NetHops

Computer Based Wireless Switching System

noreply@blogger.com (Zion Bethel Deala-Cayao) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:26:00 +0000

Development of a Computer Based Wireless Switching System.

The continuing demand for fast, convenient and effective means of technology has affected every levels of society. Such technology commands a high presence and regard to wireless technology. Never in the history of mankind has the continuous demand for wireless technology been higher.

Tighter economics is also the determinant in the surge for convenient systems that will eliminate manpower and time.

The current trend if industries is to go wireless. The cheap value wireless medium, usually air is much more effective than the normal wires. Although the bulk of the investment is usually at the beginning, a lot of companies prefer wireless systems since maintenance and troubleshooting is easier.

The purpose of the study is to develop a system that will fuse convenience, lower electricity consumption and technology. Thus, this project was undertaken by the researchers. The system is composed of a software that contains the user interface, a transmitter and a receiver which is connected to the load. The system enables anyone to control up to 112 outputs wireless via interfacing. The software shows 3D graphics that simulates the whole controlled topography. With this, the user can see clearly which room of building to turn off. The project is divided into seven segments with each segment having different functions.

Based on the results of the evaluation conducted in terms of economic viability, appearance, materials used, performance and application, the overall rating shows favorably high. This finding shows that the system has met the standards of several evaluators. More importantly, it shows the effectiveness of the system in providing wireless switching control.

Manning a complex building that spans acres can be taxing. Not only does one has to worry about the security, monitoring the whole place can be devastating.

Furthermore, some companies, due to tighter economics are bent on cheaper and reliable systems that not only will eliminate additional manpower, but would also prove valuable.

Everything leads to convenience and cheapness in industries. Companies are more mindful of investing in ventures that will prove cheaper and efficient in the future that settle on a manual technology that jeopardizes the companies' funds and tests the patience of the people who man it.

As such, the need for a wireless switching system that will eliminate time-consuming troubleshooting due to lengthy cables came to be. Cables are also prone to wear and tear, which is prolonged use can affect the viability of the switching system. This will become more of a burden than of a help. A wireless switching system is easier to repair because it will have a centralized transmitter and more orderly distribution of lines and controls. Secondly, going for a wireless system will eliminate the time element, a much more expensive luxury in industries and fund-stricken institutions. Thirdly, the bulk of expenses in investing in wireless switching system is only at the construction period. Maintenance and repair cost is therefore reduced. And last, a wireless switching system will follow the trend nowadays, the continuing development of wireless automation.

Industries right now sees the need to empower a mobile workforce. Currently, there is a great demand for wireless solutions that will offer the same degree of effectiveness and a greater degree of convenience. This urgency parallels the industries' efforts to cut on maintenance and labor.

Due to this, the researchers saw the opportunity to develop a system that will fuse both convenience and cheapness. The ability to control the power of a whole complex will not also be convenient but also efficient. The development of a Wireless Switching System will also help in energy conservation.

This project aims to develop a computer based wireless switching system. Specifically, the project aims to:

1. Develop a transmitter and receiver for wireless transmission.

2. Control the switching system via the computer through interfacing.

3. Create model for system operation.

This project covers the full control of all appliances/equipment (lights, air conditioner, fun, etc) used in a large building or facility. It shall have a 50-100 m indoor and 100-200 m outdoor range. The project is also capable of automatic operation.

It is only limited to control up to 112 output devices. Likewise, the quality of signal transmission depends on the weather condition. The Computer Based Wireless Switching System is very much susceptible to interference. This is a great factor that affects overall system performance.

Wireless Centralized Switch for Residential, Commercial and Industrial Uses

noreply@blogger.com (Zion Bethel Deala-Cayao) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:30:00 +0000

Development of a Wireless Centralized Switch for Residential, Commercial and Industrial Uses.

The appreciation of convenience and luxury as a natural part of everyday existence stems not from negative traits like laziness or reckless spending rather the real problem of time constraint as well as the forgetfulness of people.

The wireless centralized switch for residential, commercial, and industrial uses solves several problems of wasting time, excessive or wasteful power consumption, and unauthorized use of electrical appliances. This project was primarily constructed to provide convenience, efficiency and control over an owner's property.

The project has a hand held remote control for mobility within the average radial distance of recommended which will enable the user to control thirty (30)individual lighting or appliances and an encased receiver which is to be installed before all electrical wiring to be controlled.

The acceptability of the Wireless Centralized Switch for Appliances was evaluated by 20 respondents in terms of accuracy, reliability, functionality, efficiency, portability and design. An overall mean of 4.55 signifies that the project is acceptable. It is recommended by the researchers to provide an Uninterrupted Power Supply or UPS, a power-on-delay in case of brown-outs and power fluctuations, and an interface for a status report pertaining to the on-state or off-state of the appliance controlled as additional features which could lead to improvement by other researchers.

In these times of technological innovations and advancements in science, many home and office owners have come to appreciate convenience and luxury as a natural part of their everyday existence. It is necessary to emphasize that this appreciation stems not from negative traits like laziness or reckless spending rather the real problem of time constraints as well as the forgetfulness of people.

It cannot be avoided that sometimes, people will leave the house and forget that the lights have not been turned off or the radio still played. It is not only a waste of power and money but also a waste of time if one opts to go back home and turn off everything that he has forgotten to turn off.

Likewise, it is also possible that any individual, upon arriving home, would feel so exhausted that all he could think about is having a nice long nap in his air-conditioned room. It would be great if the air-conditioner was already turned on by the time he arrives.

The project was not only developed for the home, but it also has, valid uses in offices, business establishments or commercial or industrial buildings. Business owners will have more control over power consumption within their properties since they can switch on or switch off all electrical appliances in the area. The appliances may be turned on only during working hours and turned off as soon as work ends.

Community institutions like schools or hospitals, even hotels or just about buildings with electrical appliances, may also benefit from this project.

The centralized switch for residential, commercial, and industrial uses solves several problems of wasting time, excessive or wasteful power consumption, and unauthorized use of electrical appliances. This will provide convenience, efficiency and control over an owner's property.

The objective of this project is to develop a wireless centralized switch for Centralized switch for residential, commercial, and industrial uses.

Specifically, this project will;

1. allow users to manage several electrical appliances at a specific distance using a portable remote control.

2. enable business owners to turn on or turn off the power supply of their establishments.

3. provide users with a cost-saving and energy-saving means to manage their appliances.

This project is concerned with the switching on and switching off of appliances with an average of one hundred (100) meters using a battery-operated remote control. The range may vary depending on terrain and interference.

The remote control is wireless and will depend on the transmitted frequencies sent by the transmitter to turn on or turn off a specific switch as directed by the user.

Speech Recognition Switching Device

noreply@blogger.com (Zion Bethel Deala-Cayao) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:03:00 +0000

Development of a Speech Recognition Switching Device.

Inventions and innovations are the two major reasons of the rising technology that we are experiencing nowadays. As the technology moves forward, it is inevitable that automatic switching has become a need in providing efficient controls.

The purpose of the study is to develop a device that will provide switching of electrical devices through speech recognition technology. The device is composed of PIC Micro 16F84 interfaced to the 74154 Controlling Integrated Circuit in operating the speech recognition device using Microphone and HM2007 integrated circuit.

Based from the result of the evaluation conducted in terms of usefulness, operability, performance, reliability, appearance, portability and safety, the overall score shows an outstanding rating. This rating shows that the developed device is effective in providing automatic switching.

The development of Remote Control made a great impact to the competitive world of technology; it was phenomenal. The researchers declare it as one of the inventions that really gave justice to the thought that "TECHNOLOGY MAKES LIFE EASY". It had contributed much to the rapid growth of our busy living, thus it was accepted worldwide. In fact, this has been a catalyst for industries to produce home appliances and devices with remote controls. For the researchers, watching television wouldn't be that relaxing without remote control. Imagine how inconvenient is to switch channels without remote controls? Definitely it really served the need of every individual.

But in this fast changing world of ours, it is undeniable that remote controls are not that sufficient to comply with our needs. Take a look at some of the given situations. Imagine if you are in an office typing immediate reports for your boss then you are also ask to open the doors; receive fax; switch on the lights, air conditions and other electrical devices. Another situation, you are in the kitchen and cooking some dishes and you want to turn on your television and turn off the music on next room while you saute the food without leaving your stove on. These situations call for a multi-tasked device where in you can do these tasks at the same time without interruptions.

In view of those situations, the researchers were motivated to conduct this study. Sensors came out as the first option but presently sensors are already popular in the market and commonly used in the industry. So another idea came out, Sound or Speech Recognition Circuits influenced by voice tags, a special feature of Nokia cellular phones. With that thought, a Speech Recognition Circuit for controlling and switching devices for an office was conceptualized. This is an easy and efficient switching system which is truly a technology that will make our task easy and comfortable.

In the near future, the researchers believe that speech will be the method for controlling appliances, toys, tools, computers and robots. There is a huge commercial market waiting for this technology to mature. To be able to control and operate an appliance by speaking to it makes it easier to work with the device while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness. At most basic level, speech commands allow the user to perform parallel tasks while continuing to work with other computer appliances and instrument.

With that strong perception, the researchers find it advantageous for a competitive company that offers many services to use this technology. Control offices or server rooms will really appreciate this innovation to have an easy access to controls in their switching system. In residential homes, households can use this for easy access to their appliances even with their hands full.

The primary objective of this study is to develop and construct a Speech Recognition Switching Device using latest Integrated Circuits (IC) and Memory Storing Components such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) interfaced to PIC Micro Controlling Circuit.

Specifically, this study aims:

1. To provide speech recognition switching system in an office;

2. To control the power switching and operate electrical devices;

3. To interface PIC Micro 16F84 to the 74154 Controlling Integrated Circuit in operating the speech recognition device using Microphone and HM2007 integrated circuit;

4. To recognize speech or voice signals as input and be converted to a voltage signal to implement a certain switching command.

The study is limited to the development of a speech recognition switching device specifically to on and off electrical devices or close and open electrical connections. This speech recognition device could only accommodate 10 outputs for electrical devices. This device responds only to definite train word or group of words stored in the memory by an individual who will be using the system.

SMS (Short-Messaging-Service) Controlled Home Automation and Monitoring System

noreply@blogger.com (Zion Bethel Deala-Cayao) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:30:00 +0000

Development of an SMS (Short-Messaging-Service) Controlled Home Automation and Monitoring System.

Providing the modern homeowner with security, control and convenience is what drove the researchers to develop the SMS (Short Message Service) - Controlled Home Automation and Monitoring System.

It is a system which acts as a caretaker of a home; that is, it informs the home owner of any security breach of the house, provides information on the electrical status of the house, informs the homeowner of fire or emergency and enables the homeowner to control anything in the house which is electrically operated. All of this is done by the system with the utilization of a conveniently hand-held cellular phone. These cellular phones can be carried anywhere therefore providing the homeowner with control of his house wherever he may go.

One of the limitations found would be that if the cellular phone has no network signal, it cannot receive or transmit data. Therefore the system could not send predefined input messages and accept commands coming from the homeowner.

Cellular phone operated systems already exist but mostly with the use of a Personal Computer as the processing device. The developers replaced this energy consuming appliance with a single-chip micro controller which is relatively small in size, stable, battery operated and consumes less energy.

Extensive research was done before the fabrication and development of the system. It took the researchers seven months to conceptualize and research on the project. Fabrication and development was done in three months. Testing procedures were done before subjecting the system to a qualitative evaluation to ensure that the objectives of the system are met. The criteria for evaluation consist of the system's usefulness, operability, performance reliability, appearance, safety, compatibility, sturdiness, reparability, portability, cost and service. The system is rated as excellent, very satisfactory, satisfactory, needs improvement and poor. The qualitative evaluation yielded excellent results.

Thus, it is finally concluded that after experimenting, testing and evaluation, the system is 100% functional. Recommendations for the improvement of the system are replacement of relays with high-speed switching devices, integration of enhancement peripherals like LCD display and keyboards, optimizing the program for the micro controller and port expansion.

The modern homeowner in this modern world values three important elements. That is, convenience, security and control. The homeowner wants everything to be convenient. Just a snap of the finger and the homeowner wants things to be done. The homeowner wants his investments to be secured. The homeowner sees to it that his investments are in good hands and would not just easily be taken away. The homeowner wants to be in control of everything. Whenever an error occurs, the homeowner wants it to be rectified first hand.

The homeowner's house is the homeowner's home. It is the homeowner's castle. Everything the homeowner built, everything the homeowner worked for is symbolized in this structure. Losing a home or any part inside it is a big loss. These losses are usually attributed to fire or burglary. Fire is usually caused by faulty electrical wiring, faulty electronics, or most of the times overheating of an appliance which was not turned off. When the homeowner leaves the house for work the homeowner sleeps at night, the house is vulnerable to these incidents.

Sure the homeowner could install burglar alarms, fire alarms or any other form of alarm which will call the homeowner's attention. But these alarms will only call the homeowner's attention if the homeowner is in the vicinity of the house. If the homeowner is in any other place, like the mall, it would be impossible for these alarm systems to call the homeowner's attention. And so far as home control is concerned, there are some devices or equipment in the market which gives the homeowner remote control but of only one appliance; that is one remote for each appliance. Now that would be very inconvenient because there are several appliances in the house and each remote for a specific appliance would have to be carried by the homeowner.

To integrate all of those stated above into a system which will provide security and control in the most convenient way is what motivated the designers to do this research project.

The objective of this project is to construct a system which will provide security and control to the homeowner's home in a convenient way. This is done by equipping the home with artificial intelligence. This artificial intelligence will have the power to monitor the home and inform the homeowner of any activity that is out of the norm. Through this system, the homeowner will have the power to rectify or respond if such things happen.

Specifically, these correlated actions can be achieved by creating a system that will:

1. monitor the status of the homeowner's windows, doors, or any entry point (open/close)

2. monitor the temperature of the homeowner's home

3. monitor the status of the homeowner's electrical and electronic equipments (on/off)

4. provide the status of the above when the homeowner wants it to

5. call the homeowner's attention if any of the above was breached, altered or in any way does not conform to what the homeowner wants it to be

6. conveniently provide control or response to the homeowner in order to rectify any alterations made above.

Like any other system, this system has also its scope and limitations. The messages are limited by size. An SMS message can't exceed 160 characters. That is, text commands should only be limited to 160 characters.

For the cellular phone, generally, non-repairable internal corrosion of parts results if the phone gets wet or wet hands are used to push the buttons. Extreme heat can damage the battery or the cell-phone electronics. Extreme cold may cause a momentary loss of the screen display.

The System uses the Nokia 6210 GSM Modem. It operates at 220 volts. It uses 12Vdc as secondary power supply for electronic locks. Nokia 6210 uses 3.6Vdc as backup battery.

The system will operate as long as it is reached by the provider's signal. Both the Nokia Cellular Phone (system module) and control/monitor Cellular Phone (one used by homeowner) must have airtime balances.

All modules, appliances and peripherals controlled by the system must be always on the "on" state in order for the system to determine each of the devices electrical status. The Prototype system is designed to work in the Philippines only.

Carrier-Operated Relay for VHF Repeater

noreply@blogger.com (Zion Bethel Deala-Cayao) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:59:00 +0000

Development of Carrier-Operated Relay for VHF Repeater: An Introduction.

Portable VHF two-way radios operate at low power thereby reducing optimum range of communication. This limited range is extended with the installation of a VHF repeater system. But, commercially available repeaters are expensive.

The Carrier-Operated Relay (COR) for VHF repeater is developed to primarily generate a large amount of savings. It is interface to a build-it-yourself repeater. It also eliminates splatting or desensitization that reduces sensitivity of the receiver; and monitors overheating of the repeater transmitter that could damage the transmitter itself. Since the COR operates on the mechanical switching of the relay, contact closure creates wear and tear that deteriorates relay over years of operation. The project is composed of different circuit modules which are assembled inside a single steel casing. Surface mount soldering technique is employed to eliminate the need of drilling for electronic component's terminal.

The acceptability of the project is evaluated using qualitative survey method. Thirty respondents were asked to rate the project after they were shown the project demonstration and testing. The survey yielded a very satisfactory rating.

Based from the results of the survey and the outcome of the tests conducted on the project, it is concluded that the Carrier-Operated Relay (COR) for VHF repeater is acceptable and operational. However, a single antenna for both transmission and reception is ideal for the repeater system. Also, installation of brush-less fan is considered for an improved heat dissipation. The utilization of Short Messaging Services (SMS) to access the repeater remotely is commendable instead of a dial-up call. Regular charging of cellular phones battery is likely observed to facilitate access of the repeater system anytime and anywhere.

In this communication age, telecommunication technologies span from basic connectivity to complex adaptability. Its ever-evolving technology became ever more dynamic with the advent of mobile phones. Thereat, communication boundaries are crushed. Access to the bigger world has been opened. Communication opportunities previously unavailable in a certain area are now bridged through cell sites installations. The state-of-the-art telecommunication gadgets underwent a shift in social status to answer the growing individual demands. Consequently, cellular phones are indispensable items of today's existence due to the significant role of communication.

However, in case of great distress or misfortune, such as fire, flood, earthquake typhoon and other disastrous accidents which require rescue operations, constant communication is aptly observed. Cellular phones for reasons of unfit application and unsuitable condition fail to wholly accommodate the communication need in this aspect. Apparently, it would be impractical and unwise to stay connected at frequent times due to it charged rate when utilized.

Unforeseen event or condition requires prompt action. The standard operating procedures to be complied by the rescuer present on the scene is to call for assistance from other members of the rescue groups. This is favorably done with the aid of the two-way radios or transceiver that performs an important function in establishing communication between mobile stations at any hasty impulse.

On the other hand, portable transceiver units operate at low power thus; the optimum range of communication is reduced. This means a limited area of coverage that causes restrictions on the part of the user to communicate outside his radios coverage. This uncompromising condition which also applicable to military operation at war is solved with the institution of the repeater system. A good repeater extends the transceiver operation in terms of range and functionality. Thereby, providing ease for rescuers and militaries to attend their duties quickly and efficiently in giving assistance to different affected areas at times of calamities and state emergencies. But, a complete installation of a commercially available repeater system is a big factor in terms of cost to be reckoned by volunteers of rescue groups who do not have enough funds to avail it.

All these problems discussed on every detailed angle have been floating on the air until the time it was thought of . That is when a commencement of this study was raised and developed.

A good Carrier-Operated-Relay unit (COR) interfaced in the VHF repeater system shall facilitate reliable service:

Specifically the study aims:

1. To develop a low cost COR for a "build-it-yourself" repeater.

2. To eliminate splatting or desensitization that consequently reduces the receiver's sensitivity.

3. To monitor overheating of the repeater transmitter that would cause transmitter failure.

The Carrier-Operated-Relay (COR) operates under a frequency preferred by the user provided the said frequency is within the VHF band. The COR circuit operates on its built-in 12 volts regulated power supply that has the capacity to deliver 15 amperes of current to ensure the proper operation of the entire circuit including the high power repeater transmitter. Its thermostat sensor monitors the amount of heat generated by the repeater transmitter during retransmission. Thus, preventing it from overheating due to cases where the repeater system is being keyed by unauthorized individuals. It also offers optional remote accessing to the repeater system with the aid of a cellular mobile phone. However, this feature will not function if the cellphone battery is empty. Since the COR operates on the mechanical switching of the contact relay, one worst-case scenario is when mechanical failure occurs that would cause transmitter failure.