • Enter 20 as value
  • Continue
  • Select Notify me
  • Continue
  • Enter your notification message
  • Save and start
  • Enter a name for your rule and save

That’s it! When your asset receives a count above 20, you now will get notified!
The count only resets when the button is pushed, meaning cleaning is done.

Create a pinboard

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

  • Select the Pinboards icon in the top left
  • Select the New pinboard icon
  • Select the Arrange pinboard icon to enter the pinboard edit mode

Now we will pin a control (visual representation) for our Counter asset to visualise the amount of visits.

  • Select Pin control
  • Select your NB-IoT device and the Counter asset
  • Select an appropriate control, for example Historical Chart or Label
  • Click Pin control

You can pin the same asset multiple times. Pinning the asset to visualise it both as a historical chart and a label may give you an even better look!