SAP HANA IoT Part 1: Introduction to Arduino, Raspberry Pi and why we have selected them

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Before starting the project you should know why we have selected both Arduino Uno and Raspberry Pi .

Why Raspberry Pi and Arduino?

The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost credit-card-size computer with an ARM-processor that has a huge community to help to build applications.

Raspberry Pi can multitask processes – it can run multiple programs in the background while activated. For example, you can have a Raspberry Pi that is serving a print server and a VPN server, at the same time.

Arduino is a micro-controller with easier capability to integrate analog input,

The Arduino IDE is significantly easier to use than Linux.

For example, if you wanted to write a program to blink a LED with Raspberry Pi, you’d need to install an operating system and some code libraries – and that’s just to start. Whereas, with Arduino, you can get a LED light to blink in just eight lines of code.

Arduino isn’t designed to run an OS or a lot of software, you can just plug it in and get started.

You can leave an Arduino plugged in as it conducts a single process for a long time, and just unplug it when you’re not using it. This is why we recommend the Arduino for beginners before going for Pi.

As per Limor Fried, the founder of Adafruit, a DIY electronics store that offers parts and kits for both Arduino and Pi projects, “The Arduino is simpler, harder to ‘break’ or ‘damage’ and has much more learning resources at this time for beginners, With the Pi you have to learn some Linux as well as programming—such as Python. The Arduino works with any computer and can run off of a battery. You can also turn it on and off safely at any time. The Pi setup can be damaged by unplugging it without a proper shutdown.”

While the Raspberry Pi shines in software application, the Arduino makes hardware projects very simple. It’s simply a matter of figuring out what you want to do.

Sounds like Raspberry Pi is superior to Arduino, but that’s only when it comes to software applications. Arduino’s simplicity makes it a much better bet for pure hardware projects.

The ultimate answer when deciding between the Pi and Arduino is, “What to choose?”

If you’re looking to learn about IoT, each one will teach you something different.

Raspberry Pi and Arduino are complementary. Ideally expert suggests a scenario where the Arduino is the sensory workhouse, while the Pi doles out directions.

Our SAP HANA IoT Project Steps

So we are going to do exactly that, in this article series we are going to use:

1. Arduino for analog interface
2. and providing data in digital format to Raspberry Pi
3. and Pi should take care of the communication with SAP HANA system.

Simplified steps are :

Step 1: Connect Arduino Uno to a Computer and checking if the analog input is working perfectly. For this experiment, we have photosensors that will detect light intensity and give the data to a computer by serial port communication, through Arduino.

Step 2. Connect Raspberry Pi to Arduino and able to establish the same configuration which was achieved via computer and Arduino. Also setting up a webserver in Raspberry Pi which can communicate over internet.

Step 3: Storing data into the SAP HANA system from Pi and displaying it using SAPUI5 in near real time.

In next blog post we are going to   Part 2, we will be performing step 1.