A Cloud Network-based Power Management Technology for Smart Home Systems

ACloudNetwork-basedPowerManagementTechnologyforSmartHomeSystems

Lih-JenKau†,memberIEEE,Bi-LingDai,Chih-ShenChen,andSung-HungChen

DepartmentofElectronicEngineering&GraduateInst.ofComputerandCommunicationEngr.

NationalTaipeiUniversityofTechnology

No.1,Sec.3,Chung-HsiaoE.Rd.Taipei10608,Taiwan,R.O.C.

ljkau@ntut.edu.tw

Abstract—Withthefastdevelopmentofnetworkinfrastruc-ture,connectingtotheInternetatanytimeandanyplacehasbeenmadeeasyandpossible.Ontheotherhand,asourworldissufferingenergycrisisonoilandnaturalresourcesshortages,howtomakeefſcientuseoflimitedpowerenergyhasremainedamajorproblemtobeconqueredsofar.Aimedtofacilitatethelifeofhumanbeingaswellastousethelimitedpowerenergymoreefſciently,weproposeinthispaperatechnologythatcanperformremotecontrolandmonitoringofelectricalappliancesontheInternet.Todothis,anintelligentpowersocket(IPS)modulethatisabletocontrolandmonitoringthepowerofelectricityisrealizedinthisresearch.TheIPSmodulesareplacedinconjunctionwiththeelectricalappliancesthataretobecontrolledfromafar-endplace.Inaddition,anembeddedsystem-basedhomegatewaythatcanbeconnectedwiththeInternetissetupinwhichtheelectricalappliancesarelocated.Moreover,theacquiredpowerconsumptioninformationorthestatusoftheappliancesisstoredinadatabaseserverintheCloud.Withtheproposedstructure,authorizedusersorsystemmanagerscanlogintothewebserverwhichisconnectedwiththedatabase,monitoringthepowerstatusandtakeactionsontheappliancesremotely.Thecontrolcommandfromthefar-endplace,i.e.,fromthewebserverontheInternet,isſrstsenttothehomegatewayandthentransmittedtotheIPSmodulesthroughtheZigbeewirelesscommunicationprotocolsothattheremotecontrolofappliancescanbeachieved.Theproposedarchitecturecanbeeasilyappliedtoanykindofroomspace.Moreover,onlyabrowserisneededfortheclienttocommunicatewiththewebserver,nootherapplicationprogramisrequired.Asthebrowserisnowavailablealmostoneveryinformationtechnologyproducts,e.g.,anotebookorasmartphone,theproposedarchitecturehasbeenshowntobeveryconvenientandusefulforremotecontrolandmonitoringofelectricalappliances,andhencecanfacilitatethelifeofhumanbeings.

IndexTerms—Cloudcomputing,Powermanagement,Remotecontrol,Database,Client/ServerArchitecture,Embeddedsystems

I.INTRODUCTION

Ourworldisnowsufferingenergycrisisonoilandnaturalresourcesshortages.What’sworseisthatmostofthescientiſcindustriesallovertheworldrelyheavilyontheseresources,especiallythepowerenergy.Thehighdemandsonpowerenergydohaveagreatimpactontheeconomyoftheworld.FromthecatastropheofJapaneseTsunamiinMarch2011,weareawareoftherisksofnuclearpower.Therefore,werealizethattheterminationofnuclearpowerdeliveryisjustamatteroftime.However,nuclearpowercannotbereplacedbyGreen

powerinthenearfutureyet.Therefore,whilediscoveringasubstitutionfornuclearpower,wecannowembarkonenergysaving.

Consideringourlivingenvironment,almosteveryplace,e.g.,ofſce,school,anddwellinghouse,areallequippedwithcomputers,airconditioners,lightsandotherhigh-power-consumptiondevices.Peopleusuallyforgotturningoffthepowerdevicesaftertheyarenotinuse.Therefore,howtomakeefſcientuseofthelimitedenergyresourcessothatwastingofpowerenergycanbeavoidedhasbecomeamajorproblemtobeconquered.Recently,theideaofcentralpowermanagementsystemisproposed.Howevermostofthecentralpowermanagementsystemjustperformonandoffoperationonthepowerswitchinaroomspace,controloneverysingleorindividualapplianceishardtoattained.In[1],aclient/server-basedarchitectureinconjunctionwithbluetoothsignalfortheremotecontrolofhomeappliancesisproposed.TheyalsoproposetheuseofaHallcurrenttransducerforthemonitoringofthestatusofelectricalappliances.However,onlyonandoffcontrolcanbeattained,andaspeciſcapplicationprogramshouldbeinstalledonboththeclienthostandtheserversothatthecontrolcommandcanbetransmittedviatheInternet[1].Asmarthomeenergymanagementsystem(SHEM)basedonpersonalareanetworksisproposedin[2][3].TheSHEMsystem,whichprovidedwiththecontext-awareabilityandappliestheuseofZigbeesignalforindoorwirelesstransmissionofcommands,isawelldesignedarchitectureforsmarthomesystems.However,theSHEMsystemcannotbecontrolledremotely,andthepowermeasurementabilityisalsonotimplemented[2][3].Tomonitoringthepowerconsumption,someoftheresearchesproposemeasuringthepowerconsumptionindigitalmanners[4][5]orreadingthepowerconsumptionremotely[6]sothatthehumanresourcesofthepowercompanyoriginallyarrangedforrecordingthepowermeterofindividualcustomercanbesaved.Ontheotherhand,theusercanalsoknowthestatusofindividualelectricalapplianceremotely.

Aimedtofacilitatethelifeofhumanbeingaswellastousethelimitedpowerenergymoreefſciently,weproposeinthispaperatechnologythatcanperformremotecontrolandmonitoringofelectricalappliancesontheInternet.Todothis,amodulethatisabletocontrolthepowerofelectricity

978-1-4673-1714-6/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

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isrealized.Wecallthismoduleanintelligentpowersocket(IPS)intheproposedsystem.TheIPSmodulesareplacedinconjunctionwiththeelectricalappliancesthataretobecontrolledfromafar-endplaceontheInternet.Todothis,anembeddedsystem-basedhomegatewaythatcanbeconnectedwiththeInternetissetupinwhichtheelectricalappliancesarelocated.Besides,wealsosetupawebserverandadatabaseserverinthecloud.Thedatabaseserverisusedtorecordthestatusandpowerconsumptionofindividualappliances.Withtheproposedarchitecture,authorizedusersorthesystemmanagercanlogintothewebserverwhichisconnectedwiththedatabase,monitoringthestatusandtakeactionsonthehomeappliancesremotely.Theusercommandfromthefar-endplace,i.e.,fromthewebserverinthecloud,isſrstsenttothehomegatewayandthentransmittedtotheIPSmodulesthroughZigbeewirelesscommunicationsothattheremotecontroloftheappliancescanbeachieved.Theproposedarchitecturecanbeeasilyappliedtoanykindofroomspace.Moreover,noapplicationprogramshouldbeinstalledintheproposedarchitecture,onlyabrowserfortheclientisneeded.Asthebrowserisnowavailablealmostinanydevices,e.g.,anotebookorasmartphone.Theproposedsystemarchitectureishenceveryfriendlyandconvenienttousersthatalsofacilitatesthelifeofmankind.

Therestofthepaperisorganizedasfollows.SectionIIgivesanoverviewontheproposedcloudnetwork-basedpowermanagementsystem.ThedetailedremotepowercontrolandmeasurementtechnologiesarethenintroducedinsectionIII.ThelayoutofthedatabaseanddeſnedcommunicationprotocolsareaddressedinsectionIV.Thedesignedintelligentpowersocket(IPS)moduleandexperimentsaregiveninsectionV.Finally,aconclusionisgiveninsectionVI.

II.OVERVIEWOFTHEPROPOSEDSYSTEM

Inthissection,wegiveanoverviewontheproposedsystemarchitecture.AscanbeseeninFig.1,theproposedarchitectureismainlycomposedofthreeblocks,theclient,thecloudwebserveranddatabaseserver,andtheroomspaceinwhichtheelectricalappliancesarelocated.

Anydevicesequippedwithabrowsercanbeusedastheclientdevice.Thedatabaseserverhereisusedtorecordthesta-tusorpowerconsumptionofindividualelectricalappliances.Here,weuseMySQL,apowerfulandfreesoftware,asourdatabaseserver.Tobridgetheuser,i.e.,thebrowser,andthedatabaseserver,awebserverisrequired.WeapplyApache,awidelyused,free,andstablesoftware,asourwebserver.TheclientcannowcommunicatewiththewebserverthroughHTTPprotocol,anapplicationlayerprotocolwhichisbasedonTCP/IPprotocolintheInternethierarchy,monitoringthestatusandtakeactionsonindividualappliance.

ThecontrolcommandsfromtheserverintheCloudareſrstsenttothehomegatewaythroughTCP/IPprotocolandthentransmittedtotheappliancewithZigbeewirelesscommunica-tion.Thehomegatewayisaserverwhichisusedtoreceivetheusercommandfromthefar-endplaceontheInternet,andtotransmitthestatusaswellasthepowerconsumption

(a)(b)

Fig.2.(a)TheCortex-M3-basedRDK-S2emodule.(b)TheCC2530Zigbeetransceiver.

informationofappliancesbacktothedatabaseserver.Tomakethegatewaycompact,theRDK-S2e,aCortex-M3-basedmoduledevelopedbyTexasInstrumentsincorporation(TI),ischosenforthispurpose(asshowninFig.2.(a)).Moreover,theRDK-S2emodulewhichtransformsbetweenUARTandTCP/IPprotocolisveryusefulforindustrialapplicationsforitscompactdimensionandrobustness.ThegatewaywillthentransmitthereceivedcommandstoaZigbeetransceiverthroughtheuniversalasynchronoustransmitterandreceiver(UART)interface.

TheZigbeeprotocol,whichisbasedonthestandardofIEEE802.15.4,hasbeenwidelyappliedinavarietyofſeldsforitscharacteristicsoflow-powerconsumptionandsupportingvariabletopologies[2]-[13].Withtheseadvantages,theZigbeeisalsoselectedfortheshortdistancetransmissionofsignalsintheproposedarchitecture.WechooseinthisresearchthechipCC2530,achipalsodevelopedbyTI,astheZigbeetransceiver(asshowninFig.2.(b)).ThecommandisthensenttoanotherZigbeereceiverwhichisconnectedtotheappliancetobecontrolledinawirelessmanner.

Tosummarize,thearchitectureofremotecontrolprocesscanbebestobservedthroughFig.3,anarchitectureforsmarthomesystems.AscanbeseeninFig.3,theappliancesareallintegratedwiththeproposedIPSmodulesothatthepowerofindividualappliancescanbecontrolledremotely.TheIPSisalsoequippedwithaZigbeetransceiver,whichisusedtoacceptthecommandfromthefar-endaswellastotransmitthestatusoftheappliancebacktotheserverinthecloud.

III.POWERCONTROLANDMEASUREMENT

Themechanismforpowercontrolandmeasurementwillbeaddressedinthissection.Weſrstgiveashortintroductiononthebasisofproposedpowercontrolmechanism.Afterthat,theIRremotecontrolcircuitaswellasthepowermeasurementmechanismwillbeintroduced.A.ThePowerControlUnit

Thebasisofthepowercontrolmechanismisthezero-crossingdetectioncircuit,whichisshowninFig.4.PointAinFig.4isafullyrectiſedwaveform,wherepointBisjustanattenuatedsignalofA.AftertheinverterinFig.4,thezero-crossingsignalscanbedetectedatpointC,andthezero-crossingsignalscanthenbeusedforthecontrolofpowerelectricity.Intheproposedarchitecture,thepointDisusedtocontrolthedutycyclebetweenonandoffstateofthesolid

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Fig.1.Proposedcloud-basedremotepowercontrolandmonitoringsystem.

TRANSFORMER11T15AC110VIN4AC12V84-D1+2AD2R1+U11VINGNDVOUT2+LM7805/TO3+5VC1C2HomeGatewayUARTR210uF/35V10uF/35VInternetRDK-S2eWebServer&DatabaseServer

123U2V+CC2530R3B12U4VCCSolidStateRelayV-22U511ZigBeewirelesstransmissionPowerControl&MeasurementPowerControl&Measurement33CIntrControlPinDPowerSocket1U6ClientWeb-basedControlandSurveillanceAC110VAC1AC2ACPlug12Fig.4.Proposedpowercontrolmechanism.

Fig.3.Proposedsmarthomesystems.

C.ThePowerMeasurementUnit

TheblockdiagramofthepowermeasurementcircuitaswellasthedetailedschematicdiagrambetweenthepowermeasurementmoduleandtheCC2530ZigbeetransmissionmoduleareshowninFig.6andFig.7respectively.AscanbeseeninFig.6andFig.7,asmallresistorisusedinserieswiththeloadtomeasurethecurrentƀowoftheelectricalappliance.ThesensedcurrentandvoltagesignalarethenampliſedandprocessedthroughthechipADE7753,asingle-phasemultifunctionmeteringIC.Besides,theinstantaneouscurrent,voltagesignal,theinstantaneouspowerconsumption,activepower,reactivepoweraswellasthepowerfactorinformation(inFig.8)canallbecalculatedandkeptintheregistersofADE7753.WecanthenreadallthevaluesoutbyconnectingtheserialSPIinterfacebetweentheADE7753andtheCC2530controllerasinFig.6andFig.7.TheCC2530

staterelay(SSR),whichisindeedapulsewidthmodulationsystem.ThecircuitinFig.4constitutesthemainportionoftheIPSmodule.

B.TheIRRemoteControlUnit

Itisnotedthatsomeoftheappliances,e.g.,theaircon-ditioner,TV,etc,cannotbecontrolledbyvaryingthepowerdirectly.Forthis,wedesignanIRtransmissioncircuitasinFig.5thatjustactswhatanIRremoterperforms.ThecircuitinsidethedashedblockinFig.5isthesub-carriergenerationcircuit(usually38KHz)aswellastheIRtransmitter.AscanbeseeninFig.5,thetransmissionofIRsignaliscontrolledbytheCC2530module.

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2CC25304InternetVCCLOADP0.5/MOSIP0.4/MISOP0.3/CLOCKR3R6P0.2/CSSHUNTTCP/IPR21R42C1D1IRDiodeCC2530135346HomeGatewayUARTRDK-S2eControl2SubcarrierR5CBEQ1CC2530R1IRTransmissionModuleFig.5.IRtransmissioncircuits.

Fig.7.SchematicdiagramofthepowermeasurementmoduleandconnectionwithZigbeetransmissionmodule.

ADE7753Current

ADCEnergyMeasurmentMCUCC2530ZigbeewirelesstransmissionSPIVoltage

ADCAC110/220VProgrammableGainAmplifierFig.6.Theblockdiagramofpowermeasurementmodule.

Fig.8.Themeasurementofpowerfactor.

controllercancalculatethepowerenergyusedbysumminguptheacquiredinstantaneouspowerconsumption.ThesepowerenergyinformationwillbetransmittedtothehomegatewayviathewirelessZigbeesignal,andthensentbacktothedatabaseinthecloud(Fig.3).

IV.DATABASELAYOUTANDCOMMUNICATION

PROTOCOLS

Inthissection,thelayoutofthedatabaseserveraswellasthecommandformat,i.e.,thecommunicationprotocol,aretobeintroduced.Weſrstintroducethelayoutofthedatabase,andthenthecommunicationprotocolwillbegiven.A.DatabaseLayout

Intheproposedarchitecture,weuseMySQL,averypopularandfreedatabasesoftware,asourdatabaseserver.Inthedatabase,wehaveamaintablethatrecordstheauthorizedusersandtheirpassword.Everyregistereduserhasanindivid-ualtablethatrecordsthestatusofeveryelectricalappliances.ThebasiclayoutofthedatabaseservercanbeobservedinFig.9,whichisthemainpageofPHPMyAdmin,aweb-basedinterfacethatcanmanipulatethedatabaseserverinagraphicalmanner.

Afterconnectedandloggedintothedatabaseserver,theauthorizeduserwillseethestatusofeachelectricalappliancesasinFig.10.(a).TheusercanthenchangetothecommandmodeasinFig.10.(b),whichisactuallyaFORMcomponentinHTMLdocumentforinteractivepagedesign.Theusercanthenselectthecommandoradjustthepowerofselectedappli-ance.AfterselectingthebuttonNext,thecontrolcommandwill

besentouttothehomegatewaythroughtheTCP/IPprotocolontheInternet.

ThedynamicpageonthewebserverisrealizedbyusingthePHPlanguage,akindofscriptlanguageembeddedintheHTMLdocument.WethustransferthecontrolcommandstothehomegatewaybyusingthePHPsocketaftertheuserhaspressedthecommandbutton.ThewebservernowactsjustlikeaclientfortheconnectionisinitiatedbythePHPsocket.TheTCP/IPconnectionƀowisshowninFig.11.Thefunctionsocketwrite()inFig.11istotransmitthecommandtothehomegateway,whilethefunctionsocketread()istoreadthestatusaswellasthepowerconsumptioninformationoftheappliance.Thereadprocedureisnecessarybecausewehavetomakesurethatthecommandsoractionshavebeencarriedoutontheappliancestobecontrolled.

Fig.9.ThemainpageofPHPMyAdminshowingthelayoutofthedatabaseserver.

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Commandformatforwireddevices

FirstByteSecondByteThirdByteFourthByteFifthByteLeader0X39

ModuleID

SocketID

FunctionCode

Trailer0X39

Fig.12.Commandformatforwireddevices.

ThirdByteDeviceCode

FourthByteFunctionCode

FifthByteExtensionFunctionCode

SixthByteTrailer0X39

(a)(b)

CommandforInfraredDevices

FirstByteLeader0X39

SecondByteModuleID0x00

Fig.10.(a)Statusofappliancesshownonthewebserver.(b)Webpageshowingthecommandmode.

Fig.13.CommandformatfordevicescontrolledbyIRremoter.

socket_create()socket_connect()powerofaresistivedevice,i.e.,a60Wtungstenlamp,inFig.16.Wecontrolthepowerofthetungstenlampinafar-endplaceontheInternet.Differentpowerofthetungstenlamp,i.e.,poweroff,halfpower,andfullpower,canallbecontrolledsuccessfullyascanbeseeninFig.16.

VI.CONCLUSION

Aimedtofacilitatethelifeofhumanbeingsaswellastousethelimitedpowerenergymoreefſciently,weproposeinthispaperatechnologythatcanperformremotecontrolandmonitoringofelectricalappliancesontheInternet.Todothis,anintelligentpowersocket(IPS)modulethatisabletocontrolandmonitoringthepowerofelectricityhasbeenrealizedsuccessfullyinthisresearch.TheIPSmodulesareplacedinconjunctionwiththeelectricalappliancesthataretobecontrolledfromafar-endplace.Inaddition,anembeddedsystem-basedhomegatewaythatcanbeconnectedwiththeInternetissetupinwhichtheelectricalappliancesarelocated.Moreover,theacquiredpowerconsumptioninformationorthestatusoftheappliancesareallstoredinadatabaseserverintheCloud.Withtheproposedstructure,authorizedusersorthesystemmanagercanlogintothewebserverwhichconnectedwiththedatabase,monitoringthepowerstatusandtakeactionsontheappliancesremotely.Thecontrolcommandfromthefar-endplace,i.e.,fromthewebserverontheInternet,isſrstsenttothehomegatewayandthentransmittedtotheIPS

FirstByteLeader0x39

SecondByteModuleID

ThirdByteSocketID

FourthByteStatusCode

FifthByteTrailer0x39

socket_write()socket_read()NoTransmissiontermination?NoYessocket_close()Fig.11.ConnectionprocesstothehomegatewaybyusingthePHPSocketonthewebserver.

B.CommunicationProtocols

Inthissubsection,weintroducethreekindsofcommandformatusedintheproposedarchitecture,i.e.,thecommandformatforwireddevices(Fig.12),thecommandformatfordevicescontrolledbyIRremoter(Fig.13),andthatoftheacknowledgementfromdevices(Fig.14).

ThethirdbyteinFig.12isduetothatwehavethreepowersocketsineachIPSmodule.Therefore,wehavetoindicatewhichnumberofthepowersocketistobecontrolled.Indeed,wehavealreadyregisteredthenameofthedeviceconnectedtoeachpowersocketonthedatabasebeforethecontrolprocess.Inaddition,theModuleID0X00inthesecondbyteofFig.13isreservedfordevicesthathavetobecontrolledbyIRremoter.Thethirdbyte,i.e.,DeviceCode,inFig.13istoselectthedevicetobecontrolled,e.g.,TVorairconditioner.

V.EXPERIMENTS

Inthissection,weshowinFig.15.(a)thefrontviewandFig.15.(b)thesideviewofthedesignedIPSmodule.AscanbeseeninFig.15,everyIPSmodulehasthreepowersockets,andindividualpowersocketiscontrolledbydifferentSSR.Wealsoexaminetheproposedarchitecturebycontrollingthe

CommandformatforAck

Fig.14.Commandformatforacknowledgementfromdevices.

(a)(b)

Fig.15.(a)FrontviewoftheIPSwithZigbeetransceiver.(b)SideviewoftheIPSwithZigbeetransceiver.

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(a)TheIPSwithatungstenlamp.(b)Poweroffstatus.

(c)Halfpowerstatus.(d)Fullpowerstatus.

Fig.16.(a)Thetestplatform,anIPSwitha60Wtungstenlamp.(b)-(d)Whenthelampisinoffstate,halfpowerstate,andfullpowerstate,respectively.

modulesthroughtheZigbeewirelesscommunicationprotocolsothattheremotecontrolofappliancescanbeachieved.Theproposedarchitecturecanbeeasilyappliedtoanykindofroomspace.Moreover,onlyabrowserisneededfortheclienttocommunicatewiththewebserver,nootherapplicationprogramisrequired.Asthebrowserisnowavailablealmostoneveryinformationtechnologyproducts,e.g.,anotebookorasmartphone,theproposedarchitecturehasbeenshowntobeveryconvenientanduseful,andhencecanfacilitatethelifeofhumanbeing.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

TheauthorswouldliketothanktheNationalScienceCouncilofTaiwanforſnancialsupportoftheresearch(underGrantNo.NSC100-2221-E-027-078).

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