Controlling Home Appliances using Head Movement and Voice Enabled Messages

Project Abstract / Summary : Introduction :
The main processes involved will be control the electrical appliances at home with the help of head gesture. The RF is w a wireless connection network that is used to connect different devices at a frequency of 415Mhz. For appliance control applications, this RF is widely used. The RF is used for medium range communication, up to 0.5 km. The communication is done with the help of modulation, encoders and decoders. Here we are using the RF communication for controlling home appliances with an audio feedback about the successful execution of the command/head gesture.
The technical brilliance and development in different fields has led to a drastic in our lives, one among them is embedded systems. The application of these devices is to give a controlling capability to a physically challenged person. RF is a wireless connection network that is used to connect different devices at a frequency of 415Mhz. For home automation reasons also this RF is widely used. The RF can communicate with the devices of about 0.5 km. The communication is done with the help of modulation, encoders and decoders. Here we are using the RF communication for controlling home appliances with an audio feedback about the successful execution of the command/head gesture.
There is also a safety measure installed in the system in the form of a switch. The switch is used to prevent accidental actions to act as gestures.
The data is transferred to the electrical system at your home using a RF transmitter with transmits digital data using ASK modulation technique. The modulation is done so that the signal can travel long distances. The electrical appliances are controlled digitally with the help of a relay module.
Also as a confirmation that your command/head gesture is made as an action is acknowledged by an audio feedback saying that your particular device is switched on/off.
Design Elements :
Mainly the block diagram of the project consists of microcontroller, Accelerometer, RF transmitter and receiver, Relay Board, and power supply. In case a home appliance needs to be remotely controlled by a person who is physically disabled, we use a RF network to transmit the signal obtained from the accelerometer which is fixed to your head and values are generated based on the movement of the head. The data transmitted by the RF transmitter will be received by the RF receiver which is wired to the electrical system of a residence. The data received by the RF receiver is given to the microcontroller for further processing. The microcontroller processes the data and based on the result obtained after processing, that particular relay will be switched on or switched off. After the switching action is completed, an audio feedback will be given through a speaker to acknowledge that the action has been completed.
Sensors :
Accelerometer
The ADXL335 is a small, thin, low power, complete 3-axis accel-erometer with signal conditioned voltage outputs. The product measures acceleration with a minimum full-scale range of ±3 g. It can measure the static acceleration of gravity in tilt-sensing applications, as well as dynamic acceleration resulting from motion, shock, or vibration.
The user selects the bandwidth of the accelerometer using the CX, CY, and CZ capacitors at the XOUT, YOUT, and ZOUT pins. Bandwidths can be selected to suit the application, with a range of 0.5 Hz to 1600 Hz for the X and Y axes, and a range of 0.5 Hz to 550 Hz for the Z axis.

FIGURE 4- Block diagram of Accelerometer
APPLICATIONS

• Cost Sensitive
• Low power
• Motion and tilt sensing
• Mobile devices
• Gaming systems
• Disk drive protection
• Image stabilization
• Sports and health devices

Future Enhancement :
We will try to make use of any other technology instead of transmitter/receiver. So that there is no need of any receiver stick on appliances or mobiles. It will make more benefit to physically challenged peoples to operate this technology.Then we will also try to make the maximum use of this technology by multiprocessing at a time i.e. two work can be done at a single head movement.
Also, in a field of MEMS, we will try to use this technology in less voltage in less frequency in order to save power.

Why did you choose to work on this project topic : The main aim of this project is to design and construct a head movement controlled device switching system for physically challenged.
The user can wear this device to head and with the simple head movement’s he can request the basic needs like water, food or medicine by using MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems ) technology.
User can also control the electrical devices like light; fan etc with the help of head movements. MEMS is a Micro Electro Mechanical Sensor which is a highly sensitive sensor and capable of detecting the tilt. This sensor finds the tilt and operates the electrical devices and announces the basic needs depending on tilt. For example if the tilt is to the forward then the device will be “ON” for the first time then next time it will be “OFF”.
In the same way, if the tilt is to the left side then another device is going to be controlled. The tilt is in left side or right side direction the related need will be announced. This device is very helpful for paralysis and physically challenged persons. This device is portable and this system operation is entirely driven by wireless technology. User can wear it to his head like a band and can operate it by tilting the MEMS sensor.
This project makes use of a Relay for switching the devices and APR-9600 voice chip for audio announcements and Micro controller, which is programmed, with the help of embedded C instructions. This microcontroller is capable of communicating with transmitter and receiver modules.
The MEMS based sensor detects the tilt and provides the information to the microcontroller (on board computer) and the controller judges whether the instruction is right movement or left movement instruction and controls the operation respectively.

Project Category : Electrical / Electronics / Communication
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Institute/College Name: St.Francis High School
City: Mumbai
State: Maharashtra
Participating Team From: Second Year