XIDE IoT + AI Kit for Air Quality Monitoring

The XIDE IoT + AI Kit is a portable device designed for indoor air quality monitoring, capable of measuring gas resistance, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and ambient temperature. It integrates the X-NODE Environmental AI (BME690)arrow-up-right. The integrated sensor has a detection range of barometric pressure from 300 to 1100 hPa, relative humidity from 0 to 100%, ambient temperature from -40 to 85 °C.

Wireless connectivity enabled by Wi-Fi allows seamless acquisition of real-time information via the cloud.

Table of contents

I. How does it work?

The XIDE IoT + AI Kit for Air Quality Monitoring features Bosch’s BME690 AI-enabled gas sensor, capable of measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs), volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), barometric pressure, relative humidity, and ambient temperature.

The XIDE IoT + AI Kit runs on BSEC (Bosch Sensortec Environmental Cluster) library, to continuously perform several calculations for compensated ambient air temperature and ambient relative humidity for improved sensor accuracy, it also measures pressure, gas resistance.

The device also calculates the air quality (IAQ) level and provides a scaled output:

  • 0-50: Excellent.

  • 51-100: Good.

  • 101-200: Lightly polluted.

  • 201-250: Polluted.

  • 251-351: Severely Polluted.

  • 351-500: Extremely polluted.

IAQ measurements require warm-up time before yielding accurate values, at least 5 minutes for low-accuracy, up to 60 minutes for medium-accuracy and up to 24 hours for high-accuracy.

The device is based on our XIDE platform and includes the X-BOARD IIoTrainerarrow-up-right expansion board, with 5 mikroBUS™arrow-up-right expansion sockets, the block-based methodology allows device functionality to be expanded even after deployment. It does not require a specialist for installation, just insert the block into an available/stackable socket*.

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*A firmware update, which can be received over the internet, is required to add functionality to your device.

The device integrates:

II. Installation

2.1. Prepare Your Hardware

  1. Assemble the hardware kit, place all the X-NODEs in one of the X-BOARD's mikroBUS™arrow-up-right sockets, placement order is not important, however, make sure the XC01arrow-up-right USB-C connector is not blocked in order to program and power the board. If you don't have an X-BOARD you can stack all the X-NODEs on top of one another.

  2. Before powering the board, check that all X-NODEs are correctly placed. Misalignments could potentially damage the device.

  3. Once the hardware is assembled, power the device through the USB cable.

2.2. Cloud connection

To connect the device to the cloud you must have a valid subscription.

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If you do not have a subscription, or this is the first time you have acquired a device, contact a support representative, you must provide proof of license acquisition and an email to set up an account, you can also provide an organization name and logo to customize your management platform. You will then receive an email with instructions to create a password for your account.

Download the Blynk mobile app for iOSarrow-up-right:

Or for Androidarrow-up-right:

Open the Blynk app, if the device has already been registered and you want to connect it to a different wireless network, see section: Connecting the device to a new Wi-Fi network.

If this is the first time connecting the device to the cloud, press the + Add new Device button, or the + (1).

Then select the Find devices nearby option (2), the app may request permissions to scan Wi-Fi networks and search Bluetooth devices.

The app will begin scanning for the device (3). If it cannot find it, press the BOOT button to apply a reset to the device, see section Connecting the device to a new Wi-Fi network for more information on this process.

When a device is discovered, the app will ask if you want to set it up, you must press the Connect option (4), wait a few seconds while the app gets the device information (5), then a screen will appear where you must provide the network name and password (6), press Continue to submit this data.

chevron-rightStatic IP configuration and Hidden Wi-Fi Networkhashtag

If your wireless network does not have a DHCP server, or you want to assign a static IP to the device, you must press the IP Address Settings button (6-1), enable the Use static IP address option (6-2), then fill in the IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS servers fields (6-3).

To connect to a Hidden Wi-Fi Network, press the Wi-Fi Network field and manually edit the network name. Note: Pressing the (⌄) button will display nearby available networks.

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The device is compatible with 802.11b/g/n wireless networks at 2.4GHz with WEP/WPA-TKIP/WPA2-CCMP security keys, with DHCP or static IP servers. If you have problems connecting the device, consult with the network administrator to ensure the wireless configuration is correct.

If the cloud connection is successful, a page will appear where you can name the device (7), press the Set Up Device button, a summary of the device will be displayed (8), press Finish to continue.

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The information in Set Up Device is optional, you can edit this information at any time through the desktop and mobile app.

Upon completion, the mobile dashboard will be displayed where you can observe real-time variables (9).

2.3 Desktop application

Blynk.Consolearrow-up-right (http://blynk.cloudarrow-up-right) is a desktop browser application. To access this version of the application you must log in with a user account with a valid subscription. In addition to the mobile version functions, the desktop application allows you to manage users, sub-organizations, and also download reports of data collected by your devices.

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If you do not have a subscription, or this is the first time you have acquired a device, contact a support representative, you must provide proof of license acquisition and an email to set up an account, you can also provide an organization name and logo to customize your management platform. You will then receive an email with instructions to create a password for your account.

2.3.1 Downloading reports

Reports contain the information captured by your devices and the events (connections, disconnections, failures) that were recorded during a time period that can be up to 3 or 6 months (depending on the subscription type). To generate a report, first click on the device from which you want to obtain information in the Devices section.

Devices section in Blynk.Console

Then click on the Download report button located under the device name. Configure the time period and variables of interest for the report. You can decide whether to include events (connections, disconnections, failures). If you enable the Send a link to e-mail option, you can send the report download link to an email, the RECIPIENTS field allows you to select a destination email. Finally, in advanced options you can use aggregation functions, for very long time periods you can show data by minutes, hours or days, using average, minimum, maximum, sum and count, if you are not sure omit this configuration. You can also edit the time zone for reports and date and time format. Press the Generate Report button to finalize.

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2.4. Receiving notifications (automations)

The mobile app allows you to receive notifications based on the status of measured variables, to configure it press the automations button (1), then press the + Create Automation / +, select the type of automation Device State, select the device from which you want to receive notifications, then select the variable that should generate the notification:

  • Schedule: Useful automation for controlling devices based on routines and schedules.

  • Sunset/Sunrise: Time zone based automation, activated based on sunrise and sunset.

  • Device state: Automation generated based on a variable's status.

  • Scene: Automation that must be activated by some user within the organization.

Select the condition and values (if applicable) that will generate the notification (4):

  • is greater than: When the variable exceeds a defined value.

  • is greater than or equal to: When the variable is equal to or greater than a defined value.

  • is less than: When the variable falls below a defined value.

  • is less than or equal to: When the variable is less than or equal to a defined value.

  • is equal to...: Only when the variable is exactly equal to a defined value.

  • is not equal to: When the variable is not exactly equal to a defined value.

  • is between ... and ...: When the variable is between a defined range between two values.

  • is not between ... and ...: When the variable is not between a defined range between two values.

  • has changed: Every time the variable changes value.

  • is any: Every time information is received from the variable, even when it has not changed value.

In the Do this section choose the automation type (5), you can select more than one by pressing the (+) button:

  • Control device: If you have a device that allows it, you can control actuators with this automation.

  • Send e-mail: Send an email automatically to one of the emails of the accounts in your organization.

  • Send app notification: Sends a notification to your smartphone, make sure to enable Blynk app notifications in your phone's settings for this option to work correctly.

  • Wait then do something: If you want to wait a time before executing an automation.

  • Update device data: Send the value of the variable that generated the automation to another device.

In the Settings section customize the automation name (5) and select a time limit before this automation can be triggered again, if you choose very short times you may, for example, receive hundreds of notifications in a few minutes, select a limit that is appropriate for your application.

Once the configuration is finalized, your automation is ready, you can disable it at any time by pressing the sliding button (6).

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2.4.1 Creating notifications (automations) from the desktop application

The desktop application cannot receive notifications, however, it can create them and customize additional parameters, for example, recipients. To create an automation click on the Automations tab in Blynk.Consolearrow-up-right, select the Device State automation type.

Assign a name to the automation and using the drop-down lists select the device from which you want to receive notifications, the variable and the condition that will generate the notification. In the Do this section choose the automation type, you can select more than one by pressing the (+) Add next action button. In the desktop version you can also choose the Recipients, that is, the users in your organization who will receive the notification. Also, in the message you can drag automatically generated fields when the automation is triggered:

  • Organization name: Organization name, organizations can have sub-organizations for administration and control purposes, this field allows you to know the organization where the automation was generated.

  • Timestamp: Date and time when the automation was generated.

  • Trigger value: The value of the variable when the automation was generated.

  • Device owner: In organizations with multiple users you can assign an owner to each device, this value refers to the owner of the device when the automation was generated.

  • Template name: The product model.

  • Device name: Name of the device assigned during configuration.

With the configuration button you can edit a time limit (LIMIT PERIOD) before this automation can be triggered again, if you choose very short times you may, for example, receive hundreds of notifications in a few minutes, select a limit that is appropriate for your application.

2.5. Connecting the device to a new Wi-Fi network

If the Wi-Fi network name or password changed, or if you want to change the device location you must reconfigure the network name. With the device connected and turned on, you must press and hold the boot push button for approximately 15 seconds. Upon releasing the button, wait approximately 5 seconds while the configuration resets, then turn off then on the device, when turning on the device it will be ready to configure a new network name and Wi-Fi password.

In the Blynk Mobile App select the device you want to reconfigure, then press the device information button, finally press the (°°°) to display additional options, there select Reconfigure, upon doing so Nearby device search will be displayed. Follow the instructions in the Cloud connection section from point 4.

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