The most comprehensive documentation regarding this project can be found on Shentong's blog; she has organized the material with great clarity. Therefore, I have chosen to excerpt only the sections pertaining to data analysis.However, due to our previous division of work I found myself completely at a loss regarding the work she had previously completed—specifically the setup of MQTT and the virtual server, as well as the data processing aspects. Consequently, I believe it is absolutely essential—from the standpoint of ensuring I fully master the material covered in this course—to go through this entire process once again myself.
Shentong’s Blog：https://www.notion.so/Week-07-Kitchen-Safety-Device-Dashboard-Finalized-Updated-31ca9f1b920d80abab29d2b5ec832723#333a9f1b920d80ff9056c5934a30fc73
This week, I went through and re-ran the MQTT server component that Shentong implemented last week, as I hadn't fully understood what she was doing previously. Running through it myself gave me a much better understanding of the process.
However, since I did not possess the physical device we had developed, I completed this specific section using an approach entirely different from hers. To be precise, I utilized a virtual device simulator running within a VM to generate and transmit the necessary data. Furthermore, the operational mechanism of my web interface differed significantly from Shentong's; she employed GitHub Pages for deployment and periodically sent data requests to her VM. This approach, however, introduced issues related to the HTTPS security protocol, thereby necessitating the acquisition of a dedicated domain name. In contrast, I deployed my entire application stack directly onto my VM, thereby circumventing such complications entirely.
Shentong’s Version
My Version
Although I relied heavily on AI assistance, I genuinely gained a significant amount of knowledge through this exercise and developed a deeper understanding of servers and the programs running on them. I was initially completely bewildered by her descriptions and blog posts, but I now have a clear framework and structure in mind.
You can view this webpage to see the final results. Since the data consists of simulated, randomly generated values, it appears to fluctuate quite drastically：http://34.61.122.32/
We can send our data directly to our designated virtual server—for instance, in my specific case, I simply need to configure the port and make a few minor adjustments to my code so that server.js continuously listens for incoming data from the Arduino. Why, then, is it necessary to use MQTT as an intermediary? What are the benefits of doing so?
Since we transmit data every two seconds, the sheer volume of data generated is so massive that it is absolutely impossible for a human mind to analyze it. Consequently, Shentong used AI to write a Python script to extract specific data, which I am presenting here.