ESP32 and ESP8266 Supported by Cesanta’s mDash Cloud Platform

Reporting from Shanghai, China
Aug 30, 2019

Cesanta’s mDash Cloud Platform now supports Espressif’s ESP32/ESP8266 SoCs, and aims to accelerate the Web for the Internet of Things.

According to CNX Software writer, Siji Sunny, Cesanta’s mDash is a cloud platform that can offer such features as over-the-air firmware updates, remote device control, configuration and administration, alerts and notifications, as well as file management. These features are offered on three programming platforms, ESP-IDF, Arduino and Mongoose OS. For evaluation and testing purposes, mDash offers a simulator that runs as a docker container.

The mDash Library can be implemented by using the secure Message Queuing Telemetry Transport standard (MQTT) for communication and reconnection with the mDash Cloud, as well as for initial provisioning over the same Cloud. Users can find the mDash Library for ESP32 and ESP8266, along with a few examples, on GitHub.

mDash

The communication protocol between the mDash library (on the device) and the mDash Cloud has been built on top of the MQTT protocol, and several ways of remote device control are possible, e.g. device shadow, remote procedure call (RPC), cloud services, and mobile app.

The connected device’s shadow is a JSON document that is built on top of MQTT, storing and retrieving current-state information about the user’s device. This information is stored at the mDash Cloud and can be easily retrieved via MQTT or RESTful APIs.

The Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is also built on top of MQTT, sending commands to the user’s device and receiving replies by using JSON-RPC 2.0.

Cesanta also provides a Progressive Web Application (PWA) which can be used for provisioning and controlling the connected devices quickly and easily.

In summary, mDash has significant advantages, primarily because it can be used and configured very easily. So, for anyone planning to deploy no more than 50,000 units of an IoT product, with a maximum messaging size of 8KB, Cesanta’s mDash Cloud platform is an excellent option to consider.

Cesanta is a company based in Dublin, Ireland. Since 2013, they develop and distribute embedded software and hardware with focus on connected products and the Internet of Things.