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SIoT Introduction

Last revision 2026/02/28

This document serves as the official homepage and overview of the SIoT IoT Platform User Guide. It covers the document's scope, the basic concepts and working principles of SIoT (acting as a local area network message broker), and its unique advantages in educational scenarios, such as quick startup and a low entry barrier. It also details the supported operating systems, controller hardware (such as Unihiker, micro:bit, Arduino, and Handbit), and the default connection parameters (MQTT port 1883, Web port 8080, default credentials, etc.) required for initial setup and testing.

1. Document Scope

This document is designed to help primary and secondary school students as well as educators quickly master SIoT. It covers installation, startup, basic operations, and practical applications, aiming to help users understand IoT principles and develop creative projects.

2. What is SIoT

SIoT is a cross-platform open-source MQTT broker tailored for educational scenarios. Its core feature is to "minimize the barrier to entry," enabling teachers and students to quickly set up a functional IoT messaging center on standard computers, Unihiker, and other devices.

siot icon

Among these:

  • S can be understood as Science and Simple.
  • IoT refers to the Internet of Things.

The typical role of SIoT is to act as a "message broker":

  • Controller boards publish sensor data to SIoT.
  • Other controller boards and data visualization dashboards subscribe to and read this data from SIoT.
  • Users can also send control commands to devices via the web console.

message broker

3. Why Use SIoT in Teaching

Compared to general-purpose commercial cloud platforms, SIoT is better suited for local classroom or laboratory-based teaching:

  • Quick Startup: Download, extract, and run to start using it immediately.
  • Minimal Requirements: No need to purchase commercial cloud services or set up complicated server environments beforehand.
  • Intuitive Feedback: Students can instantly see the effects of sending, receiving, and controlling messages.
  • Ideal for Project-Based Learning: Simple Topic naming makes it easy to organize data by "Project/Device".
  • Easy to Record Experiments: Message history can be viewed and exported directly from the web console.

4. What Can SIoT Do

With SIoT, you can easily build a basic IoT application system. The primary use cases include the following categories:

  1. Data Acquisition: Supports publishing and logging sensor data such as temperature, humidity, light, and air quality on the server for unified recording.
  2. Remote Control: Allows sending control commands to devices via the web console, MQTT tools, other controller boards, or data visualization dashboards.
    What SIoT can do

5. How SIoT Works

The simplest way to understand SIoT is to view it as a "local area network (LAN) message station". The computer or Unihiker running SIoT is responsible for routing messages, while the router connects devices on the same network. Controller boards connect to the network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Client terminals such as computers, smartphones, and tablets can access the Web Administration Console via a web browser, or directly publish and subscribe to messages using MQTT clients or Python code. An active internet connection is not required; as long as local network communication is available, SIoT will function perfectly.

How SIoT Works

6. Supported Environments

  • Operating Systems: Windows / macOS / Linux
  • Controller Boards: Unihiker, micro:bit, Arduino, Handbit
  • Supported Software: Mind+ (1.8.0 and above) (Mind+ V2 is used in this tutorial)

[!NOTE]
Mind+ V2 is used throughout this tutorial. For specific usage of Mind+ V2, please refer to: Mind+ V2 Official Documentation

7. Default Connection Parameters

When using default configurations, you can use the following parameters for initial understanding and testing. If you are using a customized version or have modified the configurations, please refer to your actual environment:

  • MQTT Port: 1883
  • Web Port: 8080
  • Default Username: siot
  • Default Password: dfrobot
  • Recommended Topic Format: ProjectName/DeviceName

8. Version Notes

This document primarily focuses on SIoT V2.x by default. Any differences between SIoT V1 and SIoT V2 will be discussed separately.

The reasons for this arrangement are:

  • SIoT V2 integrates more closely with modern teaching cases, Mind+ data visualization dashboards, and Unihiker application scenarios.
  • Some basic concepts, Topic rules, and workflows in SIoT V1 are still valuable references.

If the entry point, button names, or behaviors of a feature differ between versions, they will be highlighted with a "Version Tip" in the text.

SIoT V1 SIoT V2
siot v1 siot V2

Changelog

  • v1.0.0: Completed compilation of the initial version of SIoT Wiki.

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