An Advanced IoT Based Frame Work to Save Electrical power in an Organization

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© 2019, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 489
International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Open Access
Survey Paper Vol.-7, Issue-1, Jan 2019 E-ISSN: 2347-2693
An Advanced IoT Based Frame Work to Save Electrical power in an
Organization
Swaleha Zubair1*, Uzair Aalam2
1Department of Computer Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
2Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
*Corresponding Author: swalehazubair@yahoo.com Tel.: +91-9410059635
Available online at: www.ijcseonline.org
Accepted: 21/Jan/2019, Published: 31/Jan/2019
Abstract—The growing global demand for power supply is likely to exhaust available resources soon. It is advisable to avoid
wastage of electricity as it may overburden consumer adversely. In the present study, we propose an IoT based solution to
reduce electric power wastage in organizations. As the organizations are generally divided into sub sections or departments, a
frame work can be proposed which allows the managers and supervisors to keep an online track of the ON/OFF status of
appliances in their respective departments/sectors. The access to appliances can be provided with a Secure Shell connection
through a dedicated server which keeps monitoring all the appliances in the whole organization continuously. Each manager
and in-charge along with other officials can be provided with a user ID and password to login with. Each of them is likely to
entertain with different level of rights to control various gadgets of the department. This frame work can prove itself to be
useful in reducing the problem of various appliances ON in an organization. The frame work has provision for further
improvements such that with slight modification it can be implemented controlling and monitoring a weather station situated in
the remote forest.
Keywords— RPi (Raspberry Pi), Arduino UNO, SSH, GSM
I. INTRODUCTION
In this study, we proposed an idea to use IoT to
control/monitor the electricity usage in an organization. IoT
is a network of inter-linked items that has provision for
connection to the computation devices. The system can be
connected to a relatively bigger network. The IoT is
important for making smart homes and organizations as well
as public places. The framework proposed is a step towards
exploiting IoT to make smart appliances. The proposed IoT
can be used to save power consumption. Arduino UNO has
been used to control appliances and can send status over the
network using GSM module. Using Raspberry Pi whole
system can be monitored using SSH without using Arduino.
An Arduino, when connected to a PC, can replace Raspberry
Pi. If somebody forgets to turn OFF the lights while leaving
the office or home, he can turn OFF the lights from
somewhere else. The higher authority can also check the
status of appliances (power connection) which are left ON at
various places in his department. The proposed system can
also be used for educational institutes like universities and
colleges etc. Unlike earlier methods where SMS over GSM
had been used, the proposed strategy uses SSH[1][2]. In
earlier proposed methods one cannot prevent perceiving
irrelevant messages from unknown numbers/senders. The
SSH makes it more secure and versatile. SSH is easily
available for almost every platform whether it is Windows,
Linux or Android etc. Hence it becomes easier for the user to
control this system from any platform. On the negative note,
requirement of switching relays for all devices increases as
the system grows which is definitely a limitation of the
system.
The paper contains three sections viz. introduction,
methodology, and conclusion. In the first section, the
problem and its solution are introduced. Then in the next
section complete methodology is discussed in detail. After
that, in the last section, the paper is concluded with a brief
discussion of possible future prospects.
II. MMETHODOLOGY
Proposed operative model
In the proposed scheme the model involves a power saving
strategy in an organization. Each room of the
institute/organization would be under surveillance and
monitored by the head of department or section. The various
sections will, in turn, looked after by the main supervisor or

International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.7(1), Jan 2019, E-ISSN: 2347-2693
© 2019, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 490
manager
.
Figure 1. Representation of an organization.
As mentioned earlier, this system is specifically for an
organization where many users utilize electric appliances.
The main supervisor enjoys most of the rights. This
system allows individual office-bearers to control or
manage their office or cabin. They cannot change or
modify the status of other cabins or sections. The section
in-charge can override the rights bestowed upon the
members of his section only and cannot interrupt the other
sections. The main supervisor, in turn, can override the in-
charge of various sections. The distribution of privileges
in this system is represented by following Venn
diagram.
Figure 2 Distribution of power among various posts within an
organization.
The main head/supervisor can access the system by using a
login ID and a password. When he logs into the system he
finds a list of sections or departments under his supervision.
He can switch power ON or OFF of any section. On the same
pattern, section in-charge can login and change the state of
power of various cabins/offices in the section.
Hardware
Raspberry is the most efficient and user-friendly computer
device however not preferred because of its cost. Next
choice is Arduino that can be programmed to control
relays connected to various appliances. Arduino UNO can
be connected to nearly 10 relays. We can also read back
the status of the relays. A PC is also needed to provide
internet connectivity to the Arduino. An old computer can
be used for this purpose. The system should also be able to
check the presence of a person in the office. This is done
by attaching a switch to the lock of the entrance. The
Arduino will check the state of the switch and monitor the
physical presence of individual inside the office. If any
person is inside the office then the section in-charge of
the concerned section and main supervisor will lose the
rights to switch OFF the appliances.
Figure 3 Circuit block diagram for connecting relay, lock switch
and appliance.

International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.7(1), Jan 2019, E-ISSN: 2347-2693
© 2019, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 491
Figure 4. LEDs are representing relays.
Connectivity
Raspberry Pi can be connected directly to the network either
by using Ethernet jack or by wireless network. Whereas an
Arduino will require either a GSM module or a PC connected
to the network. In the second case, we will need another
program on the PC which is connected to the Arduino. Each
Arduino unit will send data to a central system which will
work as a server. This will analyze the whole system state
and will also provide an interface to the various users. Hence
the server will work as a bridge between user and hardware.
This feature of the system can be introduced as a cloud
operating system. The hardware of any cabin is not directly
controlled by the local software. But to change the state of an
appliance which is available locally, the user will have to
make a request to the server. Then server will analyze the
situation. It will check the door locks and the appliances.
And then complete the request made by the user.
Figure 5. The flow of control from various offices to the server.
SOFTWARE
Arduino is programmed by using a c++ code. It will check
the state of the pins (digital pins) which are connected to the
appliances. It will also change the state of these if required.
The program will correspond the data with the PC over USB
or GSM module. Then on the PC side, we will need a python
script to interact with Arduino and send/upload data to the
server. Then we need a script on server to process data, make
decisions and send it back to the Arduino. Then Arduino will
switch ON/OFF the devices accordingly. Some screenshots
of the interface in Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 Distro) are given
below.
Figure 6. Execution of python script on
PC.
Figure 7. Execution of python script on PC.

International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.7(1), Jan 2019, E-ISSN: 2347-2693
© 2019, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 492
III. CCONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
An IoT based frame work for controlling and monitoring
the electrical appliances used in an organization has been
proposed. The scheme can find wide users and can be
implemented in any organization or institute to monitor
and control the power wastage. The important feature of
this is the use of IoT to make organization a "smart
organization". The connection is secured through SSH
(Secure Shell) which improves safety and protection. The
use of the Arduino UNO, which is available in the market
at a reasonable price, makes it cheaper and cost-effective.
The provision for entrance lock switches to check the
presence of a person inside the cabin is an advancement
over the existing "smart home" systems. A little
amendment can make the proposed approach more useful
in other firms and buildings. Besides, there is a stipulation
to upgrade the system in future because of the fact that
only server has to be updated.
REFERENCES
[1] Faisal Baig, Saira Baig, and Fahad Khan, Muhammad. Controlling
home appliances remotely through voice command. International
Journal of Computer Applications, 48(17):0975-888, June 2012.
[2] Shivanka, Ashu Grover, and Nikhil Arora. Controlling electrical
appliances through pc and gsm technology. International Journal
of Computer Applications, 76(2):09758887, August 2013.
Authors Profile
She is working as Assistant Professor at Computer Science
Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Her research
interest mainly focuses on Immuno-informatics, nano-informatics,
MIS, Data mining, Big data Analytics, and IoT. She has several
publications in peer-reviewed reputed International journals.
Mr. Uzair Aalam pursued Bachelor of Science (Hons) physics, from
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India in 2016 and Master of
Science (Physics) from the same university in the year 2018. He is
currently pursuing M.Tech. His area of interest and work include
IoT, sensors, microelectronics, communication and hardware
programming.