Term Paper of Microcontroller
PRAVEEN
Roll No. : 40
B.Tech MBA ECE (Integrated)
Topic: Application of microcontroller in home automation
Abstract:
The topic of term paper is to
use the microcontroller for home
automation. The term home automation
means automation of house hold appliance
particularly through electronics means so
that work can we done simply and
perfectly without much efforts. There is a
long range of both analog and digital
devices that serve a wide variety of
purposes. Devices like pushbuttons,
switches, keypads, temperature and
humidity sensors, lights, buzzers, speakers,
LCD displays, servo motors and stepper
motors and some complex devices include
motion sensors, accelerometers, infrared
and sonar rangefinders, electronic
compasses, and GPS units.
Microcontrollers can even used to send
the data and receive data from other
systems like your personal computer,
home automation systems, lighting and
environment controllers, industrial control
systems, laboratory control systems, etc.
There are varieties of microcontroller
devices that can be used for home
purposes.
In this term paper I have discuss about
microcontroller and some device control
which we can use for home automation
purposes.
Introduction:
Microcontroller:
A few years ago, system control functions
were implemented using logic components
and were usually large, heavy boxes. Later
on, microprocessors were used and the
entire controller could fit onto a small
circuit board. As the process of
miniaturization continued, all of the
components needed for a controller were
built right onto one chip. By only
including the features specific to the task,
cost is relatively low. A typical
microcontroller has bit manipulation
instructions, easy7 and direct access to I/O,
and quick and efficient interrupt
processing. Therefore, a microcontroller is
a highly integrated device which includes,
on one chip, all or most of the parts needed
to perform an application control function.
Microcontrollers come in many varieties.
Depending on the power and features that
are needed, customers might choose a 4, 8,
16, or 32 bit microcontroller.
Figure1. Typical Micro Controller Unit
Block Diagram

Microcontroller also called
microcomputer or MCU or µC is a small
computer on a single integrated circuit
consisting internally of a relatively simple
CPU, clock, timers, I/O ports, and
memory. The program memory in the form
of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often
included on chip, as well as a typically
small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers
are designed for small or dedicated
applications.
Microcontrollers are "special purpose
computers." There are a number of other
common characteristics that define
microcontrollers in better way. If a
computer matches a majority of these
characteristics, then we can call it a
"microcontroller":
1) Microcontrollers are "embedded" inside
some other device (often a consumer
product) so that they can control the
features or actions of the product. Another
name for a microcontroller, therefore, is
"embedded controller."
2) Microcontrollers are dedicated to one
task and run one specific program. The
program is stored in ROM (read-only
memory) and generally does not change.
3) Microcontrollers are often low-power
devices. A desktop computer is almost
always plugged into a wall socket and
might consume 50 watts of electricity. A
battery-operated microcontroller might
consume 50 milli-watts.
4) A microcontroller has a dedicated input
device and often (but not always) has a
small LED or LCD display for output. A
microcontroller also takes input from the
device it is controlling and controls the
device by sending signals to different
components in the device.
For example, the microcontroller inside a
TV takes input from the remote control
and displays output on the TV screen. The
controller controls the channel selector, the
speaker system and certain adjustments on
the picture tube electronics such as tint and
brightness. The engine controller in a car
takes input from sensors such as the
oxygen and knock sensors and controls
things like fuel mix and spark plug timing.
A microwave oven controller takes input
from a keypad, displays output on an LCD
display and controls a relay that turns the
microwave generator on and off. A
microcontroller is often small and low
cost. The components are chosen to
minimize size and to be as inexpensive as
possible.
A microcontroller is often, but not always,
ruggedized in some way. The
microcontroller controlling a car's engine,
for example, has to work in temperature
extremes that a normal computer generally
cannot handle. A car's microcontroller in
Alaska has to work fine in -30 degree F (-
34 C) weather, while the same
microcontroller in Nevada might be
operating at 120 degrees F (49 C). When
we add the heat naturally generated by the
engine, the temperature can go as high as
150 or 180 degrees F (65-80 C) in the
engine compartment.
In many products, such as microwave
ovens, the demand on the CPU is fairly
low and price is an important
consideration. In these cases,
manufacturers turn to dedicated
microcontroller chips -- chips that were
originally designed to be low-cost, small,
low-power, embedded CPUs. The
Motorola 6811 and Intel 8051 are both
good examples of such chips. There is also
a line of popular controllers called "PIC
microcontrollers" created by a company
called Microchip. By today's standards,
these CPUs are incredibly minimalistic;
but they are extremely inexpensive when
purchased in large quantities and can often
meet the needs of a device's designer with
just one chip.
A typical low-end microcontroller chip
might have 1,000 bytes of ROM and 20
bytes of RAM on the chip, along with
eight I/0 pins. In large quantities, the cost
of these chips can sometimes be just
pennies. You certainly are never going to
run Microsoft Word on such a chip --
Microsoft Word requires perhaps 30
megabytes of RAM and a processor that
can run millions of instructions per second.
But then, you don't need Microsoft Word
to control a microwave oven, either.
Home automation designates an
emerging practice of increased automation
of household appliances and features in
residential dwellings, particularly through
electronic means that allow for things
impracticable, overly expensive or simply
not possible in recent past decades. The
term may be used in contrast to the more
mainstream "building automation", which
refers to industrial uses of similar
technology, particularly the automatic or
semi-automatic control of lighting, doors
and windows, Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning, and security and
surveillance systems.
The techniques employed in home
automation include those in building
automation as well as the control of home
entertainment systems, houseplant
watering, pet feeding, changing the
ambiance "scenes" for different events
(such as dinners or parties), and the use of
domestic robots.
1) Old time home wiring:
Traditionally, homes have been wired for
four systems: electrical power, telephones,
TV outlets (cable or antenna), and a
doorbell. Typically, components and
wiring for these are kept within a closet,
power metering box or a patch panel.
A television remote control was first
patented in 1950, and a remote control
device was first used by the Germans in
World War I to control motorboats. With
the invention of the electronic micro (auto)
controller and the widespread uptake of
digital communication technology, the cost
of electronic control fell rapidly and
reliability improved. Remote and
intelligent control technologies were
adopted by the building services industry
and appliance manufacturers worldwide,
as they offer the end user easily accessible
and/or greater control of their products

A typical domestic patch panel.
2) Benefits of home automation:
Home automation can also provide a
remote interface to home appliances or the
automation system itself, via telephone
line, wireless transmission or the internet,
to provide control and monitoring via a
Smart Phone or Web browser
An example of a remote monitoring
implementation of home automation could
be when a smoke detector detects a fire or
smoke condition, and then all lights in the
house will blink to alert any occupants of
the house to the possible fire. If the house
is equipped with a home theatre, a home
automation system can shut down all audio
and video components to display the alert
or make an audible announcement. The
system could also call the home owner on
their mobile phone to alert them, or call
the fire brigade or alarm monitoring
company to bring it to their attention.

As the amount of controllable fittings and 3) Works in home automation:

domestic appliances in the home rises, the
ability of these devices to interconnect and
communicate with each other digitally
becomes a useful and desirable feature.
The consolidation of control or monitoring
signals from appliances, fittings or basic
services is an aim of Home automation.
In simple installations this may be as
straightforward as turning on the lights
when a person enters the room. In
advanced installations, rooms can sense
not only the presence of a person inside
but know who that person is and perhaps
set appropriate lighting, temperature,
music levels or television channels, taking
into account the day of the week, the time
of day, and other factors.
Other automated tasks may include setting
the air conditioning to an energy saving 3.1) HVAC
setting when the house is unoccupied, and
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
restoring the normal setting when an
(HVAC) solutions include temperature and
occupant is about to return. More
humidity control. This is generally one of
sophisticated systems can maintain an
the most important aspects to a
inventory of products, recording their
homeowner. An Internet-controlled
usage through an RFID tag, and prepare a
thermostat, for example, can both save
shopping list or even automatically order
money and help the environment, by
replacements.
allowing the homeowner to control the
building's heating and air conditioning
systems remotely.
3.2) Lighting:
Lighting control systems can be used to
control household electric lights in a
variety of ways like when sun rises the
lights automatically off and when sun set
then lights automatically on. There are
some others ways like:
• Extinguish all the lights of the house
• Replace manual switching with
Automation of on and off signals for
any or all lights
• Regulation of electric illumination
levels according to the level of
ambient light available
• Change the ambient color of lighting
via control of LEDs or electronic
dimmers
3.4) Natural lighting:
Natural lighting control involves
controlling window shades, LCD shades,
draperies and awnings. Recent advances
include use of RF technology to avoid
wiring to switches and integration with
third party home automation systems for
centralized control.
3.5) Audio and Video:
This category includes audio switching
and distribution. Audio switching
determines the selection of an audio
source. Audio distribution allows an audio
source to be heard in one or more rooms.
This feature is often referred to as 'multi-
zone' audio.
This includes video switching and
distribution, allowing a video source to be
viewed on multiple TVs. This feature is
often referred to as 'multi-zone' video.
Integration of the intercom to the
telephone or of the video door entry
system to the television set, allowing the
residents to view the door camera
automatically.
3.6) Security system:
With Home Automation, the consumer can
select and watch cameras live from an
Internet source to their home or business.
Security cameras can be controlled,
allowing the user to observe activity
around a house or business right from a
Monitor or touch panel. Security systems
can include motion sensors that will detect
any kind of unauthorized movement and
notify the user through the security system
or via cell phone.
This category also includes control and
distribution of security cameras.
• Detection of possible intrusion
o sensors of detection of
movement
o sensors of magnetic contact of
door/window
o sensors of glass breaking
o sensors of pressure changes
• Simulation of presence.
• Detection of fire, gas leaks, water
leaks.
• Medical alert. Tele assistance.
3.7) Intercoms:
An intercom system allows
communication via a microphone and loud
speaker between multiple rooms.
• Ubiquity in the external control as
much internal, remote control from the
Internet, PC, wireless controls (p.ej.
PDA with Wi-Fi), electrical
equipment.
• Transmission of alarms.
• Intercommunications.
3.8) Robotics:
• Control of home robots, using if
necessary domestic electric beacon.
• Home robot communication (i.e. using
Wi-Fi) with the domestic network and
other home robots.
3.9) Example:
A homemade Internet-enabled cat feeder.
4) Some home automation controls
using microcontroller are shown
below:
4.1) Automatic Room light
Controller with Visitor Counter
(AT89S52):
Automatic Room Light Controller with
Visitor Counter using Microcontroller is a
reliable circuit that takes over the task of
controlling the room lights as well us
counting number of persons/ visitors in the
room very accurately. When somebody
enters into the room then the counter is
incremented by one and the light in the
room will be switched ON and when any
one leaves the room then the counter is
decremented by one. The light will be only
switched OFF until all the persons in the
room go out. The total number of persons
inside the room is also displayed on the
seven segment displays.
The microcontroller does the above job. It
receives the signals from the sensors, and
this signal is operated under the control of
software which is stored in ROM.
Microcontroller AT89S52 continuously
monitor the Infrared Receivers, When any
object pass through the IR Receiver's then
the IR Rays falling on the receive are
obstructed , this obstruction is sensed by
the Microcontroller
4.2) RFID Based Home Security
System:
RFID based security system is a wireless
system to detect and allow only the
authorized persons. The system was based
on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
technology and consists of a passive RFID
tag. The passive micro transponder tag
collects power from the 125 KHz magnetic
field generated by the base station, gathers
information about the Tag ID and sends
this information to the base station. The
base station receives, decodes and checks
the information available in its Database
and Manchester code was used to send
those information. The system performed
as desired with a 10cm diameter antenna
attached to the transponder. The Base
Station is built by using the Popular 8051
family Microcontroller. It gets the tag ID
and if the tag ID is stored in its memory
then the microcontroller will allow the
person inside.
RFID Reader Module, are also called as
interrogators. They convert radio waves
returned from the RFID tag into a form
that can be passed on to Controllers, which
can make use of it. RFID tags and readers
have to be tuned to the same frequency in
order to communicate. RFID systems use
many different frequencies, but the most
common and widely used Reader
frequency is 125 KHz.
4.3) Home Temperature
Controller (AT89S52):
Temperature control unit indicate the
temperature and it is also used as
controller. In home this system is very
beneficial for controlling the room temp
automatically according to the
requirements. The system will get the
temperature from the IC and it will display
the temperature over the seven segment
display and this temperature was compared
with the value stored by the user and if the
Room temperature goes beyond the Preset
Conclusion:
Home automation is a technique through
which we can control our home appliances
through internet or may manually (through
automatic means). We can set the temp of
the room according to our choice before
we reaches at home or we can keep on
security of the house even if we are at far
temperature then an alarm is switched ON
until the stop switch is pressed.
The System is fully controlled by the
microcontroller AT89s52. It is a popular 8
bit microcontroller. The circuit consists of
four switches, in which two buttons are
used to increment and decrement the
temperature value and the next button is to
start the Thermostat function and the other
button is used to stop the thermostat
function.
All the above functions are monitored and
controlled by the 8 bit
distance from home. Hence home
automation today is becoming a must
necessity thing for a common man to a
high status symbol person. Because this a
technology age and every one want to
remain secure and live the life with
comfort.
References: Sites:

Book: 1) Wikipedia

1) Microcontroller and Embedded Systems 2) 8051 projects

by Mohammad Ali Mazidi
3) Wiki how
2) Microcontroller by Ayala