Last updated on
As the concept of IoT or Internet of Things continues to flourish and develop, more and more things are getting connected in the digital age. From self driving cars to fridges and home control systems, everything is becoming more accessible and Android, as an operating system, is in a prime position to be at the centre of it all.
Today we’re going to shed some light on how these systems work in theory so that interested readers and developers can learn more about using Android to develop such control and monitoring systems.
The Internet can be depicted as the connection of ordinary items like smartphones, Internet TVs, sensors and actuators to the network. Here, the gadgets are brilliantly connected together empowering new types of communication.
Linear actuators with feedback make movement in a straight line, as opposed to the circular movement of a customary electric engine. It is utilized as a part of machine devices and modern machinery, in PC peripherals, for example, disk drives and printers, in valves and dampers, and in numerous different spots where straight movement is required.
Related Work
Home automation can be portrayed as presentation of innovation inside of the home environment to give accommodation, solace, security and energy productivity to its inhabitants.
Home automation also increases life span to an elderly and disabled people. Wireless technology can be presented by Bluetooth, WIFI, and cellular networks.
A couple of analysts have additionally displayed utilization of Web administrations, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Representational State Transfer (REST) as an interoperable application layer to remotely get to home computerization systems.
Cloud computing is also proposed by users in home automation. The existing system was mainly focused on the control of home appliances other than monitoring remotely the home environment.
Proposed System and Architecture
Features of Proposed systems
The framework comprises of a smaller scale Web – server in light of Arduino Ethernet, hardware interface modules and the Android good Smart phone application. The System permits approved home owners to remotely control and screen connected gadgets at home utilizing any Wi-Fi or 3G/4G empowered Smart phone which supports Java. The smart phone application gives a graphical user interface (GUI) for getting to and controlling the gadgets at home through server genuine IP.
Figure 1. Android user interface for the home control system
Description of proposed Architecture
This area shows the proposed structural planning and outline of flexible and minimal cost home controlling and monitoring system. The construction modeling is separated into three layers: Home Environment, Home Gateway and Remote Environment. Home environment consists of the gateway and the hardware module. Remote Environment represents users who are permitted to access the system via smartphone 3G/4G or wireless network. The main component of the gateway is the web-server which manages and controls the system components of executes a task.
Figure 2. Showing an Overview of conceptual architecture
System Implementation
Monitoring of systems comprises of three principle modules: the reduced scale Web server, hardware interface module and the Smart phone application. To exhibit the possibility and viability of the system, gadgets, for example, light switches, power plug, temperature sensor and current sensor have been coordinated with the proposed home control framework.
The software for home automation is in two parts: server application and microcontroller. The server application software is an implementation of a micro Web-server running on Arduino Uno using the Ethernet shield. The Arduino Uno and Ethernet shield were mainly used to implement the micro web-server for the gate way.
Figure 3. Hardware architecture and implementation
Conclusion
The proposed system uses web services as an application layer for communication with the remote user and the devices. WIFI enabled Android phones can be used to access and control home devices. In a case where WIFI is not available 3G and 4G networks can be used to access the home devices.
We hope this basic guide helps develop interest in Android based home automation systems. If you guys have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to comment below.
