Raspberry Pico W Simplified

Pico W Simplified focuses on the wifi possibilities of the Raspberry Pico W microcontroller.

The book starts with a short course on the, easy to learn, MicroPython language. All through the book new sensors are introduced. The discussed sensors are button, led, digital thermometer, motion sensor, light dependent sensor and vibration sensor. For each sensor there is a breadboard layout that explains how to connect it to the Pico W. And there is a software example.

The main focus of this book is however on Wifi.
The book shows how to send sensor readings to web services like Thingspeak, to build a nice dashboard with diagrams and gauges. It also shows how to use Ping to, for example, automatically switch a lamp on if you arrive at home from work. There is a tutorial on Pushbullet that shows how to send an alarm to your phone when a certain critical temperature is reached or a door is opened. And there are tutorials on how to send messages and sensor readings to Telegram and Dweet.

The last chapter shows how to build a webpage. The webpage can be accessed from your phone, tablet or computer and even from all of these at the same time. The webpage not only displays sensor readings, but also includes buttons to set leds, lamps, motors, fans, pumps etc. on or off.

The electronic hobbyist who wants to start with the Internet of Things but thinks that the learning curve is to steep will be pleasantly surprised.