Low Code Programming

Low-code programming is a simpler alternative to writing microcontroller programs. To be specific, it is low-code and not no-code. That means you do have to use an IDE, connect the board, write some code, and upload it to the board. But the programming can be limited to reading sensor data and sending the data to the Serial Communication port.

From that point on, the low-code platform, in this case Node-RED, will take over. You can write small snippets of code in Node-RED to pre-process the data but the real value of Node-RED is where it simplifies the process of connecting to a WiFi network and uploading data to IoT platforms over MQTT or API. This means you don’t need a board that supports WiFi. It also means you don’t need to download libraries and programming the board for WiFi connections and MQTT communication.

There is an overhead to using Node-RED in that it needs a computer to run on and the circuits have to be connected to this computer. This does not allow for standalone circuits and limits their portability. In our solution we will be using the Raspberry Pi to run Node-RED which allows for more compact circuits and portability than a laptop computer.