H0W2: Get Started with the SensorTile.box

‘SensorTile.box’ is a portable multi-sensor circuit board housed in a plastic box and developed by STMicroelectronics. It is equipped with a high-performance 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 processor with DSP and FPU, and various sensor modules, such as accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor, microphone, and so on. SensorTile.box is ready to use with wireless IoT and Bluetooth connectivity that can easily be used with an iOS or Android compatible smartphone, regardless of the level of expertise of the users. SensorTile.box is shipped with a long-life battery and all the user has to do is connect the battery to the circuit to start using the box.The SensorTile.box can be operated in three modes: Basic mode, Expert mode, and Pro mode. Basic mode is the easiest way of using the box since it is pre-loaded with demo apps and all the user has to do is choose the required apps and display or plot the measured data on a smartphone using an app called STE BLE Sensor. In Expert mode users can develop simple apps using a graphical wizard provided with the STE BLE Sensor. Pro mode is the most complex mode allowing users to develop programs and upload them to the SensorTile.box.This book is an introduction to the SensorTile.box and includes the following:Brief specifications of the SensorTile.box; description of how to install the STE BLE Sensor app on an iOS or Android compatible smartphone required to communicate with the box.Operation of the SensorTile.box in Basic mode is described in detail by going through all of the pre-loaded demo apps, explaining how to run these apps through a smartphone.An introduction to the Expert mode with many example apps developed and explained in detail enabling users to develop their own apps in this mode. Again, the STE BLE Sensor app is used on the smartphone to communicate with the SensorTile.box and to run the developed apps.The book then describes in detail how to upload the sensor data to the cloud. This is an important topic since it allows the sensor measurements to be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, at any time.Finally, Pro mode is described in detail where more experienced people can use the SensorTile.box to develop, debug, and test their own apps using the STM32 open development environment (STM32 ODE). The Chapter explains how to upload the developed firmware to the SensorTile.box using several methods. Additionally, the installation and use of the Unicleo-GUI package is described with reference to the SensorTile.box. This PC software package enables all of the SensorTile.box sensor measurements to be displayed or plotted in real time on the PC.