Design and implementation prototype of a smart house system at low cost and multi-functional

Abstract

Many smart house systems have been presented, but there are still some limitations in terms of the high cost, less functionality, difficulty of use that are not satisfactorily reliable and cannot be developed. Therefore, the aim of this research project was to design and develop a prototype for a smart house system that is low cost, has a user-friendly interface, and is scalable and reliable by using an integrated system of hardware and software. The hardware, such as Arduino Uno, servo motors, a temperature sensor, a motion sensor and a battery, was utilized to develop the prototype of a smart house system. The software included Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) to compile the code in hardware and using MIT App Inventor for Android mobile phones to interfacing a mobile handset with hardware. Moreover, In order to make the design of prototype more professional, Sweet Home 3D software was used. The system has been evaluated with the previous works and it was demonstrated to six experts to obtain some feedback on the prototype. The testing of the prototype demonstrated that the system was an integrated, practical and easy to use, and any new device could easily be installed into the system. The aim of this research project has been achieved successfully. However, the prototype requires further developments, which include the power supply reliability, use other wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee, and cross-platform apps to work with differently operated systems such as iOS for people use Apple devices by using MIT App Inventor.