Definition of the project Objectives:
The objective of this project is to design a microcontroller based system to obtain the information regarding the temperature of a remote place. It is usually inconvenient getting the readings of temperature, pressure etc. from the places that are very distant. But the advancement in technology has made this task possible. Our main objective is to design such a system. For this we will use the infrastructure of the existing mobile network, which is based on GPRS technique. This project investigates on creating very low cost device which can be adapted to many different applications using some very basic programming, and joining it with the right assembly.
Wireless data communication, using the mobile telephone network, theGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS), would be used to send the data from the remote place to the desired location.General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is chosen to use for data communication as it provides an always on-line Inter connection without any time based charges. And SMS is a globally accepted wireless service that enables the transmission of alphanumeric messages between mobile subscribers and external systems such as electronic mail, paging, and voice-mail systems. It is astore and forward way of transmitting messages to and from mobiles. This system saves timeand money by eliminating the need of service personal to visit each site for inspection, data collection /logging or makeadjustments.
The figure shows the main concept of our system design.
The above figure shows the overall objective of the project. Sensor at a remote place will detect the temperature. This signal would then be fed to signal conditioner. After that converter will convert this analog signal to digital signal. Then microcontroller will finally send the data using GPRS enable mobile phone to the desired place.
Anyone sitting miles away would be able to know the temperature of the remote location.
Our objective of this project is to achieve an input data file for each of the Data Logger, build a Controller Area network, Collect & manage data in the Control Area Network and Send message to monitoring centers. GSM communication performs flawlessly data transfer from sensor at remote area to the desired location. As there would be wireless based data communication between the user and data logger, this will result into lowest cost compared to all others system. In this project all the database will be stored in a central database in the data logger.This data can then be accessed from any location.
Scope of project:
One of the most promising visions in electronics for the near future is the use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that is, networks consisting of hundreds to thousands of small sensors that will measure, calculate and communicate wirelessly among themselves and to the main systems. The individual sensors will then function on very low power, harvesting the ambient energy around them to operate; so that they can be installed with a very low cost infrastructure .These willkeep working for years without maintenance. Wireless based solutions are now universally accepted. These are very familiar and user friendly systems.
Real-time logging would allow warnings to be flagged to the relevant personnel (e.g. an SMS warning message to the supervisors) and allow corrective action to be taken before the quality and value of the catch is degraded.It can be even further extended for various areas of application like health monitoring system, Home security system, Vehicle Security system etc.This system, with slight modification, can even be used to record the data of patient temperature and heartbeat. The doctor can easily watch the parameters change in the form of graph or numeric on graphical LCD display and analyze these data to get more information about the patient, similarly the examiner can know the physical states or movement parameters of patient, and then it would be helpful to get the correct diagnosis result of patient.
The system can easily collect the sensitive health information remotely and has a good applied prospect in remote healthy hare field.The past decade has seen significant improvements inthe field of consumer electronics. Now various “intelligent” appliances such as cellular phones, air-conditioners, home security devices, indoors localization, etc. are set to realize the concept of a smart home or building. Bluetooth technology, which emerged in late 1990s, can also be used as a solution for this purpose. Bluetooth technology can now be used for home or industrial automation and networking environment. It proposes a network, which contains a remote temperature sensor connected to a microcontroller. In this way, the sensor data are collected and processed by the microcontroller, transmitted via Bluetooth to a fixed or mobile computer. This data is then and published on a web page in order to be accessible for a remote user.
Benefits ofthe Project:
This project would enable us to measure the temperature of remote locations. With slight changes and introducing sensors other parameters like pressure, humidity of remote location can also be measured. This project can also be used in homes and university campuses to find the different parameters (temperature, pressure, humidity etc.) of different rooms sitting in the office.The main benefit lies in the reduction of human effort. Otherwise you had to go to these remote places to find out temperature, pressure etc. The data is recorded in the form of file and it can be used in future.
How to achieve the objective:
Ghent Chart:
In the above chart I have made a detailed plan to achieve my objective. Study of sensors related to temperature measurements are very important. I have alloted seven days to study about these sensors and after going through different kind of sensors I would choose the most appropriate sensor for my project. As this sensor will be placed at remote location it would require less maintinence and long life. Microcontroller is the heart of this project. I would have to study about different kinds of microcontrollers. After studying I would choose the most appropriate kind of microcontroller for my project. I have alloted time period of two weeks for the study of microcontollers.
Data logger is an electronic device to record data over time in relation to some location. Detailed study about data logger would take at least a week. For my project there would be need of programming of microcontroller. It will almost three weeks to learn the required language for this project. After that I will collect the data that would be very needfull in designing my project. It will take at least 8 weeks for reviewing the literarute related to my project. Now I have decided about various components of the project. For practical design of the project I have alloted about 3 weeks. After this I will test my project and in case of any problem I would have another week to make it up.
Cost of the project:
Cost of this project includes buying different components like Sensors, Microcontroller, Data logger circuit etc. for this project. I went to the market and searched for different components of this project. From my observation I made an estimate that total cost for this project would be around $ 500-800.
References:
- ‘Introduction to Microcontrollers’ By Gunther Gridling and Bettina Weiss
- G.Bodic, “Mobile messaging technologies and services”, (West Sussex, England: John Wiley& Sons, 2005)
- DeHennis, A. D., and K. D. Wise. 2005. A wireless micro system for the remote sensing of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. Journal of Micro-electromechanical
Systems 14(1): 12–22
- Moghavvemi, M., K. E. Ng, C. Y. Soo, and S. Y. Tan. 2005. A reliable and economically feasible remote sensing system for temperature and relative humidity measurement. Sensors and Actuators A 117: 181–185.
- U. Patel, C. Babbs, A computer based automated telephonic system to monitor patient progress in home setting, Journal of Medical Systems, vol. 16(2), 1992, 101-112.
- Gibson, G. and Liu, Y., Microcomputers for Engineers and Scientists, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1980
- Herschede, R., “Microcontroller Foundations for Mechatronics Students”, master’s thesis,
Colorado State University, summer 1999
