JustIoT Internet of Things based on the Firebase Real-time Database

Wu-Jeng Li, Chiaming Yen, You-Sheng Lin, Shu-Chu Tung, and ShihMiao Huang

Abstract— This paper designs an Internet of Things system In recent years, there are vast progress in many respects,
(called JustIoT) which is mainly divided into four parts; including embedded controller, database structure, data
back-end Google Firebase real-time database, front-end SPA cloud collection, data visualization, front-end technology,
(Single Page Application) web monitoring program (including HTML standard, back-end data processing, big data, data
mobile monitoring App), controller software-hardware, and mining, machine learning, etc.
intelligence server that support MQTT connection and
condition control. In this paper, new technology and new architecture are
JustIoT receives data from all kinds of controllers, allowing used to build a new Internet of Things. ŕhe new system is
users to set the control rules and remote monitoring and expected to be more secure, more reliable, easier to develop
control. JustIOT distinguishes users from managers, vendors, and maintain.
customers, registrants, and visitors. Users can build
applications in the above system, to serve customers, and to
run a business. II. STRUCTURE OF JUSTIOT
In the JustIoT, management web page based on Angular
front-end technology is connected to the Firebase real-time A. DESIGN GOAT
database. The event of data modification of Firebase database JustIoT is designed to achieve the following objectives:
can trigger Angular's two-way data binding to achieve
Three-way data binding effect to implement server-less 1. Cloud computing architecture: the system is flexible
architecture easily. The data in Firebase database is read and to load demand.
written by the front-end devices (web apps, mobile apps, and
controllers) directly.
2. New Web front-end technology (Angular SPA): the
evolution of Web technology has huge impact on
The intelligence server is an MQTT server that supports the
connections of relatively weak embedded controllers such as the development of IoT.
the Arduino controller. The intelligent server can be 3. Real-time monitoring: mobile phone, tablet, desktop
considered as an intermediary between the Firebase real-time computer, laptop could be used for real-time
database and weak controllers, which performs the transfer of monitoring.
data and remote commands.
The intelligent server is also the intelligent computing 4. System security: data in the form of encoding (SSL)
center of the JustIoT. It performs condition control. transmission.
Keywords: Internet of Things, Firebase, Embedded
5. Integrated (commercially available) open source
System, Supervisory Control.
software and hardware architecture.
I. INTRODUCTION 6. Universal platform: easy to use for general
In 1999, Kevin Ashton first proposed the term Internet controller and Internet of things applications.
of things. In the same year Bill Joy proposed six devices and 7. Business model: The system can be used for
devices in the network, focusing on industrial production, commercial operation.
unmanned plant applications. By now, the application of the
Internet of Things is ubiquitous, according to international 8. Control rules: provide condition control[6] services.
research firm Gartner predicts that in 2020 the global
9. Machine learning: can be easily used for big data
networking device will reach 26 billion units, about to
machine learning and other artificial intelligence
create more than 300 billion US dollars in revenue, and the
development structure.
global economy to bring 1.9 trillion dollars attached Value,
such a considerable business opportunities to drive the
domestic industry chain as a whole, the downstream B. Parts of JustIoT
manufacturers, one after another out of the relevant
positions.
Our team has been conducting research on the Internet
of Things[1][2], using various open source embedded
controllers (Arduino, Raspberry PI, Puppy Linux, Android
[3][4]). The system was applied in the factory building
sewage monitoring, home security[5][6], computer room
environmental monitoring and other aspects[7].

This research is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology,

Taiwan (MOST 106-2221-E-150-031).
W-J Li, C-M Yen, Y-S Lin and S-M Huang are with the Department of Figure 1. Structure of JustIoT
Mechanical Design Engineering, National Formosa University, Taiwan
S-C Tung is with the Department of Environmental Engineering, Kun
Shan University, Taiwan.

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 In order to achieve the above objectives, the structure of Meanwhile, the Angular front-end Single Page
the JustIoT is designed as Figure 1. the focus is as follows: Application (SPA) can be used in the web browser and
mobile phone.
1.Firebase cloud system:
4. Intelligence Server:
Firebase is a combination of Google's many services in
the cloud, including instant messaging, user authentication, The Intelligence server in JustIoT as shown in Figure 1
real-time database, storage, hosting, and so on. This study have three functions;
mainly uses its user authentication and real-time database
a. Data transfer:
functions, supplemented by instant messaging, to complete
the event notification and SMS notification function. The Intelligence server is a bridge between Firebase
Firebase cloud system provides SSL encryption data Cloud and weak controllers. It receives data from
transmission. controllers and forwards the data to Firebase Cloud. At the
same time, it receives remote commands from Firebase
2. Data collection:
Cloud and forwards the commands to controllers for
One of the main functions of the Internet of Things is execution. The communication between the Intelligence
data collection. Based on Firebase Cloud, controllers were server and weak controllers is on MQTT protocol.
directly connected to its database to read and write data. Therefore, the Intelligence server is an MQTT server.
Firebase provides access to its real-time database in iOS,
b. conditional control Rule Engine:
Android, JavaScript SDK, REST API, Admin SDK. iOS
and Android SDK are for mobile App development. The JustIoT is not just data collection and visualization.
JavaScript SDK is for web applications. And REST API is a It provides condition control[6] for the system to enhance
general network service, it can be used for a general the system intelligence. In condition control, conditions are
programming language. Admin SDK is used in the Node set. When some condition is met, certain actions are taken.
environment to implement JavaScript applications. All of There are three types of conditions; time condition,
these connections are encrypted. input/output condition, and location condition. And there
are three kinds of actions; SMS notification, email
For controllers with weak resources, like Arduino
notification, and output drive. Conditions, actions, and their
controller, their computation powers are not capable of
connections are set by users in the Angular SPA.
real-time encryption operation. Intermediary layout
between Firebase and controllers is used as shown in Figure On the Intelligence server, there is a Node application
1. which communicates with Firebase Cloud with the Admin
SDK. it reads the control rules in the Firebase real-time
3. Data visualization and management:
database, executes them, and send action commands to
Another major function of the Internet of Things is data Firebase real-time database for distributing the commands
visualization and management. The data visualization and to respective controllers.
management of JustIoT is mainly through the browser and
c. Machine Learning: (Subsequent Study)
mobile phones.
C. Firebase Application development
The use of the Firebase cloud system begins with
enabling the user authentication and planning database.
JustIoT uses email/password authentication.
Firebase real-time database is a NoSQL-type database.
In order to reduce traffic, the structure of the database is
designed as flat and does not conform to the normalization
required by the general database[9].
Before using the Firebase real-time database, user must
set up access rules according to the user's database plan. The
settings are somewhat complicated, and the Bolt compiler
[10] is used to assist the user by setting the access rules in a
simple syntax. Here is a small part of JustIoT bolt file:
Figure 2. Cordova Application
path /controllers/{uid} {
There are many Mobile phone systems. It would be a index() {['createdAt']}
huge burden to develop apps for all of them. For the sake of }
simplicity, Ionic SDK is used to develop mobile phone apps.
The Ionic SDK is developed for hybrid apps, powered by path /controllers/{uid}/{controllerid} is Controller {
Cordova as the underlying architecture[8], using web read() {isSignedIn()}
technology (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), developed on write(){isOwner(uid)||isAdmin()||isCompanyAdminForUser(uid)}
Angular front-end architecture, and can be used on different
}
mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows
Phone. With Ionic SDK, one can use one codebase to suit all type Controller {
mobile platforms. id: String,
title: String,
description: String | Null,

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 userid: String, const char* username= "[email protected]"; // account
active: Boolean, const char* pw="xxxxxxxx"; // password
type: Number | Null, // 1: Arduino const char* controllerid="xxxxxxx"; // controller id
geolocation: Number[] | Null, const char* dptitle="Ӟᓖ 2 ᖙ⟸ 1"; // data point setup
productid: String | Null, //0:digit input 1:digit output 2:analog input 3:analog output
offline: Boolean | Null, IPAddress ip(140, 130, 17, 233); //controller ip
samplingtime: Number | Null, IPAddress dnServer(8, 8, 8, 8); //DNS server ip
createdAt: Number IPAddress gateway(140, 130, 17, 254); //gateway ip
}
IPAddress subnet(255, 255, 255, 0); // network mask
JustIOT’s database mainly contains users, companies, IPAddress mqtt_server(xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx); //MQTT server ip
controllers, data points, control rules, and data records.
JustIOT distinguishes users from managers, vendors, void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
customers, registrants, and visitors. Users who want to // callback function for data from MQTT server
upload data are required to register on the system, log in to if((char)payload[0] == 's' && (char)payload[1] == 'e' &&
the system, register controllers and data points. According (char)payload[2]=='t') // remote command (‘set’)
to the user's planning, user integrate these controllers and
{... // command execution
data points to form an IoT application, such as home
security system. }

Once the controllers are connected to the JustIoT, the }

user can monitor and remotely control his system. A user EthernetClient ethClient;
with mature IoT application can be promoted to be a service PubSubClient client(mqtt_server, 1883, callback, ethClient);
provider to service customers. The customers cannot
manage the controller settings and can only monitor and void setup()
remotely control its system. Visitors can only visit open {
systems in JustIoT. Serial.begin(115200);
pinMode(FLASHPIN, OUTPUT);
B. Angular SPA monitoring program
The traditional web service is a three-tier architecture, Ethernet.begin(mac, ip, dnServer, gateway, subnet);
front-end web pages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), an }
intermediate web server, and a back-end database server. void loop() {
Based on Firebase Cloud, JustIoT is a two-tier serverless
architecture. if(!client.connected()) {reconnect();} // MQTT connection
client.loop();
The monitoring and management program of JustIoT is
an Angular single-page application. it is a static page and long now = millis();
therefore is easy to be hosted in a general cloud system. The if (now - lastMsg > SAMPLEPERIOD) {
monitoring and management program of JustIot is hosted on
sendData();
ŇŪųŦţŢŴŦ.
}
The Angular SPA program of this research is based on
}
BlurAdmin[11]. Its development uses the framework of the
Bootstrap CSS Framework, Sass, Gulp build, AngularJS,
and Chart.js. Besides, HTML Canvas Gauges Suite [12] is
used for data visualization. In the above program, an MQTT library (PubSubClient )
is used to connect to JustIoT MQTT server.
The main functions of the monitoring and management
program are user registration, system-related information An MQTT connection is a publish-subscribe-based
setup, condition control rule settings, data visualization, protocol; after logging in to an MQTT server, you can post a
historical data viewing and remote control. message to a topic or subscribe to a topic. When a post is
posted to a topic, all users who subscribe to the topic will
receive the message.
D. Arduino Controller
The Arduino controller cannot use SSL-encrypted https In order to plug into the JustIoT system, a controller
transmission. Therefore, it cannot use Firebase's REST API must perform following actions;
web service to access the Firebase database. In the JustIoT 1. Login to the JustIoT system.
system, an intelligence server which is an MQTT server is
utilized as a bridge between the Firebase Cloud and Arduino 2. System configuration. System configuration should
ŤŰůŵųŰŭŭŦųį be done in the Angular SPA management program.
The system will assign a controller id to the
An Arduino controller connected to the JustIoT, is a controller. A system configuration string in a
MQTT client. Its program structure is as follows. controller is optional and is used solely for quit
#include <SPI.h> setup.
#include <Ethernet.h> 3. The controller should periodically send
#include <PubSubClient.h> // MQTT client library measurement data to the JustIot system.

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 4. A controller with MQTT connection must subscribe registrant, a user can then register controllers and data
a specific topic to a receive remote command from points of his application. Then he can plug his system into
MQTT server. the JustIoT system by starting his controllers. Since the
system is hanged in the JustIoT, he can setup condition
5. The controller should execute the remote command.
control rules, and remotely monitor and control his system.
A JustIoT application of a registrant is a public (open)
III. RESULT AND VALIDATION application which a visitor and other registrants can
browser.
“Start for free, then pay as you go.” With Firebase Cloud,
we started a free project to construct the JustIoT system. The JustIoT system was used in university courses to
After enabling the user authentication and planning promote IoT application development of students. The
database with appropriate access rules, we focused on MQTT communication between Arduino controller and the
developing the Angular SPA monitoring and management intelligence server in the JustIoT is not secure. The usage of
program. MQTT communication in the JustIoT system is solely for
educational purposes.
For testing, a simple smart house IoT application with
Arduino controller was designed. As described above an Despite that, the JustIoT can be used to run a business.
MQTT server was needed as a bridge between an Arduino When a registrant matures his application with business
controller and Firebase database. potential. JustIoT system administrator can register him as
company admin (vendor) to provide services to his
customers. He can then set up IoT systems for his customers
in the JustIoT system. A customer system is not public (open)
to the visitors or regular registrants.
Another JustIoT system was put into business usage as
shown in Figure 4[14]. The system was separated from the
one for educational usage for security reason.

Figure 3. Smart house application

(https://justdemo-df23d.firebaseapp.com/)

The MQTT server resident in the intelligence server was

built with Mosca[13]. Mosca is a Node.js MQTT
server/broker. We overwrote its ‘authenticate’ function to
be consistent with the authentication function of the
Firebase project. Figure 4. JustIoT business model

The smart house system has Three inputs: humidity,

temperature, and brightness and two outputs: living room IV. CONCLUSION
light (digital output) and bedroom mood light (analog
This paper designs an Internet of Things system called
output). Once the Arduino controller connected to the
MQTT server, we could monitor the smart house system and JustIoT. It can be used for educational purposes and help
remotely drive its outputs with the JustIoT SPA monitoring students to design IoT applications.
and management program in a browser as shown in Figure Firebase Cloud had recently introduced the Cloud
3. Functions feature which allows users to write programs in
JavaScript language and put them on the Firebase cloud
With condition control of the JustIoT system, we made
the smart house system smart. For example, we set the time platform. The programs are triggered by relevant events. In
condition for living room light. We set IO condition JustIoT the implementation of intelligent server condition
between brightness measurement and bedroom mood light control can be turned into a cloud function on the Firebase
[6]. Cloud system. However, Firebase cloud function service
seems not yet stable at this moment.
When the JustIoT system was stable, the project was
upgraded to a pay plan to provide reliable connections and With JustIoT to collect huge data, a machine learning
rapid responses for many users. The usage fee depends on framework will be integrated to enhance the system
the quantities of database data stored, database data intelligence in the near future.
downloaded, website hosted, and website pages transferred.
“Pay as you go.” Therefore, the JustIoT system is flexible to ACKNOWLEDGMENT
load demand. This research is supported by Ministry of Science and
The portal page of the JustIot system is located in Technology, Taiwan (MOST 106-2221-E-150-031).
https://justdemo-df23d.firebaseapp.com/. Once the page is
loaded, the user is a visitor. He can browse public (open)
applications of the system. After registering/logging in as a
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