FLUID

Full-stack IoT platform for industrial flow measurement. Captures real-time flow data via custom FPGA hardware, processes it through a cloud backend, and presents it in mobile and web interfaces.

Architecture

FLUID Hardware (Particle P1 + Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA)
        | SPI
   FPGA captures flow data (ADC + signal processing)
        | FBSP (FLUID Binary Serial Protocol)
   Particle P1 reads FPGA data
        | HTTPS
   fluid-data API (ingestion + background jobs via Kue/Redis)
        | PostgreSQL
   fluid-api (business logic + auth)
        |
   Mobile App (Ionic)  &  Web Admin (React)

Repository Index

fluid-code/
├── app/                        # Mobile application
├── backend/                    # Cloud services
│   ├── fluid-api/              #   REST API server
│   ├── fluid-data/             #   Data ingestion & processing pipeline
│   └── fluid-web-admin/        #   Admin dashboard (React)
├── docs/                       # Protocol specs & reference docs
├── firmware/                   # Embedded software
│   ├── fbsp/                   #   FLUID Binary Serial Protocol library
│   ├── particle/               #   Particle P1 firmware
│   │   └── fpga-controller/    #     Main FPGA controller firmware
│   ├── programming/            #   Programming/bootloader utilities
│   └── webhooks/               #   Webhook integrations
├── fpga/                       # FPGA design
│   ├── fluid-fpga-software/    #   Vivado project (Artix-7)
│   ├── fluid-meter/            #   Meter-specific FPGA logic
│   └── ota-testing/            #   Over-the-air update testing
├── hardware/                   # PCB design (Altium Designer)
│   ├── fluid-hardware/         #   Board revisions (v1-v3)
│   └── fluid-hw-v3_4/          #   Current revision (v3.4)
└── manufacturing/              # Manufacturing & test
    ├── fluid-autotest/         #   Automated test suite (Python)
    ├── fluid-mfg-test/         #   Manufacturing test variants
    └── data-parsing/           #   Data parsing utilities

app/

Ionic (Angular) mobile application for iOS and Android. Provides the end-user interface for viewing flow data, managing devices, and configuring alerts.

Detail	Value
Framework	Ionic + Angular
Language	TypeScript
Path	app/fluid-ionic-app/

backend/

Three Node.js microservices:

fluid-api

Main REST API serving mobile and web clients. Handles authentication (Passport bearer tokens), user management, and business logic.

Detail	Value
Framework	Express.js
Language	TypeScript
Database	PostgreSQL (Knex + Bookshelf)
Auth	Passport (bearer tokens)
Integrations	AWS SDK, SendGrid

fluid-data

Data ingestion API with background job processing. Receives raw measurements from devices, runs alert algorithms, and manages time-series data.

Detail	Value
Framework	Express.js
Language	TypeScript
Database	PostgreSQL (Knex + Bookshelf)
Queue	Kue (Redis-backed)
Integrations	AWS SDK, Google APIs

fluid-web-admin

React-based admin dashboard for managing the platform, viewing device data, and monitoring system health.

Detail	Value
Framework	React 16 + Redux
Language	JavaScript (JSX)
UI Library	Material-UI
Charts	Highcharts
Build	Webpack 3

docs/

Protocol specifications and reference documentation.

Document	Description
Binary Packet Spec	FBSP binary protocol specification
NMEA Sentence Spec	NMEA sentence format for flow meters

firmware/

Embedded software for the FLUID device.

fbsp/ (FLUID Binary Serial Protocol)

C library defining the packet format used for communication between the Particle P1 and cloud backend. Includes packet type definitions, encoding, and decoding.

particle/fpga-controller/

Main firmware running on the Particle P1 microcontroller. Controls the FPGA over SPI, reads flow measurement data, and uploads it to the cloud over HTTPS.

Detail	Value
Platform	Particle P1
Language	C++
Build	Makefile (DFU flashing)
Docs	firmware/particle/fpga-controller/README.md

fpga/

FPGA design for digital signal processing of flow sensor data.

fluid-fpga-software/

Xilinx Vivado project targeting the Artix-7 FPGA. Custom IP cores handle ADC data capture, SPI communication, clock domain crossing, and power synchronization.

Detail	Value
Tool	Xilinx Vivado 2015.4
Target	Artix-7
Platform	Ubuntu 16.04
Build	Makefile
Docs	fpga/fluid-fpga-software/README.md

Custom IP cores:

• Slave_SPI_interface - SPI communication with Particle P1
• adc_packet_generator - ADC data serialization
• adc_data_aligner - ADC data alignment
• CDC - Clock domain crossing
• power_sync_gen - Power synchronization
• fluid_spi - FLUID-specific SPI protocol

hardware/

PCB designs in Altium Designer. Contains multiple board revisions from initial prototypes through the current v3.4 production design, along with component datasheets and manufacturing outputs.

Revision	Path	Notes
v1	hardware/fluid-hardware/fluid_0001/	First generation
v2	hardware/fluid-hardware/fluid_0002/	Second generation
v3	hardware/fluid-hardware/fluid_0003/	FPGA integration
v3.4	hardware/fluid-hw-v3_4/	Current production (17 schematic sheets)

manufacturing/

fluid-autotest/

Python-based automated test suite for manufacturing. Tests firmware on assembled units, analyzes measurement data, and generates visualizations.

Detail	Value
Language	Python
Visualization	Matplotlib

Tech Stack Summary

Layer	Technology
Mobile	Ionic, Angular, TypeScript
Web Admin	React, Redux, Material-UI
API	Express.js, TypeScript, Passport
Data Pipeline	Express.js, Kue, Redis
Database	PostgreSQL
Cloud	AWS
Firmware	Particle P1, C++
FPGA	Xilinx Vivado, Artix-7, Verilog
Hardware	Altium Designer
Mfg Test	Python