Remote temperature logger / monitor

[groupsck...@xoxy.net]

Hi; 

I'd like to test / set up some remote temperature monitoring with the following

• GSM access (3G nice?)
• Possibility to use WiFi
• Local / offline storage
• Other sensors possible

To make a prototype I was planning to do it with a RPi  or similar with Linux.  I'd plug in a 3G dongle + RPi 2 B+  and a temperature sensor something like this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Measure-Temperature-Very-Accurately-With-an/

Installed would be a generic Linux image just configured to auto connect to the internet.  This is key for me - it should work as a stand alone device without needing a gateway.Right now I have PI B  + power supply. 

Is there somewhere in Hackspace I could borrow more of the stuff to check I can get it all working?  Is there someone with experience of a similar set up?  

I plan to come down to the meeting on 13 June (I'll be away for the next one) but I will be in tomorrow and probably between 7 June and 13th.  If anybody has suggestions I'd appreciate it.  I'm expecting I can set up the Linux image and networking without too much difficult myself, but I'm not so sure about connecting the thermometer to the Pi. 

  Michael

[JJ]

Any reason for the RPi rather than Arduino or ESP8266?  The problem sounds very simple so a complex solution (such as a full-blown operating system) is just more to go wrong.  As an example of the relative complexity (and in some use cases, a major disadvantage of the complex solution) is that an Arduino or ESP boots in seconds while the RPi needs minutes.

[groupsck...@xoxy.net]

There are several reasons for RPi as an initial solution

• I want to do a small scale (1-> 10 units initially) which is very flexible to try different ideas
• I want to do some complex wifi logic and experimentation -> remote login to system is desirable
• I want to do some more sophisticated error handling logic 
• I know the Linux system better
• I may want to add other functions so the flexibility of having things like sqlite and so on appeals.

I think that moving to a cheaper / more simple embedded solution is an obvious benefit.  If someone has experience in something which would be able to do all of the above with all of the prior requirements on something simpler (or has a ready made solution) then I'd be very happy to discussing / working with them, especially if they were willing/able to give me some time.   I don't want to lose time till I get to a proof of concept, though and I don't want to get bogged down later writing software that would already exist before I showed that the idea works.  

Looking at the ESP8266, I think, apart from my lack of experience with it and that I don't know if there's a ready solution to my problems starting from there, I think it would be good if I could get a version with a USB connection that I could use to put a GSM / 3G modem on.  

Open to any better suggestions, in any case.

  Michael