Ying-Wen Bai

Remote-Controllable Power Outlet System for Home Power Management

In this paper we describe the Wireless Power-Controlled Outlet Module (WPCOM) with a scalable mechanism for home power management which we have developed. The WPCOM integrates the multiple AC power sockets and a simple low-power microcontroller into a power outlet to switch the power of the sockets ON/OFF and to measure the power consumption of plugged electric home appliances. Our WPCOM consists of six scalable modules, that is, the Essential Control Module, the Bluetooth Module, the GSM Module, the Ethernet Module, the SD Card Module and the Power Measuring Module, which together provide an indoor wireless, and an outdoor remote control and monitor of electric home appliances. We have designed a PDA control software and remote control software which support the Graphic User Interface, thus allowing the user to easily monitor the electric home appliances through the PDA and the Internet individually. In addition, we use a Short Message Service to achieve control and monitoring through a GSM cellular mobile phone for remote use anytime and anywhere.

Automatic room light intensity detection and control using a microprocessor and light sensors

In this paper we propose a design using both a microprocessor and light sensors for automatic room light detection and control. Our design, the HLCM (home light control module) which will be installed in every light fixture of a family, is made up of four blocks: the pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensor circuit, the light sensor circuit, the microprocessor and the RF module. By using the PIR sensor circuit, the HLCM detects if a human body enters the detection area or not. If there is no human body present, all controlled lights are turned off. If there is, the HLCM detects the light intensity under the environment and maintains sufficient light by controlling the number of lights. We have also integrated an RF module to transmit and receive the data from each HLCM so we can control different lights in different regions. The result of using the HLCM shows that the total power consumption can be reduced.

Power Monitoring and Control for Electric Home Appliances Based on Power Line Communication

Home power consumption tends to grow in proportion to the increase in the number of large-sized electric home appliances. An embedded system without any new additional wiring has been developed for home power management. By using power line communication (PLC) technology, electric home appliances can be controlled and monitored through domestic power lines. We describe a PPCOM (PTC Power-Controlled Outlet Module) which integrates the multiple AC power sockets, the power measuring module, the PTC module and a microcontroller into a power outlet to switch the power of the sockets on/off and to measure the power consumption of plugged-in electric home appliances. We have also designed an embedded home server which supports the Web page user interface, thus allowing the user to easily control and monitor the electric home appliances by means of the Internet. In addition, the field experiments reported have demonstrated that our design can be practically implemented and provides adequate results.

Estimation by Software for the Power Consumption of Streaming-Media Servers

The power consumption of a streaming-media server can be obtained in real time by using the virtual-instrumentation software described in this paper without using an additional hardware meter. We have built a model to estimate the power consumption from the observation of experimental data that consists of tracking the CPU utilization and detecting the operation parameters of the measured servers. When calculated in real time, the CPU utilization can respond to the dynamic change of the power consumption of the measured servers. The operation parameters represent the hardware configuration of the measured servers. We also propose three methods to obtain these parameters: filled- manually, hardware-revised, and software-revised parameter estimating. We have constructed the virtual-instrumentation software according to this power model to measure the power consumption of the streaming-media server. To facilitate the measurement process, we have also designed a suitable graphic-user interface for it. Our virtual-instrumentation software with three parameter-estimating methods has been tested by way of comparison with measurement results obtained by a power meter. The average power values of the hardware-revised method are found to yield mean errors of the estimate within 3%. The mean error of the software-revised method is within 6%. However, the filled- manually method may underestimate the power consumption by as much as 11%.

Home appliance energy monitoring and controlling based on Power Line Communication

In this paper an embedded remote monitoring and controlling power socket (RMCPS) has been developed with high suitability for automatic and power management of home electric appliances. It requires no new layout and has the advantage of low cost, low electricity consumption, small volume and convenient installation to replace the PC with a Web server construction. The RMCPS consists of three modules: the Essential Module, the Power Line Communication (PLC) Module and the Detection Module. This allows the user a remote Internet connection to an embedded power socket to both monitor and control home electric appliances.

Remotely Controllable Outlet System for Home Power Management

In this paper, we describe a remotely controllable outlet system with mechanism for home power management. The system consists of four blocks: the Bluetooth power-controlled outlet module (BPCOM), the home server, the remote control and the GSM channel. Bluetooth, wireless system can control the home electric appliances wirelessly at home without new wiring. The BPCOM integrates the multiply AC power sockets and a simple plug-in low-power microcontroller performs the power on/off switching of the sockets. In addition, the power detection circuits are used by the Hall current transducer to verify home electric appliance power on/off status. For the power management module of the home server, we designed the software module by Visual Basic .NET, which supports the graphic user interface (GUI) to let users easily monitor the home electric appliances power on/off. We also integrate Bluetooth to receive/transmit between the home server and the microcontroller. The remote control also provides the users with the ability to control home appliances power on/off through the Internet and the GSM channel linked to the home server in order to receive the SMS (short message service) for the power management of the home electric appliances power on/off anytime and anywhere

Design and implementation of a socket with zero standby power using a photovoltaic array

This paper further enhances our previous research into reducing the standby power of electric home appliances. Turned-off electric home appliances generally still require standby power when they are plugged in. We present a way to reduce the standby power of a socket. Our socket supplies the appliances with power when the user turns them on. When the user turns them off, our socket shuts the electric power off and thus reduces the standby power. Our design, which uses an MCU, receives signals from a PIR sensor which detects the user approaching the socket. The MCU controls the SSR On/Off when used as an appliance switch for shutting off the standby power. A load current sensor circuit provides a signal to the MCU to keep the SSR on until the appliance has finished its work. The MCU monitoring program provides both automatic detection of the user by the PIR sensor and detection of the load current. The MCU with low-power technology has internal modules to simplify the hardware circuit design. The PV array is added in our design to reduce the consumption from the local electric power company. The standby power consumption of an appliance with our new design is 7 mW in a darkroom and less than 7 mW in a non-darkroom. When the illumination intensity suffices, the consumption is 0 W from the local electric power company.

Remote power On/Off control and current measurement for home electric outlets based on a low-power embedded board and ZigBee communication

In this paper we have designed a remote power on/off control and a current measurement for electric outlets, based on both an embedded board and on ZigBee communication. This design consists of two parts: the ZigBee control module and the server module. The ZigBee control module contains several controllable outlets, a current measurement circuit, the ZigBee receiving and transmission circuit and a micro control unit. The measurement circuit senses the current and sends back a signal to the server module through the ZigBee. The measurement data of the current and voltage detection can be stored in the embedded board, and they can be designed to become aware of any overload and to send out a message to the circuit breaker for safety. We use Visual Basic as the interface software for the design of the graphic user interface to provide a user-friendly operation of a typical homepsilas electric outlets.

Design and implementation of a home embedded surveillance system with ultra-low alert power

In this paper we design and implement a home embedded surveillance system with ultra-low alert power. Traditional surveillance systems suffer from an unnecessary waste of power and the shortcomings of memory conditions in the absence of invasion. In this design we use Pyroelectric Infrared sensors (PIR) and pressure sensors as the alert group in windows and doors where an intruder must pass through. These low-power alert sensors wake up the MCU (Micro Controller Unit) which has power management for the ultrasonic sensors and PIR sensors indoors. This state transition method saves a large number of sensors required for the alert power. We also use the Majority Voting Mechanism (MVM) to manage the sensor groups to enhance the probability of multiple sensors sensing. After the MCU sends the sensor signals to the embedded system, the program starts the Web camera. Our sensing experiment shows that we reduce the systems power consumption.

Design and implementation of an embedded home surveillance system by use of multiple ultrasonic sensors

In this paper we design and implement a home surveillance system based on an embedded system with multiple ultrasonic sensor modules to enhance the systems reliability. Each ultrasonic sensor module includes a transmitter and a receiver, and the modules are placed in a line direction. Because the ultrasonic transmission will spread at a beam angle, we use multiple ultrasonic receivers to receive the ultrasonic transmission. If any intruder passes through the ultrasonic sensing area, the ultrasonic transmission will be blocked by the human body. As the receivers will not receive any transmission from the ultrasonic transmitter, the system will sense when someone is passing through the surveillance area. We use a Majority Voting Mechanism (MVM) for a group of sensors. If over half the sensors in a sensor group sense a signal blocking, the majority voting program starts the Web camera. The mathematical equation and the sensing experiment show that we improve the systems reliabilities.