[thing-it-node] is a scalable Operating System for Things and allows you to

• connect multiple Devices (e.g. Heart Rate Monitors, Sensor Tags, Drones) as well as low-level Actors and Sensors managed via Microcontrollers like an Arduino to your Device Gateway computer (e.g. a regular server, a Raspberry Pi Zero or a BeagleBone Black)
• invoke REST Services on all Devices and Actors,
• receive WebSocket Notifications on all Device, Actor and Sensor state changes and events,
• define Higher-level REST Services to control multiple Actors,
• define Complex Event Processing to react to Device, Actor and Sensor events and state changes,
• define Storyboards for the timeline-based invocation of Node, Device and Actor Services (e.g. for robotics),
• define Job Schedules for a calendar-based, recurring execution of Services including start of Storyboards,
• define Complex Data Variables to persistently store Event Data for later evaluation or for configurations
• manage Users an their Entitlements to access the above elements and
• use a Mobile App to monitor and control arbitrary Devices.

All of the above is controlled by a nodejs server which is bootstrapped from a simple JSON Configuration File, which allows you to e.g. configure a complex Device control in minutes.

More details can be found on the thing-it-node Wiki.

thing-it.com

You can use www.thing-it.com to create and simulate your setup for [thing-it-node] and then just push the configuration file or connect your Device Gateways safely to the Internet.

Dual License

[thing-it-node] is available under the MIT License and the Eclipse Public License.

Getting Started

The Scenario

Let's set up a simple Smart Home scenario leveraging the easy-to-configure Z-Wave standard with

• an Ambient Light Sensor,
• a Light Bulb and
• a Switch for arbitrary powered Devices (e.g. your electrical rocking chair).

In our scenario we will

• discover all the above Z-Wave Devices automatically with [thing-it-node] after they are paired,
• expose toggle on Light Bulb and Switch with a simple service call - which you could invoke from the [thing-it] Mobile App or from your own Web App via REST,
• detect if the ambient light goes below a certain threshold for a longer timeframe - not if your cat strays past -, switch the light bulb on and whatever you have connected to the switch.

Not interested in Smart Home Experiments with Z-Wave?

If you are not interested in tinkering with Z-Wave Devices and just intend to e.g. control your

• sound system,
• aquaponics ecosystem,
• solar panels and
• drones,

or you want to control large scale device installations in office buildings, hotels or hospitals with technologies like BACnet or KNX.

Then maybe stop reading. Check what we have on github/npm under

• thing-it-device-sonos to connect Sonos Entertainment systems,
• thing-it-device-aircable to connect Aircable Smart Dimmers,
• thing-it-device-ar-drone to control AR Drones,
• thing-it-device-bacnet to control BACnet networks,
• thing-it-device-ti-sensortag to monitor Texas Instruments SensorTag devices,
• thing-it-device-ti-art-net to control lighting and more in an ArtNet/DMX network,
• thing-it-device-itach to get access to IR-controlled devices (e.g. TVs, cleaning robots),
• thing-it-device-philips-hue to control lighting with Philips Hue,
• thing-it-device-plugwise to control Plugwise switches, thermostats and sensors,
• thing-it-device-foscam to access Foscam cameras,
• thing-it-device-atlas-scientific to access Atlas Scientific probes e.g. for pH value measurement,
• and more every day ...

Check the complete list of Device Plugins.

But wait! May be you want to switch on your Sonos if the Z-Wave Sensor detected motion, switch on your vents for you Aquaponics greenhouse if the ambient temperature is above a certain threshold. Or the fish pond's water temperature. Or you want to have your drone flying over the fish pond while your Sonos is playing "Girl from Ipanema", but only if the Foscam camera detects an intruder?

OK, keep reading ...

Prerequisites

As Z-Wave communication is a standard component of [thing-it-node], you need to install Open Z-Wave on your Device Gateway Computer.

Linux and OSX

For all Raspberry Pi/C.H.I.P/BeagleBone - and yes, OSX - users:

You will need to ensure the OpenZWave library and headers are installed first. You can do this one of two ways:

• Downloading the source tarball from the OpenZWave repository and then compiling it and installing on your system via make and sudo make install.
• You could also install OpenZWave via a precompiled package that's suitable for your Linux distribution and architecture. Notice: Be sure to install BOTH the binary (libopenzwave-x.y) AND the development package (libopenzwave-dev).

Windows

Since there is no standard installation location for Open Z-Wave on Windows, it will be automatically downloaded, compiled, and installed when you install openzwave-shared via npm (which we will be installing with [thing-it-node]).

Installing, Configuring and Running [thing-it-node]

To install, configure and run [thing-it-node], first install nodejs on your computer (e.g. your PC, your Raspberry Pi Zero or your C.H.I.P.).

Then install [thing-it-node] via

npm -g install thing-it-node 

which will install [thing-it-node] in your global /node_modules directory and makes it available via the command line program tin.

Note, that depending on the access right settings on your file system you may need to invoke

sudo npm -g install thing-it-node 

instead.

Now create an arbitrary Installation Directory installDir and make it your current working directory, e.g.

mkdir ~/thing-it-test
cd ~/thing-it-test

Then invoke

tin example -f z-wave

which will create a directory installDir/configurations and copy the sample [thing-it-node] Node Configuration z-wave-empty.js into it from which [thing-it-node] can be booted.

If you are interested, have a look at this Node Configuration File - the content should be self-explanatory.

The important part is

autoDiscoveryDeviceTypes: [{
        plugin: "z-wave/zWaveNetwork",
        confirmRegistration: false,
        persistRegistration: true,
        defaultConfiguration: {},
        options: {}
    }]

which tells [thing-it-node] to auto-discover Z-Wave networks and add them (and their devices) to the Configuration permanently and without user confirmation.

Setting up Devices

You need to purchase a Z-Wave controller, e.g. an Aeotec Z-Stick.

Also purchase a few Z-Wave devices, e.g.

• an Aeotec By Aeon Labs Gen5 Z-wave Plus 6-in-1 Multisensor 6 ZW100-A,
• a [GoControl Z-Wave Dimmable LED Light Bulb] (http://www.amazon.com/GoControl-Z-Wave-Dimmable-Light-LB60Z-1/dp/B00PJH16UC),
• a Aeon Labs DSC06106-ZWUS - Z-Wave Smart Energy Switch

Pair these devices with you Z-Wave Controller in the above order by following the documentation which comes with the Controller. It usually involves just clicking the pairing button close to the Device.

Start the thing-it-node server with

tin run

The output should look like

Running [thing-it-node] from Default Options.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Protocol                     : http
 Port                         : 3001
 Node Configurations Directory: /Users/marcgille/git/thing-it-node/configurations
 Simulated                    : false
 Log Level                    : debug
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


12/1/2015 6:32:01 AM INFO NodeManager ===> Scanning directory [/Users/marcgille/git/thing-it-node/lib/../node_modules] for Device Plugins: 		    Actor [LED1] started.
...
12/1/2015 6:32:01 AM INFO Node[The Node] Event Processors started.
12/1/2015 6:32:01 AM INFO Node[The Node] Jobs activated.
12/1/2015 6:32:01 AM INFO Node[The Node] Node [The Node] started.

If you check the content of your configuration file after you saw the Device discovery in the output, you will see that it contains Device and Actor definitions for the discovered components.

...
devices: [{
        label: "Z-Wave Network",
        id: "zWaveNetwork",
        plugin: "z-wave/zWaveNetwork",
        configuration: {},
        actors: [{
            id: "multilevelSensor1",
            label: "Multilevel Sensor 1",
            type: "multilevelSensor",
            configuration: {
                nodeId: 2
            }
        }, {
            id: "binaryPowerSwitch1",
            label: "Binary Power Switch 1",
            type: "binaryPowerSwitch",
            configuration: {
                nodeId: 3
            }
        }, {
            id: "binaryPowerSwitch2",
            label: "Binary Power Switch 2",
            type: "binaryPowerSwitch",
            configuration: {
                nodeId: 4
            }
        }],
        sensors: []
    }],
...

Adding Services

Extend the services section in the Configuration with something like

...
services: [{
                   id: "toggleAll",
                   label: "Toggle All",
                   type: "script",
                   content: {
                       script: "if ([node].zWaveNetwork.lightBulb.state.light == 'on') {[node].zWaveNetwork.lightBulb.off(); [node].zWaveNetwork.switch.off();} else {[node].zWaveNetwork.lightBulb.on(); [node].zWaveNetwork.switch.on();}"
                   }
               }, {
                   id: "lightsOff",
                   label: "Lights Off",
                   type: "script",
                   content: {
                       script: "[node].zWaveNetwork.lightBulb.off(); [node].zWaveNetwork.switch.off();"
                   }
               }],
...

Stop tin via Ctrl-C and restart. You can now invoke both services via REST against your [thing-it-node] Device Gateway computer. Test e.g. with

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/services/toggleAll

or

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/services/lightsOff

Adding Event Processing

Extend the eventProcessors section with something like

...
eventProcessors: [{
            id: "eventProcessor1",
            label: "Event Processor 1",
            observables: ["zWaveNetwork.multiSensor"],
            trigger: {
                type: "timeInterval",
                content: {
                    interval: 10000,
                    conditions: [{observable: "zWaveNetwork.multiSensor",
                    cumulation: "maximum",
                    stateVariable: "luminousIntensity",
                    compareOperator: "<",
                    compareValue: 600
                }]
            },
            action: {
                type: "nodeService", "content": {"service": "toggleAll"}
            }
        }],
...

to the configuration.js file and restart tin again.

Now, covering the light sensor for a few seconds should switch on your light bulb and your switch.

Running the Mobile Web App

Connect your browser to

http://localhost:3001/mobile/index.html

Instead of the browser-based UI - mobile or on your computer - you can use the [thing-it] Mobile App from Apple Appstore or Google Play.

Summary

Let us recap what we did:

With

• purchasing and pairing some Z-Wave products,
• installing [thing-it-node] and
• editing a simple configuration file

but no programming we were able to access a not too trivial Actor/Sensor setup.

However, in real live you would usually not directly edit the Configuration File. You would either modify the configuration with the Mobile App or use thing-it.com as described below.

Using thing-it.com

With www.thing-it.com you can create complex solutions with many Gateways (running [thing-it-node], Devices, Actors and Sensors,

put Actors, Sensors, Services and Event Processors together and control their behavior

connect these to Business Processes and Big Data and access the solution via the [thing-it] Mobile App.