Remote Weather Monitoring with Raspberry Pi 3 and PubNub

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to build a real‑time remote weather station using a Raspberry Pi 3, a DS18B20 temperature sensor, an LCD display, and PubNub for instant data streaming.

Why PubNub?

PubNub is a global data‑stream network that powers over 300 million connected devices and streams more than 750 billion messages each month. By using PubNub’s publish/subscribe API, you can push your sensor data to the cloud in seconds and view it on any device – no custom backend required.

Step 1: Gather Your Components

• Raspberry Pi 3 (any model with Wi‑Fi works)
• 16×2 character LCD (HD44780 controller)
• DS18B20 one‑wire temperature sensor
• 4.7 kΩ pull‑up resistor
• LED (optional status indicator)
• Breadboard and jumper wires (male‑male, male‑female)
• Android phone and a free PubNub account
• Computer for SSH access

All code is written in Python 3. If you’re new to Python, visit Embedded Study for beginner tutorials.

Step 2: Set Up Your Pi

Before you begin, install a Raspberry Pi OS image (Raspbian) onto an SD card. Once the Pi boots, connect to it via SSH (default credentials: user pi, password raspberry). Use a terminal or an SSH client such as PuTTY.

Verify the GPIO pinout with pinout.xyz and wire the DS18B20 as follows:

• VCC to 3.3 V
• GND to ground
• Data to a GPIO pin (e.g., GPIO4)
• Place a 4.7 kΩ resistor between VCC and Data to pull the line high

Connect the LCD to the Pi using the standard 4‑bit mode interface (RS, E, D4‑D7, VCC, GND, and backlight pins).

Step 3: Install Required Libraries

Open a terminal on the Pi and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python-dev
sudo pip3 install rpi.gpio

Clone and install the Adafruit LCD library:

git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_CharLCD
cd Adafruit_Python_CharLCD
sudo python setup.py install

Step 4: Download and Run the Project

Download the project files into a dedicated directory on the Pi. For example:

mkdir ~/weather_station
cd ~/weather_station
# Insert your download command here

Run the Python script to start reading the sensor, updating the LCD, and publishing data to PubNub:

python3 weather_station.py

Step 5: View Your Data

Open the PubNub dashboard or use a mobile app to subscribe to the channel you defined in the script. You’ll see live temperature updates every few seconds.

Additional Resources

• PubNub Official Site
• Raspberry Pi Pinout Reference
• Adafruit LCD Library on GitHub

Tags

• remote monitoring of temperature using raspberry pi