RTIC

Week 7+8 represents project completion at the infrastructure level. This isn’t about adding one more feature - it’s about building the complete path from sensor to insight. After seven weeks: Week 1-3: Sensors talk via LoRa ✅ Week 5: Gateway firmware outputs JSON ✅ Week 6: Async service processes data ✅ Week 7: Data goes to MQTT and InfluxDB ✅ Week 8: Professional dashboards visualize everything ✅ This is a complete IoT monitoring system. From a temperature sensor on a breadboard to a Grafana dashboard refreshing every 10 seconds. All in Rust. All running on real hardware. ...

Week 6 marks a fundamental shift in the project. Up through Week 5, everything stayed within the embedded realm - microcontrollers talking to each other over LoRa. Data lived in OLED displays and defmt logs that disappeared when you closed the terminal. Week 6 changes that. It’s the bridge between embedded and cloud, between constrained systems and abundant infrastructure, between no_std and std. This is the week I learned async Rust isn’t just about performance - it’s about building systems that compose. ...

Week 5 was supposed to be straightforward: add USB-CDC to Node 2, stream JSON telemetry to the desktop. Simple, right? Spoiler: The “simple” solution was blocked by hardware. Then the “good” solution was blocked by firmware. The working solution came from adapting to constraints instead of fighting them. This is the story of how Week 5 became a lesson in engineering pragmatism - and why the best solution isn’t always the most elegant one. ...