Revolutionizing .NET IoT: Development of Cutting-Edge Apps

The .NET IoT libraries can be used to build IoT applications using programming languages such as C# and . NET. These applications can run on Internet of Things boards such as Raspberry Pi and HummingBoard and specific hardware such as sensors, and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) devices. Computer operating systems are compatible with these libraries, so before getting an external device to see how your program works, you can know firsthand from the interaction directly with your computer.

.NET IoT Libraries

The .NET IoT libraries consist of two NuGet – a package manager for .NET where project dependencies and libraries can be handled. These two packages are:

1. System.Device.Gpio

The .NET is used in building IoT devices that interact with sensors, and other input devices using GPIO pins. The System.Device.Gpio is a library that supports IoT application development with .NET. It enables the interaction between computer programs and GPIO pins – General-purpose input and Output that are on motherboards or microcontrollers that are used to read signals from input devices or from sensors.

This System.Device.Gpio works with all sorts of hardware, such as single-board computers (for example, Raspberry Pi), LCDs, sensors, and microcontrollers. The library will conveniently work with different platforms for building cross-platform .NET IoT applications and hardware devices because its setup is not to a specific hardware type. So, even when the hardware is switched, the original code created by the developer does not need to be changed completely before it can work.

There is some already existing hardware in desktop computers, such as CPU temperature sensors and keyboards. The System.Device.Gpio .NET IoT library supports this hardware. It means that even without getting external components you can develop an experimental IoT interface and hardware interaction.

Windows, macOS, and Linux all have some general-purpose adapters, such as FT232H or FT4222, that can interact with GPIO pins. Once these adapters are present desktops and laptops can interact with various IoT devices whether there is a built-in GPIO pin or not.

System.Device.Gpio provides multiple methods that allow interaction with low-level hardware pins to operate devices. These are:

General purpose Input/Output (GPIO)
Integrated circuit (IC)
Serial peripheral interface (SPI)
Pulse width Modulation (PWM)
Serial port

2. IoT.Device.Binding

Some categories of device binding have been created. These categories are created so that it is relatively easy to leverage NET binding to connect devices in order to create .NET IoT applications. These categories include:

Analog / Digital converters.
Digital / Analog converters
Accelerometer
Gas sensor
Liquid sensor
Light sensor
Barometers
Altimeters
Thermometers
Infrared sensors
Gyroscope
Lego / related devices
Motor controllers/drivers
Weight sensors
Thermocouple devices
Volatile organic compound sensors
Power monitor and related devices
Protocol providers/libraries
Multi-device or robot kit
GPIO or bit operating devices
Wireless communication modules
Touch sensors
CAN BUS libraries/modules

Binding in this library means that there are already existing codes that allow certain hardware components (for example, sensors and displays) to interact with your applications. It means that this library gives support to such components when you are using those devices because they target specifically the components. The library can be utilized with different hardware platforms without having to rewrite a large chunk of the code responsible for the interaction.

With binding, you can prototype .NET IoT applications with cheap hardware such as Arduino Uno without needing expensive components. Some binding will interact with traditional laptops and desktops. For example, the IoT.Device.Binding library can handle input from the keyboard as a .NET IoT interface. This library supports building IoT applications with .NET

The Supported Hardware

System.Device.Gpio is compatible with most single-board platforms, which means it can work with various types. These are compact computers that are built on just a single board and used majorly in automation and .NET Internet of Things development. Some single-board computers that can be used to work with the .NET for IoT software development include:

Raspberry Pi, a common single-board computer for .NET IoT development, this is supported by the System.Device.Gpio library.
Hummingboard: this is commonly known for the support it offers for Linux .NET IoT projects the System.Device.Gpio library is used to create interaction between these platforms and general-purpose input or output.
BeagleBoard: is another platform that is compatible with this library. It is low-power, open source, and available for developers working on IoT Embedded application development with .NET.
ODRIOD: this is a high-performance single-board computer; it possesses higher specifications in some of its models compared to its counterparts, it is mostly used when working on projects that require high processing power.

The Supported Operating System

The System.Device.Gpio supports Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems found on laptop or desktop computers. The GPIO pins can be connected to USB, which is then connected via a Serial peripheral interface (SPI)/I2C bridge. The 12C bridge connection of the USB to the 12C adapter allows a computer with no 12C pins to interface with 12C-based hardware. What this basically does is act as a bridge between the computer USB protocol and 12C protocol so there can be interaction with the IoT peripherals such as sensors, displays, or controllers. Other devices like the FT232H or FT4222 adapters serve as bridges to create an interaction between the computer program and hardware with a serial peripheral interface through a USB port on the computer.

Therefore, when building .NET IoT applications on your normal computers with operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and macOS, the System.Device.Gpio Library in the NET can be used to interact with external hardware, leveraging just one of these options, a USB to 12c or serial peripheral interface bridges. This allows the library to support a larger range of hardware configurations regardless of whether your machine does not contain the General Purpose Input and Output (GPIO) capability.

Meadow

This is a full-stack .NET IoT platform with distinctive multi-platform compatibility, which enables the execution of full .NET applications on an extensive variety of devices, such as microcontrollers and single-board computers (for example, Raspberry Pi and Jetson Nano), as well as desktop computers. This platform comes with a large collection of carefully selected peripherals drivers, complete on-device debugging using Visual Studio code, and Azure integration.

.NET Nano Framework

This platform is open-source and free. It makes it possible to write C# applications for restricted embedded systems. It is appropriate for various types of .NET IoT projects and is supported by the .NET foundation. On this platform, you can easily use Visual Studio code to write, debug, and deploy your code instantly on actual hardware