IoT on Nico Maas

[openBF511] Reverse Engineering a Omron BF511 scale

Thu, 21 May 2026 05:59:39 +0000

I actually own a Omron BF511 human scale, a nice bit of japaense kit. Its a bit old and certainly does not want to interact with the world expect for its LCD display. I wanted to change that and integrate the scale into my health apps/do not keep on tracking stats via paper and pencil. For that reason I did a small deep dive on how to best access its data and send it back via LoRaWAN. All infos can be found on this little Github Repo: https://github.com/nmaas87/openBF511

GeeekPi RPi 4G Hat for RAKwireless RAK5146 USB

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 17:31:59 +0000

In 2021 I started playing around with the SX1303 based RAKwirless RAK5146 USB LoRaWAN concentrator in mini-PCIe form factor ( 1, 2 ). Back at the time I used the RAK2287 Pi Hat which - even though the website states otherwise (“Note: RAK2287/RAK5146 Pi HAT is compatible only with the SPI version of the RAK2287 and RAK5146 LPWAN concentrators.”) is actually compatible with the USB version of RAK5146. In the second post I even want so far to hack the RAK2287 and bridge the PPS (Pulse Per Second) output of the included GPS onto the RPi GPIOs so that I could turn the RPi into a precise GPS NTP server - and I even added an I2C/“poor-mans-QWIIC connector” to it.

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - CCSDS-TM-FSM

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 22:35:14 +0000

I just released my latest project, a CCSDS reassembler running on an NXP i.MX RT1060 in RT-Thread OS. You can find it on Github: https://github.com/nmaas87/CCSDS-TM-FSM

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - Getting started

Tue, 30 May 2023 18:44:24 +0000

The folks over at RT-Thread decided to make a IOT-Contest using hardware from different vendors and their RT-Thread OS. I was luckily enough to get chosen for a networking project with the NXP i.MX RT1060 EVKB, so I decided to document my journey first getting started with RT-Thread. Here we go! 🙂

Getting started

First of all, its important to know that there are two version of the MIMXRT1060 - the EVK and the EVKB. The EVK seems to be an older version which also includes a Camera sensor module, the EVKB version the recent one. RT-Threads example on Github is for the EVK version, which means things like User LED blinking does not work out of the box, but we will take care of this later.

balenaOS on the Advantech AIR-020X

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:20:44 +0000

Last week I posted the review of the Advantech AIR-020X with which I used to create the labSentinel 2 system.

I remarked that the hardware was great, however the software support and update capability of the system was severly lagging behind for an “industrial floor, always on” type of machine. Luckily, thats exactly what balena has been created for.

Even better, their environment already support Nvidia Jetson devices - also Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX modules. With the AIR-020X being a really nice carrierboard (and housing) for this module, I went to work.

Advantech AIR-020X Review

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 12:33:21 +0000

Normally, I am not getting review units. This is due to the fact that I am only hosting this small weblog, along some conference talks - and most companies would probably be better off to send their units along someone with a reach of Linus Tech Tips, or similar.

On the other hand - when I get the possibility to do a review, it can be a bit worrisome for the companies as well, as I am a very honest person. I have been working in tech for some time now and had the honor to build stuff which went to space - and came back to tell the tale. I know what I want in a unit - and what could be a problem.

An active GNSS antenna for the CAM-M8Q breakout

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 14:00:00 +0000

I have been using multiple CAM-M8Q breakouts by Watterott and really am loving these units. They are small, reasonable priced and have the advantage of an integrated chip antenna. However, this also their small shortcoming: While the antenna is good enough for most outdoor jobs, you can run into sensitivity issues when deploying it indoors - if not setup next to a window. Luckily, the module has two additional u.fl connectors for RFin and RFout, meaning you can use an external antenna.

labSentinel 2

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 09:35:01 +0000

About nearly a year ago, I wrote the labSentinel project for my Nvidia Jetson AI Specialist certification. The basic idea of the project is to be able to supervise old Lab Equipment which does not poses any kind of log output or interface other than a graphical user interface, running on an Windows 3.11 / 95 / NT - maybe even XP system.

I solved this issue by using a video grabber attached to a Jetson Nano and “out-of-band” grabbing the screen output of the experiment computer. I then learned good and bad system states via Nvidias Inference tools and finally got the system to report via MQTT as soon as something did go wrong.

Taming the RAK5146 / SX1303

Sun, 08 May 2022 09:21:28 +0000

Its been a while - but good things come to those who wait :) .

Trying to work out a new system you’re unfamiliar with can be quite a challenge. In my case I got my first LoRaWAN concentrator along with some CubeCell HTCC-AB01 and tried to get them to work. It turned out - it was quite hit and miss. On the one hand, the firmware support for the RAK5146 with USB, GPS and LBT was not really ready yet - on the other hand, the CubeCell Arduino code has a fatal flaw with the preamble size so that those cannot join a LoRa network if used in EU868 MHz Band (the perfect fix by 1rabbit is linked as well!).

gpsTime

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 20:05:33 +0000

I think there is nothing more pleasing than having extremely precise measurements at your fingertips. Like time. While in the past it was quite problematic to measure time accurately (not talking about sundials, but… why not? ;)) - mankind has created one precise time source as the byproduct (read: “waste”) for usage in accurate navigation: GNSS and their different kinds like GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BaiDou and others.

Taping into this time source and providing it to your local computer network via NTP has been done by countless people and is an extreme rewarding task. Is it necessary? Maybe not. Is it really cool? Yes. And now it is even easier as you don’t need to configure it yourself, but can use the balenaHub and the preconfigured gpsTime project.

[PiAndMore] hologram Presentation

Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:22:07 +0000

Here is my presentation about hologram @ PiAndMore 10 1/2 (University Stuttgart, 24.02.2018)

hologram_PiAndMore1012.pdf (2,82 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Talk] Allesnetz 11 Podcast: Docker Container für IoT mit Resin.io

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:00:53 +0000

For my German readers: I took part in Leonid Lezner’s Allesnetz Podcast 11 - about Resin.io and Docker - together with Resin.ios very own Jonas Hermsmeier - you can check out the podcast here.

[resinOS] Build resinOS from scratch

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:52:04 +0000

As the time of writing, resinOS is available for Download at Version 2.0.6+rev3.dev for Raspberry Pi 3. This build, however, is nearly 2 weeks old and in the meantime, something great happend: Docker has finally updated to Version 17.03.1 - upgraded from the old ~10 (ten-ish) version - which was not that cool (and without Swarm ;)). So, it is a good idea to get to know how to build your own resinOS in case you really want to live on the bleeding edge ;).

[PiAndMore] Sigfox Presentation

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:20:48 +0000

Here is my presentation to Sigfox @ PiAndMore 10 (University Trier, 24.06.2017)

Sigfox_PiAndMore10.pdf (1,7 MB, PDF)

This presentation was not sponsored or supported by Sigfox, however, Wisol gave me Evaluation Boards to test the Sigfox network, thanks a lot!

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] resinOS Presentation

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 12:45:54 +0000

Here is my presentation to resinOS @ PiAndMore 9 1/2 (Hochschule Niederrhein / Krefeld, 14.01.2017)

resinOS_PiAndMore9_1_2.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] resin.io Presentation

Sun, 12 Jun 2016 15:11:46 +0000

Here is my presentation to resin.io @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

resinio_PiAndMore9.pdf (1,03 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] platformIO Presentation

Sat, 11 Jun 2016 15:00:52 +0000

Here is my presentation to platformIO @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

platformIO_PiAndMore9.pdf (830 KB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Appliances

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:25:20 +0000

Here is the presentation to my Appliances Talk @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

RPiAppliances_PiAndMore7.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] ESP8266

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 11:25:59 +0000

Here is the presentation to my ESP8266 Talk @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

ESP8266_PiAndMore7.pdf (2,8 MB, PDF)

Thanks a lot to Espressif Systems for their tremendous support!

[RaspPi] Snappy Ubuntu Core on Raspberry Pi 2

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:55:09 +0000

Well, I finally got my Raspberry Pi 2 and just could not hold back and wanted to test Snappy Ubuntu Core and give a little introduction and how that thing works.

Ok, but short into: What is Snappy Ubuntu Core?
Well it is meant to be a secure operating system for embedded applications.
It is based on an transactional system-management and can even rollback upgrades of the system core.
There are three kinds of Snappy Ubuntu Core Components:
Snappy Ubuntu Core itself (Core), Frameworks and Apps.
Frameworks can access the Core in certain ways and thus need to be reviewed by the Ubuntu Team.
Apps are completly isolated from each other and have limited access to the system, therefore they don’t need special security profiles or reviews, which makes publishing easier.
Ok, and everything is controlled via the command “snappy”.

[PiAndMore] MQTT - Glue that keeps the IoT together

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:30:11 +0000

Here is the presentation to my MQTT Talk @ PiAndMore 6 (Saarbrücken, 24.01.2015)

MQTT_PiAndMore6.pdf (0,9 MB, PDF)

[Paper] (In)Security in the Internet of Things

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 11:57:45 +0000

Internet of Things is the latest buzzword beeing used in the media and a new sector for the entire electronics industry.
But connecting every electronic device to the internet disconnects everyone’s privacy in reality. This paper examines the current problems with an normal homebased “Internet of Things” system and how the information technology industry is more concerned with profit versus user security. Ultimately, we need to decide for ourselves whether we want to continue using these types of technology.