Abstract:
This work presents the design and implementation of a secured smart home switching system based on wireless communications. Traditional Building Switching Systems (TBSS) used in buildings face many problems such as increasing electricity prices, insecure wall sockets, and switches that are vulnerable to misuse. These problems pose inconveniences for the residents of such buildings. As a result, in both private and public buildings, there is a desire to reduce electric usage, automate appliances, and move towards optimizing the electricity usage of buildings. As such, a novel secured smart home switching system is proposed. The proposed secured smart home switching system is intended to integrate physical security (access control) of a building's electricity, renewable energy harvesting, and energy storage for the system's active electronic components. The work gives two contributions to the design of smart home systems. Firstly, practical design and implementation of physical security for a building's power supply which adds a locking feature such that only authorized personnel can alter the power state of the smart sockets and smart switches in a building. Secondly, a model of energy harvesting and storage system for the active electronic components and wireless communication of the system. The results of the research produced an implementation of the system. The secured switching system performed as intended in adding access control toa building's el ctricity. Installing the secured smart home switching system enables home and building owners to remotely through SMS and locally turn on or off electricity to appliances and lock them to prevent unauthorized use of the buildings' electricity. The renewable energy harvesting system provides renewable energy as intended but consequently has high implementation costs. The energy harvesting system provides an energy harvesting and storage system to remove the operational costs of the smart sockets and switches from a home user electricity bill, but consequently has high implementation costs and is better integrated into an off-grid system.
