PiHub

Multi-network (cellular, wi-fi & ethernet) sensor and data hub with local repository and remote transfer on SFTP / opentera server

Description

This project was designed to run on a Raspberry Pi board with a cellular hat (Waveshare SIM7600CE 4G HAT - https://www.waveshare.com/product/raspberry-pi/hats/iot/sim7600ce-4g-hat.htm).

Main features of the project includes:

• Local Wi-Fi hub on which devices can connect and provides direct internet access
  • Over cellular network
  • Over connected ethernet cable
• Data transfer hub:
  • Locally connected devices can transfer data on the hub
  • The hub keeps a local backup of the data and can then optionnaly transfer the data to:
    • An SFTP server
    • OpenTera (https://github.com/introlab/opentera) server

Requirements

• Miniconda

Miniconda installation

1. Open a terminal
2. wget http://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-py39_4.9.2-Linux-aarch64.sh -O ~/miniconda3/miniconda.sh
3. conda init bash
4. Close the terminal and start it again (or reload bash)

Pi setup

Installation

1. Clone the repository directly into /home/pi/Desktop folder (a PiHub folder will be created - you can also choose any other place you want): git clone https://github.com/CDRV/PiHub.git
2. Create Python virtual environment:
   1. cd /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub
   2. chmod +x create_conda_venv.sh
   3. ./create_conda_venv.sh
   4. Make a copy of the default config file cp /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub/config/PiHub_Defaults.json /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub/config/PiHub.json
   5. Edit the config file /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub/config/PiHub.json with the appropriate values
   6. Setup the cron tasks using sudo crontab -e and the crontab job listed in the /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub/setup/crontab.txt file
   7. Setup and enable the main pihub service using
      sudo cp /home/pi/Desktop/PiHub/setup/pihub.service /etc/systemd/system/pihub.service
sudo systemctl enable pihub.service sudo systemctl start pihub.service

OpenTera configuration

Edit the PiHub.json configuration file:

• WatchServer
  • "transfer_type": "opentera"
• OpenTera
  • "device_register_key": "(insert key)" -> Device register key can be obtained by logging in on the target server and going in the "About" screen. Only super admins can see that key.
  • "default_session_type_id": (id) -> Session type ID to use to create session.

Service usage

To check if the service is running: systemctl status pihub.service To query service output (log): journalctl -u pihub.service

Local development environment setup

If not developping directly on a Raspberry Pi, a virtual Python environment (venv) is suggested.

1. Install Python (see requirement version above)
2. Create a virtual environment:
   1. Install and setup miniconda for your OS
   2. Open a command line interface
   3. Go to the PiHub folder
   4. Create the virtual environment: create_conda_venv