SMS Based home automation using Arduino Microcontroller

Today GSM networks are widely used, either for making calls or sending SMSes. Let us discuss a project of controlling home appliances by sending sms.

There are many types of home automation systems available in the market. Some are DTMF controlled home appliances, IR remote controlled home appliances and RF based. This system executes accurate control according to the message sent by the mobile phone. Just by sending a message to the GSM modem interfaced to a Arduino microcontroller (MCU) on/off operations can be performed. Present status of the equipment is also verified through a LCD display.

Arduino Microcontroller based home automation system works off 12v power supply. Arduino microcontroller (MCU) requires only 5v but GSM modem requires 12V. A LCD display is used for receiving and displaying the messages. Here LCD is used in 4-bit mode, which means only four lines are required to display data. When you want to control equipment and show its status information, you need to send an SMS to GSM Modem. Arduino Uno reads the messaged received by the GSM modem and sends commands to control the equipments and displays its status on LCD. GSM modem sends the commands in the text mode to Arduino Uno using RS232 interface.

AT command is sent from Arduino Uno to the GSM modem as the program starts up, and the response is received from the GSM modem after a very short period of time. After receiving the command to turn on loads, the relay set performs the switching operation.

The home automation market is growing very fast and there is a need a vast range of developments is carried out. Arduino Uno along with GSM provides smart automated home system with desired buad rate of 9600 bps.

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Vocational training

Current era is of knowledge economy. Talents and skills of employees form the most critical competitive advantage for any company. 15 million job seekers enter into job market each year. On the other side companies do not get sufficiently skilled manpower. Hiring, training the right talent and retaining them with the company is huge cost. So its not possible for every employers to skill & build their talent continuously. 

Now the question arises how would the companies get trained skilled manpower for their jobs? The answer is skill training providers.

We at Sofcon India Pvt LTD has aligned our training programs on Industrial automation, PLC SCADA, Embedded systems AVR Microcontrollers HVAC control, HVAC Design and drafting, VLSI, Building automation, Electronics surveillance, Hydraulics & Pneumatics trainings with industry requirements. Our training programs are also aligned with QPNOS (Qualification pack National occupation standards). QPNOS are set of standards set by NSDC for variety of job roles for different industries.

Where there is high attrition rate, employers are unwilling to pay for training for the candidates. Although they are willing to re-train and pay for already trained candidates. Now it becomes necessary for fresher entering into job-market to acquire the necessary skills mandatory for entry into a job role.

Engineers trained on PLC SCADA systems are given practical experience on hardware & software design. They know about different types of sensors and final control elements. These engineers are suitable for project engineer, design engineer & commissioning engineers job. A week time on job is enough for them to do justice to their assigned job role. Consumption of electronics tabs, mobile, pcs have increased many-fold which has pushed promising technology job opportunities for embedded system engineers, AVR/ARM Microcontroller training, VLSI, System verilog, VHDL trained engineers.

Industry is showing signs of recovery. India is going to be world leader in automotives. Hydraulics training, pneumatics training plays very important role in filling skill gaps of automotive and other industries. We are fastest developing country in the world. Our infrastructure sector is going to have huge growth potential. HVAC control & HVAC Design & drafting are key skills needed for mechanical engineers wanting to enter this segment.

Be it designing of air conditioning system, ducting, load calculation, HVAC control system, Building automation system. Learning of engineer’s undergone practical training is much faster and they can be assigned independent project design, project execution jobs.

Skill India: Myriads of Job Opportunity

B.Tech fresher’s who passed out their engineering in Electrical & Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Instrumentation and Control, Mechanical & Automation Engineering should convert this golden opportunity to make their career in the core field of Industrial Automation, Building Automation, Embedded System and VLSI, HVAC Control & HVAC Design and Draughting.

Migration of Non CS/IT students into IT or ITES field should be an alternative choice of the fresher because of his passion and love for computer science and IT and not because of unavailability of opportunities and lack of employment.

Sofcon Group is bridging the gap between academics and industry since 2006 and successfully placing the students since its inception. After the affiliation of Sofcon, with NSDC and other sector skill councils, our pledge to provide employment to the students irrespective of their academic, social or financial status has become strengthened.

Courses with 100% placement assurance for B.Tech EE/EC/EI are:

Industrial Automation: PLC/SCADA, Motion Control (Motors and Drives), Panel Designing, Auto CAD, Process Instrumentation, HMI, DCS, Industrial Network & Wireless Network.

Building Automation: HVAC Control, Fire Detection and Alarm System, Access Control System and CCTV Surveillance System, Public Address System, Gas Suppression System

CAD/CAM Courses: Auto CAD 2D, 3D, Catia, Solidwork

Industrial Mechanical Engineer: Hydraulic, Pneumatic, PLC, Hydraulic/Pneumatic Control with PLC, HVAC Design & Drafting, Auto CAD 2D

Global Industrial Automation Control & factory Automation Market

As people are moving away from traditional systems towards integrated networks, global industrial control and factory automation market has been witnessing growth. Global Industrial Automation Control & factory Automation Market by 2021 is expected to reach 257 billion USD.  Integrated networks include both hardware as well as software consisting of PLC SCADA, Variable Frequency Drives, Instrumentation, Motion & robotics systems, DCS Systems, industrial networks etc.  Currently Global Industrial Automation Control & factory Automation Market size in 2016 is approximately 200 Billion USD and is witnessing 12.6% year on year growth. The increasing trend is penetrating across society and global economy. All types of process & manufacturing industries, aerospace, defense, transportation, Electrical, electronics, food & Beverages, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and water management are all focusing towards complete automation.

Nuclear power plants and control & Automation, Surveillance and Communication

Nuclear power plants deploy cutting edge advanced instrumentation and advanced automation control systems for regular operations, special inspections and maintenance activities. Most advanced surveillance and communication systems are deployed to ensure safety and security of sensitive nuclear installations. The centralized control room in nuclear power plant is vital location housing highly sophisticated state of art display panels, operating consoles, plant lay outs, SCADA Consoles, video coverage of critical locations and plant emergency communication systems.

As part of security and surveillance requirements inside the plant areas, access control systems are installed to prevent unauthorized entry. Entire plant is provided with graded security monitoring and access control systems. 

Job opportunities in the area of automation instrumentation surveillance and communication

The existing and future nuclear power plants provide enormous job opportunities especially in the areas of Instrumentation, automation, surveillance and communication sectors. These systems deployed in plants are acquired from suppliers on engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning basis package contracts. Thus skilled automation person will have job opportunities at different stages starting at the manufacturing, assembling, testing stage at suppliers location, at the site while erection of the equipment, calibration and commissioning activities and later on in support system for operation and maintenance.

Due to strict regulations & safety instructions, there is a periodic replacement of equipments takes place. There is a sustained enormous employment opportunity for Industrial Automation, surveillance & communication trained engineers.

Visit at http://www.sofcontraining.com

Building Automation System & HVAC

Building Automation System, BAS is experiencing a boom globally. It is also known as Energy Monitoring Control System (EMCS), Facility Management System (FMS), and Energy Management System (EMS). India’s current GDP is 7+. We are expecting a robust economy with nearly 10% GDP, which means there will be additional requirement of millions of millions of square feet area. Our infrastructure sector will boom, better airports, better metro systems, more industries, better transportation, hotels, commercial buildings, buildings for offices, ware houses etc. This will translate into more requirements of Building automation systems, Building management systems, Fire detection and alarm systems, Auxiliary power systems, HVAC control system, parking management systems, access control system, CCTV Surveillance system.

These topics are briefly touched under college education system. This development is going to create a vacuum, where there will be a huge gap between demand and supply.

We at Sofcon India Pvt ltd are committed to fill this gap. Our practical training on BMS, HVAC control system, HVAC Design & Drafting, Building automation system equips budding engineers with knowledge required to work in this area. Engineers who undergo training are well versed with practical aspects of job roles and get ready in a week’s time to be job ready independently.  Post training jobs are available in projects design, project commissioning, maintenance, operations, applications etc.

In the building automation domain are HVAC systems, as well as automatic control systems for lighting, security systems, elevators, escalators, automatic doors and all communications infrastructure. If all these systems are able to communicate with each other with help of wired or wireless communication systems like LonWork, BACNet and Profibusthen that building can be referred to as an Intelligent Buildings.

For Example: A multiplex can adjust the effort done by the compressor of the air conditioning unit on the data taken by the computer system from where the tickets are booked.

Example 2: In a mall, the engineer can choose between the electrical energy supplied from the electricity board or DG set on the basis of lowest cost in any period of time of that day.

Industrial automation- The technique in success

Industrial automation is the process to produce more output by less involvement of manpower. It is the use of different control systems for performing various industrial processes and controlling different types of machinery. Thus automated systems needs special dedicated hardware and software for performing this task. 

Automation finds its application in various aspects of life. Home automation and building automation- these techniques involve control and automation of lights, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC through centralised control system. Such system leads to comfort of occupants, reduction in energy consumption and operating costs of utilities. 

Recently automation finds its application in waste management, video surveillance, highway management system. Automated highway transportation management system is an innovative concept of combining on board vehicle intelligence, intelligent technologies embedded on the highway lanes and the communication technologies that connect vehicles with the highway.

PLC, Computers, Robots are involved in industrial automation to control and operate systems to perform work normally done by humans. Automation development came into force during industrial revolution in early eighteenth century.

How Automation has changed our life

Automation has increased the productivity and efficiency of the labour input without compromising with accuracy. Automated control systems can perform operation with greater conformity and uniformity to the quality specifications. Quality control can be achieved with much ease. 

Thus it can be concluded that introduction of automation has not only reduced human intervention but also enhanced the productivity and efficiency of different processes and activities. Proper implementation and maintenance of this technique can prove to be the secret key to success.

Emerging Trends across HVAC Market in India

The key trends in the HVAC industry are energy savings and precision automation control system which has led to the use of adjustable variable frequency drives in HVAC systems.

There is a huge opportunity to improve industrial automation levels that help in both energy efficiency and productivity of the plant through our valves, drives, PLC controllers, compressors, best safety standards and through products that reduce wastages. Awareness about optimum use of energy is quite high among customers today, therefore they are now slowly shifting to variable frequency drive as it is one of the best way to get energy efficiency.

Sustainability of HVAC industry depends upon investment climate of infrastructure and industrial projects segment. Current financial year, encouraging investment in the segment is like productive stimulus. The HVAC market is growing fast mainly due to rise in real estate market and infrastructure sector.

We can emerge as a major hub for manufacturing in the HVAC space Govt is serious and focuses on maintaining energy efficiency and provides incentives to the manufacturing industry. Localisation while sourcing products by Companies will boost the economy. Energy demand is estimated to triple over the next 10 years, there is a huge demand to shift to energy efficient technology. Every company is searching for HVAC equipments which are energy efficient to reduce energy consumption.

High efficiency oil-free centrifugal compressor are available in the market that provide high energy savings for HVAC systems reducing up to 35-50% of energy consumption than a commercial HVAC system.

HVAC systems are responsible for major share of electricity charges. This  puts pressure on sources of energy and the environment. By deploying energy efficient devices great energy saving can be achieved also keeping the cost in check.

If HVAC sector needs to grow, there is a huge investment required for refrigerated warehouses and storage infrastructure. We cannot solely depend on the govt investment, there has to be a better approach of PPP model. This will boost HVAC sector towards higher growth.

Current budget allocation in HVAC sector is a growth driver and will put this sector in higher growth trajectory. There has been huge increase in warehousing investment is a very positive step, one needs to look at how the infrastructure can be made sustainable.

An automated cold storage with best global technologies will cost 30 % more. It is important to note that 60% of the operating cost of a cold storage is due to electricity and this cost could be anywhere close to 1.5 crores per annum.

Danfoss has an India 2015 growth strategy in place where we will focus on 3 key megatrends: Cold Chain, Urbanization and Energy Efficiency. This strategy intends to increase base business and reach tier2 cities.