Guangming Song

A wireless power outlet system for smart homes

This paper presents the design and implementation of a wireless-controllable power outlet system for home automation networks. The proposed power outlet module integrates a ZigBee radio into its architecture. It acts as an actuator node in the home automation networks for remote control operations. A prototype of the power outlet module following the proposed architecture has been implemented. A testbed of a simple home automation network for validating the basic functions of the power outlet module has also been created. Results of the demonstration experiment show that the proposed power outlet module enables easy and flexible control of various home appliances with little infrastructure. It helps us add more intelligence into the home environments rapidly.

A surveillance robot with hopping capabilities for home security

Most traditional home robots have always had problems with stairs, doorsills and other obstacles that humans cross with ease in cluttered indoor environments. This paper presents the development and characterization of a surveillance robot with hopping capabilities for home security. The proposed robot, which is 9 cm in height and 250 g in weight, can leap over obstacles more than 4 times its own size. It depends on the elastic elements in a six-bar linkage leg system to enable hopping locomotion. It can also roll freely on flat floors and change its directions by the two-wheeled differential drive system. It adopts the ZigBee protocol for wireless communication and therefore can be added to a ZigBee-based home control network as a mobile video sensor node. Experimental results verify that the prototype robot is a powerful home security device that can patrol in cluttered home environments with ease.

A Hybrid Sensor Network System for Home Monitoring Applications

This paper presents the design and implementation of a home monitoring system based on hybrid sensor networks. The system follows a three-layer architecture which combines hybrid-node networking with web access. An enhanced sensor node has been designed and fabricated to add controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. The mobile node is capable of simple planar motions and is easy to be controlled through different user interfaces. A testbed including the static nodes as well as the mobile node has also been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed hybrid sensor network system. Network repair and event tracking capabilities of the mobile sensor node were tested. Stability of the proposed system in longtime home monitoring tasks was also verified.

An indoor security system with a jumping robot as the surveillance terminal

Mobile robots are now widely used in various surveillance and security applications. But most of them are wheeled and tracked robots that can not work well to overcome stairs, doorsills and other obstacles in cluttered indoor environments. This paper presents the design and implementation of a new indoor security system with a jumping robot as the surveillance terminal. The jumping robot, a gateway and some pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensor nodes form a ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN). The sensor nodes are installed above the doors and windows of the house to detect intruders and send intrusion detection messages to the robot. The robot can jump to the sensor coverage area to take photos and send them to the gateway and the home server. The remote house owner will get these photos through Internet. A prototype system has been implemented and some performance tests have been done. Experimental results show that the robot can jump up on a desk of 105cm high to perform the surveillance task. A 3k-byte captured photo can be transmitted to the gateway in 3.68s with 0.1% loss rate by 5 hops1.

A Mobile Sensor Network System for Monitoring of Unfriendly Environments

Observing microclimate changes is one of the most popular applications of wireless sensor networks. However, some target environments are often too dangerous or inaccessible to humans or large robots and there are many challenges for deploying and maintaining wireless sensor networks in those unfriendly environments. This paper presents a mobile sensor network system for solving this problem. The system architecture, the mobile node design, the basic behaviors and advanced network capabilities have been investigated respectively. A wheel-based robotic node architecture is proposed here that can add controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. A testbed including some prototype nodes has also been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed mobile sensor network system. Motion performance tests have been done to get the positioning errors and power consumption model of the mobile nodes. Results of the autonomous deployment experiment show that the mobile nodes can be distributed evenly into the previously unknown environments. It provides powerful support for network deployment and maintenance and can ensure that the sensor network will work properly in unfriendly environments.

A multi-interface gateway architecture for home automation networks

This paper presents a multi-interface sensor network gateway architecture for home automation and other distributed monitoring applications. The gateway architecture provides multiple interfaces for supporting various application scenarios in home environments, ranging from on-site configuration to mobile access. A gateway prototype following the proposed architecture has been implemented. A testbed of a simple home automation network which includes the gateway prototype has also been created for testing its user interaction capabilities. Results of the demonstration experiment show that the proposed gateway gives good support to managing the home network from different user terminals and allows the users to better interact with the ambient environment.

Design of a Networked Monitoring System for Home Automation

This paper presents the design and implementation of a networked monitoring system for home automation. The proposed system architecture organizes the deployed sensor nodes to form a multihop mesh network in the home environment. Multiple communication interfaces are designed to enable local and remote user interactions through Internet or Bluetooth. This system offers a complete, flexible and reusable solution for various home monitoring and control applications.

Automatic docking system for recharging home surveillance robots

This paper presents the development and characterization of a surveillance robot with automatic docking and recharging capabilities for home security. The proposed system is composed of a surveillance robot and a docking station. The palm-sized surveillance robot has a triangular shape with three wheels. It communicates with the general wireless home router through WiFi. It communicates with the docking station through ZigBee and serves as a mobile wireless sensor network gateway. The docking station has a trapezoidal structure with an arc-shaped docking interface. A docking method based on the self-localization of the robot and the infrared detectors of the docking station is proposed. The robot can return to the docking station for recharging operations when the on-board battery is too low. The experimental results show that the prototype robot achieved a success rate of 90% after 60 different docking attempts.

Design of a Wireless Sensor Network Based Monitoring System for Home Automation

This paper presents the design and implementation of a wireless monitoring system for building smart room architectures in home environments. The proposed system consists of wireless sensor nodes and actuator nodes which are organized into a monitoring network by ZigBee protocols. A base station and some general wireless nodes have been developed to form a prototype system. Various sensor and actuator modules have also been implemented to enable some typical indoor monitoring applications such as resident tracking, energy-efficient home appliance control and home security. The proposed system provides a flexible solution for us to make our living spaces more intelligent.

Autonomous network repairing of a home security system using modular self-reconfigurable robots

Traditional wheeled robots cannot easily adapt to complex home environments with stairs and doorsills. This paper presents the design and implementation of a novel wireless sensor network based home security system with a modular self-reconfigurable robot (Transmote) as the mobile node. The security system is composed of some static monitoring nodes, a Transmote, and a home server. Static nodes with pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensor and digital camera are mounted on doorframes and windows to detect intruders and send intrusion alarm messages to the home server. Transmote with PIR sensor and camera can patrol in the house for security surveillance. Transmote also can provide network repairing service when some static router nodes fail. Transmote modules and static monitoring nodes are controlled by two different wireless sensor networks. The remote house owner can get the alarm messages through Internet. Transmote can transform into I-shaped or O-shaped configuration according to different locomotion requirements. A prototype system has been implemented and some performance tests have been done. Experimental results show that the I-shaped Transmote can pass through an 8.8 cm high and 10 cm wide channel. The velocity of the I-shaped Transmote is up to 3 m/min and the maximum velocity of O-shaped Transmote is 9.3 m/min. A 12 kB captured photo can be transmitted to the gateway through 15 hops without any packet loss.