Household Inventory

Management using
MEMS and IOT

Household Inventory Management

Household Inventory Management refers to the practice of
maintaining adequate levels of items for daily use. It may
be in a private home or public stays like hotels etc.
Understocking can be hazardous in times of emergency
Overstocking might lead to a burden on the budget or
unnecessary wastage
It is essential to keep a track of plethora of household
items

Issues with the Conventional

Management
Difficult to keep a track of numerous household items at
the same time with a busy lifestyle
Recurring re-ordering and multiple visits to stores is
time consuming
Problematic to anticipate usage in households
frequently hosting guests
Difficult to identify potential areas to cut costs

Internet of Things
Network of physical objects or things embedded with electronics,
software, sensors, and network connectivity which enable these
objects to collect and exchange data
Data is collected by the devices using existing technologies and
exchanged with other devices for advised action
Applications:
Home Automation
Manufacturing
Environment Monitoring
Medicine and Healthcare

MEMS Cantilever Sensors

Mechanical bending of the cantilever is induced by:
Addition of weight on the cantilever surface
Induced surface stresses on the cantilever surface due to molecular
adsorption
Advantages
Simultaneous Detection
Continuous throughput
Equation for tip deflection due
to adsorption:
2

z = 4 (1- ) L
E
t

Modified Stoneys
Equation

[6] R. Datar, S. Kim, S. Jeon, P. Hesketh, S. Manalis, A. Boisen and T. Thundat,

"Cantilever Sensors: Nanomechanical Tools for Diagnostics",MRS Bull., vol. 34, no.
06, pp. 449-454, 2009.

MEMS Sensors
MEMS Cantilever
Sensors
Active
Sensors
Electrostat
ic
Actuation

Electromagne
tic
Actuation

Optical
Readout

Passive
Sensors
Piezoelect
ric
Actuation

Capacitive
Readout

Capacitiv
e Sensors

Piezoelect
ric
Sensors

MEMS Sensing Mechanism

Active sensing:
Works on the principle of shift in resonant frequency due to:
a) Multi-layer adsorption of mass
b) Change in surface stresses due to molecular interactions on cantilever surface
) Actuated using: electrostatics, electromagnetics or piezoelectrics
) Maximum deflection is identified through capacitive or optical readout
) Shift in the resonant frequency is noted

Governing Equations for Active

Sensing
i

= i 1 + 2L3

1/4

Effect of Surface
Stresses

[25] Goeders, Karen2M., 3Jonathan S. Colton, and Lawrence A. Bottomley. "Microcantilevers:

EI
sensing chemical interactions via mechanical motion."Chemical reviews108.2 (2008): 522-542.

SHO Model fluid = 1 + 1

vac
4Q2
Inviscid
Model

1/2

fluid = 1 + b
vac
4ch

-1/2

Re = wb2
4

[24]C. Van Eysden and J. Sader, "Frequency response of cantilever beams immersed in viscous
fluids with applications to the atomic force microscope: Arbitrary mode order",J. Appl. Phys., vol.
101, no. 4, p. 044908, 2007.

Integration of MEMS Sensors and

IOT
MEMS Sensors integrated with containers having various
items. Eg: sugar, coffee, salt etc.
IOT device receives signals from various sensors from
different containers
It updates the particular items amount
Alerts you when the amount for an item is alarmingly low
and provides you with an option to re-order using an iPad or
PC

Advantages of proposed system

Live tracking of household items like grocery, cosmetics
etc. on one screen
Identification of potential areas to cut costs. For eg.:
aggregation while buying
Saves human intervention by integrating online
ordering. Eg.: Helps old-aged people

Future scope of work

Designing modular sensor networks that would work on
array of household items
Reducing the error in sensing
Ensuring low cost and minimum need for maintenance