University IoT Home Automation System: Report on Implementation

This report provides an overview of an IoT home automation system, exploring its features, benefits, and implementation. The report defines the problem of conventional home appliance control and proposes an IoT-based solution. It details the system's ability to control appliances via Wi-Fi, offering remote access through a smartphone app, energy management capabilities, and the integration of various electronic devices. The report explains the system's functionality, highlighting the use of microcontrollers and Wi-Fi for device control and monitoring. It also includes a project overview, diagrams, and a discussion of the pros and cons of the system, such as convenience, security, and energy efficiency versus installation costs and potential system failures. The conclusion emphasizes the system's advantages for the elderly, disabled, and working individuals, while also acknowledging the complexity of the installation process. References to relevant research papers are also provided.

Running head: IOT HOME AUTOMATION
IOT Home Automation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................2
2. Problem definition...........................................................................................................2
3. Solution with features......................................................................................................2
4. How it works?..................................................................................................................4
5. Project Overview.............................................................................................................5
6. Pros and cons...................................................................................................................6
7. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................6
8. References........................................................................................................................8

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1. Introduction
Internet of things or IOT makes use of the internet in controlling or monitoring the
different devices remotely (Yang, 2014). Home Automation system is an excellent example of
Internet of things and is widely used in modern houses for controlling the household appliances.
With the application of Internet of things, the house can be controlled simply with a Smartphone
or a wireless remote.
2. Problem definition
The major problem of physical controlling of the household devices is that, it becomes
impossible to keep a track of the applications running within the house. This is particularly
because of the location of the convectional wall switches that are widespread over the whole
household. Thus, it makes the process more difficult to control. Moreover, accessing or operating
the switches might be difficult for the aged and physically disabled members of the house.
Automating the Home appliances using internet of things will particularly help in dealing with
the problem more efficiently and thus this project is proposed.
3. Solution with features
Home Automation system will help to deal with the problem stated above as it not only
control the appliances running within a household but also ensures the security of the house. It
helps in ensuring that all the doors and windows of the house are closed. Home automation
system provides certain additional benefits such as feeding the pets in the house, automating the
doorbell by sending an email and so on (Lee et al., 2013).

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Figure 1: Representing the ‘Home Automation System’
Source: (Gurek et al., 2013)
The most striking features of the proposed project ‘Home Automation system’ are
elaborated below (Domingo, 2012) -
1) The system controls all the appliances present in a household over wife or internet. It
is done by connecting a microcontroller with every devices present within the house.
2) The whole system can be controlled using a Smartphone app. Reminder and automatic
switching on and off features in the devices can be set with the help of the app.
3) This system gives remote accessibility to the household devices. The owner can
control his or her house or feed their pets sitting at the office.

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4) This system helps in energy management of the appliances running in the house by
ensuring their timely switch on and off automatically. This helps in efficient energy management
and helps in reducing the utility expenses.
5) the most significant feature of home automation system is that it helps in connecting
all the electronic devices together so as they perform as a unified system (Want, Schilit &
Jenson, 2015).
6) The system is upgradable and thus there is no significant problem if the house
incorporates ore appliances or the people of the house move to another house in future.
4. How it works?
Home automation system makes the use of a strong dealer network to tie and control
every appliances of the house. This network coordinates with all the appliances and controls it
over the internet. This is ascertained by attaching a microcontroller with the appliances and the
devices present in the house. This microcontroller is generally connected with the system over
Wi-Fi. The user sends commands to the devices over this network. For controlling the appliances
like fan and light of the rooms, a sensor is attached with the appliances that monitor the presence
of human in the room. It switches on automatically when a person enters the rooms and switches
off when nobody in present in the room (Lee et al., 2013). This can be controlled by a wireless
remote or a Smartphone app according to the users’ wish.

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Figure 2: Representing the Wi-Fi based home automation system
Source: (Gurek et al., 2013)
5. Project Overview
The system will be designed in such a way that it is able to sense and monitor all the
present appliances in a house using a microcontroller and internet (Piyare, 2013). The structure
of the project is elaborated below with the help of a diagram.

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Figure 3: Representing the structure of Wi-Fi based home automation system
Source: (Gurek et al., 2013)
The above picture clearly depicts how a home automation system works wirelessly over a
strong Wi-Fi connection.
6. Pros and cons
The Pros of home automation system are elaborated below (ElShafee & Hamed, 2012)-
1) It is convenient and easy to use. Once installed properly, it requires less or negligible
maintenance.
2) The system ensures proper security of the house with the features of automatic closing
of doors and windows present in the house.
3) Helps in proper energy management in the house and makes the house a comfortable
place to stay in.
The Cons of this system are as follows-
1) Heavy installation cost and complex installation procedure.
2) The whole system fails if one connection is hampered.
7. Conclusion
Therefore, form the above discussion, it can be concluded that this project can be safely
implemented to increase the efficiency and comfort of the home. It has widespread advantages
and is easy to operate. It System will mainly be beneficial for the elderly, disabled and working

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member of the house. However, the installation procedure is quite complex and needs proper
monitoring.

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8. References
Domingo, M. C. (2012). An overview of the Internet of Things for people with
disabilities. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 35(2), 584-596.
ElShafee, A., & Hamed, K. A. (2012). Design and implementation of a WIFI based home
automation system. World academy of science, engineering and technology, 68, 2177-
2180.
Gurek, A., Gur, C., Gurakin, C., Akdeniz, M., Metin, S. K., & Korkmaz, I. (2013, December).
An android based home automation system. In High Capacity Optical Networks and
Enabling Technologies (HONET-CNS), 2013 10th International Conference on (pp. 121-
125). IEEE.
Lee, G. M., Crespi, N., Choi, J. K., & Boussard, M. (2013). Internet of things. In Evolution of
Telecommunication Services (pp. 257-282). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Piyare, R. (2013). Internet of things: ubiquitous home control and monitoring system using
android based smart phone. International Journal of Internet of Things, 2(1), 5-11.
Want, R., Schilit, B. N., & Jenson, S. (2015). Enabling the internet of things. Computer, 48(1),
28-35.
Yang, S. H. (2014). Internet of things. In Wireless Sensor Networks (pp. 247-261). Springer
London.