A Control Panel for IoT-Based Smart Home Automation System

By Harshita Dubey Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

INTRODUCTION

A home automation system is a complicated network of devices that includes lights, appliances, electrical outlets, and heating and cooling systems, among other things. Manufacturers provide a control panel with a touchscreen display that may be used to control various home automation systems.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

A smart home system vendor in France needed a dependable supplier with knowledge in electronics engineering. For their IoT-based home automation system, they required to create a unique control panel.

Home automation is the use of computer technology to control home equipment. From remote lighting control to complicated microcontroller or computer-based networks with varying degrees of intelligence and automation, computer systems enable it.

CHALLENGES RESOLVED

IoT circuit board

The main circuit board for the home automation system provides broad wireless network connectivity: via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and radio frequency.

LCD adapter PCB

This board enables the changing of LCD displays connected to the main circuit board without having to change the main board.

LED backlight PCB

The control panel supports multiple backlight colors with the help of the LED printed circuit board. To enable backlight control on the tablet we wrote a custom LED stripe driver.

NFC module

The existing driver for the NFC module didn't work with the Linux-Sunxi kernel. We adapted the driver to run on the legacy system.

Qt app with EGLFS

For performance optimization, we used the eglfs plugin to run Qt applications on the embedded board with accelerated graphics and without using X11.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Based on the Allwinner A20 CPU, Integra

Sources created a tablet-style smart home head unit. They created the schematics, planned the layout, and tested the prototype.

The tablet features a 7-inch touchscreen, an NFC module for controlling system access, and an RF module for integrating the tablet with the IoT environment. They also helped with software development for a custom Linux build as well as driver development for various system modules.

The primary PCB for the Smart Home Control Panel

NOVELTY OF SOLUTION

Technologies Used:

•Integra-sources used Allwinner A20 SoC with 2 ARM cores as CPU in this project.

•They built a custom Linux image for the device.

•The device firmware was stored on SD Card flash.

•CMOS sensor (camera) with CSI bus was used.

•The device has an onboard WiFi module for networking and Ethernet connector.

•All software was implemented in C/C++ language.

•The device has several buttons, switches, LEDs, light sensor, microphone, and speaker.

•For GUI device has LCD with touchscreen.

•They ported Linux kernel driver from a different kernel version for NFC reader.

•For LED-stripe backlight they implemented a special Linux kernel driver using an existing SPI driver.

•The device has a special RF-module for custom communication protocol.

•UI interface was implemented using the QT framework and compiled to support EGLFS.

•The device has 2 power sources: internal LiPO battery and 5V wall adapter.

•EAGLE CAD IDE was used for Schematics and PCB design.

•Flexible PCB technology was used for LED-Stripe, NFC antenna and special LCD adapter PCBs.

HOW IT HELPED STAKEHOLDERS

Smart homes require multi-level control over their various gadgets, which are essentially electrical appliances. The integration of home appliances with smart phone and tablet connectivity has transformed the area of home automation in terms of a rapidly growing level of affordability and clarity. There are a variety of stakeholders in IoT applications, such as smart homes, including technology investors, technology developers, and technology integrators, as shown in the diagram. Depending on the actual smart home system, specific stakeholders may be involved.

WHAT INTERESTS ME IN THE PROJECT ?

What interests me is the future prospects and scope this project or idea has. This project can be used at multi-level and multi-sectors in future making life much easier especially for the elderly who do not need to rely on anyone.

https://www.researchgate.net/ figure/qToggle-arhitecture-for-thepresented-case-study-The-qTogglearchitecture-for-thiscase_fig6_351999190

IoT based –Cloud Technology implementation

CONCLUSION

Asmart home is simply a convenient house setting in which appliances and devices may be managed remotely using a mobile or other networked device from anywhere with an internet connection. This can be fulfilled using an all-in-one operative control panel.

Acustom tablet mounted on the wall serves as the smart home control panel. It's an all-in-one app that connects all your smart home gadgets. Users can use this gadget to monitor and control their home's temperature, locks, lighting, and other features.

REFERENCES

https://www.integrasources.com/cases/control-panel-for-iot-based-smart-home-auto mation-system/ Research Paper -

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/qToggle-arhitecture-for-the-presented-case-stud y-The-qToggle-architecture-for-this-case_fig6_351999190 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332374473_The_Internet_of_Things_Io

Thank You