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1st International Conference on Advances in Science, Engineering and Robotics Technology (ICASERT 2019)
978-1-7281-3445-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
Wireless Home Automation System Using IoT and
PaaS
Adiba Mahjabin Nitu
Dept. of Computer Science and
Engineering
Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and
Technology University
Dinajpur, Bangladesh
nitu.hstu@gmail.com
Md. Jahid Hasan
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering
Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and
Technology University
Dinajpur, Bangladesh
jahidnoyon36@gmail.com
Md. Shahin Alom
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering
Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and
Technology University
Dinajpur, Bangladesh
ashahin200@gmail.com
Abstract—Home automation based on Internet of Things
(IoT) is getting huge attention of mass people in recent years.
Smart home eases and secures the management of the home
appliances. This paper presents a low cost and reliable smart
home system that assists the users to manage home appliances
without the need of their physical presence. The proposed
system includes smart door lock system using Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) card and password. It can store and
display information of temperature & humidity of a home, and
notifies the users of switching on/off time of light, fan and other
home appliances using embedded micro-web server and an IoT
platform. The user can also control the light intensity and fan
speed based on LDR and temperature sensor values
respectively. The system includes gas leakage & fire alarm. It
has leakage gas removing & fire extinguishing facility and SMS
notification system using IoT platform. The system uses real IP
and RESTful API for controlling, monitoring and accessing the
home appliances remotely from anywhere in the world using
Android based smartphone app or web app. This system is user
friendly and energy efficient.
Keywords—IoT, PaaS, Home automation, Micro-web server,
Teleduino, Altair SmartCore, RESTful API, Arduino.
I. INTRODUCTION
Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the mostly talked
research topics in the recent years. IoT based home
automation system is getting popularities day by day. Home
automation is the controlling of the different home appliances
using smart devices anywhere in the world without the need
of physical presence in the home. Smart home system is very
beneficial in everyday life as it saves electricity and reduces
worries for home security of working people. Due to the
secure, easily controllable and monitorable features, advanced
home automation system design has become a core interest for
many researchers.
Nowadays communication has become much easier due to
the increased use of smartphone and laptop. People uses
internet more than phone calls and SMS to communicate with
each other. It is easy to process huge data faster and easier with
the help of internet. Every day millions of devices are
connected with internet in homes, schools, workplaces, and
vehicles for helping people to live and communicate in a
smarter way which is needed to analyze and translate via a
gateway device. IoT platform can handle this kind of work.
IoT platform is an important component of IoT that provides
valuable application specific services in many application
domains. Many kinds of IoT platforms are available nowadays
[1] [2]. Platform as a Service (PaaS) is one of them, where the
web developer has to take care only about the functionality of
his application. During a development, he can use the API
provided by the company to access important features of the
PaaS, such as performing database operations, or managing
users of his application [2]. An IoT platform is an integrated
service that offers the user the things he needs to bring in
online. It is capable of supporting millions of simultaneous
device connections and easily allows the user to configure
devices for machine-to-machine communication. In this
paper, Altair SmartCore IoT platform [3] has been used which
is based on the PaaS base IoT platform. This IoT platform has
been designed in such a way where anyone can connect any
type of electrical/electronic device. It can execute user
command using it's REST API, manages devices where
anyone can check the status of a load and can control
remotely. This secured IoT platform can also send E-mail,
SMS, and alarm. It can typically handle different tasks such as
store data, visualize data and works as a middleware solution
between hardware and application layers. The Altair
SmartCore IoT platform does not apply any charge for
connecting first two devices.
With the rapid growth of smart technologies and uses of
electrical equipments (light, fan, etc.) and sensors (humidity,
temperature, etc.), it has become very hard to control and get
information from them manually. To getting control of that
devices and measures the data from them, Arduino is an easy
and cost-effective choice. Arduino Ethernet Shield is an
Arduino extension which is used to connect Arduino to the
internet for sending and receiving data and works as a micro-
web server. When a user sends data as a command through the
internet, this micro-web server fetches the data from the
internet and sends command to the Arduino.
This paper is based on the design and implementation of a
flexible, secured, low-cost, advanced home control and
monitoring system. Home security includes services like gas
leakage, fire extinguishing and trespasser protection. If any
unauthorized person tries to enter the home, the system sends
an SMS to the authorized phone number. The system has
sensors. When the gas sensor finds anomaly, the system starts
alarm through buzzer and the kitchen exhaust fan turns on
automatically. Again, when the fire sensor finds anomaly the
system starts alarm through buzzer and an emergency pump
turns on automatically. The system sends SMS to the user for
both cases. The system consists of a Teleduino server [4],
micro-web server and Altair SmartCore server [5] for
controlling and monitoring home appliances from anywhere
and anytime. Each time with the change of state of any
appliance, the information is stored instantly and the system
notifies the user by E-mail. This stored data can be checked
from anywhere by logging in Altair SmartCore web server.
So, the proposed system allows authorized home owners to
monitor and control the home appliances remotely using the
‘Home Automation’ android or web app through server real
IP.
II. RELATED WORK
Nowadays IoT makes technology more advanced. IoT is
the network protocol integrated with physical devices, home
appliances and other embedded devices which enables these
things to connect and exchange data over a network without
the presence of human being [6]. IoT has a novel impact on
home automation system. Smart home is not a new term, it has
been developed from over a decade. Home automation or
smart home provides convenience, comfort, security and
energy efficiency to its householders [7] [8]. Smart home
consists of wireless technology such as Wi-Fi, RFID,
Bluetooth and cellular networks. These have been utilized to
various embedded systems which sense, control and exchange
remote data.
The paper in [9] presents a smart home system where
Bluetooth has been used as a medium of communication,
without any internet connectivity. The physical devices such
as sensors, actuators which can be accessed and controlled by
smartphone using built in Bluetooth connectivity is
implemented in [10][11].
To overcome the limitation of using Bluetooth signal
(maximum range 100 m), researchers also introduced a
popular technology called Wi-Fi based home control system
[12] [13]. In Wi-Fi based home control system, a dedicated
webserver and personal computer have been used, which is
complex and not flexible.
GSM based cellular network has been applied in home
appliances management system for longer range
communication than Wi-Fi [14]. AT command is used to
control and communicate with home appliances. The main
drawback is that GSM has no suitable Graphical User
Interface (GUI).
The authors in [15] have used MIT App Inventor,
NearBus, and Arduino to develop a smart home prototype for
controlling the home appliances without any monitoring
capability.
Moreover, in papers [21][22][23], authors have designed
Raspberry Pi based home automation system which is very
costly. They have not used any IoT platform so their system is
not capable of checking current status of home appliances. No
security system is proposed there as well.
In paper [24], the authors proposed IoT based smart
security and home automation system. They used PIR motion
sensor-based security system and phone’s digit pressing user
interface for controlling home appliances using TI-CC3200
Launchpad board. Considering all these issues, an IoT based
home automation system has been designed and implemented
that can be controlled remotely from anywhere.
III. DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM
A. System Architecture
This section describes the details architecture of the
proposed system. The system architecture is divided into five
layers; remote login, server connectivity, real time database
with notification system, home gateway and home
environment.
Remote login allows the authorized user to login and
access the system with ‘Home Automation’ app from
anywhere in the world using Wi-Fi or 3G/4G network.
Server connectivity is controlled by Teleduino server,
which links up between IoT platform and embedded micro-
web server using a unique key. Teleduino converts Ethernet
enabled Arduino into a versatile tool for interacting with
devices over the internet. Ethernet enabled Arduino
automatically connects itself to the Teleduino server when it
is powered on.
Altair SmartCore web server stores data and works as real
time database management system. When any appliances
present state is changed, the server stores it and notifies the
user by sending E-mail using Altair SmartCore Email API [3].
It also sends SMS for specific appliances (door, gas & fire
sensor) it will send SMS using Altair SmartCore SMS API [3].
To get this facility, the user has to first create an account to the
IoT platform.
Home gateway is an embedded micro-web server based
on Arduino Ethernet Shield. The embedded micro-web server
maintains and controls the home appliances using HTTP
request by navigating Ethernet Shield's IP address through
browser.
Home environment is directly related with home
appliances. It consists of electrical equipments, modules and
actuators. Module such as RFID [16] has been used for smart
door lock system that ensures the entrance of authorized user
only. This proposed system includes sensors such as
temperature, and humidity for monitoring the home
environment.
B. System Implementation
This section presents the explanation of working principle
of the proposed system. The home gateway system is divided
into two-parts; server connectivity and TCP/IP protocol. The
server connectivity has three sections; Teleduino server,
micro-web server, and Altair SmartCore server.
To implement the system, at first it is needed to establish
a connection with Teleduino server, which creates a link
between micro-web server and Altair SmartCore server. The
user first sends initial standard HTTP command (using ‘Home
Automation’ app) to embedded micro-web server through the
Teleduino server. The micro-web server passes the command
to the Arduino and the Altair SmartCore server.
The home gateway is connected to internet over TCP/IP.
Arduino Ethernet Shield also supports TCP/IP stack. During
the configuration with TCP/IP, the Ethernet Shield establishes
connection with Local Area Network (LAN) using public IP
address. Thus it creates an embedded system using TCP/IP
protocol [17]. Once the home gateway is initialized, Arduino
gets ready to execute any command. Then it enters into idle
state until any further command is received from the remote
user. When the user sends HTTP command successfully from
the ‘Home Automation’ app, Arduino Ethernet Shield
decodes the command and Arduino takes appropriate action
accordingly. At the same time the decoded command is stored
in the Alter SmartCore server and notifies the user through E-
mail. The complete process is illustrated as a flowchart in Fig.
1.
The home automation system includes some sensors and
modules. The gas sensor detects gas leakage, fire sensor
detects fire and keypad module is used for pressing password.
The Arduino microcontroller is used to collect and analyze
sensors data and controls the decision-making process. The
Altair SmartCore server stores the data and sends SMS. The
complete process is shown in the following flowchart in Fig.
2.
C. SystemFramework
The home gateway framework is closely related with web
services. The access and manipulation of web services have to
be easy, direct, simple and interoperable. This eases the
communication between the client and server applications of
remote services. Web services are XML-based or JSON-based
information exchange systems that use the internet for direct
application-to-application interaction [18]. These systems can
include programs, objects, messages, or documents. There are
two main classes of web services; Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP) and Representational State Transfer
(REST). RESTful web service has a great deal with flexibility.
It is much more stateless and lightweight than SOAP that
offers functionality similar to SOAP based web services [19].
Therefore, this proposed system has used RESTful based
web services. This service utilizes two standard operations:
POST and GET. These two operations request and return
Fig. 1. Flow chart of E-mail notification process.
Fig. 2. Flow chart of SMS notification process.
Start
Anomaly found? ||
Wrong password?
No
Wrong
password?
Read (Gas sensor || Fire
Sensor || Door Password)
Yes
Anomaly
found for gas
sensor?
Turn on exhaust
fan and
emergency pump
Turn on
exhaust fan
Turn on
emergency
pump
Send report to
Altair SmartCore server
Store data and send SMS
Anomaly
found for gas
& fire sensor?
End
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Start
Command
received
Try
to connect with
Ethernet
Establish connection
with LAN
Decode command string
Wait for remote
command from user
Execute command
No
No
Yes
Try
to connect with
Teleduino server
Yes
Establish connection
with Teleduino
Public IP address
HTTP command
Store data to the Altair
SmartCore server
Send E-mail
Connect with micro-web server and
ready Altair SmartCore server
Yes
No
Measure sensor input or
control output
End
JSON response to communicate between the remote user and
the micro-web server. JSON is much more lightweight for
storing and exchanging data over client-server. It is easy for
human beings to parse and generate messages simpler and
faster than XML. For example, to turn a light on, an HTTP
POST sends a request to micro-web server via Teleduino
Server. After a successful operation the system sends response
with success status response code “status”: 200. The complete
operation is illustrated as a data flow diagram in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Data flow diagram of web services.
D. Smartphone and Web Application
There are several platforms for developing smartphone
application such as Android, Windows Mobile, iOS and
others. About eighty eight percent people of the world use
Android operating system as Android GUI is much simple and
sophisticated [20]. Web application has been used
productively because of the increased availability of
information. These increases have led to heavier reliance on
web-based application. Also, a web application can access
anytime, anywhere through any web browser in any operating
system with an internet connection. That is why this proposed
system introduces both web application and smartphone
application to control the home appliances. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5
illustrate the GUI of ‘Home Automation’ Android app and
web application.
Fig. 4. Snapshot of ‘Home automation’ Android app with voice control
option.
Fig. 5. Snapshot of ‘Home automation’ Web app.
To successfully control home appliances with home
gateway, a user has to first connect with Teleduino server.
When a user sends any command via ‘Home Automation’ app
the micro-web server fetches it and forwards the request to the
Teleduino server. The Teleduino server responses according
to the command and sends back as JSON format to the user.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND HARDWIRE CONFIGURATION
The home automation system has used Arduino Mega as
microcontroller board which works as the central control unit.
Various modules including gas sensor, temperature and
humidity sensor, RFID module, keypad, LCD, Relays and
light/fan are interfaced to the Arduino board for testing the
project. The experimental configuration and implementation
of speech or manual control based home automation system
are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.
Fig. 6. Experimental configuration and implementation of home automation
system with light and lamp off.
Fig. 7. Experimental configuration and implemented result of home
automation system with light and lamp on.
User
command
Teleduino
server
Micro-web
server
MCU
Altair SmartCore
server
Data store
Execute command
Middle wire
Android app
Send E-mail
Send
response
“Status”:200
Light on
Ethernet Shield
Web app
This microcontroller board is interfaced with Arduino
Ethernet Shield based on Wiznet W5100 Ethernet chip. The
Arduino mega and Ethernet Shield are used to implement the
micro-web server for home gateway control system. The
Arduino mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the
ATmega2560. A conventional light switch is integrated with
Arduino using relays to demonstrate the switching capability.
This system has sensors which detect input signals and
actuators that perform responsive and adaptive functions. The
experimental Setup of home automation system is shown as
a block-diagram in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Block-diagram of complete home automation System.
To configure this system, the user must connect with
server through home gateway. To authenticate the user and to
control the home appliances user has to first login and send
initialize command through apps (smartphone/web) which
will activate Ethernet Shield.
V. COMPARISON STUDY
A comparison study has been performed to measure the
performance of the proposed system with other recent works.
A table has been given below to compare the features of the
existing works with the proposed system. The performance
metrics cover many aspects such as real time database, instant
notification through E-mail and SMS, control and monitor
home appliances from anywhere and user interface. The
TABLE I. shows that the proposed system is better than all
others.
TABLE I. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING WORKS
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an android and web based multi-functional
advanced home automation system has been designed and
implemented. The proposed system ensures easy and proper
control of the home appliances from anywhere in the world.
This system provides more security to a home by preventing
intruders. It also protects a home from accident by removing
leakage gas and fire extinguishing facility. This system is very
beneficial for old ages, handicapped people and working
people. The complete system has been tested and performed
as expected. The GUI is user friendly and more practicable.
The system ensures flexibility, reliability, energy efficiency,
and a smart home.
VII. SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK
In future, the home automation system would be made
more functional. More home appliances will be included in
the system. To improve the security of the system, facial
recognition technique will be applied.
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Paper
Ref. No
Performance Metrics
Real
Time
Data
base
Instance
Notificati
on
Control
home
appliances
from
anywhere
Monitor
home
appliances
from
anywhere
User
interface
[21]
No
No
No
Yes
Web app
[22]
No
No
No
Yes
Web app
[23]
No
No
No
Yes
Web app
[24]
No
Yes
Yes
No
Digit of
a phone
Proposed
system
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Android
and Web
app
Sensor
Gas sensor
Fire sensor
RFID reader
Keypad
RJ45
Ethernet Shield
Relay 1
Light
Relay 2
Lamp
Relay 3
Fan
Relay 4
Exhaust fan
Relay 5
Emergency
pump
LCD
Servo motor
Microcontroller
ATmega2560
Temp&
Humidity
RFID card
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