We've previously written about end-to-end services which take care things like of data storage, event messaging and APIs like Particle and Electric Imp. Digi-Key has entered the field of end-to-end Internet-of-Things services with their own service, Digi-Key IoT Studio.
However, unlike Particle and Electric Imp, Digi-Key IoT Studio includes built-in board support for dozens of development boards which Digi-Key sells and drag and drop elements for breakouts, sensors, radio modules and more!
Digi-Key IoT Studio is a web-based integrated development environment (abbreviated IDE) that allows people of all skill levels to easily construct IoT Projects. You do not need to install software toolchains, code editors or compile any code on your computer! Digi-Key Studio runs in your web browser, handles all aspects of developing an Internet-of-Things project, and even compiles your code remotely.
Internet-of-Things projects involve programming firmware into a device, interacting with the device (possibly using a website or application), and sending data from a device to "the cloud". Digi-Key IoT Studio comprises of three workspaces which simplify development: an embedded workspace to build device logic, an Application workspace to build an application for your device, and a cloud workspace to construct a method to send data to the cloud.
The Embedded Workspace in Digi-Key IoT Studio allows you to build embedded firmware which runs on your microcontroller. You'll be using this tab to program your HUZZAH32. Digi-Key IoT Studio supports two types of transports - Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and WiFi.
You may configure data to be sent directly to the Digi-Key IoT Cloud over WiFi, or send data to an Application on a device (like a phone or tablet) over BLE.
Once you've finished building up your project's firmware, you can move on to building an application to interact with it.
The Application Workspace allows you to design an interface to interact with your microcontroller from a tablet or smartphone. This workspace is split into two sides - a visual "App Builder" which allows you to drag and drop interface elements onto an application and a workspace for building the application's logic.
Once you've built up an application, it's time to send data to the Digi-Key IoT Cloud Service!
The Cloud Workspace uses WiFi and the MQTT protocol to send data from your IoT Project to the internet. As with most end-to-end solutions, Digi-Key provides their own Cloud Storage which can store up to 10MB of data per-device. If your IoT project requires a large amount of cloud storage - you can still use Digi-Key IoT Studio. Digi-Key IoT Studio supports sending data from your project to larger cloud storage providers like Amazon AWS.
