Controlling and Monitoring Home Appliances Using Android Smart Phone

Abstract

In this paper we have proposed a novel system for smart homes, where the home appliances like light and fan can be remotely controlled and monitored using a smart phone. The concept of Internet of things (IoT) comes into picture. The main objective of this system is energy saving through use of low power consumption protocols like zigbee. There is also a provision for smoke and fire detection. In case of fire, the user gets notified of it through a text message on his registered mobile number so that he can take further action. In this system only authenticated users can control the appliances through smart phone. The current status of light and fan i.e ON/OFF is also notified to the user. A user friendly android app interface is provided for notifying the user the status of the appliances and the user can give command for switching ON/OFF the appliances. The hardware used which actually controls the appliances is Raspberry pi. An Internet gateway provides ease of communication between the hardware and the android app. Here the brightness or the dimness of the light can also be controlled by using the concept of duty cycle.