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This makes M2M a very good solution for many problems such as reducing the cost (e.g. the
cost of the labors that control or check the machine will be reduced by controlling and checking
the machine remotely), and reducing the time of monitoring and controlling the machine
(especially when the machine is very far, the time to get to the machine is very long compared to
a single click or sending a simple text message). Machines and devices could be vending
machines, elevators, pumps, meters, traffic lights, and displays [1]. These need to be constantly
monitored, controlled, have information collected from them and sent to them, parameters set
and online transactions conducted in order to work effectively.

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This system is based on GSM network technology for transmission of SMS from sender to
receiver. SMS sending and receiving is used for ubiquitous access of appliances and allowing
breach control at home.

The system proposes two sub-systems namely appliance control subsystem and security alert
subsystem. The Appliance control subsystem enables the user to controlhome appliances
remotely whereas the security alert subsystem provides the remote securitymonitoring. The
system is capable enough to instruct a user via SMS from a specific cell number tochange the
condition of the home appliance according to the user¶s needs and requirements. Thesecond
aspect is that of security alert which is achieved in a way that on the detection of intrusionthe
system allows automatic generation of SMS thus alerting the user against security risk.

HACS system consists of the following components (shown in Figure 1):-

: This unit contains the software components such as the HACS System through which
theappliances are controlled and home security is monitored.

 : It is a hardware component that allows the capability to send and receive SMS
toand from the system. The communication with the system takes place via RS232 serial port.
    : Cellular phone containing SIM card has a specific number through which
communicationtakes place. The device communicates with the GSM Modem via radio
frequency.Mobile user transmits SMS using GSM technology.

Framework overview

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The working of HACS model (shown in Figure 1) is explained:-

: PC being the main module has HACS system installed on it. The two subsystems; one being
appliances control is responsible for ubiquitous access of appliances and the second subsystem
being security alert is responsible for security intrusion detection. Both subsystems work on
GSM technology for transmission of instructions from sender to receiver.

  : GSM modem is a plug and play device and is attached to the PC which then
communicates with the PC via RS232 port. GSM modem is a bridge responsible for enabling/
disabling of SMS capability.

   : Mobile device communicates with the GSM Modem via radio waves. The mode of
communication is wireless and mechanism works on the GSM technology. Cell phone has a SIM
card and a GSM subscription. This cell phone number is configured on the system. User
transmits instructions via SMS and the system takes action against those instructions.

 
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HACS system has many advantages such as remote controlling of home appliances,
availabilityand ease of users. The user can get alerts anywhere through the GSM technology thus
making thesystem location independent. The system contains low cost components easily
available whichcuts down the overall system cost.

The system alerts the user about intrusion via SMS thereby providing home security and it
allows secureaccess due to pre-configured number. It provides ease of deployment due to
wireless mode of communication.

GSM technology provides the benefit that the system is accessible in remote areas aswell. The
system reliability increases due to the useful features such as battery level checking,charging
status and signal strength indicating the system about threats. The system integration issimple
and is also scalable and extensible. The auto-configuration capability allows the systemauto
enabling/disabling of certain features.


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The system functionality is based on GSM technology so the technological constraints such as
lack of a spread spectrum technology, the data packets are not coded appropriately thus loss of
data, and interconnect challenge (Number Portability (NP)) where traffic can be routed to the
wrong service provider, which can lead to costly inefficiencies, must bekept in mind. The system
is vulnerable to power failure but this disruption can be avoided by attachingthe voltage source
thus allowing users to avail the great advantage of this system.

However, such constraints can be overcome by designing a home automation system that does
not only rely on GSM technology, but also on other prevailing technologies like GPRS and 3G
technologies. For power problems, a battery backup can be installed for continuous service
delivery in cases of power outbreaks.
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This system uses an integrated control architecture for HA system based on the multi-agent
concept. This architecture is composed of five main components, respectively, named
 space
agents, function agents, personal preference agents, environment variables sever, and resource
access right control kernel.

In the following, Figure 2.1 gives an overview of the integrated HA system.

Figure: Overview of the integrated control architecture

Each of the five components has its special responsibility to handle particular kind of job.

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Referring to the architecture as shown in Figure 2.1above, space agents are the only components
that are physically connected to the real electronic appliances (EAs). Some of the responsibilities
of the space agents include the following:

Maintain and update information of electronic appliances which are attached in this zone

Because the configuration of home environment is always dynamic, the space agents naturally
must be able to keep and update information of EAs in this zone.

Report 

change to the Resource Access Right Control Kernel

Receive control commands for electronic appliances

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Inhabitants always expect their HA system to achievevarious control goals, for example,
security, alarm, andenergy saving. In the proposed architecture, we claim thatinhabitants can
make this system adaptable and fit tovarious environments. In order to establish this feature,
animportant component called ³function agent´ is proposed.

The function agents have the following responsibilities:

Interpret low level device: data to high level meaningfulcontext (named condition variable)
describing the homeenvironment

Function agents generate condition variables, and every function agent has different condition
variables.

According to this definition, function agents must havesome expertise in it. It is obviously that
function agentshave ability to provide some meaningful information byanalyzing the data
collected from related EAs.

Accomplish some complex tasks and control real electronic appliances

Because each function agent has some special expertise, it can handle several u  of tasks
according to the assigned expertise.

 
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The personal preference agent is a special mechanism that preserves the personal preference,
because a home environment usually has many inhabitants and each person has his particular
preference.
p ideal HA system should claim that each inhabitant is quite satisfied with use of
this architecture. It means that different person needs different automation functions. In order to
realize   concept, a component called personal preference agent is proposed to preserve the
personal preference in the integrated HA architecture.

The personal preference agents have the following responsibility:

Execute control strategy according to preference

Every personal preference agent represents individual inhabitant preferences. Naturally, the most
important job of the personal preference agents is to execute the control strategy of this personal
preference agent.

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The resource access right control kernel is a mechanism that manages the communication among
all components in the architecture. The resource means space agents, function agents, personal
preference agents, the environment variable server, the information about EAs, condition
variables, services and environment variables.

Therefore, we need this specialcomponent called resource access right control kernel toavoid
conflicts, and it has the following responsibilities:

Maintain register information of all the components androute messages between components

In order to make this architecture flexible, we hope thatevery component in the architecture can
be moved fromone machine to another easily.

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This component is the mechanism that allows theintegrated control architecture to take
advantages ofInternet. Because Internet is a modem technology thatinfluences life dramatically,
the system should be muchmore powerful and will provide greater life qualityimprovement if we
integrate Internet into our architecture.

This component has the following responsibilities

Maintain environment variables

Environment variables are variables that can bereferred to by both the components within the
controlarchitecture and the sites in the Internet, which can beconsidered
 parameters of the
entire architecture.

Collect 

from the Internet automatically

In the integrated home control architecture weproposed, the environment variable server can
beconsidered
the information provider of the outsideworld.

Accept query and update request of environmentvariable from the Internet or the home network

Because the environment variables are the ³bridge´between the HA system and the outside
world, it musthandle the query and update request of environmentvariable from the Internet or
the home network.

    

The integrated HA architecture is reliable. This is as attributed to the ability of space agent to
execute some basic rules. For example, if a gas sensor is attached, we may expect the HA system
to provide a safety measure in conjunction with this sensor and the hot plates.

That is, when this sensor is activated, the hot plates should be turned off anywise. This
functionality of executing rules guarantees that some safety or necessary rules can be realizable
in any situation.



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The system is based on a dedicated network and has never been tested on the Internet. Moreover,
the system only shows how to solve home automation problems at the software level; hardware
aspectswere not considered.

  
   

  

The system consists of a Host Controller (HC) implemented on a Personal Computer (PC), and a
microcontroller based temperature-sensor/fan-controller, that is able to communicate with the
host through the Bluetooth link. The system is based on Home Automation Protocol (HAP),
developed in order to facilitate the master±slave communication in a home automation network.
This protocol ensures a prioritized, interlocked exchange of data. It also supports dynamic
addition and removal of devices on the network. A user interface on the PC offers device
registration, control as well as diagnostic utilities. Bluetooth development kit from Ericsson was
used for the development. A microcontroller was used as a device controller for client modules.

Fig. 2.Transformation process diagram of home automation system.


u 
This automation system can control home appliances from a PC using Bluetooth. However, the
system cannot be controlled remotely through the Internet.

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This is a hardware-based remote controller for power point control. Users can input the control
commands and their own passcodes by using local or external telephones.
A key to the home automation system is the capability

for remote operation. Considerable efforts have been

put into the development of remote control systems for

home automation. Earlier systems are mainly based on

the use of telephone line, such as a phone-based system

for home automation using a hardware-based remote

controller [1][2], and a personal computer [3]. The

above systems make use of the telephone as the remote

control input device and have no any friendly user

interface. With the proliferation of Internet, various

Internet-based remote control architectures for home

automation have been proposed [4]-[8]. These systems

rely on the Internet as the medium for communication

and generally feature friendly graphical user interfaces.

The Internet-based approach requires a home server

running on an Internet-connected personal computer all

the time, which would hardly become popular for

ordinary homes. Wireless connectivity is another

desired feature in home automation systems as it

provides mobility, flexibility, and no additional wiring.

A Bluetooth-based wireless home network connecting

the controller computer and home appliances has been

presented in [9][10]. Unfortunately, due to the short

coverage-range of the Bluetooth technology, the

wireless connectivity provided by the Bluetooth-based

systems is limited within the home environment and

does not allow a user to control home appliances truly

remotely.


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Communication takes place via a dedicated telephone line not via the Internet.
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The paper also lacks hardware implementations and based on home appliances with built in
controllers and ready for internet access which may be too expensive and complicated to build.

Srikanth [6] proposed an automation system that can control home appliances from PC using
Bluetooth technology. However, the system cannot be controlled remotely through the Internet.