Originally published at: IoT Trashcan Monitor: A Golioth Reference Design - Golioth
Internet of Things (IoT) devices are successful when they cut down on work. This almost always results in monetary savings for the companies or groups deploying the IoT solution. Since I am a fan of industrial uses of IoT over other (consumer) use cases, I often say that the value of IoT devices is not in making money, but in saving money. It’s easy to draw a straight line from the struggles of putting devices into the world, to saving money on things like maintenance, downtime, loss of property, fuel costs, and more. Our first Reference Design (more on what those are later) is an internet connected trash can. This allows a municipality or organization like the US National Parks to save money on sending around trash trucks to empty bins. Given the additional features of this Reference Design, they could also set alerts when there is a situation that needs more immediate attention. The IoT Trashcan Monitor First off, why an IoT Trashcan Monitor? That question is easy: we had multiple people asking us about this type of solution, so we decided to build it! Aside from that, I think this solution is representative of a wider class of IoT device designs: simple sensors connected back to the network, sending data once or twice a day. The fact that we used cellular connectivity also untethers it from local networks like Wi-Fi requires. This is an entire category of IoT, needing to do occasional readings from far afield. I could easily take the design you’ll see here and either: Reuse the sensor for a different distance measuring purpose or Swap out the sensor In both cases, I would be taking…