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Remote Monitoring and Control System Essay Remote Monitoring and Controlling System Based on ZigBee Networks Soyoung Hwang and Donghui Yu* Department of Multimedia Engineering, Catholic University of Pusan, South Korea {soyoung, dhyu}@cup.ac.kr Abstract Thanks to the rapid development of information technology and the growth of the Internet through high speed networks, network environments have even been changed from office oriented environments based on business industries and public institutions to the interconnection of digital electronics in home networks. Home network based applications are very diverse and the remote monitoring and control areas have been studied. Recently, ZigBee has become one of the most promising technologies for home networks. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of networking, security and application software layers using small, low-power, low data rate communication technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard for personal area networks. Moreover, owing to the rapid growth of mobile technology, highperformance smartphones are widespread and in increasing cases are utilized as a terminal device. In this paper, we propose the design and implementation of a remote monitoring and controlling system using ZigBee networks. This system targets a home network. Web services and a smartphone are used for the client system to monitor and control the home. Keywords: remote monitoring, ZigBee networks, remote control, smartphone, web service 1. Introduction Thanks to the rapid development of information technology and growth of the Internet through high speed networks, network environments have even been changed from office oriented environments based on business industries and public institutions to the interconnection of digital electronics in the home networks. Home network based applications are very diverse and the remote monitoring and control areas have been studied. Recently, ZigBee has become one of the most promising technologies for home networks. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of networking, security and application software layers using small, low-power, low data rate communication technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard for personal area networks. There have been various studies on ZigBee based home networks. To realize remote home automation based on ZigBee, implementation issues of home gateway and device nodes are proposed in [1]. It presents hardware platform consideration and software implementation for each of them. Similarly, hardware design issues are discussed for various home devices such as wireless communications transceiver modules base, USB expansion base and control switches for electrical appliances in a room [2]. Also, an effective architecture for dynamic integration of ad hoc ZigBee home network devices into OSGi (Open Service Gateway Initiative)-based home gateways is discussed. An ad hoc ZigBee home network device is represented by a device proxy service in the proposed architecture so that it can be dynamically registered, discovered, accessed and unregistered just like a common OSGi service [3]. [4] gives a way to construct ZigBee wireless sensor networks and implement remote monitoring and control by a GSM module. [5] describes the structure composition of the smar t home system based on ZigBee and gives a system design concept and implementation approach. Moreover, owing to the rapid growth of mobile technology, highperformance smartphones are widespread and in increasing cases they are utilized as a terminal device. In this paper, we propose design and implementation of a remote monitoring and controlling system using ZigBee networks. This system is targeting the home network. Web service and a smartphone are used for the client system to monitor and control the home. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee specifications are discussed as background technologies. Section 3 describes design issues of remote monitoring and controlling systems. Next, implementation results are included in Section 4. Finally, we conclude this paper in Section 5. 2. Background Technologies 2.1. IEEE 802.15.4 IEEE 802.15 is a working group for the standardization of WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network). IEEE 802.15.4 is one of the seven task groups which are included in it. The first edition of the 802.15.4 standard was released in May 2003. IEEE 802.15.4 specifies the physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) for low-rate WPAN. WPANs are used to convey information over relatively short distances. It focuses on low-cost, low-speed ubiquitous communication between devices. Unlike wireless local area networks (WLANs), connections effected via WPANs involve little or no infrastructure. This feature allows small, power-efficient, inexpensive solutions to be implemented for a wide range of devices. The basic framework conceives a 10-meter communication range with a transfer rate of 250 kbit/s. Important features include real-time suitability by reservation of guaranteed time slots, collision avoidance through CSMA/CA and integrated support for secure communications. Devices also include power management functions such as link quality and energy detection [6]. Several standardized and proprietary network layer protocols run over 802.15.4-based networks, including IEEE 802.15.5, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Wireless HART, and ISA100.11a. Potential application areas include the following: sensors, actuators, interactive toys, remote control, industry networks, home automation and so on. 2.2. ZigBee ZigBee is a standards-based technology that addresses the unique requirements of most remote monitoring and control and sensory network applications. ZigBee builds upon the physical layer and medium access control defined in IEEE 802.15.4 for low-rate WPANs. The specification goes on to complete the standard by adding four main components: network layer, application layer, ZigBee device objects (ZDOs) and manufacturer defined application objects which allow for customization and favor total integration. The initial markets for ZigBee included Consumer Electronics, Energy Management and Efficiency, Health Care, Home Automation, Telecommunication Services, Building Automation, and Industrial Automation. The core ZigBee specifications define smart, costeffective and energy-efficient mesh networks. It is a self-configuring, self-healing system of redundant, low-cost, very low-power nodes. ZigBee is available as two feature sets, ZigBee PRO and ZigBee. Both feature sets define how the ZigBee mesh networks operate [7]. 2.3. Home Network Technologies A home network is a residential local area network (LAN) for communication between digital devices typically deployed in the home, usually a small number of personal computers and accessories, mobile computing devices, mobile phones, digital TVs, PDAs and so on. An important function is the sharing of Internet access, often a broadband service provisioned by fiber-to-the-home or via Cable Internet access, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or mobile broadband by Internet service providers (ISPs). In a broader sense, it includes software and services for integration and operation of information appliances in addition to wired or wireless network devices. Home networking technologies can be classified into two kinds: wired and wireless. The telephone, power-line, Ethernet and IEEE 1394 exist as wired home network technologies. As wireless home network technologies, wireless LAN, HomeRF, HyperLAN, Bluetooth, UWB (Ultra Wide Band) and ZigBee are representative. Since wireless networking solutions based on the spread of mobile devices have emerged they can be applied to home networks also. 3. Design of Remote Monitoring and Controlling System This section deals with the design of remote monitoring and controlling systems. To design a system, we considered a home automation network. The system architecture is presented in Figure 1. Figure 1. System Architecture The system consists of a real-time home monitoring sub-system and a light control subsystem. A home server with a home camera caters for home status through video to client. It also works as a home gateway to provide interoperability between the heterogeneous ZigBee and Internet and local and remote control over the home’s light devices through the light control sub-system. A client can access the home server through a web service or smartphone. The client can monitor home status through a real-time monitoring sub-system and control the lights through the 3.1. Real-time Monitoring Sub-system The real-time monitoring sub-system captures images of the area of the home to be monitored and serves the client who accesses the server through the web or a smartphone. Figure 2. Operation Processes of Real-time Monitoring Sub-system Figure 2 shows the operation process of the real-time monitoring sub-system. The server finds a video device and captures images. Then, it generates captured data and transforms the data format for RTP communication. After that, it generates the session manager and streams media data to the client. A client using the web or a smartphone generates the session manager and connects to the server. Then, it receives media data and displays the video. In this way, the client can monitor the in-home status in real-time. 3.2. Light Control Sub-system Light control sub-system is composed of a server which works as a gateway, ZigBee coordinator, end-device, switch node and a light as shown in Figure 3. The operation of the sub-system is as follows. ï‚Ÿ A client program maintains a user interface which contains an on/off control panel. ï‚Ÿ A server which works as a gateway receives control commands from the client and relays the command to the ZigBee coordinator through the RS-232C serial communication. ï‚Ÿ The coordinator relays the control command which is received form the server to the end device through RF communication. ï‚Ÿ The end device receives the command from the coordinator and controls the port of the switch node. The switch node controls the switch of the light. ZigBee based remote controlling can be applied in several ways. In this paper, we considered a simple light control and adopted it for a remote control sub-system. 4. Implementation Results In this section we discuss implementation results of a real-time remote monitoring and controlling system. The server contains a web-cam and the monitoring and controlling programs are implemented using Java. Web-based remote monitoring with video capture, data encoding and RTP communication are implemented using JMF (Java Media Framework) which is a multimedia extension API of Java. A client using web service can access the server after user authentication. Of the ZigBee networks, we use two Chipcon CC2420DB evaluation boards with CC2420s (IEEE 802.15.4 radios) accompanying Z-Stack [8, 9, 10]. One is configured as a coordinator and the other is configured as an end-device. When the coordinator starts, it initializes all internal ports and waits for control commands from the home server. If the home server sends a control command to the coordinator through the serial communication, the coordinator receives the command and sends it directly to the end-device through RF communication. The end device receives the control command from the coordinator and controls the switch node. Figure 4. Implementation Result using Web Service Figure 4 shows the implementation results using web service. A client can access the server after user log-in. The client can monitor the rooms status and control the lights. In the figure, the client turns off the light. The implementation results using a smartphone are shown in figure 5. The client program is implemented on the android platform. Figure 5. Implementation Result using Smartphone As shown in the results, a client can monitor the in-home status in real-time and send light control commands using the control button on the smartphone. 5. Concluding Remarks Recently, the home environment has seen a rapid introduction of networked digital technology. This technology offers new and exciting opportunities to increase the connectivity of devices within the home for the purpose of home automation. Moreover, with the rapid expansion of the Internet, there is the added potential for the remote control and monitoring of such networked devices. ZigBee has become one of the most promising technologies for home networks. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of networking, security and application software layers using small, low-power, low data rate communication technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard for personal area networks. Moreover, owing to the rapid growth of mobile technology, highperformance smartphones are widespread and in increasing cases they are being utilized as a terminal device. This paper proposes design and implementation of a remote monitoring and controlling system based on ZigBee networks. Real-time remote monitoring is implemented with JMF which is a multimedia extension API of Java. The remote controlling is implemented using ZigBee networks. The client program in a smartphone is implemented on the android platform. Clients can monitor their homes and send light control commands using the web or a smartphone. This system can be applied in many areas such as elderly protecting systems, cultural heritage or forest fire monitoring systems, managing systems for agricultural cultivation and so on. As a future work, we consider expansion of the system using various sensors and actuators. References [1] Z. Shunyang X. Du, J. Yongping and W. Riming, â€Å"Realization of Home Remote Control Network Based on ZigBee†, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments, (2007), August 16-18, Xian, China. [2] A Fang, X. Xu, W. Yang and L. Zhang, â€Å"The Realization of Intelligent Home by ZigBee Wireless Network Technology†, Proceedings of the 2009 Pacific-Asia Conference on Circuit, Communications and System, (2009), May 16-17, Chengdu, China. [3] Y. Ha, â€Å"Dynamic Integration of Zigbee Home Networks into Home Gateways Using OSGi Service Registry†, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 55, no. 2, (2009). [4] J. W. H. Qin, â€Å"The Design of Wireless Intelligent Home System Base on ZigBee†, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Communication Technology, (2008), November 10-12, Hangzhou, China. [5] D. Yan and Z. Dan, â€Å"ZigBee-based Smart Home System Design†, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering, (2010), August 20-22, Chengdu, China. [6] IEEE 802.15.4: Wireless medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY)specification for low-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs), (2006). [7] ZigBee Specification,(2008), Document 053474r17,ZigBee Alliance. [8] Figure 8 Wireless, ZigBee Implementer’s Guide, (2005). [9] Figure 8 Wireless, Z-Stack User’s Guide for the CC2420DB Board, (2005). [10] Figure 8 Wireless, Z-Stack/Z-Tool Serial Port Interface, (2005).