Since the advent of technology, consumer behavior has changed drastically over time. Modern innovations are always on the horizon – from cloud-based serverless platforms, automation of devices to cutting-edge hardware that puts the power of computing and digital advancements into the hands of individuals all over the globe.
In this article, we will be discussing one such groundbreaking hardware technology known as Raspberry Pi, its benefits, and interconnection with the AWS IoT platform.
What is Raspberry Pi, IoT, AWS, and AWS IoT?
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is one of the most eminent names commonly associated with connected technology in the world of hardware. It is a series of single-board mini computers built by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK based charity whose mission is to provide easier access to computing education for the masses. Raspberry Pi was launched in 2012. Originally, the Pi came in a single-core 700 MHz CPU with a mere 256 MB of RAM, however, the latest model boasts a quad-core 1.5 GHz CPU with over 4GB of RAM. The biggest selling factor of Raspberry Pi is the extremely cheap price ranging from $35 or less. This makes it feasible for anyone and everyone to polish their programming skills, build hardware projects, achieve home automation, and use these devices in industrial applications as well. Another great advantage is that it runs on an open-source platform, mainly on Linux and its variety of distributions. Raspberry Pi’s main OS is known as Raspbian, which is also open-source and runs on a suite of open-source software.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things refers to the billions of devices around the world that are all sharing and collecting data while being connected via the internet. With the advent of super cost-effective computer chips and the expansion of wireless networks, anything can be converted into a part of the IoT with endless possibilities. It is a multilingual space as components of different nature can connect and communicate with each other. To understand it clearly, imagine a physical object that can be transformed into an IoT device simply by connecting it to the internet so it can be controlled to communicate information. As an example, a lightbulb that can be switched on using your smartphone app is an IoT device. So is a motion sensor or a smart thermostat in your office. An IoT device can be as small as a child’s toy or as advanced as a driverless truck.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Cloud is a virtual space on the internet that companies rent to host their digital resources. Before the advent of cloud technology, most companies either used to rent or host their own data centers. Hosting your physical infrastructure comes with a lot of headaches such as long wait times to provision new hardware, extreme upfront costs, capacity planning issues, flexibility, and scalability factors. Amazon was the first to launch a cloud computing platform based on web services in 2006, known as AWS. Since its inception, AWS has come a long way and today it provides highly reliable, resilient, scalable, and cost-effective virtual infrastructures to over 190 countries across the world. Amazon was also the first company to offer a pay-as-you-go model for cloud computing.
AWS IoT
AWS IoT (Amazon Web Services Internet of Things) is the platform provided by Amazon that receives and analyzes various types of data from interconnected devices and sensors and bridges it with the AWS cloud. It provides the developers with the capability to use that data for their applications. AWS can also be used for Raspberry Pi and is beneficial in IoT because it can connect to the internet using several languages. It can also directly interface with various types of sensors, thus adding extra flexibility.
Let us now deep-dive into the benefits of using a Raspberry Pi with AWS IoT in the next section.
