Christopher Avenir, William Bradley, Adam Nahous
supervised by Associate Professor Dr. Vadim Guerkov
This project is a Local Area Network (LAN) that consists of several microcontroller stations that can communicate with a remote user over the Internet. The microcontrollers are in a master-slave configuration, where the master station has an Internet connection and communicates with the slaves wirelessly through a RF serial link. The master station is an embedded web server that has access to the Internet and also controls the LAN operation using embedded firmware. The user can remotely monitor sensor readings such as temperature, light intensity, and power consumption; as well as control device operation.
The web-based GUI will dynamically update the sensor readings and device statuses in an organized fashion and provide intuitive controls for each slave station. The emphasis of this project is on automation and therefore the user can program automatic presets for specific devices directly from the web interface. The master station also has full control of the entire LAN directly on the device itself with the use of a touchscreen GUI display.
The versatility of this setup is demonstrated through a "Smart Power Bar". This is a "slave" station that controls power devices via a relay, and transmits power consumption data back to the master, where it will be accessible via the internet. Automation is demonstrated through the cooperation of the devices on the network. Automatic operation of heaters and lights on one station can be based on environmental conditions using temperature and light sensors from other stations. Such automated operations can be configured from the master station via the interactive website which it hosts.
Project targeted applications: Home automation, Remote Monitoring, Remote Control.