The Azure IoT DevKit (MXChip AZ3166) is a really cool board for prototyping Azure IoT solutions. However, it’s a physical board and having the board is required. Or is it? Actually, no, you can use the Azure IoT DevKit Simulator from any web browser. You can write Arduino code and prototype the hardware piece of your Azure IoT solution without requiring a physical board to be sued. All this can be done while communicating and integrating with Azure IoT Hub and the rest of your IoT cloud solution as well!
The Azure IoT DevKit Simulator (official name is MXChip IoT DevKit Web Simulator) is a web-based simulator for the Azure IoT DevKit (MXChip AZ3166) board. This simulator enables you to write Arduino code that targets the MXChip AZ3166 board and run it within a web browser without requiring you to have a physical MXChip board.
The Azure IoT DevKit Simulator can be accessed from here:
https://azure-samples.github.io/iot-devkit-web-simulator/
The first time you access the simulator it will walk you through setting up and deploying Azure IoT Hub and a couple other required resources within your Azure Subscription to get going. It will also have the source code for the “Shake Shake” sample project in the editor by default so you can get running some Arduino code for the MXChip within your browser really quickly!
While the web simulator is accessible for free and already hosted for you, you still need to have your own Azure Subscription to deploy the IoT Hub and other resources needed. If you have an existing Azure Subscription you can use that, otherwise you can also sign up for an Azure Free Trial to get some free Azure usage to learn with.
The simulator itself is Open Source and host on GitHub at the following project:
https://github.com/Azure-Samples/iot-devkit-web-simulator
The open source project also includes a little help information on what is expected for configuring the simulator. As an open source project, if you find an area that could use work, go ahead and submit a pull request or issue to the project.
I hope this helps others looking to work with the Azure IoT DevKit (MXChip AZ3166), but don’t have access to a physical board. You can also find more resources and tutorials at the official website for the Azure IoT (MXChip AZ3166) Developer Kit.
Happy coding IoT!
Attribution: The IoT board and rocket ship image at the top of this article is an image that’s part of the Azure IoT DevKit website. They have some pretty neat art as part of that project as well. 🙂
About the Author
Chris Pietschmann
Chris Pietschmann is a Microsoft MVP, HashiCorp Ambassador, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with 20+ years of experience designing and building Cloud & Enterprise systems. He has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to large enterprises. He has a passion for technology and sharing what he learns with others to help enable them to learn faster and be more productive.
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I recently read about ‘MXCHIP AZ3166 IOT DevKit’. Can I connect an external sensor to it?
Data to IOT Hub should be from the external sensor.
I wish to implement a smart garden and hence I want to soil moisture sensor to be connected to ‘MXCHIP AZ3166 IOT DevKit’. Is it possible? Can information from my soil moisture sensor be send to IOT Hub?
There are pins on the bottom of the board that can be connected to.