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IoT & Sensors

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IoT & Sensors 2025 Bonus Edition: Download Your Free Digital Copy
IoT & Sensors 2025 Bonus Edition: Download Your Free Digital Copy

10-07-2025 | Looking for new IoT- and sensor-related projects and insights? Download the free IoT &...

Elektor Lab Talk: Circuit Special and Maker Tips
Elektor Lab Talk: Circuit Special and Maker Tips

9-07-2025 | Watch this new episode and learn about clever circuits, engineering techniques, and design hacks. We...

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OBD2 Sensor Dashboard: Old Dials Sparked a Quest for Real Data
OBD2 Sensor Dashboard: Old Dials Sparked a Quest for Real Data

7-07-2025 | Want to build your own smart car dashboard? You can turn your car into a data powerhouse with a DIY...

Elektor July/August 2025: IoT and Sensors
Elektor July/August 2025: IoT and Sensors

3-07-2025 | The July/August 2025 edition of Elektor is out. The IoT & Sensors edition has something for...

Elektor Lab Notes 27: Time-of-Flight Sensors, LoRaWAN, Matter, and More
Elektor Lab Notes 27: Time-of-Flight Sensors, LoRaWAN, Matter, and More

20-06-2025 | Check out the latest installment of Elektor Lab Notes. We cover some of the newest projects on our workbenches,...

Opinion
We’re Not Innovating, We’re Just Forgetting Slower
We’re Not Innovating, We’re Just Forgetting Slower

19-06-2025 | We’ve mistaken complexity for progress — and forgotten how things really work. A 41-year-old home computer...

Elektor Lab Talk: Batteries, Projects and Updates
Elektor Lab Talk: Batteries, Projects and Updates

18-06-2025 | Curious about how to get the most out of your batteries? Tune in to this episode of Elektor Lab Talk...

Getting Started With a Modern Radar Sensor: Is an Accurate Measurement on Your Radar?
Getting Started With a Modern Radar Sensor: Is an Accurate Measurement on Your Radar?

16-06-2025 | Want to get started with the A121 radar sensor from Acconeer? It is a powerful but not so easy-to-master...

IoT Applications

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IoT Gateway and Wireless Nodes

At times, you might find yourself needing functionalities in a home automation system that aren't readily offered by commercial products. The system presented in this article features wireless communication between different nodes and a central gateway. The latter employs MQTT to transmit measurement data to an OpenHAB server for processing and visualization. The gateway consists of an Arduino, an RFM69 module, and an W5100 Ethernet module.

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Extendable Environmental Monitoring System: Publish Data on IoT Platforms

Once you know how Geiger-Müller (G-M) tubes work, you can design a circuit for using them. As noted in this article, all you need is a high-voltage (HV) supply to bias the G-M tube and an amplifier to make the output pulses audible and visible. The basic circuit is formed by the HV supply, the G-M tube, a pulse detector and stretcher, and a buzzer and a LED. A microcontroller was added to further process data, and the MCU displays measured values on an LCD, and it transmits them over a wireless connection to the Internet.

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Your First Steps with an ESP32-C3 and the IoT: A Wi-Fi Button and Relay

With the ESP32-C3 and newbie-friendly development environments like the Arduino IDE, developing small IoT projects doesn't have to be difficult. This article presents a simple project: you can create a link between a Wi-Fi-enabled push button and a Wi-Fi-enabled relay. The relay can be activated remotely by the button and reports its status back to the push button. In addition to the ESP-C3-12F kits, a sensor and an actuator are required. The MQTT protocol exchanges messages using a broker (server) without specifying what the messages look like. You can compare this to sending a letter.

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A Controller for Spotify

Do you enjoy Spotify? If so, follow along to learn how build a wireless Spotify controller using an Arduino Oplà IoT kit, which includes a Maker Board and a carrier board. Spotify comes with an easy-to-use programming interface to control the Spotify player via the network. The device described in this article displays the Spotify logo as well as the button functions on an OLED display. When you touch a button, the corresponding API function is called.

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Home Control and Automation

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Connect Your Thermostat with ESPHome

Want to have a go at home automation? A good place to begin is with your home thermostat. Before you start, check out this informative article. As you'll see, you can replace an existing “dumb” thermostat with a homemade smart and connected solution that's suitable for home automation. ESPHome features a "climate" component to control heating and cooling devices. A thermostat therefore is a climate component. The advantage of using a built-in component is that it saves you work. It will also ensure you get a nice graphical control widget in the Home Assistant user interface.

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Home Automation Made Easy: With ESPHome, Home Assistant & MySensors

Would you like to equip your home with remote-controlled lights or curtains that open and close automatically? Check out this handy introduction to home automation written by Elektor engineer Clemens Valens. He covers a range of key topics, including: Espurna and ESPHome; Home Assistant; low-power IoT devices; MySensors integration; enabling multicast DNS (mDNS) on Windows; editing a YAML file; building a MySensors Wi-Fi gateway; and more.

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Is Matter the Thread to Save the Smart Home?: New Standards to Simplify the Smart Home

Ah, the dream of the Smart Home. And, for many, it remains a dream. While there are plenty of wireless and wired protocols, each has its own domain, apps, and features. The key seems to be Thread, which resolves the long-standing issue with Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth Mesh, namely that they require a gateway that translates from IP to the protocol that these wireless networks use. Matter provides the grease that makes Thread make sense, ensuring that users, rather than the consumer electronics giants, can decide which apps and voice assistants they’ll use to control their devices.

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ESP32 Doorbell via Telegram

When your doorbell rings, this circuit transmits a message to a to the phone or computer on which you're running the Telegram app. Provided your Telegram app is active and connected to the Telegram server (by Wi-Fi or mobile network), it will alert you to the presence of the visitor at your doorstep no matter where you are. If you trust the visitor, you can even return a message that operates an electric door opener. You can develop this project with any ESP32 or ESP8266 module.

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IoT Protocols

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My First LoRaWAN: With Blue Pill, LoRa Breakout Board and The Things Network

Want to experiment with LoRaWAN? LoRa radio technology enables data transmission with a unique combination of long-range capability and low energy consumption. This feature makes LoRa especially well-suited for networked sensors that need to conserve their energy resources. The Things Network, a widely used and open network, facilitates the reception of sensor data. For initial experiments, only a few inexpensive small boards are needed.

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Sigfox CO2 Traffic Light

The CO2 traffic light system described in this article connects to the Internet using the Sigfox radio network rather than Wi-Fi. Sigfox is particularly well suited to this application because we only need to send small amounts of data, and the excellent radio coverage achieved by Sigfox gives us maximum flexibility. The design is connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) using an Arduino MKR FOX1200 microcontroller board, which talks to the Sigfox network.

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A Matter of Collaboration: Developing with the Thing Plus Matter Board and Simplicity Studio

The IoT is scattered, with multiple communication protocols. As a result, both developers and consumers must decide how they want their devices to communicate. Once a decision is made, you tend to be locked into an environment. Fortunately, Matter is a unified, open-source application-layer connectivity that is changing the game. This article presents a Matter-compatible demo application with the SparkFun Thing Plus Matter Development Board and the Simplicity Studio IDE.

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The Connected Greenhouse: IoT Demonstration Project Using MQTT and Node-RED

Want to build a complex IoT project, such as a system for monitoring and controlling the greenhouses in a nursery? You can with MQTT, Node-RED, and a little know-how. This project entails tasks like maintaining interior temperature and lighting levels at predetermined targets, while also monitoring the humidity and the soil's moisture content. Should these metrics deviate beyond designated thresholds, an alert must promptly notify the nursery manager — perhaps through an email.

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Environmental Sensors

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How Do Capacitive Touch Sensors Work?

Capacitive sensors have changed the way we interact with countless products. Evaluated many times per second, any change in their capacitance indicates the presence of a finger to signal a press or a rotation. Are you curious about how capacitive touch sensors work? Elektor has you covered. This interesting article investigates the impact of capacitance on circuits, and it covers various typics of capacitive sensors. After learning about the basics, you can start thinking about adding capacitive touch to Raspberry Pi- and Arduino-related applications.

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Moisture Sensors for Watering Systems: Automatic Watering

Before delving into the realm of moisture sensors, it's advisable to ponder over the following tips regarding sensor selection and integration. Once you've grasped the basics, you can seamlessly initiate the process of integrating the sensors using the Arduino IDE, suitable for boards like Arduino and ESP. The watering system described here is based on an ESP32 and is fully integrated into a home automation system. A user can manually switch on the system, view watering times, set the times, and much more.

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Six-Channel Temperature Monitor & Logger: Measures from −240 °C to +850 °C

Temperature monitoring and logging is an essential aspect of countless industrial processes and consumer applications. This article details a six-channel temperature monitor and logger. Although the project uses mostly SMT parts, assembling the PCB isn't too difficult. Start by mounting two-terminal parts like resistors and ceramic capacitors and then continue with the taller parts. Respect and verify the polarity of polarized parts like diodes and electrolytic capacitors. As soon as the board is powered, it will start sending comma-separated values (CSV) in human-readable ASCII format.

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Ultrasonic Reverse Parking Aid with Arduino Uno

Many new cars today come equipped with a rear cameras and parking aids as "standard" safety features. But it wasn't always this way. Just a few years ago, you had to either upgrade to such solutions or install them yourself. In this article, long-time Elektor author Dogan Ibrahim describes a DIY ultrasonic sensor-based parking aid solution built around an Arduino Uno. The distance to the object in front of the ultrasonic sensor is calculated in centimeters and is stored in a variable called "distance."

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Weather Station Sensors: Which One Should You Choose?

When building a weather station, you have so many options of sensors to choose from. It should be accurate, reliable and not to costly, and also easy to control by the microcontroller of your choice. In this article, we will provide an in-depth comparison of some environmental sensors.

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Related Products

 

 
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SparkFun DataLogger IoT (9DoF)

The SparkFun DataLogger IoT (9DoF) is a data logger that comes preprogrammed to automatically log IMU, GPS, and various pressure, humidity, and distance sensors. All without writing a single line of code!

 

 

 
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Arduino MKR IoT Carrier

Control what you want, how you want to. The MKR IoT Carrier provides infinite possibilities for IoT projects. No soldering is required! 


 

 

 
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Develop and Operate Your LoRaWAN IoT Nodes

Ready-to-use devices and self-built Arduino nodes in the "The Things Network" LoRaWAN has developed excellently as a communication solution in the IoT. 
 

 

 
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Get Started with the SensorTile.box Bundle

Discover the combined power of a smartphone, Bluetooth, I²C, SPI, app, IoT and MEMS sensors! 


 

 

Webinar: Use Home Assistant to Unlock the Power of the Smart Home

 

Elektor Webinars
Join us for a webinar about Home Assistant, the ultimate platform for home automation applications. Whether you’re new to smart home tech or you are a seasoned pro, join Elektor's Saad Imtiaz and Brian Tristam Williams as they touch on the essentials and beyond. They cover: Home Assistant's capabilities; step-by-step setup; integrations and automations; and handy features (voice assistant integration, security best practices, and more). Watch Now!