In this tutorial, you'll learn how to connect your first IoT device to the Qubitro platform using MQTT and Python. This simple guide is designed for beginners and assumes no prior experience with IoT, MQTT, or Qubitro.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A Qubitro account. If you don't have one, sign up at Qubitro's website.
• Python installed on your computer. Python 3.6 or higher is recommended.
• An MQTT client library for Python. We will use paho-mqtt for this tutorial.

Step 1: Install the Paho-MQTT Client

Open your terminal or command prompt and install the paho-mqtt library using pip:

pip install paho-mqtt

Step 2: Create a Device on Qubitro

1. Log in to your Qubitro account and navigate to the 'Devices' section.
2. Click on 'Create Device' and select the device type that matches your project. For this tutorial, you can start with a generic device.
3. Name your device and save the credentials provided by Qubitro. You will need the Device ID and Token for MQTT authentication.

Step 3: Connect and Publish to Qubitro with MQTT

Create a new Python file and include the following code. Remember to replace YOUR_DEVICE_ID and YOUR_DEVICE_TOKEN with the credentials you obtained from Qubitro.

  import ssl
  import time
  import json
  import paho.mqtt.client as mqtt
 
  # Define the MQTT broker information and device credentials
  broker_host = "broker.qubitro.com"
  broker_port = 8883
  device_id = "YOUR_DEVICE_ID"
  device_token = "YOUR_DEVICE_TOKEN"
  # Define callback functions
  def on_connect(client, userdata, flags, rc):
      if rc == 0:
          print("Connected to Qubitro!")
      else:
          print("Failed to connect, return code:", rc)
 
  def on_publish(client, userdata, mid):
      print("Published: " + str(payload))
 
  # Create the MQTT client, set the TLS context, and provide device credentials
  client = mqtt.Client(client_id=device_id)
  context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)
  client.tls_set_context(context)
  client.username_pw_set(username=device_id, password=device_token)
 
  # Assign the callback functions to the client
  client.on_connect = on_connect
  client.on_publish = on_publish
 
  # Connect to the MQTT broker and start the client loop
  client.connect(broker_host, broker_port, 60)
  client.loop_start()
 
  # Define the payload to be published
  payload = {
      "temp": 64,
      "Key2": 30.5
  }
 
  # Publish the payload every 2 seconds
  while True:
      if client.is_connected():
          client.publish(device_id, json.dumps(payload))
          time.sleep(2)

This script connects your device to Qubitro using MQTT. The on_connect callback function confirms the connection status.

This script sets up a secure connection to Qubitro using TLS, connects to the MQTT broker, and publishes a simple payload containing temperature data. It repeats the publishing process every 2 seconds.

Step 4: Monitor Your Device Data on Qubitro

After running the script, log into your Qubitro account. You should see the data being published from your device in real-time. Use Qubitro's monitoring tools to analyze the incoming data.

Conclusion

You've now successfully connected your device to Qubitro and started publishing data using MQTT and Python. This foundation allows you to expand your IoT project by adding more devices, sensors, and data types to your Qubitro account.