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  • Author Author: balearicdynamics
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Super Smart Home #1 The project

balearicdynamics

Introduction

The very challenging part of this challenge is to get all the stuff I need. In this period every component I need should be bought online with very "flexible" delivery times. I do all that I can to use as much as possible the in-home stuff but not always it is possible. I had already planned a couple of times the path I will follow in the development obliged to reschedule the development steps with last-minute changes; these include 3D printing, designing, circuit making, software development, testing and more. It's a mess!

At the moment I am (feeling a bit sad) not 100% sure I can accomplish all the steps I planned to do and I am not 100% sure I can finish the project for the expected deadline but the show must go on.

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Together with the not very good news, there are also a couple of good ones: the projects of the challenge have been sponsored – together with the challenge sponsors Element14, Cypress, and AWS – by Elegoo and Digitspace. Elegoo providing 3D printing support (printers, resin, and filament) and Digitspace providing sensors, shields, and microcontrollers, and actuators. Who follows my posts knows that the brands that sponsor my projects have always something special. Well, the thing that I most appreciated in Digitspace is that their entire catalog is made of Open Source hardware. This means easy to find documentation and related software, as well as the possibility to access and share the knowledge in the great makers' community.

 

Below: some of the material sponsored by Digitstpace to develop the projects to transform a home in Super Smart Home.

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The other good news is that, after a troubled shipment, thanks to and together with the efforts of the E14 staff today UPS has delivered the Cypress kit to my door.

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The Project

What is "Super Smart Home"? the idea is to create a network-based distributed system that can keep under control all the aspects that may be strategical in a private home following three main rules:

 

  • Energy saving
  • Security
  • Control

 

These three rules cover all the aspects that we find in a home.

We can save energy optimizing gas, water, and current consumption; we keep the home secure not only with good hardware to keep the door closed but also with a good networked system. The third rule serves the other specialized nodes in which the project architecture is divided. In this first version, I plan to simplify some of the aspects of the project in order to avoid to go too much in-depth. For example, in a normal home LAN connected to the Internet a good WiFi/Ethernet router with a strong WPA password can be considered relatively secure so the option of a dedicated firewall can be excluded; the standard firewall provided by the Internet provider router can be sufficient. Instead, inside this same network, the aspects related to IoT security are a strategic aspect of this project.

Another important aspect Super Smart Home aims to reach is creating a reliable and adaptable system at a very low price.

 

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The above scheme shows the proof of concept on how the Super Smart Home has been divided into a series of nodes: every node identifies a series of sensors and IoT devices locally connected and operating autonomously. A Control Center, based on a Raspberry Pi 4B 4Gb shows local updates on the nodes, keeps a detailed log of all the events occurring during the day, and can react automatically with the nodes, as well as sending alarms to the user. The Control Center is also the gateway to the cloud where a set of information and controls is replicated for remote monitoring and setting.

Take into account that at the actual date I have not yet had time to explore in practice the features offered by the Cypress PSoC6 WiFi-BT Pioneer Kit so some aspects of the project strategy discussed here may be subject to changes during the development. Every node is a sub-project of the Super Smart Home developed independently, according to the role that should cover.

 

The Nodes

 

Node 1 - Door Bell

The doorbell is a double-way  password system covering several functions:

  • Signal the presence of a person to the outside door entry
  • Giving the possibility to open the door with an electronic key
  • Giving the possibility to an authorized guest to open the door on a double-way password system
  • giving the possibility to leave a message or speak with the owner, even when he is not at home

 

Node 2 - Door Opener

The door opener is exclusively operated by the Control Center, upon an authorized request of the doorbell or directly from the Control Center "Open Door" button.

 

Node 3 - Environmental Control

For now, the definition of Home Environment is limited to temperature and humidity but can be extended. The environmental control node has direct feedback on the fans for the air circulation and the heating system. The temperature and humidity are taken by several sensors in different home locations and the values are mediated. The temperature feedback is regulated according to the season, the presence of persons, and the rooms where the persons are.

 

Node 4 - Lighting Control

The lighting control is not only a way to control remotely the lights but is also possible to power off the lights in a room when there are no more persons, check if some light is powered from remote and other features.

 

Node 5 - Appliances

Depending on the availability in a decent time of some components I am still waiting for delivery, some of the kitchen appliances will be controlled automatically and can be activated from the remote. If I receive in time the water pump and some other parts the appliances node should also be able to control the plant humidity and watering system.

 

Node 6 - Alarms

Alarms node takes care of those aspects that may pose on the risk the home security, like gas detection and alerting. The alarms node should also provide direct feedback to stop the risky condition and keep the alarm condition high until it has not been reset by the Control Center

 

Node 7 – Cloud

This is the implicit node coincident with the Control Center machine with the role to publish on the AWS cloud the strategical information collected locally from the other nodes.

 

Full Content

 

Already Posted (until now)

Super Smart Home #1 The project

Super Smart Home #2 The Door Opener

Super Smart Home #3 Designing the Control Center

Super Smart Home #4 Activating the Door Opener

Super Smart Home #5 Connecting the First Node to the Control Center

Super Smart Home #6 PSoC6 On the Cloud

Super Smart Home #7 From AWS IoT Core to AWS SiteWise

Super Smart Home #8 The Kitchen Node: Parts, Design and Components

Super Smart Home #9 The Kitchen Node: Circuit and Software

Super Smart Home #10 Building IoT nodes with PSoC6-WiFi-Bt and Mbed OS

Super Smart Home #11 Project Summary, Highlights, and More...

Super Smart Home #12 PSoC6 Local Node: Application Skeleton

Super Smart Home #13 PSoC6 Protection Case

 

Sources, Circuits, and Documentation

All the software sources, scripts, circuits schematics, and more are available as Open Source material on the SuperSmartHome GitHub repository.

The video episodes of this challenge are repurposed on the blog posts of the site we-are-borg.com

 

Thanks to

Element14, AWS, and Cypress, main sponsors

Elegoo for 3D printers ad printing material

Digitspace for sensors, actuators, and boards

The friends and community members and always available with advice and suggestions.

  • in reply to dubbie

    Thank you Dubbie,

     

    the approach I am following, as I tried to describe in the intro to the project, is a bit different. You say that a voice-activated home does not make it a smart home. Sometimes the things that apparently make living easier are more and more complex. Without speaking of the non-skilled persons as we hopefully are. The idea instead is to use proactively the automation, for example, a gas alarm is nice but what if you go out of the home without closing it? And what if you don't power off the kitchen gas so you just consume without the pan? What is needed IMHO, is a system able, in these cases, to provide real feedback more than a simple alert. And it is what I am trying to do.

     

    Enrico

  • Enrico,

     

    I like the idea of a super smart house, as a concept, but as I age gracefully (some might disagree with gracefully) I find I want things simpler and simpler. I was in a house recently which had voice activated lights. Regretfully I was not in possession of the specific words that would control the lights (I never managed to turn the TV on) but did manage to first turn all the lights off, and then eventually back on. Unbeknown to me, the electric blanket upstairs was also connected to this system (a voice controlled electric blanket!) so the bed was exceptionally hot by early evening! Not quite what was planned.

     

    I think I'll stick to light switches and a  constantly on central heating system - lovely and warm and bright. Perfect.

     

    I know what you mean about getting supplies nowadays. I want to do some landscaping in my garden over the summer (a retirement hobby I have taken up) but I just cannot get any sand or cement. There must be some, somewhere.

     

    However, I am looking forward to seeing the creations that you are planning, the more exotic the better.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to genebren

    Thank you, Gene! I need a "coup de foutre" but anyway the project will go all where I can with the material I have. Sometimes there are stupid things that can put a stop to more and more complex things. I received from China the bare water pump and I am hoping that in Belgium they authorized to reopen also the gardening shops (it seems that Gov is planning this soon with the same rules of the supermarkets) to buy the few stuff I need for plants watering image

  • This looks like a very interesting project to follow.  Good luck with getting all the necessary pieces in time.

  • Sounds like an interesting project.

     

    DAB