Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC2650STK, CC2650

As a follow up to last week’s article, this post will work to cover the step-by-step process for getting the solution working.

Following the steps below will allow you to connect the SimpleLink™ multi-standard CC2650 SensorTag kit (CC2650STK) to the Amazon AWS (AWS) cloud and customize the solution for specific needs. This tutorial also provides tips for other solutions using the CC2650 SensorTag kit and mobile applications.

Step 1: Setting up an Amazon AWS account

To use AWS you need to set up an account and there are quite a few details to get right. Fortunately, we have created a step-by-step guide to get your event queue and cloud storage quickly up and running without the cost for basic operations.

Follow the instructions in this guide to set up and configure AWS for the following example.

On most of the screens in the set-up wizard you don’t need to change any values. Simply press the “ok,” ”next” and “save” buttons according to the instructions in this article.

Step 2: Getting Started with Evothings Studio

It’s easy and fast to download Evothings Studio and get started (instructions detailed below). Note that there are two keys. One is a Cloud Token to be generated once per user and a shorter Connect Key to link the desktop software with mobile clients.

  1. Download Evothings Workbench on your computer from the Evothings Download page
  2. Get your Cloud Token from the page where you downloaded Evothings Workbench and enter it under the “Connect” tab in Evothings Studio
  3. Download the Evothings Viewer application from your smartphone’s application store.
  4. Generate a Connect Key by clicking the “Get Key” button on the “Connect” screen in Evothings Workbench.
  5. Write your newly generated Connect Key in the Evothings Viewer application and tap the “Connect” button in the Evothings Viewer app.
  6. To test your setup, click the “Examples” tab on Evothings Workbench and press the “Run” button for the “Hello World” example. You should see the application load in the Viewer app.
  7. Make a copy of the “Hello World” example using the “COPY” button. Then give it a name and press the “RUN” button by your new project copy. Now make change to the source code using your code editor (e.g. edit the <H1> heading on row 35 in <index.html>) and press save. You’ll see the application automatically reload on your phone or tablet.

 Step 3: Get started with the mobile application

The mobile application in this tutorial reads temperature values from the SensorTag kit and passes the data to the AWS cloud. The application also reads data from the AWS cloud and displays it in the app. It is easy and safe to modify to use data from different sensors and to use different intervals to send and read data.Below is a screenshot of the main page leading to three different sub menus:

Each of these sub menus leads to different experiences, which are detailed below:

1.     If you don’t have a SensorTag kit available, this sub menu features writing generic, made-up data to your AWS account.

 2.     This sub menu allows you to read that same data right back to the demo app.

3.     The last menu provides an interface for real sensor info sent from the CC2650 wireless MCU. Note that with many sensors running concurrently, there is less of a data stream available for each one. 

Follow the instruction here to download and import the application to Evothings Studio.

Step 4: Connecting the SensorTag kit to the app

The TI SensorTag device has a button on the side. Long pressing the button places the device in “announcement mode” with a tiny green light flashing continuously. 

Press the “START READING SENSORTAG” button in the app and after a few seconds the data will flow.

Wrap up

This is the end of this tutorial, but only the start of exploring possibilities for working with the SimpleLink CC2650 SensorTag kit and mobile apps! You can freely use this code as a starting point for your own apps.

When the steps in this tutorial are completed and the application is working properly, it is very straight-forward to start experimenting and modifying the application for your own purposes. There are many example apps in Evothings Studio that can be mixed and matched for different use cases.

If you have questions on developing apps with Evothings Studio for your SensorTag kit or other Texas Instruments IoT devices, the Evothings team is ready to help. Please join the Evothings community to exchange knowledge and ideas with other IoT enthusiasts!

Additional resources

Evothings Studio comes with three different example applications working with the CC2650 SensorTag kit.

Check out the below resources to learn how to make more use of mobile apps and the SensorTag devices:

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