GSM based Home Automation System with IoT

Among most of trending topics, home automation is one the eye catching concept where R&D is happening at a very high rate. If we are talking about home automation, we will obviously go for wireless communication like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi technology, GSM technology. Among these things most effective communication is GSM, because it can be operated from very long distance and Output will be very accurate because we are going to control all the household devices by an SMS using GSM modem. This modem uses a SIM card and operates through a subscription with the mobile operator.

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GSM is generally called as Modem (Global System for Mobile Communications). It is a wireless communication module, which will be used to communicate with a computer or processor over the network. The GSM modem uses a variation of TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) which is most commonly used of the digital wireless telephony technologies like TDMA, GSM and CDMA. This GSM modem needs a SIM card to operate through a network range subscribed by the network operator. This modem can be connected to a computer via a serial, Bluetooth or USB connection. This modem is also be a standard GSM mobile phone with a suitable cable and software driver to connect to a USB port on your PC. Generally, this modem is preferred instead of a GSM mobile phone. In addition to this, we can add Wi-Fi module, to upload the data into remote cloud, to access it from anywhere in the world.

You will program the microcontroller in such a way that say whenever you send SMS to the SIM inside the GSM module, from your operational mobile to switch on the appliance, it not only switch on the appliance but also store the data in the remote server simultaneously. You can also innovate the system further to send a notification to a user at any part of the world via sms or email

Project Description:

1. Arduino/Genuino Uno: The digital and analog input/output pins equipped in this board can be interfaced to various expansion boards and other circuits. Serial communication interface is a feature in this board, including USB which will be used to load the programs from computer.
2. GSM module: The GSM module we use is SIM 800/900 MODULE. In this modem, Bluetooth is interfaced by default. Basically there are three types of GSM module are there. They are Data Loggers Data Pushers Data Pullers
3. N-Channel Relay Module: The n-Channels Relay module’s operating voltage is 5V DC with drive current of 20mA. This relay can be interfaced with many no. of microcontrollers such as Arduino, AVR, PIC, ARM and MSP430. Here we use Arduino, because programming is not that much typical. This relay module has ports “NC” abbreviated as “Normally connected to COM”, “NO” abbreviated as “Normally open to COM” and “COM” abbreviated as Common. Along with these, there will be two types of LED’s, one is to show the power status of the board and other for showing the relay status. Here “N” indicates the no relays on single board. We have 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12-Channel Relay Module are available in the market.
4. LCD Display 16*2: Generally we use LCD to display the limited set of output statements. At present we use mostly 16*2(4 bit communication) and 16*4(8 bit communication), which means 16 letter spaces with 2 lines and 16 letter spaces with 4 lines(each line will have 16 letter spaces)
5. Wi-Fi Module : ESP8266 Wi-Fi module is generally used to establish the wireless communication between the devices. But this module is not capable of 5-3V logic shifting and will require an external logic level converter.

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Operation involved in the project:

When the GSM modem is connected to the microcontroller, it communicates with a mobile via a UART protocol and requires three basic signals such as TXD, RXD and GND. The GSM modem is connected to the microcontroller, it controls the appliances through an SMS. This modem always monitors the signals from the input. When the modem receives the SMS from an operational phone, serially that data is sent to the microcontroller. This microcontroller compares this data with the stored data. If the compared data match with the stored data, then the microcontroller generates corresponding signals to control the load.

Project Implementation:

1. Firstly we will interface the GSM module, LCD and Relay with Arduino Board
2. Insert an operational SIM card into the GSM module
3. Upload the code into the Arduino board
4. Once all the components are online, send the Particular SMS to control the household appliance
5. The data regarding which device is being controlled can be updated in remote cloud rather and can be retrieved whenever we want

Software requirements:

1. Arduino IDE : You will be needing Arduino IDE software to write and upload the programming logic onto the Arduino Uno board
2. Thingspeak : Also, you need to create an account in the ThinkSpeak IoT platform to integrate the system onto the cloud and store the data online

Programming language: Arduino Programming (C++)

• GSM module
• Arduino Uno
• Relay
• LCD
• WiFi

• Smart Systems
• Home Automation
• Bluetooth

GSM based Home Automation System with IoT