RF decoding with ESPHome

This project provides the files to send and receive Radio Frequency signals over a CC1101 antenna connected to a NodeMCU with an ESP8266 chipset

Prerequisites

• NodeJS here
• Python3 here
• MQTT Broker mosquitto here
• ESPHome # pip3 install esphome (version 1.15.3 used) note: install as admin
• Node-Red $ npm install -g node-red

Processing RF Data

Locate the node-red user directory

On startup, node-red should print out a line like

7 Nov 20:48:30 - [info] User directory : home/<name>/.node-red

This is where node-red will keep user specific data like the flows you created, and where we can also install plugins.

Build and install ook en/decoder

Open terminal in <tng-automation>/node-red/on-off-keying and run:

npm install
npm run build

Go to the node-red user directory (e.g. home/<name>/.node-red) and run

npm install <tng-automation>/node-red/on-off-keying

• Restart node-red and reload the node-red web interface
• There should now be four new nodes: "ook_decode", "ook_encode", "ook_split", "ook_concat"

Setup Hardware

• Wire up your NodeMCU and CC1101 antenna as described in the following picture

Start RF Decoding

• Start mqtt broker mosquitto with mosquitto (only necessary if auto start is disabled)
• Start node-red with node-red and open http://127.0.0.1:1880 in your browser
• Add a mqtt in node and configure mqtt broker and mqtt topic: radio_transceiver/radio/433toMQTT
• Connect the mqtt in node to a debug node and open debug window with the bug symbol in the top right corner
• Go to <tng-automation>/esp-smarthome and configure the radio_transceiver.yaml file
• Connect your NodeMCU with your PC and run esphome radio_transceiver.yaml run
• Radio Frequency signals with 433MHz are send to the specified MQTT Topic
• View RF signals in the debug window in node-red
• Send timings to the radio_transceiver/radio/MQTTto433 topic to transmit them via the CC1101 antenna

Use example flow

• Copy <tng-automation>/node-red/example-flow/lib folder into your node-red user directory
• Restart node-red
• Click the three bars in the top right corner and import example flow with Import > Library > Example.json
• See example flow decoding weather station information and turning wireless socket on/off

Smartphone Apps

Apps to try out:

• MQTT Dash(IoT, Smart Home) (for Android)
• iHomeTouch (for iOS, please evaluate)