Household Devices Research Articles

An IoT-Based Home Automation and Weather Monitoring System

This paper reports an IoT-based home automation and weather monitoring system developed for remote control of household appliances and weather monitoring. The proposed system comprises a Wi-Fi enabled ESP32 microcontroller as the network gateway, a relay module, and a DHT11 sensor for monitoring temperature and humidity. The status of the household devices and the weather data are continuously collected and stored in a MySQL database, which is set up on the IoT platform. A user interface was created using two different protocols – HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT). The IoT-based home automation and weather monitoring system is designed to be low cost, user-friendly and can remotely control home appliances and monitor weather data over the internet.

Privacy and Smart Speakers in Research With Older Adults

Advances in artificial intelligence and computational linguistics have made smart speakers, such as Amazon Alexa^TM^ and Google Home^TM^, economical and widely available. For older adults particularly, devices with voice interfaces can help to overcome accessibility challenges that often accompany interaction with today’s technologies. However, voice-activation also requires devices to be in a continuous state of ambient listening, which can create a significant privacy risk for the user, one that is often amplified as smart speakers are placed in highly personal home spaces to facilitate their utility. Deployment of these devices in research settings poses additional risk, as traces of data filter through research teams, app developers, and third-party services that support research efforts. This presentation addresses the privacy aspects of deploying Google Home Mini^TM^ speakers in research that examined their feasibility for enhancing physical activity among sedentary older adults. Interviews with participants were conducted in two studies: the first included a demonstration of the device and physical activity program (n=15); and the second included in-home use of devices and a physical activity program (n=15). Content analysis of study documentation, field notes, and interviews revealed specific areas that require additional attention when utilizing smart speakers in research, including the capture of identifying information, protocols for data handling, and requirements for informed consent. These findings are discussed in context with extant literature on individual privacy concerns and behaviors related to smart household devices. Results from this study can inform future research efforts incorporating smart speakers, to mitigate potential risks of privacy violation.

The role of demand response in residential electricity load reduction using appliance shifting techniques

PurposeSome of the major concerns since the implementation of smart meters (prepaid meters) in some parts of Ghana is how electricity consumers have benefited from data obtained from these meters by providing important statistics on electricity-saving advice; this is one of the key demand-side management methods for achieving load reduction in residential homes. Appliance shifting techniques have proved to be an effective demand response strategy in load reduction. The purpose of this paper is therefore to help consumers of electricity understand when and how they can shift some appliances from peak to off-peak and vice versa.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses an analysis technique of Richardson et al. (2010). In their survey on time-of-use surveys to determine the usage of electricity in households as far as appliance shifting was concerned, this study allowed for the assessment of how the occupants’ daily activities in households affect residential electricity consumption. Fell et al. (2014) modeled an aggregate of electricity demand using different appliances (n) in the household. The data for the peak time used in this study were identified from 05:00 to 08:00 and 17:00 to 21:00 for testing the load shifting algorithms, and the off-peak times were pecked from 10:00 to 16:00 and 23:00. This study technique used load management considering real-time scheduling for peak levels in the selected homes. The household devices are modeled in terms of controlled parameters. Using this study’s time-triggered loads on refrigerators and air conditioning systems, the findings suggested that peak loads can be reduced to 45% as a means of maintaining the simultaneous quality of service. To minimize peak loads to around 35% or more, Chaiwongsa and Wongwises (2020) have indicated that room air conditioning and refrigerator loads are simpler to move compared to other household appliances such as cooking appliances. Yet in conclusion, this study made a strong case that a decrease in household peak demand for electricity is primarily contingent on improvements in human behavior.FindingsThis study has shown that appliance load shifting is a very good way of reducing electrical consumption in residential homes. The comparative performance shows a moderate reduction of 1% in load as was found in the work done by Laicaine (2014). The results, however, indicate that load shifting to a large extent can be achieved by consumer behavioral change. The main response to this study is to advise policymakers in Ghana to develop the appropriate demand response and consumer education towards the general reduction in electrical load in domestic households. The difficulty, however, is how to get the attention of consumer’s on how to start using appliances with less load at peak and also shift some appliances from off-peak times. By increasing consumer knowledge and participation in demand response, it is possible to achieve more efficiency and flexibility in load reduction. The findings were benchmarked with existing comparison studies but may benefit from the potential production of structured references. However, the findings show that load shifting can only be done by modifying consumer actions.Research limitations/implicationsIt should be remembered that this study showed that the use of appliances shifting in residential homes results in load reduction benefits for customers, expressed as savings in electricity prices. The next step will be to build on this cost/benefit study to explain and measure how these reductions transform into net consumer gains for all Ghanaian households.Practical/implicationsLoad shifting will include load controllers in the future, which would automatically handle electricity consumption from various appliances in the home. Based on the device and user needs, the controllers can prioritize loads and appliance usage. The algorithms that underpin automatic load controllers will include knowledge about the behaviors of groups of end users. The results on the time dependency of activities may theoretically inform the algorithms of automatic demand controllers.Originality/valueThis paper addresses an important need for the country in the midst of finding solutions to an unending energy crisis. This paper presents demand response to the Ghanaian electricity consumer as a means to help in the reduction of load in residential homes. This is a novel research as no one has at yet carried out any research in this direction in Ghana. This paper has some new information to offer in the field of demand in household electricity consumption.

Applications of Pose Estimation in Human Health and Performance across the Lifespan.

The emergence of pose estimation algorithms represents a potential paradigm shift in the study and assessment of human movement. Human pose estimation algorithms leverage advances in computer vision to track human movement automatically from simple videos recorded using common household devices with relatively low-cost cameras (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptop computers). In our view, these technologies offer clear and exciting potential to make measurement of human movement substantially more accessible; for example, a clinician could perform a quantitative motor assessment directly in a patient’s home, a researcher without access to expensive motion capture equipment could analyze movement kinematics using a smartphone video, and a coach could evaluate player performance with video recordings directly from the field. In this review, we combine expertise and perspectives from physical therapy, speech-language pathology, movement science, and engineering to provide insight into applications of pose estimation in human health and performance. We focus specifically on applications in areas of human development, performance optimization, injury prevention, and motor assessment of persons with neurologic damage or disease. We review relevant literature, share interdisciplinary viewpoints on future applications of these technologies to improve human health and performance, and discuss perceived limitations.

Development of a prototype of an automated control system for household devices based on the “smart home” technology

The relevance of the studied and solved problem lies, on the one hand, in the possibility of automated control of your home devices, and on the other, in the absence of unified control systems for a smart home as a project. The latter thesis implies the actual absence of such an automated control system among the existing and sold ready-made solutions, which could be expanded by the user himself, that is, by the buyer. In this regard, there is a need to improve and develop our own product in this area. This approach will allow you to combine both the creation of your own working prototype of a smart home, and your own implementation of the automated control system, which will allow each user to refine, modify and implement new devices independently in an already assembled system based on his house or apartment. This article presents the main aspects of the design and software solution used. The software implementation is performed in the JetBrains PhpStorm development environment in PHP, Apache web server, MySQL DBMS.

The Commodification of Security in Brazil: Urban–Rural Divide in Household Adoption of Safety Protective Devices

This study aims to assess the determinants of using safety devices in Brazilian households, taking into account different urban–rural country contexts and income distribution. Probit models are estimated using microdata from the 2009 Brazilian National Household Sampling Survey. On average, less than half of the underprivileged population adopts safety devices, whereas almost double as many do so among the wealthy. Findings also indicate an inverse association between the level of urbanization and adoption of safety protective devices, especially of modern ones—a pattern mediated by individual levels of victimization and safety perceptions. For example, previous victimization by theft or robbery is more decisive for adopting safety protective devices among economically underprivileged households compared to wealthier ones. These results provide evidence of the perverse effects of unequal commodification of security across a country that penalizes, in particular, the rural poor.

Forecasting voltage harmonic distortion in residential distribution networks using smart meter data

This paper introduces a methodology to forecast voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) at low voltage busbars of residential distribution feeders based on the data provided by a limited number of smart meters. The methodology provides relevant power quality indices to system operators using only the existing monitoring infrastructure required for demand response operation. Different algorithms for voltage THD forecasting are implemented, including artificial neural networks, and their performance is tested and compared. The necessary coverage of smart meters for the acceptable accuracy of the estimated THD is also established. The estimation algorithms are validated considering probabilistic demand load model developed based on typical harmonic injections of household devices obtained from measurements and using a typical European low voltage test-feeder with 471 residential consumers.

Socio-Technical Modeling to Manage Power Distribution for Microgrid Systems With Limited Production Capacity

Abstract The quality of life (QOL) in rural communities is improved through electrification. Microgrids can provide electricity in areas where grid access to electricity is infeasible. Still, insufficient power capacity hinders the very progress that microgrids promote. Therefore, we propose a decision-making framework to manage power distribution based on its impact on the rural QOL. Parameters are examined in this paper to represent the QOL pertaining to water, safety, education, and leisure/social activities. Each parameter is evaluated based on condition, community importance, and energy dependence. A solution for power allocation is developed by executing the compromise decision support problem (cDSP) and exploring the solution space. Energy loads, such as those required for powering water pumps, streetlamps, and household devices, are prioritized in the context of the QOL. The technique also allows decision-makers to update the power distribution scheme as the dynamics between energy production and demand change over time. In this paper, we propose a framework for connecting QOL and power management. The flexibility of the approach is demonstrated using a problem with varying scenarios that may be time dependent. The work enables sustainable energy solutions that can evolve with community development.

Gendered Sounds in Household Devices: Results from an Online Search Case Study

AbstractMultiple household devices are now using human‐like voices. We investigate whether there are gender differences in the voices used by different kinds of specialized smart devices (e.g., microwaves vs. toy trucks) as provided by Google's search engine. These gender differences could fuel gender stereotypes in the household environment, or they could help challenge them. Early results suggest a preponderance of male‐sounding voices among household devices in the search results but also multiple instances of counterstereotypical media presentation.

Analysis on the Current Situation of Regulations and Standards for Home Photoepilators

This article introduces the safety risks of the novel light-based home-use hair removal device, and analyzes the differences in regulation among China, the United States and the European Union. In China, household intense pulsed light hair removal devices will also be supervised in accordance with medical device regulations. Therefore, the safety standards adopted in the absence of specific regulations are no longer applicable to the new regulatory requirements. It is imperative to adopt the new standards available to home photoepilators, so as to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the approved devices.

Efficient Control of Household Water Heating Devices Based on the Arduino Microprocessor Platform

The article is devoted to developing efficient control of household water heating devices based on the Arduino microprocessor platform and using different ways for this purpose, like analog buttons or wireless technologies.

Attitudes of Young Consumers on the Security of their Data Collected By Smart Devices in the Age of the Internet of Things

Abstract The popularity of smart devices that collect and share data on user behaviour grows every year, and the number of such devices in households is forecast to rise steadily. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the attitudes of young consumers regarding the security of their data collected by smart devices, interconnected via the existing Internet infrastructure or other network technologies within the Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The paper was written based on both secondary and primary sources of information. Secondary sources were used to define the discussed issues related to the Internet of Things and the security of data collected by smart devices. Primary sources, on the other hand, offered direct evidence of the attitudes of young consumers on the security of such data. Direct research was carried out using an online survey carried out in 2021 on a sample of 588 consumers aged 18–34 living in Poland. The results show that more than half of the respondents pay great attention to where the data collected by the devices used in their households is kept and whether such data is safe. In spite of such declarations, more than half of those surveyed have no knowledge about the level of the security of such data. The respondents agreed with the statement that consumers accepted the uncertainty related to the loss of control over their personal data collected by smart devices more quickly than the risk involved in becoming disconnected from them.

Durability of Goods – Economic, Legal and Informational Aspects

The article studies reliability of technically complicated goods as complex customer characteristics; the most informative indicators, i.e. service life; the dependence of durability on economic characteristics of the product; trends of reducing service life of goods and possible negative economic and ecological after-effects were shown; an attempt was made to compare customer costs on different stages of the product life cycle. The authors provide requirements to manufacturers' responsibility and product sellers concerning warranty periods and service life, service support and repair of technically complicated goods, legal consequences of product breakdown within the frames of warranty periods and service life. Statistics given by Rospotrebnadzor dealing with faulty technically complicated products was analyzed. Summarized information of recommended service life and average amount of work per breakdown fixed in relative inter-state standards was provided. The stated information was compared with figures of durability and reliability in today's practice of manufacturing and selling house-hold electric machines and devices. On the basis of EU guidelines one variant of legal way of resolving the problem of attaining the optimum service life for customers and manufacturers was proposed. The authors give recommendations on fixing obligatory requirements on limiting use of short-life and difficult to utilize materials in details of technically difficult goods.

An Integrated Approach to Hygiene, Sanitation, and Storage Practices for Improving Microbial Quality of Drinking Water Treated at Point of Use: A Case Study in Makwane Village, South Africa.

This study assessed the impact of sanitation practices, hygienic and storage conditions on the quality of drinking water treated at point-of-use in Makwane Village. Subsequent to implementation of low-cost Household Water Treatment Devices which are the biosand filter with zeolite-silver (BSZ-SICG) and silver-impregnated porous pot (SIPP) filters in Makwane village, a structured questionnaire was designed to collect the following information: age of caretakers, number of children under the age of five, water storage conditions, sanitation amenities, and hygiene practices. Water quality from the sources to household level was assessed using culture-based and molecular techniques. The results revealed a significant association between the presence of Escherichia coli in treated drinking water with the age group of caregivers and the number of children ofless than the age of five [OR (95% CI) = 8.4737 (0.147–3.3497), p = 0.0141923 and OR (95% CI) = 9.1667 (0.1848–3.0159); p = 0.0165830, respectively]. Moreover, significant association was noted between hygiene practices (washing of hands with/without soap) and water quality in storage containers [OR (95% CI) = 16.000 (0.6763–3.9495), p = 0.0000125]. These findings further prove that there is still a dire need for reconsidering hygiene education in rural areas as the health benefits of water treated at point of use (POU) coupled with safe-storage condition interventions might not be guaranteed without proper hygiene. The results further highlighted the importance of washing hands in improving microbial quality of drinking water, which is the key factor for fighting against infectious diseases.

MO663THE UTILITY OF SMART SCALES TO MONITOR BODY COMPOSITION IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Abstract Background and Aims Overhydration (OH) is an independent predictor of mortality on hemodialysis (HD). The gold standard to assess OH is BCM monitor from Fresenius®, however BCM is a hospital hold device limiting its use. New smart scales have emerged as household devices reporting daily body composition data. Objective To determine if Renpho ES-CS20M® could be useful on a 52 HD patient to estimate body composition data. Method 72 body composition assessments (BCA) during mid-week HD session were performed. Each BCA included: (1) Predialysis Renpho measurement, (2) Predialysis BCM monitor measurement, (3) Postdialysis Renpho measurement. To track the fluid balance during the HD session: (1) we recorded ultrafiltration, (2) food or fluid intake was not allowed, and (3) none of the HD patients urinated during the HD session. If any intravenous fluids were needed during the HD session, we subtracted them off from UF. Results Data from 52 HD patients were studied (age 58.8 ± 16.8 years, 56.9 % males, 14.7% diabetics), with a mean pre-HD weight of 70.0 ± 13. 4 Kg, overhydration of 1.7 ± 1.5 L and urea distribution volume of 31.7 ± 5.7 L. The mean ultrafiltration during HD session was -1.8 ± 0.9 L. Renpho estimated a Pre – HD hydration of 34.25 ± 6.02 Kg vs 33.4 ± 5.7 Kg by BCM, showing a good concordance between methods (ICC 0.788 [0.67-0.86], B -0.58, p <0.01). Renpho poorly estimated pre – HD lean tissue mass at 45.4 ± 6.9 Kg compared with 33.8 ± 8.0 Kg by BCM. Although Renpho was able to provide a moderate concordant estimation of fat tissue mass (33.8 ± 8.0 % with Renpho vs 34.7 ± 9.6%), the bias proportion was unacceptable. Post- HD hydration by Renpho was not able to reproduce the ultrafiltracion achieved during the HD session (pre-HD 34.25 ± 6.02 Kg vs post-HD 34.08 ± 6.00 Kg). Conclusion Renpho has a proportional bias estimating predialysis hydration compared with BCM monitor, but is not able to assess changes produced with ultrafiltration or other parameters of body composition (as lean or fat tissue mass). Although smart scales are unacurate to assess body composition on HD patients, they could be useful on the follow up of them changing the accuracy for frequency.

Secure and dynamic access control for the Internet of Things (IoT) based traffic system.

Today, the trend of the Internet of Things (IoT) is increasing through the use of smart devices, vehicular networks, and household devices with internet-based networks. Specifically, the IoT smart devices and gadgets used in government and military are crucial to operational success. Communication and data sharing between these devices have increased in several ways. Similarly, the threats of information breaches between communication channels have also surged significantly, making data security a challenging task. In this context, access control is an approach that can secure data by restricting unauthorized users. Various access control models exist that can effectively implement access control yet, and there is no single state-of-the-art model that can provide dynamicity, security, ease of administration, and rapid execution all at once. In combating this loophole, we propose a novel secure and dynamic access control (SDAC) model for the IoT networks (smart traffic control and roadside parking management). Our proposed model allows IoT devices to communicate and share information through a secure means by using wired and wireless networks (Cellular Networks or Wi-Fi). The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model are demonstrated using mathematical models and discussed with many example implementations.

ThinkHome – A Smart Home Initiative

Smart home has evolved from exclusively referring to the centralized and semi-automated control of environmental systems. A smart home is also one of the applications of IoT. This paper presents the system architecture and methodologies used to create a new sophisticated smart home which creates user routines and predicts power consumption from the data received from the various sensors. Smart homes are those where daily household devices/ appliances can be monitored and controlled remotely. When these household devices are connected with the internet using proper network architecture and standard protocols, the system can be called as a Smart Home in IoT environment. This paper not only presents various problems and challenges in IoT and Smart Homes but also provides solutions that would help overcome those problems and challenges.

Internet of Things (IOT)

The Internet of Things (IOT) describes a kind of network which interconnects various devices with the help of internet. IOT assists to transmit data with among devices, tracing and monitoring devices and other things. IOT make objects 'smart' by allowing them to transmit data and automating of tasks, without lack of any physical interference. A health tracking wearable device is an example of simple effortless IOT in our life. A smart city with sensors covering all its regions using diverse tangible gadgets and objects all over the community and connected with the help of internet. This word IOT was first suggested by Kevin Ashton in 1999. The subsequent segment represent fundamental of IOT. It hands out several covering pre-owned in IOT and varied fundamental denominations connected. It is primarily enlargement of helping-hand using Internet. When the household devices are connected with the help of internet, this can help to automate homes, offices or other units using IOT. IOT is being used during COVID-19 pandemic for contact tracing.

Energy-Efficient k-Hop Clustering in Cognitive Radio Sensor Network for Internet of Things

The design and development of energy and spectrum-efficient solutions are important in the success of the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to the presence of an enormous number of smart devices, such as sensors, actuators, and different household devices achieving such scalable and efficient solutions are challenging. A wireless sensor network (WSN) with dynamic spectrum access (DSA) capability, known as the cognitive radio sensor network (CRSN) is recently introduced to deal with spectrum scarcity problem. Although the spectrum scarcity is reduced with DSA paradigm, the energy-efficient solutions are still required to be addressed due to the involvement of energy constrained devices in CSRN. Clustering is one of the efficient ways to optimize the energy consumption in the networks. Due to combination of both WSN and cognitive radio network (CRN), existing solutions of WSN and of CRNs are not applicable to CRSN. In this article, we propose a neighbor discovery algorithm and two greedy k-hop clustering schemes (k-SACB-WEC and k-SACB-EC) for CRSN with the aim focusing on IoT applications, which require constant intracluster and intercluster communications. We focus on achieving bichannel connectivity while maximizing network life. In our clustering different parameters, such as nodes' residual energy, spectrum awareness, appearance probability of primary users (PUs) of channels, channel quality, robustness on PUs' arrival, and the Euclidean distance between nodes are taken into consideration to select the hop count and common channels for clusters. Through simulation, we have highlighted the performance improvements of our proposed schemes in terms of the lifetime of the network, number of clusters, stability of networks, and frequency of reclustering over recently reported clustering algorithm in CRSN. The simulation results show that k-SACB-WEC generates at least 40% less number of clusters as compared to k-SACB-EC, network stability-aware clustering (NSAC), Prolong-SEP (PSEP), SAC-WCM, and Cognitive LEACH (CogLEACH). Also, in terms of network stability, the k-SACB-WEC achieves at least approximately 100% higher number of rounds before the first node dead than the compared competitive approaches.

E-Voting System Using Homomorphic Encryption Technique

The main objective of this project is to develop a safe Electronic voting System Software using Fingerprint Authentication method. i.e., e-voting system. Initially, fingerprints are collected and stored in a large database which will be created by the admins. During the elections, a valid authentication can be done through finger vein sensing. This authentication system is highly reliable and will facilitate casting of votes by the voters. In many democratic countries, elections have become a huge matter of concern. An election is seen as a system that basically creates the formal structure of a nation. It is an opportunity to elect the right leader and contribute towards the development of the nation. In addition, security and authenticity of these elections have become a major concern for the authorities. Although we use advanced electronic voting machines, the problem of rigging often arises. This e-voting software provides solution to rigging and also facilitates high authenticity and reliability. Depending on the particular implementation, e-voting may use standalone electronic voting machines (also called EVM) or computers connected to the Internet. It may encompass a range of Internet services, from basic transmission of tabulated results to full-function online voting through common connectable household devices. The data collected from the election will directly be transferred to the nearest database centers on real time basis using Zigbee systems and applications of cryptography.