Getting Started with Particle Photon

💡Introduction

The Particle Photon is a tiny yet powerful Wi-Fi-enabled microcontroller designed for creating IoT (Internet of Things) projects with ease. Whether you are a seasoned developer or a beginner, the Particle Photon makes building smart devices and connected systems much simpler. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to get started with the Particle Photon, from setting it up to running your first project.

💡What is Particle Photon?

The Particle Photon is an IoT development board based on the ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, featuring:
1)Wi-Fi Connectivity: Built-in Wi-Fi module for easy cloud connections.
2)Powerful MCU: 120 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 for smooth and fast processing.
3)Compatibility: Works with Particle’s cloud-based platform for real-time monitoring and updates.
4)Compact Design: Small form factor, making it ideal for IoT applications in tight spaces.

💡What You’ll Need

To get started with the Particle Photon, here are the essentials you’ll need:
1)Particle Photon development board
2)USB cable (Micro-USB to USB)
3)A Wi-Fi network
4)A computer (Windows, macOS, or Linux) with internet access
5)Particle.io account (free to sign up)

💡Setting Up Your Particle Photon

1)Go to the https://setup.particle.io/ website.
2)Unbox your Photon and connect the USB cable to the Photon to power it up. Your Photon LED should be blinking Blue.
3)Once Photon is powered up,follow the on-screen instructions.
4)Your Photon should blink purple upon the first setup and may take several minutes to download updates. The Photon may restart a few
times, absolutely don’t unplug your Photon.
5)After complete all the instructions successfully, if Photon connected with wifi network. LED indicates with cyne blue colour breathing
pattern.
6)Awesome! Your Photon should now be claimed and setup with your account. You can un-claim devices through the dashboard at any time.

💡We can also setup particle device using particle CLI

The CLI allows you to manage and configure your device through the terminal.

1)To Install Particle CLI follow the link given below:
https://docs.particle.io/getting-started/developer-tools/cli/

Once the CLI is installed,move to the next step

2)Setting Up the Photon using Particle CLI follow the link given below:
https://docs.particle.io/getting-started/setup/manual-setup/

Here,all configuration is done and we are ready to flash our first program to photon.

💡There are two methods for programming the device.

1)Using the Web IDE
Particle provides an easy-to-use web IDE. Once logged into your Particle account, go to the Web IDE. Select your Photon device from the list of devices.
NOTE: For flashing the code in to particle device using WebIDE,device must be connected to the wifi.
👉Follow the link to get started with Simple Blink Program:
https://docs.particle.io/getting-started/developer-tools/build/

2)Using the Particle WorkBench(VSCode)
👉Follow the link to get started with Particle WorkBench(VSCode)
https://docs.particle.io/getting-started/developer-tools/workbench/

💡Exploring the Particle Cloud

The Particle Cloud is a key feature of the Photon, allowing you to interact with your device remotely, gather sensor data, and even control your Photon from anywhere in the world.

💡Expanding Your Project

Once you’re comfortable with the basics and particle cloud, you can start exploring the advance features of cloud and vast array of sensors and actuators that can be connected to the Photon, such as temperature sensors, motion detectors, relays, and more. You can also integrate the Photon with other IoT platforms, like IFTTT or Google Cloud, to build complex, real-time systems.

Happy building!!!