This article will explain how to get started with SensortTile.box smartphone app, starting with the description of the proposed Example Applications in in terms of Input, Functions and Output and will explain how to build your own Application.
All these applications shares the same high level structure (input-function-output), which is basically described in the picture below:
1. Connect your box and start - HW overview
We'll start with connecting your smartphone via Bluetooth with the SensorTile.box. The tool is provided with Bluetooth® Low Energy v4.2 application processor module (SPBTLE-1S) that enables the BLE communication. Connect the tool with your charger (e.g. the PC): a red LED will start to blink. You can unplug it for IoT purposes, provided that you have charged the Li-Ion battery through USB connection via STBC02 battery charger.
Download the STBLESensor application for smartphone (available both for Android and iOS) and enable the Bluetooth connection (and the position) on your smartphone, then launch the app and connect (1st step of the picture below).
When the Bluetooth connection between smartphone and Sensortile.box is set, select "Create a new app" (2nd step). The last available official FW will be detected and downloaded on your box. This step will take at least 5 minutes.
2. One structure, infinite applications
Have you ever wondered how to build a plug-and-play barometer, or a pedometer, or even a vibration monitoring? This is almost immediate with a SensorTile.box. Once the BLE connection is set-up and the last FW has been downloaded, the Example app screen is accessible and apps can be downloaded on the low power L4-family MCU.
The available examples are the following ones:
All these applications shares the same high level structure (input-function-output), which is basically described in the picture below:
3. First Example : a small, portable weather station
The first example application we see is the Barometer. It's on of the simplest applications because it consists only of Inputs (the Sensors) and one Output (stream to BLE). No operations (called in this case "functions") are performed on the data in this case. Our small weather station is therefore composed by:
Data are acquired, transmitted continuously via BLE and finally displayed real-time on the phone screen, as shown below
4. A compass and a level in your pocket can always be useful
While the Barometer application involves basically all the environmental sensors on the SensorTile.box, the Compass&Inclinometer application is almost uniquely focused on inertial measurement. The app data processing is more complex that in the previous case, and the overall flow consists of Inputs (the Sensors), Functions (the data elaboration) and one Output (stream to BLE). The used function, the sensor fusion oriented to the calculation of the Euler angles (which describes the orientation of a rigid body in the 3D space), is widely described across ST literature (see for example UM2225, DT0060, DT0075). The source of the high accuracy of the described application are of course the sensors:
- 6-axis inertial measurement unit (LSM6DSOX)
- 3-axis accelerometers (LIS2DW12)
- 3-axis magnetometer (LIS2MDL)
Pictures below show the result of the two applications:
