Practical
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Editor
Matt Pulzer
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Louisa Pulzer
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Technical enquiries
We regret technical enquiries cannot be answered over the
telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase,
re air or odification o co
ercial e ui ent or the incor oration
or odification o designs u lished in the aga ine. e cannot
provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are
ore than five years old.
Questions about articles or projects should be sent to the editor
by email: pe<at>electronpublishing.com
Projects and circuits
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and
data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee
it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test,
modify or renovate any item of mains-powered equipment unless
you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an
RCD (GFCI) adaptor.
Component supplies
We do not supply electronic components or kits for building the
projects featured, these can be supplied by advertisers. We
advise readers to check that all parts are still available before
commencing any project in a back-dated issue.
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Although the proprietors and staff of Practical Electronics take
reasonable precautions to protect the interests of readers by
ensuring as ar as ractica le that advertise ents are ona fide
the magazine and its publishers cannot give any undertakings
in respect of statements or claims made by advertisers, whether
these advertisements are printed as part of the magazine, or in
inserts. The Publishers regret that under no circumstances will
the magazine accept liability for non-receipt of goods ordered, or
for late delivery, or for faults in manufacture.
Volume 50. No. 6
June 2021
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
IoT made easy, very easy
Doubtless you’ve all heard of ‘the Internet of things’ (IoT), which
according to Wikipedia, ‘describes the network of physical objects
– a.k.a. ‘things’ – that are embedded with sensors, software, and
other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging
data with other devices and systems over the Internet’. It promises
an era where even cheap, basic objects can be remotely monitored
and operated. For example, you could check the moisture of your
house plants and receive a text or email when they need watering.
Or for the more ambitious (ie, a typical PE reader), trigger a
watering system to supply just the right amount of water when
you’re on holiday.
That’s all well and good, just the kind of thing we might enjoy,
but how do you actually go about building an IoT system without
getting involved with complicated hardware and software. After
all, reliably connecting just a PC to the Internet can be an exercise
in frustration – we’ve all spent hours on the phone with distant
call centres following endless instructions while trying to work out
how to get connected. And that’s when the hardware and software
have already been built for us. How much more daunting would it
be to try getting online with designs you build yourself?
Welcome to Cricket
The short answer is pretty hard… and very easy. Yes, if you are
starting from scratch with general-purpose components and want to
write your own software then it would take quite a bit of design and
head scratching to get a working system. On the other hand, we are
now starting to see the supply of small, easy-to-use and reasonably
cheap (<£15/$20) devices that pretty much do it all for you.
PE was recently approached by a Cambridge-based start-up –
Things On Edge – and asked if we would like to work with them
on their new device, the Cricket. (Before you ask, this is named
after the insect, not the sport. Crickets ‘chirp’, much like data
sources – hence the name.) We get a lot of these approaches, but
we were really taken with the Cricket and so we’re introducing it
in this month’s issue. It’s a great product which I think PE readers
will really enjoy using – plus, you can get a discount; see the
article for details.
We hope to follow up this month’s introduction with more
advanced projects, so lots of good things to look forward to.
Keep well everyone
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
Transmitters/bugs/telephone equipment
We advise readers that certain items of radio transmitting and
telephone equipment which may be advertised in our pages
cannot be legally used in the UK. Readers should check the law
e ore uying any trans itting or tele hone e ui ent as a fine
confiscation o e ui ent and or i rison ent can result ro
illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country;
readers should check local laws.
Practical Electronics | June | 2021
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