IoT Platform Connectivity

IoT Platform Connectivity · Course page

Connect to WiFi, learn to read network values properly, publish telemetry and take commands over MQTT to a self-hosted platform, then move up to MQTTs over TLS.

Module objectives

Bring the board onto the network in a way you can diagnose when it breaks (dBm, DHCP, gateway, DNS), send two-way real data over MQTT to a self-installed TESAIoT Community Edition, and send the same values through a TLS-encrypted channel while being able to say what it protects.

Network and platform to use when learning on your own

• WiFi: your home WiFi or phone hotspot, set up per the table in lesson 1.4 (an English name with no spaces, a password of at least 8 characters, the 2.4 GHz band). The board cannot use WiFi that needs a browser login.
• Plain MQTT (port 1883): the public practice broker broker.hivemq.com (backup test.mosquitto.org), with a unique code in your client_id and topic, such as a nickname followed by a random 4-digit number (nok4821), or TESAIoT Community Edition installed on your own computer (lessons 4.5–4.6)
• MQTTs (lessons 4.7–4.9): your TESAIoT Platform account; the device’s credentials come from the platform’s device management page (a self-installed CE cannot be used for MQTTs from the board, because its root CA does not match the one baked into the firmware — see lesson 4.7)
• If learning in a group, your organiser may have already prepared a broker and device identity for you

Lessons

Lesson	Topic	Time (min)	Slides
4.1	WiFi and networking: dBm, DHCP, IP and DNS	50	slides.md
4.2	The network status screen: reading the wifi code	55	slides.md
4.3	Hands-on: your team’s network status page	65	slides.md
4.4	MQTT: pub/sub, topics, QoS and a data budget	55	slides.md
4.5	MQTT with a self-hosted platform: telemetry and commands	75	slides.md
4.6	Hands-on: two-way telemetry	65	slides.md
4.7	TLS: certificates, the chain of trust and the handshake	55	slides.md
4.8	The tesaiot module: MQTTs to the platform	75	slides.md
4.9	Hands-on: sending real values over an encrypted channel	70	slides.md

The lessons in this module come in sets of three: concept → code walk-through → hands-on (the third lesson of each set has practice files and solutions).

Module checkpoint

You pass this module when you can do every item below (the details are in the Lab section of the hands-on lessons):

• The network status page shows a table of networks sorted by strength, the IP address from DHCP, and a ping time that updates every 3 seconds
• You can explain where the problem lies if the gateway passes but the internet stays silent
• Publish JSON from a real sensor every 5 seconds, and a {"cmd":"toggle"} command switches a light on the board
• Your team’s telemetry appears on the platform’s dashboard over TLS, and you can say what serverTLS protects and what it does not