ASecuredMobileBasedControlSystemusingJavafor

HomeAppliances

CeazarIanA.Huelar1,LeoGenardM.Lobaton1,ArchieRoseS.Porlonga1,
EmilioG.QuanicoII1,PatrickJoenelP.Sola1,LouieG.Cervantes1
1
InstituteofInformationandCommunicationsTechnology,WestVisayasState
University,LunaSt.,LaPaz.IloiloCity5000,Philippines
ceazar.ian@gmail.com,chechie_09@yahoo.com,louiecervantes@wvsu.edu.ph

Abstract. Thisstudypresentsthedevelopmentofasystemthatcansupport
mobilityandfunctionalitythatwillabletocontrolhomeappliances.Thehome
appliancesareconnectedtotheprinterportofthedesktopcomputerandtheir
statusarepassedtothecontrolsystem.Thehomeappliancescanbemonitored
andcontrolledthroughthecontrolsystemonthedesktop,remotelythrougha
Web browser or mobile phones from anywhere in the world provided that
Internetaccessisavailable.Passwordprotectionisusedtoblockunauthorized
usersfromaccessingtheappliancesathome.TheresearchersusedJavaand
AssemblyLanguageastheprogramminglanguagesofthecontrolsystemand
JqueryMobile,PHP,HTMLandCSSasthedevelopmenttoolforthemobile
basedsystem.XAMPPwasutilizedtobethebackendofthestudy.Duringthe
actual demonstration, the researchers utilized a miniature house to test the
functionality of the software. The researchers also connected the voltage
convertertotheaudiospeakertoshowtheactualautomationofthesystem.
Thisstudywillbebeneficialnotonlyinhomebutalsocommerciallyamong
businessestablishments.

Keywords: home automation system (HAS), mobilebased control system,

homeappliances

1Introduction

Building automation systems are usual in office, commercial and industrial

constructions.Commercialestablishments,hospitalsandfactoriesareallbuiltwith
automated controlling systems to create the best possible indoor conditions. Yet,
homes where people spend most of their time are built almost without any
automation.
Homeautomation[1]iscurrentlydefinedbytheHomeAutomationAssociation
(HAA) as "a process or system (using different methods or equipment), which
providestheabilitytoenhanceone'slifestyle,andmakeahomemorecomfortable,
safe and efficient. Home automation can link lighting, entertainment, security,
telecommunications, heating and air conditioning into one centrally controlled
system".Homeautomationtechnologies[2]bridgethegapbetweenthepushbutton
houseofthefutureandthehomeswelivetoday.
Homeautomationsystemsoftenofferawidevarietyofmethodsforcontrolling
home.Inordertoappealtoawideconsumerbase,thecontrolsystemneedstohave
aninteractiveanduserfriendlyGraphicalUserInterface(GUI)[3]inmobilephones
withwhichtheuserscanissuecommandsandreceivenecessaryhouseinformation.
Thus,theresearchersproposedthehomeautomationsystemwithintuitiveuser
interface.Ithastheabilitytoconnecttovariousdevicesaroundthehomequickly
throughtheprinterportandwithoutexpensiveinstallationprocedures.Thissystem
willtransform thehomeautomation control panel from aluxury commoditytoa
commonplaceappliance.
Further, this control system will give not only convenience to home owners
especiallythosewhohavetheirjobsfortheydonothavetoexertmucheffortin
controllingtheirappliancesathome,butalsosecurityfortheyhavetheauthorityto
monitortheirhouseeventheyareawayfromhome.

2RelatedStudies

Relatedworkshavebeenstudiedandreferencedbytheresearchersforthe
developmentoftheproposedsystem.
TheRemoteControlledHomeAutomationSystems(HAS)withDifferent
NetworkTechnologiesbyDelgadoetal.[4],demonstratedtheusefulnessofaremote
controlledHAS.Thefinalsystemofthestudyachievedremotecontrol,with
practicalinterfacesinvolvingdifferenttechnologiesandthedifferentdevices
compatiblewiththeselectednetworkprotocols.Thedevelopersusemultiplenetwork
technologiessuchas802.11,x10,GSM,IP(usingUPnPpackage)andseveral
programminglanguagessuchasXML,WML,Java,C++and.Ttechnologies.
Onn[5]proposedtheVoiceRecognitionHomeAutomationSystem. Thisstudy
aimedtoenabletheuserstocontrol theelectrical appliances athomeusingtheir
voice as medium that will control the power system. The system was developed
usingCandC++programminglanguagetodevelopthemicrocontroller.Theproduct
offerstheuserstheusageoftheC++languagefortheprogramlanguage.
Also,theWBHAAS:WebBasedHomeApplianceActivationSystemdeveloped
byMonicimpo,etal.[6]providesaubiquitousactivationandmonitoringforhome
electronic devicesusingtheinternet. WBHAAS sought toactivate and deactivate
appliancesandpermitspecificusertodosuchprocessonlinethroughtriggeringUSB
(UniversalSerialBus).Thisstudyinvolvedthedevelopmentoftwosubsystems:(1)
alocalapplicationsystemwhichenablesanddisablestheportsand(2)awebportal
whichallowstheuserstomonitorthestatusatthesametimeenablingeachuserto
alsoactivateanddeactivatehomeappliances.
Moreover, in the study of Van Der Werff et al. [7] A Mobilebased Home
Automation System consists of a mobile phone with Java capabilities, a cellular
modem,andahomeserver.Thehomeappliancesarecontrolledbythehomeserver,
whichoperatesaccordingtotheusercommandsreceivedfromthemobilephonevia
the cellular modem. In our proposed system the home server is built upon an
SMS/GPRS(shortmessageservice/generalpacketradioservice)mobilecellmodule
andamicrocontroller,allowingausertocontrolandmonitoranyvariablesrelatedto
thehomebyusinganyJavacapablecellphone.Theirpaperpresentsthedesignand
implementationofATmodemdriver,textbasedcommandprocessingsoftware,and
power failure resilient output for a microcontroller to facilitate in sending and
receivingdataviathecellmodule,togetherwiththedesignofJavaapplicationto
enablethecellphonetosendcommandsandreceivealertsthroughthecellmodule.

3TheProposedSystem

3.1ArchitecturalDesign

Asecuredmobilebasedcontrolsystemaimedatprovidinglocalandremoteaccess
ofhomeappliancesbymanipulatingtheprinterportslocallywhiletheremotedevice
controlsuchasthemobilephone,controlthehomeappliancesfromanywhereinthe
worldaslongastheinternetisaccessible.Figure1showsthearchitecturaldesignof
theproposedsystem.

Fig.1.ArchitecturalDesignoftheProposedSystem
 Duringtheactivationofthelocalcontrolsystem,theuserwillinputthelogin
information that will be verified to the database. After the successful login, the
systemwillcheckthecurrentcontrolstatus.Afterward,thesystemwillcheckthe
statusoftheprinterport.Aftertheactivationofthestatusoftheprinterports,the
systemwillcheckthestatusoftheappliancesathome.Subsequently,theuserwill
activateordeactivatetheprinterportthatwillbepassedtothedatabase.Thenthe
currentprinterportstatuswillbepassedontheuser.
Intheproposedmobilecontrolsystem,theuserwillinputthelogininformation
thatwillbeverifiedtothedatabase.Afterthesuccessfullogin,thesystemwillcheck
thecurrentcontrolstatus.Consequently,theuserwillactivateordeactivateprinter
portthatwillbeverifiedtotheprinterportstatusdatabase.Aftertheverification,the
controlsystemwilltriggerhomeappliancestoactivateordeactivate.

3.2SchematicDiagramoftheHardware

Figure 2shows the Schematic Diagram of the hardware. This circuit can handle
relayswhichtakecurrentsupto100mAandoperateat24Vorless.Thecircuitneeds
externalpowersupplywhichhastheoutputvoltagewhichisrightforcontrollingthe
relay(5.24Vdependingonrelay).Thetransistordoestheswitchingofcurrentand
thediodepreventsspikesfromtherelaycoilfromdamagingyourcomputer.

Fig.2.SchematicDiagramoftheHardwareoftheProposedSystem

4SimulationandResults
 Theresearcherspresentadesignandprototypeimplementationofproposedhome
automationsystem.Thesystemiscomprisedoftwomaincomponents:(1)local
controlsystemwithwhichitisconnectedtotheprinterportwhichallowsusersto
activatethehomeappliancesthatareattachedintoitand(2)mobilebasedcontrol
systeminwhichtheusercanmonitorandremotelycontroltheappliancesathome
throughaWebbrowserfromorthroughmobilephones.Thisstudyprovedthatitis
possibletoautomatehomeappliancesthroughthecomputersprinterportby
convertingthevoltageusingthestepupprocesswherein5Voltswasconvertedto
220Voltswiththeuseofthevoltageconverter.Figure3showstheprototypeofthe
proposedsystem.

Fig.3.PrototypeoftheProposedSystem

Inordertoappealtoawideconsumerbase,thecontrolsystemhasaninteractive
anduserfriendlyGraphicalUserInterface(GUI)withwhichtheuserscanissue
commandsandreceivenecessaryhouseinformation.Figure4andFigure5showsthe
MainPageoftheMobileControlSystemandthefloorofthehouserespectively.
 Fig.4.MainPageoftheMobileControl Fig.5.FloorPlanoftheHouse
System

Theusercanalsoaccessthecurrentsystemstatusofallappliancesathome
whetheritisonoroffandcanactivateanddeactivateitremotely(seeFigure6).The
usercanalsocheckallthelogsofthecontrolsystem,thetime,theonewhoaccess
thecontrolsystem,theactiondonebytheuser,andtheaddressoftheappliancethat
wasactivated(seeFigure7).

Fig.6.ActivateandDeactivateFunctionsof Fig.7.LogsoftheMobileControlSystem
theMobileControlSystem
5ConclusionsandRecommendations

Theresearcherswereabletocomeupwiththefollowingconclusionsbaseduponthe
resultsandtheirobservations:
Using different programming languages such as Java, Assembly Language,
JqueryMobile,PHP,HTMLandCSS,itispossibletocreateasecuredmobilebased
controlsystemtoautomate,monitorandcontrolhomeappliances.Thesystemhas
abilitytoconnecttovariousdevicesaroundthehomequicklythroughtheprinter
port.Also,theuseofMD5astheencryptionmethodforthepasswordprotection
greatly helped in the security of the system. Moreover, the use of JqueryMobile
greatlyhelpsintheGraphicalUserInterfaceoftheprogram.Itslightweightcodeis
builtwithprogressiveenhancement,andhasaflexible,easilythemeabledesign.
Inviewofthefuturedirectionofthestudy,itsimprovementandadaptation,the
researcherscameupwithsomerecommendations:
Theresearchersrecommendthatthefuturestudieswillfindadll(DynamicLink
Library)thatwillabletocontrol theparallel port usingWindows7asOperating
System.Theresearchersalsorecommendthatthefuturestudieswilluseasolidstate
relayforthehardwaretomaketheprinterportcurrentmoreflexible.Theresearchers
alsorecommendthatthefuturestudieswillcreateamoreadvancedesignforthe
hardwaretohaveamorestableimplementationofthecircuit.Theproponentsofthis
study also recommend that the future studies tohave a USB Port Printer Port
Decodertomakeitmoreflexibletothefastchanginginnovationsintechnology.The
researchersalsorecommendhavingShortMessageService(SMS)notificationlogs
ofthecontrolsystem.Theresearchersalsorecommendtohaveaswitchboxthatwill
able to automate not only 220 Volts appliances but also 110 Volts appliances.
Furthermore, the researchers also recommend for the future studies to have
CAPTCHAsecuritythatwillappeariftheuserfailstoinputthecorrectpasswordfor
severaltimesforsecuritypurposes.

References

[1] HomeAutomation.RetrievedJanuary2011fromhttp://www.haa.org.
[2] Soper,M.:AbsoluteBeginnersGuidetoHomeAutomation(2005).QuePublishing.
[3] Galitz,W.:TheEssentialGuidetoUserInterfaceDesign:AnIntroductiontoGUIDesign
PrinciplesandTechniques(2007).JohnWiley&Sons.
[4] Delgado, et.al. (2009). Remotecontrolled home automation systems. Retrieved April
2011.
[5] Onn,C.M. (2010). Voice recognition home automation system. Retrieved Date May
2011,fromhttp://psm.fke.utm/my/Libraryfkelfiles/779_CHOYMENGONN2010.pdf
[6] Monicimpo, et.al. (2010). WBHAAS: Web based home appliance activation system.
RetrievedApril2010.
[7] VanDerWerff,M.;MasseyUniv.,PalmerstonNorth;Gui,X.;Xu,W.L.:AMobile
basedHomeAutomationSystem(2005).The2ndInternationalConferenceonMobile
Technology,ApplicationsandSystems.