Introduction: Iotrix(Smart Advertisement Led Board)

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About: I am a Electronics and telecom graduate engineer and an enthusiastic embedded student with experience in latest technology and also an video and project documentation on the side.

Introduction

IoTrix is an App that a individual can use to make a smart Advertisement board .
The major objective of this project was to make a smart advertisement board that is power efficient and user friendly to control . Nowadays this outdoor led board's are very common . The Software is predefined and a person can't control it afterwards . I wanted to make an easy to program led board with the help of smart Phone . With Iotrix app we can not only send message but we could send multiple different combinations of message . For example: we can have a counter + Date +Scrolling Message + some double row message .

A person can have upto 9 different messages from the widget .Also i have added Brightness control , support for 64*64 led board and ,wifi support and much more. Thus making sure its future proof and at any moment we can change the messages on the board according to some occasion . The value of this app is tremendous as it adds the dynamic way to control the led board in many different ways Making it really smart and Also with brightness control we can save some energy specially in nights where you dont really need that much brightness .

Step 1: Hardware Components

Electronics:

  1. Arduino Mega 2560 & Genuino Mega 2560×1
  2. ESP ESP8266 ESP-01×1
  3. Dual Voltage 12v/5V 12A Power Supply×1
  4. White Led strip 5050(5m) ×1
  5. Green Led Strip 5050 (5m) ×1
  6. Dc Fan 12v×1
  7. P10 led matrix 32*16 x 2
  8. Real Time Clock (RTC)×1
  9. Adafruit Dsb 1820 waterproof Temperature sensor×1
  10. Adafruit N-channel power MOSFET - 30V / 60A×2
  11. Jumper wires (generic)×30

  12. SparkFun Logic Level Converter - Bi-Directional×1

  13. PCB x1

  14. 2 wire Jst connector with wire

Software apps and online services:

  1. IoTrix APP
  2. Arduino IDE
  3. Google Android Studio

Hand tools and fabrication machines:

  1. Green plus laser cutter acrylic x2 (22")
  2. Transparent plus laser cutter acrylic x2 (22")
  3. Screws and nuts
  4. Hot Glue Gun

  5. Dremel

  6. Silicon Gun for waterproofing

  7. Heat Shrink
  8. Extra power wires
  9. Power cord 16A rated

Step 2: ​LED Matrix Features

  1. Single screen Blink mode
  2. Double screen Blink mode
  3. Simple Message mode
  4. Scrolling Message mode
  5. Split Display mode
  6. Temperature mode
  7. Counter mode
  8. Easy Brightness control
  9. Three Mode Display control
  10. Switch on/off displayControl the Display size from 32*16 to 64*64.

The sending of dynamic messages on the LED matrix with an app has never been done. This make IoTrix stand out in the crowd. The only thing I could not achieve was sending GIF images on the LED matrix.

Not only can you control the LED matrix but you can also control the LED strips.

Step 3: ​LED Strip Features

  1. Two LED strip control
  2. Blink mode
  3. Fade mode
  4. Alternate light mode
  5. Brightness control
  6. Speed control

Step 4: Wifi Setup to IoTrix

I have make sure the IoTrix connect to the smart advertisement board seamlessly.The Led board can be connected in two modes either in Local mode or it can connect to router .

Note:This App has a filter in it .So it will work only with ESP8266 .If you'd like to support the app with RPi or any other device, let me know. I will make sure the app works on other devices too.

This is also my First android app on the playstore :)

Playstore Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartadvertisement.meohm.iotrix

Step 5: Build,Testing and DemoSite Video

With the help of Metal sheet worker i made a plus of size 2*2 feet .From a rough diagram he made a plus of 1mm metal sheet .

Next i painted with waterproof Black spray paint and also drilled some holes.

Connections:
Arduino Mega pin mapping

  1. D0 -------NOT USE---[X]
  2. D1 -------NOT USE---[X]
  3. D2 -------NOT USE---[X]
  4. D3~ ---------------- DSB1820 TEMP SENSOR
  5. D4 -------NOT USE---[X]
  6. D5~ ------NOT USE--- [X]
  7. D6~ ---------------- A of p10
  8. D7 ----------------- B of p10
  9. D8 ----------------- SCK of p10
  10. D9~ ----------------- OE of p10
  11. D10~ ------NOT USE--- [X]
  12. D11~ ---------------- R of p10
  13. D12 -------NOT USE---[X]
  14. D13 ----------------- CLK of p10
  15. A4 ----------------- RTC SDA
  16. A5 ----------------- RTC SCL
  17. A3 ------NOT USE--- [X]
  18. A2 ------NOT USE--- [X]
  19. A1 ------NOT USE--- [X]
  20. A0 ------NOT USE--- [X]
  21. D18 ----------------- ESP RX
  22. D19 ------------------ ESP TX

P10 LED matrix is connected to Arduino Mega .The reason to choose Mega was Sketch size and Ram to process the Complex json data. The RTC module and DSB1820 waterproof temperature sensor also connected to mega.

I could have connected LED Strips to arduino mega.But i choose to skip arduino mega and use ESP01 instead of it. If Arduino Mega gets failed in future. At least the LED strip's will work. Also it does not make sense to use esp just for communication purpose.it has a strong microcontroller build into it .

Later I implemented OTA part in ESP too. It can be turned on with Android app.

If ESP does not find the previous WiFi network connection, it automatically turn on its app mode. This way we can change WiFI credentials at any time.

People have done projects based on sending one message to the LED matrix. With IoTrix, we can do more.

I have installed this LED board in one of the pharmacy shop in mumbai. With the help of waterproof silicon glue , i make sure that no water gets inside .The size of The board is 2*2 ft .it took me $123 to make this board. This is a Dual Side LED board. Its cheap compared to the market. There are no P10 display in market offers this type of app based feature.One of the major problem this board has is brightness that is 100% and it is not controllable. This is okay, if the board is running in daylight but in night the brightness of this board is too much , that people cant see what is written on the board .This makes the board useless and also power inefficient. When I installed my IoTrix board in the pharmacy shop I realize only 25% of brightness is enough.Making the board visible as well as power efficient. Even the LED strip is running on 50% brightness only.

Attachments

Step 6: Code and Manual

Esp01 Code:

https://github.com/parmarravi/IotrixDemo-code

The code is for only esp01 .To turn on Led strips .

Mail us at info@meOhm.com for arduino side code too.

Manual:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mfof90m91ropecGFvZ9PSNZXxGgapiUv/view

Step 7: Conclusion

This project shows that it's easy to add dynamic messages on the LED matrix Board with IoTrix app. Right now people use RS232 cables from the LED board to computer for programming. With IoTrix we don't have to program using a computer or call any technician to do it. We can just use the app and send the messages that we want to display. There are some challenges to make it a complete IoT-enabled smart advertisement board, for example: adding GIF support, improving the code efficiency, adding an encryption layer, and sending data via internet and not just locally.