Version 2.1 by Alec Chen on 2025/04/02 14:49
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1 **Table of Contents:**
2
3 {{toc/}}
4
5 = 1. Introduction =
6
7 This document guides you on integrating Dragino **-NB** and **-CB** series devices data with Thingseye.
8
9 The **NB series** devices end with the suffix **-NB**, and the **CB series** devices end with the suffix **-CB**. For example, **S31B-NB** is an **NB device**, and **S31-CB** is a **CB device**.
10
11 = 2. Prerequisites =
12
13 To complete this tutorial, you need to have certificate files. [[lns1.thingseye.io>>url:http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] is the Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate file, Certificate file, and the Private key file to use.
14
15 If customers need to use this MQTT connection with Thingseye, they need to contact the TE team to obtain three license files.
16
17 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/ins1.png?width=500&height=310&rev=1.1||alt="ins1.png" height="310" width="500"]]
18
19
20 = 3. Creating Devices (Optional) =
21
22 **The following procedure is optional. If you haven't created any device in Thingseye first, Thingseye will automatically create a device for you based on the integration settings (the device name defined in the uplink decoder) just after it receives the first uplink from your device.Type your information message here.**
23
24 First, you need to create devices in Thingseye to represent your physical devices. For example, you can name it **Device A**, and the second device could be **Device B** or any name you prefer. The device name should be unique within the **Devices** space.
25
26 In the left navigation, click **Entities -> Devices**.
27
28 Click the **Add Device** button (the button with the **+** sign), and from the dropdown menu, click **Add new device**.
29
30 In the **Add new device** dialog box, enter the device name in the **Name** text box. For example, we will use **Device A**.
31
32 Click the **Add** button.
33
34 Skip the **connectivity testing** by clicking the **Close** button.
35
36 The device is created and listed on the **Devices** page. Note that its initial state is **Inactive** because it has not received any data yet.
37
38 = 4. Data Converters =
39
40 In **Thingseye**, **Data Converters** are components used to transform incoming or outgoing data between different formats, typically to convert raw telemetry data from devices into a structured format that Thingseye can understand, or vice versa.
41
42 == 4.1 Uplink ==
43
44 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Data converters**.
45
46 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/data-converters-list-empty.png?rev=1.1||alt="data-converters-list-empty.png"]]
47
48 On the **Data converters** page, click on the ‘**+**’ button, and then click on the **Create new converter** from the dropdown menu.
49
50 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/create-new-converter-menu.png?width=500&height=259&rev=1.1||alt="create-new-converter-menu.png"]]
51
52 The **Add data converter** window will appear.
53
54 Let's create an uplink data converter for the device named '**Device A**'. Name it ‘**MQTT Uplink Converter - Device A**’ and select the Type as **Uplink**.
55
56 Click on the **TBEL** button if it has not been selected by default.
57
58 Modify the default TBEL function to match with your device as described below:
59
60 * Uncomment** line 11**:
61
62 //var data = decodeToJson(payload)//
63
64 * **Line 13**: Assign your device name to the **deviceName** field. - We used **Device A** as it is to match with our device, **Device A **in the Devices section.
65 * From **line 38**: Modify the telemetry section to allow parsed data to be assigned to the fields.
66
67 //telemetry: {
68 temperature: data.temperature,
69 humidity: data.humidity,
70 rawData: payloadStr
71 }//
72
73 The modified uplink decoder function to match with **Device A** is shown below.
74
75 {{code language="nono"}}
76 // Decode an uplink message from a buffer
77 // payload - array of bytes
78 // metadata - key/value object
79
80 /** Decoder **/
81
82 // decode payload to string
83 var payloadStr = decodeToString(payload);
84
85 // decode payload to JSON
86 var data = decodeToJson(payload);
87
88 var deviceName = 'Device A';
89 var deviceType = 'thermostat';
90 var customerName = 'Customer C';
91 var groupName = 'thermostat devices';
92 var manufacturer = 'Example corporation';
93 // use assetName and assetType instead of deviceName and deviceType
94 // to automatically create assets instead of devices.
95 // var assetName = 'Asset A';
96 // var assetType = 'building';
97
98 // Result object with device/asset attributes/telemetry data
99 var result = {
100 // Use deviceName and deviceType or assetName and assetType, but not both.
101   deviceName: deviceName,
102    deviceType: deviceType,
103 // assetName: assetName,
104 // assetType: assetType,
105 // customerName: customerName,
106   groupName: groupName,
107    attributes: {
108        model: 'Model A',
109        serialNumber: 'SN111',
110        integrationName: metadata['integrationName'],
111        manufacturer: manufacturer
112    },
113    telemetry: {
114        temperature: data.temperature,
115        humidity: data.humidity,
116        rawData: payloadStr
117    }
118 };
119
120 /** Helper functions 'decodeToString' and 'decodeToJson' are already built-in **/
121
122 return result;
123 {{/code}}
124
125 Once you modify the decoder function, click on the **Add** button.
126
127 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/ul-data-converter-device-a.png?width=500&height=524&rev=1.1||alt="ul-data-converter-device-a.png"]]
128
129 You should see that the newly added **MQTT Uplink converter **NB/CB is listed on the **Data Converters** page.
130
131 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/ul-data-converter-added.png?height=257&rev=1.1||alt="ul-data-converter-added.png"]]
132
133 = 5. Add Integration =
134
135 In the left navigation, click **Integrations center**, and then click **Integrations**.
136
137 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/integrations-list-empty.png?rev=1.1||alt="integrations-list-empty.png"]]
138
139 On the **Integrations** page, click on the '**+**' button.
140
141 The **Add integration** window appears.
142
143 In the **Add integration** window, configure the following settings:
144
145 **Basic settings:**
146
147 * **Integration type**: MQTT
148 * **Name**: MQTT integration - Device A
149 * **Enable integration**: YES
150 * **Allows create devices or assets**: YES
151
152 Click **Next** button.
153
154 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/add-integration-basic-settings.png?width=500&height=504&rev=1.2||alt="add-integration-basic-settings.png"]]
155
156 **Uplink data converter:**
157
158 * Click on the **Select existing** button.
159 * **Uplink data converter**: Select **MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB **from the dropdown list.
160
161 Click **Next** button.
162
163 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/add-integration-ul-data-converter.png?width=500&height=505&rev=1.1||alt="add-integration-ul-data-converter.png"]]
164
165 **Downlink data converter:**
166
167 Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
168
169 * Click on the **Skip **button in the Downlink data converter section.
170
171 Click **Skip** button.
172
173 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/integration-dl-skip.png?width=500&height=511&rev=1.1||alt="integration-dl-skip.png"]]
174
175 **Connection:**
176
177 * **Host**: Host URL (Eg. **//011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//**)
178 * **Port**: 8883
179 * **Credentials type**: Basic
180 * **Username**: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
181 * **Password:** Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
182 * **Enable SSL**: YES
183 * **Topic: device/a** (The topic can be anything; you can even use just the device name.)
184 * **QoS:** 0-At most once
185
186 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/add-integartion-connection.png?width=500&height=505&rev=1.1||alt="add-integartion-connection.png"]]
187
188 Click on the **Advanced settings** button.
189
190 * **Clean session:** YES
191 * **Retained**: YES
192
193 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png?width=500&height=510&rev=1.2||alt="add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png"]]
194
195 Click on the **Check connection** button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
196
197 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/check-connection.png?width=300&height=83&rev=1.1||alt="check-connection.png"]]
198
199 If the connection is successful, you will see the **Connected** message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
200
201 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/connection-success.png?width=500&height=511&rev=1.1||alt="connection-success.png"]]
202
203 Click on the **Add** button.
204
205 You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the **Integrations** page.
206
207 Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration **Status** is shown as **Pending.**
208
209 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/integration-added.png?rev=1.1||alt="integration-added.png"]]
210
211 = 6. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
212
213 == 6.1 How does it work? ==
214
215 We use the Mosquitto MQTT client to simulate MQTT messages, acting as a virtual device. First, install the Mosquitto client on your computer from [[this link>>url:https://mosquitto.org/download/]]. The Mosquitto client publishes messages to the MQTT broker (HiveMQ) on a specified MQTT topic.
216
217 The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic **/device/a**. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
218
219 The MQTT payload format is as follows:
220
221 {{code language="none"}}
222 {"IMEI": "350693903995577", "temperature":25, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}
223 {{/code}}
224
225 Once Thingseye receives this message, it forwards this payload to the matching device through the integration.
226
227 == 5.2 Sending messages ==
228
229 On your computer's terminal, issue the following MQTT command which simulates the device '**Device A'**. The message payload contains the fields IMEI, temperature, humidity, and pressure, which hold the values 350693903995577, 30, 80, and 1005 respectively. This payload is also (technically) known as telemetry.
230
231 {{code language="none"}}
232 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
233 {{/code}}
234
235 If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
236
237 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/integration-active.png?rev=1.2||alt="integration-active.png"]]
238
239 == 6.3 Viewing messages ==
240
241 Go back to the **Integrations** page.
242
243 Click on the **MQTT integration NB/CB** in the **Integrations** page to see its details.
244
245 Click on the **Edit** button (//**pen icon**//).
246
247 Click on the **Disabled** button in the upper-right corner.
248
249 Turn on the **All messages (15 min)** option. This will enable displaying all messages in the **Events** tab. This setting will expire in 15 minutes, and you will need to repeat the same steps if you want to view the messages in the Events tab later.
250
251 Click on the **Apply** button.
252
253 Then click on the **Apply changes** (//**tick icon**//) button.
254
255 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/debug-enabled.png?width=700&height=301&rev=1.1||alt="debug-enabled.png"]]
256
257 Now go to the **Events** tab.
258
259 Select the **Event type** as **Debug** from the dropdown list.
260
261 Publish another message (of course, you can repeat the previous message by pressing the UP arrow on your keyboard and then press Enter key) to your MQTT broker from your terminal, for example:
262
263 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
264
265 Now you can see that uplink message in the **Events** tab (Click the **refresh** button if you didn't see any messages in the Events tab). The status should be **OK **if there is no errors in your integration.
266
267 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/Screenshot%202025-03-26%20at%2019.49.31.png?rev=1.1||alt="Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.49.31.png"]]
268
269 Then click on the **three dots (...)** in the **Message** column. You can see the uplink message's **payload** in the **Message** window.
270
271 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/Screenshot%202025-03-26%20at%2019.47.52.png?rev=1.1||alt="Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.47.52.png"]]
272
273 Now, you have successfully tested your integration with a simulated uplink payload and verified that it is received by Thingseye, and the device is provisioned.
274
275 = 7. Creating a Dashboard =
276
277 Thingseye **Dashboards** provide a powerful way to visualize and monitor real-time and historical data from connected devices. They allow users to create interactive, customizable panels displaying telemetry data, device status, and other key metrics. With a variety of widgets, including charts, maps, and tables, dashboards help users gain insights, track trends, and manage IoT deployments efficiently.
278
279 This section guides you on how to create a dashboard to display temperature and humidity data from the device on a time-series chart. You may also use other widgets in Thingseye to display data according to your requirements.
280
281 First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
282
283 {{code language="none"}}
284 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
285
286 {{/code}}
287
288 In **Thingseye**, from the left navigation menu, click **Dashboards**. Then, click the **+** button and select **Create new dashboard** from the dropdown menu.
289
290 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/dashboard-1.png?rev=1.1||alt="dashboard-1.png"]]
291
292 In the **Title** text box, enter **NB/CB Test Dashboard** as the title of the dashboard.
293
294 Click on the **Add** button.
295
296 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/dashboard-2.png?width=500&height=526&rev=1.1||alt="dashboard-2.png"]]
297
298 Click on the **Add widget / Add new widget** button.
299
300 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/dashboard-3.png?rev=1.1||alt="dashboard-3.png"]]
301
302 In the **Select widgets bundle** window, click **Charts**.
303
304 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/dashboard-4.png?width=700&height=537&rev=1.1||alt="dashboard-4.png"]]
305
306 In the **Charts: select widget** window, click **Time series chart**.
307
308 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/dashboard-5.png?width=700&height=525&rev=1.1||alt="dashboard-5.png"]]
309
310 Configure the **Time series chart** widget as follows:
311
312 * **Datasource** - select **Device A** device you provisioned.
313 * **Series**:
314 ** **temperature** - you can see this key by default.
315 ** **humidity** - Click **Add series** button. Then add the **humidity** for the key and then type **%** as its unit.
316 * Click on the **Add** button.
317
318 (% class="box infomessage" %)
319 (((
320 You can add only the relevant fields from the device's payload to display data on a widget. These fields are called 'keys'.
321 )))
322
323 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/Screenshot%202025-03-31%20at%2006.51.15.png?width=700&height=485&rev=1.1||alt="Screenshot 2025-03-31 at 06.51.15.png"]]
324
325 The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
326
327 Click the **Save** button to add the widget to the dashboard.
328
329 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/timeseries-3.png?width=700&height=347&rev=1.1||alt="timeseries-3.png"]]
330
331 Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
332
333 {{code language="none"}}
334 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":70, "pressure":1005}'
335
336 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":27, "humidity":72, "pressure":1005}'
337
338 mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":19, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
339 {{/code}}
340
341 The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
342
343 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/timeseries-4.png?width=700&height=316&rev=1.1||alt="timeseries-4.png"]]
344
345 = 8. Configure Physical NB-IoT Sensor =
346
347 Now, let's experiment with sending data to Thingseye using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the **TS01-NB**.
348
349 First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
350
351 **AT Commands**
352
353 * **AT+PRO=3,3    **~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to Thingseye. Payload Type set to 3.
354 * **AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
355 * **AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB**
356 * **AT+CLIENT=null**
357 * **AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>**
358 * **AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>**
359 * **AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>**
360
361 Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
362
363
364 The following image shows the uplink payload of a real Dragino device. The publish topic is '**TS01-NB' that contains fields in the payload, IMEI, IMSI, Model, temperature, etc**. Note that we have created a device named **TS01-NB** in the **Devices** section in advance.
365
366 [[image:https://wiki.dragino.com/xwiki/bin/download/Main/ThingsBoard/image-4.png?rev=1.2||alt="image-4.png"]]