The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Back to feedPost
Title: Wireless Edge Deployment — Implementing OTA Firmware Updates on the ESP32
Overview:
When IoT devices and smart nodes are deployed in the field—whether inside an industrial ceiling vent, a remote agricultural sensor grid, or a smart home setup—physically plugging in a USB cable to update code is impractical and inefficient.
To solve this, I designed and built a robust Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware update pipeline for the ESP32 microcontroller. This allows code updates, bug fixes, and feature rollouts to be pushed wirelessly over Wi-Fi with zero physical downtime.
💡The Core Idea & How It Works:
Instead of serial port flashing, the ESP32 hosts a secure local update server (or connects to an encrypted cloud endpoint). When a new binary firmware file is compiled, it is streamed directly over the air into the microcontroller's flash memory.
Dual-Partition Safety Scheme: Utilizes a custom flash partition table containing two application spaces (OTA_0 and OTA_1). If an update fails or gets corrupted mid-air, the ESP32 automatically rolls back to the previous stable firmware, preventing "brick" states.
Seamless Wi-Fi Integration: The node initializes its Wi-Fi stack, establishes a secure handshake, and awaits an authorized update signal via local network web browser or an automated CI/CD pipeline.
🚀 Key Features & Highlights:
1. Zero Physical Access Required: Push firmware updates remotely across the local network or cloud.
2. Built-In Fail-Safe Rollback: Automatic integrity checks ensure the system never crashes due to a bad flash file.
3. Progress Tracking & Feedback: Integrated status hooks to monitor download percentages via Serial or local HUD interfaces.
4. Optimized for Edge Nodes: Seamlessly integrates with existing sensor architectures (like environmental monitors and actuator nodes) without interrupting background control loops.
Why It Matters:
For production-grade IoT deployments, remote maintenance is non-negotiable. Building a reliable OTA update framework ensures long-term scalability, lower maintenance costs, and continuous capability enhancement for deployed hardware.
Go through this link for project analysis and how OTA(over the wire data transfer):
https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-ota-over-the-air-arduino/
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Related posts
Title: Happy Hour – AI-Powered Restaurant Operations Platform
Short description (one-liner):
An all-in-one Laravel + React platform that helps restaurant managers control costs, inventory, staff, and sales, with AI that reads supplier invoices and surfaces savings.
Project description:
Restaurant managers often juggle spreadsheets, paper invoices, and separate tools for stock, staff, and sales, which makes it hard to know what each dish really costs. Happy Hour brings all of it into a single web application built for hospitality businesses.
The standout feature is AI-powered invoice capture. Managers upload a PDF or photo of a supplier invoice, and the system extracts the supplier, line items, pack sizes, GST, and totals, matches the supplier by ABN, and updates ingredient prices automatically. Every extraction is validated and flagged for review when something doesn't add up, so the AI never silently invents numbers.
Those ingredient prices flow directly into recipe costing. Each recipe shows its live cost, margin, and how many portions can be produced from current stock, including which ingredient is the limiting factor. Managers can also generate recipe drafts with AI and review them before anything is saved.
Inventory runs on a perpetual stock ledger covering waste, comps, corrections, and blind physical stocktakes with variance review. Daily sales from Z reports are reconciled against recipes to deplete stock and reveal shrinkage and yield drift.
Beyond back-of-house, the platform includes a POS terminal, cash drawer management, a Kitchen Display System, staff rosters, a public time clock, expense tracking with P&L reporting, and an AI insights engine that ranks cost-saving opportunities across suppliers, recipes, and sales. The AI layer supports multiple providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and Google Gemini, configurable from the settings page.
Key features:
AI invoice extraction and supplier matching · Live recipe costing and margins · Perpetual inventory and stocktakes · Sales reconciliation from Z reports · POS, cash drawer, and Kitchen Display System · Staff rosters and time clock · Expenses and P&L · AI-generated cost-saving insights
Tech stack (full):
Laravel 12, PHP 8.3, React 19, React Router, Vite, Recharts, Framer Motion, Laravel Sanctum, PostgreSQL, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, REST APIs, PHPUnit
Three stacks:
Laravel · React · PostgreSQL
Project Title: AURA Executive Wellness — AI-Powered Ultra-Luxury Booking & Management Platform
What I Built:
I built an end-to-end, high-converting booking platform designed for elite medical spas and longevity clinics ("AURA Executive Wellness"). It features a seamless client-facing reservation system paired with a real-time owner admin dashboard.
Key Features & Engineering Highlights:
Frictionless Booking Wizard: Dynamic multi-step flow allowing users to pick treatments, select specialists, customize timeslots, add-on therapies, and simulate instant payment.
Dual-Perspective Architecture: Includes an instant "Owner Dashboard" view to manage daily appointments, monitor live revenue analytics, and toggle room/specialist availability.
High-End UI/UX Design: Sleek dark-mode aesthetic with micro-interactions, responsive typography, and luxury branding tailored for high-ticket service clients.
Instant Confirmation & Calendar Integration: Generates automated appointment passes with direct sync to Google/Apple Calendar.
Why I Built It:
Traditional booking systems for premium clinics are clunky and full of friction. AURA was built to show how AI and modern Web UX can automate zero-downtime scheduling for high-net-worth clients while giving clinic owners complete operational control.
